First time cruiser...sorry for the questions

[freetofly06]

My fiance and I are sailing the Dream on November 23, 2009 out of New York for our honeymoon to the Bahamas. We are brand new to cruising and I have a question. I'm sure this have been asked before........

When the ship docks in a port, do we have to be off the boat by a certain time? Our ship docks in Port Canveral at 7 am. Does that mean we have to be off the boat at 7 am? Do we have to get off the boat at all? If we don't want to get off, can we just stay on the ship?

Thanks so much!

Leigh Ann

[jbond]

No. you don't have to be off the ship by a certain time, you can stay onboard all day if you wish. Many people stay on board because the ship is very quiet and relaxing when most of the other passengers have gone ashore. I don't know about NCL, but some cruise lines only have a buffet lunch available when the ships are in port, no dining room service for lunch.

Welcome to CruiseCrazies.

[freetofly06]

No. you don't have to be off the ship by a certain time, you can stay onboard all day if you wish. Many people stay on board because the ship is very quiet and relaxing when most of the other passengers have gone ashore. I don't know about NCL, but some cruise lines only have a buffet lunch available when the ships are in port, no dining room service for lunch.

Welcome to CruiseCrazies.

Thank you so much! I had this feeling that we had to be off the boat by 7 am and if we did, I would have a very very unhappy fiance! He is not a morning person!

[lindasuelucas]

don't feel bad about having questions. i'm pretty new but i've been here for a while. and, i still have plenty of questions. matter of fact i believe i have more now then when i first joined.

[BruinSteve]

My fiance and I are sailing the Dream on November 23, 2009 out of New York for our honeymoon to the Bahamas. We are brand new to cruising and I have a question. I'm sure this have been asked before........

When the ship docks in a port, do we have to be off the boat by a certain time? Our ship docks in Port Canveral at 7 am. Does that mean we have to be off the boat at 7 am? Do we have to get off the boat at all? If we don't want to get off, can we just stay on the ship?

Thanks so much!

Leigh Ann

Leigh Ann,

Is that the END of your cruise?

While in ports DURING the cruise you don't have to get off at all, at the END of your cruise, unfortunately, we all have to get off...

But, when they say the ship docks at 7:00 am, don't even plan on being off that early...

First, they have to clear customs and deal with paperwork...and they want to try to move everyone off in an orderly fashion so they can coordinate luggage handling and not just have a rush to the gangway...

Here is what generally happens on all ships:

They will assign you colored luggage tags and give you an approximate departure time by priority--people with early flights out first, then those on organized shore excursions through the cruise line, repeat customers with priority disembarkation, etc. They will ask you to leave all of your luggage that needs to be "handled" outside your door by around 10:00 pm the night before (keep a small carry-on with a change for the morining)...

In the morning, they will have a time like 8:00 when they will ask you to vacate your room--so the cabin steward can start getting it ready for the next cruise...Then go have a nice last breakfast and await your departure time...Everyone should be off the ship by around 9:30, give or take a few minutes...

Hope that helps...

Bruin Steve

[jacketwatch]

First of all congrats on your upcoming honeymoon! Welcome to cruisecrazies too. You can stay on as long as you want in any port stop, no worries.

[freetofly06]

My fiance and I are sailing the Dream on November 23, 2009 out of New York for our honeymoon to the Bahamas. We are brand new to cruising and I have a question. I'm sure this have been asked before........

When the ship docks in a port, do we have to be off the boat by a certain time? Our ship docks in Port Canveral at 7 am. Does that mean we have to be off the boat at 7 am? Do we have to get off the boat at all? If we don't want to get off, can we just stay on the ship?

Thanks so much!

Leigh Ann

Leigh Ann,

Is that the END of your cruise?

While in ports DURING the cruise you don't have to get off at all, at the END of your cruise, unfortunately, we all have to get off...

But, when they say the ship docks at 7:00 am, don't even plan on being off that early...

First, they have to clear customs and deal with paperwork...and they want to try to move everyone off in an orderly fashion so they can coordinate luggage handling and not just have a rush to the gangway...

Here is what generally happens on all ships:

They will assign you colored luggage tags and give you an approximate departure time by priority--people with early flights out first, then those on organized shore excursions through the cruise line, repeat customers with priority disembarkation, etc. They will ask you to leave all of your luggage that needs to be "handled" outside your door by around 10:00 pm the night before (keep a small carry-on with a change for the morining)...

In the morning, they will have a time like 8:00 when they will ask you to vacate your room--so the cabin steward can start getting it ready for the next cruise...Then go have a nice last breakfast and await your departure time...Everyone should be off the ship by around 9:30, give or take a few minutes...

Hope that helps...

Bruin Steve

Ooops I should have been more specific...that is when we are docked in Port Canveral during our cruise. We are there from 7 am to 7 pm on Thanksgiving Day. There really is nothing we want to do in Port Canaveral that we can find so we were thinking just staying on the ship for the day. We didn't know if we had to get off and get back on again or if we could just wake up and stay on the ship all day.

But thank you for the above info on disemabarking back at home....I didnt' know all of the above...

[BruinSteve]

Ooops I should have been more specific...that is when we are docked in Port Canveral during our cruise. We are there from 7 am to 7 pm on Thanksgiving Day. There really is nothing we want to do in Port Canaveral that we can find so we were thinking just staying on the ship for the day. We didn't know if we had to get off and get back on again or if we could just wake up and stay on the ship all day.

Yeah, that's different...I was questioning it since Port Canaveral is a frequent embarkation/debarkation port...I've rarely seen it as just a port stop...It's really not that exciting a port stop...it's just a US town...I guess some would get off to see the Space Center...but that is not worth 12 hours...

So, you may find a lot of people staying on...

Typically, in every port, some people leave early and stay in port a long time...a lot of others will leave in the morning, see whatever they want to see, then get back to the ship early...and others will not get off the ship at all...

The schedule of activities onboard is usually pared down a bit from what you'd find on an "At sea" day, but there will be a number of things scheduled...Most ships nowadays, won't open the main dining room for lunch if they're in port (they used to) so lunch will likely be buffet only...In some ports, some people will leave to tour in the morning, return to the ship for lunch, then venture out again in the afternoon...

There is no schedule except the posted time for when you MUST be back to the ship (usually a half an hour before sailing...

Also, note that some ports you will be "docked", others "tendered"...Docked means you just walk off the ship, tendered means they anchor off the coast and suttle you in by smaller boats (called "tenders"--which double as lifeboats)...These sometime entail lines or priority tickets to go out or come back...

[freetofly06]

Ooops I should have been more specific...that is when we are docked in Port Canveral during our cruise. We are there from 7 am to 7 pm on Thanksgiving Day. There really is nothing we want to do in Port Canaveral that we can find so we were thinking just staying on the ship for the day. We didn't know if we had to get off and get back on again or if we could just wake up and stay on the ship all day.

Yeah, that's different...I was questioning it since Port Canaveral is a frequent embarkation/debarkation port...I've rarely seen it as just a port stop...It's really not that exciting a port stop...it's just a US town...I guess some would get off to see the Space Center...but that is not worth 12 hours...

So, you may find a lot of people staying on...

Typically, in every port, some people leave early and stay in port a long time...a lot of others will leave in the morning, see whatever they want to see, then get back to the ship early...and others will not get off the ship at all...

The schedule of activities onboard is usually pared down a bit from what you'd find on an "At sea" day, but there will be a number of things scheduled...Most ships nowadays, won't open the main dining room for lunch if they're in port (they used to) so lunch will likely be buffet only...In some ports, some people will leave to tour in the morning, return to the ship for lunch, then venture out again in the afternoon...

There is no schedule except the posted time for when you MUST be back to the ship (usually a half an hour before sailing...

Also, note that some ports you will be "docked", others "tendered"...Docked means you just walk off the ship, tendered means they anchor off the coast and suttle you in by smaller boats (called "tenders"--which double as lifeboats)...These sometime entail lines or priority tickets to go out or come back...

Thank you for your help. We weren't sure if we had to get off the ship or not. Now that we know we don't have to, everything will be so much more relaxing. We got a balcony room too and I'm sooo looking forward to sitting and relaxing!

[mary111]

Sometimes staying after everyone else is off makes it easier. Also it's so backed up to get off right away as it seems that's what everyone wants to do asap. We find waitingabout an hour after docking is good unless you have an excursion you need to get to right away.