Why so much pressure to eat in MDR on debarkation morning?

[onesam319]

Our servers were great for both legs of our B2B on the Wish. One thing distressed me, though. All of them discouraged us from eating breakfast at Marceline on debarkation morning, to the point of making us feel guilty for wanting to. They all said how crowded it would be. but we went to Marceline anyway. It was less crowded than any other day we were on the ship. I might have considered the MDR if it was Arandelle. 1923 is just too tight. We feel we were also able to get off the ship earlier too. MDR started at 6:55am. We left our luggage in our room, ate in Marceline, went back to the room for luggage and rest room, got off the ship and were on the road by 8am. We needed to be on the road quickly for our 16 hour trip to Ohio!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

My guess is that they want you out of your room and to the dining room at the time *they* want. When we have first seating, we prefer to skip breakfast and grab a quick bite before leaving the ship, which is what I suspect they are hoping to avoid—they need to turn the staterooms quickly.

 

[CamColt]

We usually get the sad face from our servers when we say we are going to the buffet for our last breakfast but haven't felt pressured not to. I'm glad as its bad enough hearing the excellent speech, LOL. The times we have eaten in the MDR it felt so rushed and almost stressful. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas at our late dining time (so we are out of our room when we should be) and then disembark. Sometimes we end up waiting in a line to leave and other times we just walk off.

 

[71 Truck]

We disembarked the Fantasy yesterday. My guess it helps with the number of people standing and waiting to get off the ship on their own and they want the rooms empty so they can start getting them ready for the next guests..

Yesterday when I went to the bar to pick up my alcohol purchases there were hundreds and hundreds of people (walk off guest) lining the halls and the atrium waiting for customs to clear the ship, this was around 7am.

We had the late dinning and had to be at our restaurant at 8:30 and it was only about two thirds full.
We were one of the last groups off the boat. We only have a hour and a half drive home so we are not in a rush.

I can see people who who have a long trip home either driving or have an early flight home wanting to get off the boat right away. Also some people are going to the parks and may want to take advantage of as much of the day as they can.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

The luggage labels and thus order of getting off the ship are not only per area of the ship but also first vs second dinner so if you are second dinner they want you to have breakfast late cause your debark character will only be called later. The st teroom hosts als have the late/early list and want to start on the early dinner room when they start their shoft but if those people have late buffetbreakfast all rooms are still occupied and then they have to rush later on

 

[NAB]

The luggage labels and thus order of getting off the ship are not only per area of the ship but also first vs second dinner so if you are second dinner they want you to have breakfast late cause your debark character will only be called later. The st teroom hosts als have the late/early list and want to start on the early dinner room when they start their shoft but if those people have late buffetbreakfast all rooms are still occupied and then they have to rush later on

On the Fantasy they called everyone’s character at once.

When we got to the terminal at 12:15 from our resort . We had group 7 but they were already on group 20. Everyone was saying resorts got there early now…so I have no idea what was going on…lol

 

[onesam319]

A couple details I didn't mention in the original post. Our sailing on the Wish was full (there was a sign at Guest Services saying no upgrades available because the ship was full). We were in the elevator when they announced that all guests could debark. I asked when leaving the ship, and they said they were not calling by luggage tag color. Maybe they had all the luggage off and ready, so they didn't feel the need to delay anyone.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We have been skipping the MDR breakfast in the last few cruises. We are usually early dinning, so the extra few moments of sleep are always helpful before a day of flying home. Up by 7 and out of the cabin no later than 8 to grab a quick bite and get the rental car or take transport. We get the sad faces too. But I find that service too rushed and too early-I get why, but too early.

 

[tvguy]

Debarkation day is the only day we eat breakfast in the MDR.

 

[Lesverts]

I didn't feel pressure, wasn't even away Cabanas was open on the Wonder. The majority of the tables around me showed up and it was a nice goodbye to the team and people.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yesterday when I went to the bar to pick up my alcohol purchases there were hundreds and hundreds of people (walk off guest) lining the halls and the atrium waiting for customs to clear the ship, this was around 7am.

This was our recent experience on the Magic in Oct at the end of our WBPC cruise. Someone, maybe another passenger?, announced this line is for self walk off who are carrying their own luggage. A huge number of people groaned and exited the line.
I was a bit surprised that so many people didn't know the debarkation procedure. I wish they'd manage the lines better and make sure the correct people are in the line. It went all the way back to the aft elevators.

 

[tvguy]

. I wish they'd manage the lines better and make sure the correct people are in the line. It went all the way back to the aft elevators.

I know Disney's lack of a disembarkation system is popular with some cruisers, but I prefer what other cruise lines do. You have an assigned public room to wait in. They have pastries, coffee, juice and water to munch on, and no long lines to get off the ship. We waited 45 minutes in line on Disney waiting to get off the ship.

 

[71 Truck]

I know Disney's lack of a disembarkation system is popular with some cruisers, but I prefer what other cruise lines do. You have an assigned public room to wait in. They have pastries, coffee, juice and water to munch on, and no long lines to get off the ship. We waited 45 minutes in line on Disney waiting to get off the ship.

When we did our first NCL cruise a few years ago we liked the process.

The night before you disembark you pick a time you need to get off based on availability.
The morning of, you vacate your room and fine a place on the ship to sit and wait comfortably.
They call you luggage tag color and off you go to customs that used a facial recognition system( that was on the ship itself) to get off the ship.
If the light turns green you get off the ship, if it turn red you go to see the customs officer.

 

[lanejudy]

they said they were not calling by luggage tag color.

Port Canaveral doesn't call luggage tags as groups to debark. Basically debarkation is open to anyone once the "express walk-off" group goes. Though if you are one of the first and have a late dinner it IS possible that you may need to wait a few minutes for your luggage.

Debarkation in other ports may or may not call groups by luggage tags.

 

[lanejudy]

Everyone was saying resorts got there early now

DCL Transfers pick-up from resorts earlier now compared to pre-covid, but I don't think there is any guarantee of "early" arrival. It all depends on how many guests at each resort need a pick-up for that particular cruise. If you are on a bus that picks up at 9:30am and no other resort stops -- you'll arrive fairly early; but if you have a 10am pick-up and 1 or 2 other resorts to stop at before heading to port, it will be noon or later.

I do think the first couple of buses from MCO Hyatt are basically the first to arrive at port, possibly prior to the terminal opening. Guests arriving by DCL transfers are allowed in while others are held outside.

 

[71 Truck]

Port Canaveral doesn't call luggage tags as groups to debark. Basically debarkation is open to anyone once the "express walk-off" group goes. Though if you are one of the first and have a late dinner it IS possible that you may need to wait a few minutes for your luggage.

Debarkation in other ports may or may not call groups by luggage tags.

This past Saturday we were getting off the Fantasy.

I was not paying close attention to the announcements during our breakfast but I do remember hearing something about certain color tags being able to debark the ship after customs cleared the ship and after the walk off were aloud to leave.
My guess this lets passengers know if their luggage has made it to the luggage pick up area.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I know Disney's lack of a disembarkation system is popular with some cruisers, but I prefer what other cruise lines do. You have an assigned public room to wait in. They have pastries, coffee, juice and water to munch on, and no long lines to get off the ship. We waited 45 minutes in line on Disney waiting to get off the ship.

It wasn't always so jammed up. It seems to be worse post covid. We sailed Celebrity in March and it was worse. I thought we would miss our flight. No organization whatsoever.

 

[tvguy]

It wasn't always so jammed up. It seems to be worse post covid. We sailed Celebrity in March and it was worse. I thought we would miss our flight. No organization whatsoever.

That's interesting. Wonder what changed with covid. We sailed Celebrity in October 2019 and they have a very organized and easy disembarkation.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's interesting. Wonder what changed with covid. We sailed Celebrity in October 2019 and they have a very organized and easy disembarkation.

Maybe just getting by with fewer crew members?

Maybe DCL has always been a CF with self carry/walk off and we didn’t know it. If it was 15 years ago, we wouldn’t have known it because when we traveled with children, we usually would put our bags out the night before and use their Onboard Airline Check in. Now, traveling just the two of us, we disembark asap and take an earlier flight home.

 

[Jsoenning]

Never thought about the buffet the last day and will so in the future based on your post. Neither of our kids are big breakfast eaters and honestly it'd be much quicker to get a croissant for the older one and a box of cereal for the younger than sitting through the farewell breakfast. We've found its (last day breakfast) typically the worst cooked meal in MDR.