New Cruise check in times.....

[WDWRLD]

Ok, I have searched with no luck. I remember reading a few weeks ago about DCL now giving times that you can checkin/board the Dream because of the larger number of passengers that way everyone dosent show up at the same time. If I am remembering correctly you were allowed to pick your time but I cant find any info about it on the DCL site either. Anyone with any info??

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Ok, I have searched with no luck. I remember reading a few weeks ago about DCL now giving times that you can checkin/board the Dream because of the larger number of passengers that way everyone dosent show up at the same time. If I am remembering correctly you were allowed to pick your time but I cant find any info about it on the DCL site either. Anyone with any info??

You pick your time after you complete the online check in. It's one of the final steps in the check in process.

To give yourself the most options on times, do your online check in as soon as your booking window opens.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Tammy, in everything I've read people are saying the new "times" are port arrival times, not check-in times. Not sure how accurate that is because it's all hearsay and not first-hand experience. At this point everything I'm reading says none of the times are being observed or even paid attention to by DCL at the port but that's not to say they won't at some point. Why would they start these "times" if they weren't planning to put them to use, right? It makes sense that by assigning arrival times they are trying to create better flow from the point of pulling into the parking lot all the way thru check-in and boarding.

I'm *thinking* that the earlier you do your on-line check-in maybe you'll have the better arrival slots available. Everyone wants earlier boarding times. I have a feeling the online check-in is going to be like it is with Southwest Airlines trying to hit the "send" button as soon as possible when the check-in window opens to jockey for those earlier times which would result in lower boarding group numbers. On a side-note, do you maybe forsee Disney doing something similar to SWA where you will be offered an opportunity to pay a premium to be automatically checked-in so you get the earlier arrival times? Or, no, it'd make more sense for that to continue to be a perk for Castaway Club members, huh?

Like we've been discussing, this is definitely an interesting time because it's like we're watching DCL's learning curve. :wave:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Tammy, in everything I've read people are saying the new "times" are port arrival times, not check-in times. Not sure how accurate that is because it's all hearsay and not first-hand experience. At this point everything I'm reading says none of the times are being observed or even paid attention to by DCL at the port but that's not to say they won't at some point. Why would they start these "times" if they weren't planning to put them to use, right? It makes sense that by assigning arrival times they are trying to create better flow from the point of pulling into the parking lot all the way thru check-in and boarding.

I'm *thinking* that the earlier you do your on-line check-in maybe you'll have the better arrival slots available. Everyone wants earlier boarding times. I have a feeling the online check-in is going to be like it is with Southwest Airlines trying to hit the "send" button as soon as possible when the check-in window opens to jockey for those earlier times which would result in lower boarding group numbers.

Like we've been discussing, this is definitely an interesting time because it's like we're watching DCL's learning curve. :wave:

Yes! That is an important distinction!

You are not signing up for a check in time, but a port arrival time. It won't affect your check in time.

Currently, as Kelly said, they are not enforcing the port arrival times at all. It will be interesting to see if they start though!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yes! That is an important distinction!

You are not signing up for a check in time, but a port arrival time. It won't affect your check in time.

Currently, as Kelly said, they are not enforcing the port arrival times at all. It will be interesting to see if they start though!

Yep. I'm sure I've been driving poor Tammy batty with my neurotic worrying and questioning about the whole arrival/check-in/boarding time frame. Thought I'd mention that so others would have the benefit of hearing it. :lol:

We'll be first-time cruisers so we had a bazillion and one questions trying to figure out what the whole boarding process entailed and the timing involved in everything since we'll be driving ourselves from WDW to the port on embarkation day. In seeking other peoples' experiences thru cruise reports on various websites I discovered some pretty wild tales of insanely long lines just to get thru security into the terminal only to be followed by really lengthy waits packed like sardines into what looked in pictures like it was a terminal entirely too small for that mass of people. I had more than a few moments. :lol: I sent some of my concerns to Tammy, my trusty invaluable TA, who quickly put my mind at ease. She was able to refer me to other pictures that demonstrated the actual size of Disney's cruise terminal. Those sardine pics I was seeing were of an area that wasn't all that big where people were crowding themselves like a school of little fishies up next to the gangway entrance because they were anxious. :hammer: The Dream and it's many nuances are still pretty new to DCL so they're in the process of implementing some different things to alleviate the bottlenecks...one of which are these port arrival times. Crowd flow is what Disney does. Tammy's right. They'll get this ironed out very soon. We all just have to sit back and see what happens in the coming weeks.

Did I mention how stinkin' awesome it is to have Tammy to keep me from worrying myself into the grave?!?!
:sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

Ack! I don't like the idea of these port arrival times. The earliest that was available to us when we completed the online check-in was 12:30 pm. I hope they're not enforcing this when we arrive in little over a week. Because my butt is totally going to be there by, like, 10 am... knocking down the doors to see Captain Mickey!! :ROFLOL:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yep. I'm sure I've been driving poor Tammy batty with my neurotic worrying and questioning about the whole arrival/check-in/boarding time frame. Thought I'd mention that so others would have the benefit of hearing it. :lol:

We'll be first-time cruisers so we had a bazillion and one questions trying to figure out what the whole boarding process entailed and the timing involved in everything since we'll be driving ourselves from WDW to the port on embarkation day. In seeking other peoples' experiences thru cruise reports on various websites I discovered some pretty wild tales of insanely long lines just to get thru security into the terminal only to be followed by really lengthy waits packed like sardines into what looked in pictures like it was a terminal entirely too small for that mass of people. I had more than a few moments. :lol: I sent some of my concerns to Tammy, my trusty invaluable TA, who quickly put my mind at ease. She was able to refer me to other pictures that demonstrated the actual size of Disney's cruise terminal. Those sardine pics I was seeing were of an area that wasn't all that big where people were crowding themselves like a school of little fishies up next to the gangway entrance because they were anxious. :hammer: The Dream and it's many nuances are still pretty new to DCL so they're in the process of implementing some different things to alleviate the bottlenecks...one of which are these port arrival times. Crowd flow is what Disney does. Tammy's right. They'll get this ironed out very soon. We all just have to sit back and see what happens in the coming weeks.

Did I mention how stinkin' awesome it is to have Tammy to keep me from worrying myself into the grave?!?!
:sohappy:

:lol:

Ack! I don't like the idea of these port arrival times. The earliest that was available to us when we completed the online check-in was 12:30 pm. I hope they're not enforcing this when we arrive in little over a week. Because my butt is totally going to be there by, like, 10 am... knocking down the doors to see Captain Mickey!! :ROFLOL:

I can totally picture that.:lol:

 

[DisneyJoe]

You are not signing up for a check in time, but a port arrival time. It won't affect your check in time.

Currently, as Kelly said, they are not enforcing the port arrival times at all. It will be interesting to see if they start though!

For our Magical Preview Cruise, the Fire Marshall was enforcing this - as there were too many people in the building at once!!!

 

[WDWRLD]

We have only cruised once before on the Wonder and we left PoP at about 8am, arrived, dropped off our luggage, went through security, checked in and only seemed to wait a very short time (seemed like less than a half our) before boarding the ship. I dont remember the exact timelines but seemed like we were onboard around lunch time. Even getting onboard at that time the day seemed to fly by.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

For our Magical Preview Cruise, the Fire Marshall was enforcing this - as there were too many people in the building at once!!!

Well, true!! :lol: But really they weren't enforcing port arrival times that we had signed up for, they just had to close the terminal because we all arrived at once!

We have only cruised once before on the Wonder and we left PoP at about 8am, arrived, dropped off our luggage, went through security, checked in and only seemed to wait a very short time (seemed like less than a half our) before boarding the ship. I dont remember the exact timelines but seemed like we were onboard around lunch time. Even getting onboard at that time the day seemed to fly by.

The first arrival time you can sign up for now is 10:30. They usually open up the gates before then though.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I don't see that the issue is with the Wonder or Magic, as they hold 2400 passengers each. The problem arises with the Dream and it's capacity of 4000 passengers....I see the same issue with the Fantasy.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Well, true!! But really they weren't enforcing port arrival times that we had signed up for, they just had to close the terminal because we all arrived at once!

We signed up for bus departure times from the Contemporary - but I don't recall any buses waiting there for any length of time - they just all seemed to leave at once, one followed by another by another - until they were told that the terminal was full and I heard that they began holding buses even at the Contemporary - I'm not sure how true that is.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We signed up for bus departure times from the Contemporary - but I don't recall any buses waiting there for any length of time - they just all seemed to leave at once, one followed by another by another - until they were told that the terminal was full and I heard that they began holding buses even at the Contemporary - I'm not sure how true that is.

Right, that's how I remember it too. Since we all arrived before boarding started, we couldn't all fit in the terminal.

That's another good point, the new port arrival times don't even apply to those on Disney transfers. These are just for people arriving on their own. Disney is trying to spread them out because there are so many more people on the Dream.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Ack! I don't like the idea of these port arrival times. The earliest that was available to us when we completed the online check-in was 12:30 pm. I hope they're not enforcing this when we arrive in little over a week. Because my butt is totally going to be there by, like, 10 am... knocking down the doors to see Captain Mickey!! :ROFLOL:

Holly, in the process of reading all this stuff Tracey & I have come down to 2 options IF the port arrival times aren't enforced by the time we sail in September. Option A: Be off Disney property by 8:00 a.m., hit up a drive-thru for breakfast on the way, get to the port no later than 9:30 a.m., and be prepared to camp. Think Best Buy on Thanksgiving afternoon. Option B: Get a nice night's sleep, sleep to about 8:00 or 8:30 a.m., have a breakfast ADR for about 9:45 a.m. (I'm thinking Kona), leave Disney property by about 11:15-ish, arrive at the terminal by 12:30, then go with the flow at a slower, less-stressed pace. I've read that the big rush and long lines are generally done with before 1:00 and the Disney transfer buses arrive from about 1 - 1:30. If being on the boat early is a big deal think early early because people are lining up outside the terminal well before they open it up for embarkation.

 

[disneygirl1]

So hears a question, will I just pick a random time for my port arrival time when I check in since we are staying at a Disney resort before the cruise I won't know what time I am being picked up till the night before right???

Oh may I am so confused! :shrug:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

So hears a question, will I just pick a random time for my port arrival time when I check in since we are staying at a Disney resort before the cruise I won't know what time I am being picked up till the night before right???

Oh may I am so confused! :shrug:

All this hullabaloo about port arrival times is for cruisers who are driving themselves to the port privately (or by towncar or something where you are responsible for getting yourself there, I think). If you're using Disney's transportation this isn't for you to worry about. Does that make sense? Like I said, people are really overthinking this stuff a lot which caused me to panic but it's not a big deal. We're all gonna get to our boat whether it's early or a little after the big rush.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

So hears a question, will I just pick a random time for my port arrival time when I check in since we are staying at a Disney resort before the cruise I won't know what time I am being picked up till the night before right???

Oh may I am so confused! :shrug:

Exactly what Kelly said! If you are using Disney transfers the port arrival times will not apply to you.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Exactly what Kelly said! If you are using Disney transfers the port arrival times will not apply to you.

Yeah, goes to show I really did totally freak then spend too many hours reading about this subject. I get a little over-reactive when I have that clueless feeling. Lol!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yeah, goes to show I really did totally freak then spend too many hours reading about this subject. I get a little over-reactive when I have that clueless feeling. Lol!

:lol: It's hard for compulsive planners to not know what to expect!

 

[ChuckElias]

On a side-note, do you maybe forsee Disney doing something similar to SWA where you will be offered an opportunity to pay a premium to be automatically checked-in so you get the earlier arrival times?

According to what I was told on the phone, the "premium" is to be a Platinum Level Castaway Club Member.

I called the DCL number asking about how to get my check-in time, and I was told that I'm a Platinum member, so not to worry about it. I can show up any time, according to that person.