What is leisurely disembarkation?

Answer 1

On my last Carnival cruise I decided not to rush off the ship so I planned on staying local for an extra day near the port (Tampa). I did a bit of Surfing before I left in order to find out what I needed to do to slow down the process, but was frustrated as to the lack of info out there. Everyone wants to rush off as fast as they can. What I did find gave me enough hope and information to consider it an option but I would need to get more info on board. Finally I was able to piece together the process in order to slow down debarkation in order to make it a leisurely, enjoyable, less stressfull process. Don't bother with self assist. The night before I debarked I packed my luggage and put it outside my cabin. This allowed me not to have to haul it around the ship with me in the morning. The critical part of this is the luggage debarkation tag number, the higher the number the later you get off the ship and the longer you have to chill out and watch all the others go crazy. You maybe able to leave the ship before your luggage tag number is called, but if you do don't count on your luggage being ready for pick up. I found out that you can go to Guest services and ask for different tags to stick onto your luggage. The night before, I was given tag number 9 and asked for the highest number they had, which was 24 on my particular cruise. The clerk advised me that all luggage is taken off the ship in numerical order and placed in their corresponding pick-up areas, 1 through 24. If you choose to stay late but don't change your luggage tag number to a higher one, it may be put aside in a general "unclaimed" area. As long as you vacate your room by 8'ish, you can stay on board until final call, however your luggage could be left unguarded for a lengthy time if your original tag number was smaller. The next day the self assist debarkers were all running around with their luggage, but not me, i headed up to the cafeteria to eat, while they were all heading down to rush off the ship. With four days of practice, I repeated my routine and had a leisure breakfast on the deck, while early debarking numbers were called. Then about an hour into the process, they started to call the regular tag holder numbers, like me. slowly the cafeteria emptied and the hallways and stairwells filled. The process then overloaded the customs and the line leaving the ship slowed, while I pulled out my book and finished the next chapter or two while enjoying another cup of coffee as the sun gently warmed me. About an hour later, they called 24 and then quickly announced just as i was reaching the elevator "final call for ALL passengers". Yup, I guess there are not many people with high numbers to plug the main deck. No one on the ship's elevators, no one in the debarkation area on the main deck, no line up to get off the ship, no one at the port elevator (why struggle with escalators if you did have one wheeled bag), no lines at customs and no mob hovering around the luggage lined up along the numbered customs waiting area wall. Also there were no line ups for taxies, or people trying to get luggage in and out of cars in the common loading areas. I walked over to my car, drove out of the empty parking lot, nor did I did have to deal with any local traffic jams as the streets were empty. I ended my morning doing some last minute shopping that finished my gift list, then headed to my hotel for a swim. All in all I was off the boat by 10 am, shopping at 10:45 am and swimming by 2, earlier if you check with the hotel for the earliest possible check in time. The secret to a calm, slowed down debarkation process, change your luggage tags for a higher number and plan your day in order to leave late, why would anyone want to rush off anyhow, I most certainly did not want to end my vacation!!