I've heard that if you carry off your own luggage at disembarkation that you will get off the ship sooner. Is this true? Do you have to send your luggage out before disembarking?
Thanks
As I understand it carnival just started the carry off your own luggage thing. It worked good on the last cruise I was on, given the chance I would do this, it will save you alot of time, just check the day before and if they offer this don't put your luggage outside your cabin door the night before and be at the disembarkation area early.
We did this a few weeks ago. But we really needed to get of the ship fast to catch our flight and we got slowed down because so many people took this option.
I wish they would only permit passenger that can show they have a reason to use express debarkation. Eric
I used it and it worked great. However, some of the people could not handle all their luggage which slowed everything down. You must be able to carry/roll off all your luggage at once. Also the elevators were the small ones in the atrium which slowed down the process because people who weren't trying to depart kept going up and down them. The CD was calling one floor at a time but wasn't making any effort to make sure each floor was cleared prior to calling another floor. It saved a lot of time and frustration looking through bags on the pier.
Do not leave your luggage out the night before if you plan to disembark early and carry your own luggage. The feds will not let you retrieve the ones you left outside until its time. If you don't want to carry your bags, just use the normal disembark procedure. If for some reason, you need to get off the ship early, then carry your own bags. The new procedure is for US citizen only.
Ha ha... They obviously never weighed our luggage. I can hardly carry on the documents and money! I will gladly pay the porter to lug my suitcases while I enjoy my last minutes on the ship eating breakfast. I think this is a bad idea for everyone else. My cruise time is for ME! not that heavy suitcase.
We disembarked in MIA this morning from a 4-nighter on the Imagination and we used this new option. Our flight was at 9:50am. Yes, we knew this was risky when we booked, but the price diff in airfare was worth the risk. We were pretty happy when we heard about this option and it worked great. We didn't have so much luggage and while a lot of passengers took advantage of this option, we were still off the ship and in a taxi by 8:05am.
I wouldn't use this every time, but if you packed light and have an early flight it is a great option.
We just returned from the Conquest and alot of people are now doing this. It really slowed down the ones who did not. They started around 8:00 and we were not able to get off until 10:30. I would have like to get off earlier, but had to wait because we did put our bags out. I don't see where it is any easier except for those who have early flights. We had several people VERY mad that they couldn't leave becasue they said they had buses to catch, but the bags were not ready until after 9:45 and that was later than normal. Hey if you make early return home transportation that's the thing that happens. I would NEVER count on getting to an airport or train or anything before NOON on that day..it's way too risky.
Watching all those people struggle with the BIG bags on the elevators and halls and escalotors is NOT for me...they looked tired after 30 minutes fighting the crowds. I'll take the extra time and not be haggered.
We were on the Conquest the week before you and did the carry off your own luggage thing. We didn't have much luggage. Could not believe what some people were trying to wheel off. 2 suitcases that were twice the size of my one. The atrium elevators slowed down the process, not very big and people not leaving kept riding up and down them so people leaving couldn't get in. Also Stuart called additional floors before the previous floors had a chance to clear out. I know we would have been the last people off the ship since we were driving home so this got us off quick and easy.
Location: Wisconsin....about 100 miles south of the Frozen Tundra and 70 miles east of Camp Randall
Posts: 9,382
Re: Carrying luggage off at debarkation
Why do people who do not NEED to be off the ship early (early flights or emergencies come to mind here not I just want to get off sooner and get home earlier) delay and inconvenience everyone else? I think this is a terrible idea Carnival has started. For short 3 - 4 day cruises maybe....but not on 5 day or longer ones.
Sis - for some reason people who have to stay on the ship have a right to use the elevators too...don't blame them for people who are just too antsy to wait one hour to get off when their color was going to be called.
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Crown Princess 1/18/14....the NEW Me, Myself and I cruise!
If you want to get off the faster without carrying your own bag get luggage tags from the information desk and retag your luggage.. be warned don't get red or pink tags as they are the last to get off theship.
I had no need or desire to be first off the ship. We just didn't feel like waiting around in a lounge for hours and then searching on the pier for our luggage. We didn't have massive luggage just one normal size bag a piece. It went very smoothly once people were able to get down to the debarkation floor.
As for elevators, there were plenty of elevators on that ship. It wouldn't have hurt anyone to keep those four elevators free for people leaving and would have sped up the process for everyone in the long run since that was the only hold up.
Just got off the Conquest & carried (rolled) our own luggage....
They want you to leave your luggage inside you room untill your deck is called...
Make sure you fill out your Customs form & have it handy...
We had a bit of trouble because we had the smaller rolling luggage except one large one...
We will acquire two Larger rolling bags with a possible exstension in fron to tie on your garment bag.... Also make sure the rolling lugage has wide track rollers, ours wanted to tip sideways when going over door seams, had to pull them walking backwards most of the way........ Anyway we contacted my daughter by cellular & was out of terminal before 9 AM..
HINT.... When driving out of the terminal go SOUTH over the big bridge, turn around & come back over to get to Interstate 10, this will miss a LOT of TRAFFIC.....
Bo & Kathy
We had a terrible debarktation experience, which I won't get into here. I will wait til I post my review... but personally I didn't see that anyone was having any luck getting off anywhere at anytime.... it was a total zoo and chaos... and for people traveling with disabled persons... it was not even close to being practicle to try to carry off your own stuff... We check ours and waited and waited... there really has to be a better way...
While I agree the carry yrself option has a lot of advantages I doubt I will carry anything but a LARGE umbrella off the ship for my March trip. I have yet, in 9 cruises, to see anyone who can safely carry off even a carry-on size bag. I promise to use the umbrella to jab or bop anyone who bangs me with their luggage. Of course, it will be just as much of an "accident" as my being hit with their bag.
Deb and I were given this option aboard the Victory back in Oct 2001. The CD said anyone carrying their own luggage would save a couple hours in the disembarkation process. It was total confusion and cheapened the cruise experience. A ship is not designed to allow thousands of pax's to carry/struggle with multiple suitcases up and down narrow passageways...limited elevators and stairs. Is there a profit motive here for Carnival that we don't see? I do not believe for a second that Carnival does this just to allow pax to disembark faster , if in fact this system allows that which I doubt.
I don't mind being last off the ship if I get to tote my own luggage. I've had someone take my luggage by mistake and it's not fun. Luckily they realised they had the wrong luggage when they were putting it in their trunk and came back with it.
This only applies to FLL, but in debarking there 4 or 5 times in the past 3 years, with well marked luggage(bright or distinctive tags) we were off the ship and in the car within 45 minutes even when required to wait for the parking shuttle. One trick observed is to get a porter to take your bags after you find them. they have an express line through customs....
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Carrying luggage off at debarkation
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