Thread: boarding the ship

Flying to Barcelona for the Med. Cruise. Can Board at 1. Ship sails at 6. Do they allow you to get back off to do some sightseeing or must you stay on board.

WELCOME TO CLF!

I don't know the definite answer because I have never known anyone to do this. I would imagine it not being an option since boarding can be a long process in some ports. If you have sightseeing to do that day, I would suggest going to sightsee earl in the morning and just plan to board the ship closer to the time you are required to be on board like around 4pm. This way you wouldn't have to worry about waiting in lines twice if that was an option(which I am not certain that it is on departure day).

Check out the roll call boards to see if anyone is on your sailing...

Enjoy your cruise....I so want to go on a Med cruise!

Originally Posted by sjudd29

Flying to Barcelona for the Med. Cruise. Can Board at 1. Ship sails at 6. Do they allow you to get back off to do some sightseeing or must you stay on board.

Hi and welcome to CLF!!

Which ship are you sailing on??
It will depend which cruise line you are sailing with. We have cruised with Royal Caribbean many times out of Barcelona and even tho the ticket say embarkation is starting at 1 or 2 pm I always, and I never have any problem, board at around 1030am.
Yes, you can drop your luggage off, check in and go back into town for some sightseeing.
If you are staying at a hotel in Barcelona you can also ask for a late check out. The hotel will also store the luggage for you until you are ready to go to the port.
If you are flying in the same morning as your cruise starts I would go directly to the ship and check in.

Great Question!

What kind of sightseeing are you planing on? Just local around the port, because you could drop your luggage off with the porters at the pier then walk away and do not check in yet.

May I suggest that maybe if you must tour the area you takes Lars suggestion and have the hotel hold your luggage. This way, you can get up early, ask them to hold your stuff and then come back to the hotel to "check out" and get your ride to the pier.

Another note, Getting on the ship last minute can go rather quickly or rather slowly, my last cruise was the first time my girl and I got on the ship at about 2pm, to the pier around 1230 or so. We loved being on the ship that early. We got to check the room over, grab the camera toss our bathing suits on, head to the buffet for lunch and start our vacation... All before the muster drill!!

Oh and Welcome!

We are sailing on the Briliance of the seas. The reason I am asking this is our plane lands at 9 in the morning and the cruise said they do not board until 1. The cruise does not leave until 6. We have checked into a day hotel for a couple of hours but it does not seem worth it. If you are right then we should go right to the port and then take off to see some of the sights before heading back to the ship. When we return back to port after the cruise we will not have time to do any sight seeing so I was hoping to catch some that morning.
Thank you for all of your help.

They always say you can't board til 1 We have been on the ship as early 11:30 am. But you can't count on it as a sure thing.
Have a great cruise

Originally Posted by sjudd29

We are sailing on the Briliance of the seas. The reason I am asking this is our plane lands at 9 in the morning and the cruise said they do not board until 1. The cruise does not leave until 6. We have checked into a day hotel for a couple of hours but it does not seem worth it. If you are right then we should go right to the port and then take off to see some of the sights before heading back to the ship. When we return back to port after the cruise we will not have time to do any sight seeing so I was hoping to catch some that morning.
Thank you for all of your help.

I have cruised with Brilliance of the seas and other Royal Caribbean ships out of Barcelona and embarkation is available as early as 1030am!!
If you plane lands at 9am you should be through costums, and at the port by 1030am at the latest.
Remember you have to be onboard at least 1.5 hours before sailing.

When are you sailing on the Brilliance of the seas??

In most cases, they will let you check in and board the ship much earlier. You may not have access to your cabin to store your carry on luggage, though. It takes a while for the cabin stewards to get the cabins cleaned. Last time, we couldn't get to our cabins until about 2pm.

If you want to check your carry on luggage with the cruise porters, and just take out the things you need for the day (camera/medication/sun screen), you should be fine to do a couple of hours of sightseeing and then return to the ship later on.

Just ask the embarkation personnel when you need to be back and my advise is to get back at least an hour before.

Have a wonderful cruise!