Check-in problems

[n2mm]

You are so awesome!!! Thank you so much!!! I learned a lot from you and I am not looking forward to checking in We have only cruised concierge in the past and the check in process and boarding first I'm learning is a real perk that I didn't fully appreciate till now. We even looked into upgrading but felt it wasn't worth an extra $2000 for a three night cruise.......or is it.......LOL! I love this discussion board because everyone is so helpful and kind. I appreciate all your advice and tips. Thank you again Disney friend

You’re welcome. Dcl could make it easier, but they don’t seem interested in doing it. Just stagger checkin my club level.

 

[kimszath]

Wondering... understand the online check-in is 30 days prior. We've had to order a new passport for my elderly Mom since hers expired a while ago... we paid extra for the 5-7 week "hurry up" charge. If her passport hasn't arrived by the time we need to do the midnight online registration, will our registration not go through until her passport arrives? For the May 27 cruise, 30 days prior is Apr 27, and her passport is expected "sometime" between Apr 16 and Apr 30. Thanks in advance! (And we don't have a copy of her BC with raised seal... wasn't needed for her passport previously.)

 

[n2mm]

Wondering... understand the online check-in is 30 days prior. We've had to order a new passport for my elderly Mom since hers expired a while ago... we paid extra for the 5-7 week "hurry up" charge. If her passport hasn't arrived by the time we need to do the midnight online registration, will our registration not go through until her passport arrives? For the May 27 cruise, 30 days prior is Apr 27, and her passport is expected "sometime" between Apr 16 and Apr 30. Thanks in advance! (And we don't have a copy of her BC with raised seal... wasn't needed for her passport previously.)

As you suspected, you can’t finish unless you upload a passport or birth certificate and drivers license. You could always upload the birth certificate and drivers license even though it will get rejected later. I’ve never done that, so don’t know for sure if it will even upload, but think a person has to review it. A drivers license or government issued ID is required for everyone 16 and older who uses a birth certificate.

 

[cmph]

We recently did a Wonder cruise out of SD. It's mostly confusing because everyone gets there early and wants to wait "up front" for their line to open up.

There are/were 3 lines set up outside the terminal. Every 15 minutes the sign at the head of each line changes what PAT that particular line is for. So that's a 45 minute wait if you arrive when they set up the line for your PAT. But, as I said, there were a lot of people whose PATs were 1 or 2 hours away just hanging around up close to the terminal.

Once the PAT arrives, that line is let into the terminal. Where another line awaits. This one is to confirm that you have your boarding pass and lets you into the security area and took about 20 minutes.

In the security area there's (guess what) another line to go through the scanners. That one took about another 20-25 minutes.

Once through the scanners, you walk about 2/3 of the way to the other end of the terminal and into another line for the check in counters. That line was really short and we only waited about 5 minutes there.

After checking in they direct you to sit/wait in the seating area there until your boarding number is announced. In our case, there was no one waiting, and we went directly to the end of the terminal to double back outside to the escalator up to the gangway.

All together, our PAT was 12:45 and we were onboard the ship at 1:30.

That crowd outside of the building was bonkers!! I realize you can't control people, but DCL really needs to at least attempt to communicate that it's pointless to get there so early. We had 11:00 PAT and crossed the street at 11:08. There was a big line to put luggage on carts, plus the 3 PAT lines (11:15, 11:30, 11:45 at that point), and the big extra group of people waiting for no reason. I went up to a CM and said I had 11am PAT, and she pointed us straight through and said I could drop my luggage inside. So by arriving shortly after PAT, we completely avoided that entire outside wait. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would wait there for 45min from PAT line opening, much less hours longer! On my post-cruise survey, I told DCL that that was a big mess, and it was only thanks to disboards that I knew how to time my arrival and bypass the crowds and lines.

 

[Belle_Ann]

That crowd outside of the building was bonkers!! I realize you can't control people, but DCL really needs to at least attempt to communicate that it's pointless to get there so early. We had 11:00 PAT and crossed the street at 11:08. There was a big line to put luggage on carts, plus the 3 PAT lines (11:15, 11:30, 11:45 at that point), and the big extra group of people waiting for no reason. I went up to a CM and said I had 11am PAT, and she pointed us straight through and said I could drop my luggage inside. So by arriving shortly after PAT, we completely avoided that entire outside wait. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would wait there for 45min from PAT line opening, much less hours longer! On my post-cruise survey, I told DCL that that was a big mess, and it was only thanks to disboards that I knew how to time my arrival and bypass the crowds and lines.

Did you happen to notice how early you could drop luggage at the port in SD? Our PAT is 12:15 but would be great if we could drop our luggage around 10am and then tour around the area before we come back to board. I guess the other option is just leave it at bell services at our hotel which I think is very close by (Wyndham).

 

[happycamper47]

That crowd outside of the building was bonkers!! I realize you can't control people, but DCL really needs to at least attempt to communicate that it's pointless to get there so early.

They have and do, but there are people who think it won't be enforced.

 

[cmph]

Did you happen to notice how early you could drop luggage at the port in SD? Our PAT is 12:15 but would be great if we could drop our luggage around 10am and then tour around the area before we come back to board. I guess the other option is just leave it at bell services at our hotel which I think is very close by (Wyndham).

Yes, there was actually a separate line for luggage drop. The area for line-forming and waiting is barricaded off the street. There are 3 roped lines closest to the building, which will have PAT times posted; the head of each line is closest to the gate you walk through to get into the building. Closer to the street and parallel to those lines, there was a long, unmarked line for luggage drop-off. There was no signage or rope to indicate what that line was for; basically, everyone wanders around for a minute before noticing porters with carts at the front of the line (who may or may not be there at any given moment). So - if you see a long line of people with luggage, that is it.

However, I would caution that 10am may be a bit early. We had the earliest non-concierge PAT, which was 11-11:15am. And, we did not finish disembarkation until 10am. We had second seating breakfast at 8:30am, and the line to get off was pretty long. We were by no means near the end of the line. There were people already there for embarkation when we walked across the street to get our car, but the porters were still inside the gated area to deal with all the people still disembarking.

 

[cmph]

They have and do, but there are people who think it won't be enforced.

I think it needs to be reinforced in a special message for San Diego, to convey that early arrivals are literally standing on the street outside in the sun. No chairs or shade or building access whatsoever. I've sailed on the Wonder out of Galveston, too, which is not a 'nice' cruise terminal, but it is at least not directly on a very busy city street and has a long roof-covered sidewalk and some benches along the building. Sure, no one should arrive super early ever, but the total lack of amenities in San Diego in comparison with other ports is a smart thing to communicate. I only knew how bad it was from disboards.

 

[happycamper47]

I think it needs to be reinforced in a special message for San Diego, to convey that early arrivals are literally standing on the street outside in the sun.

That was the exact same scenario Oct of 21 post pandemic for testing. They were all lined up the exact same way.. We stayed at the Intercontinental and had transfers so we didn't have to mess with the luggage and bypassed the wait and went right into test.

 

[Mango7100]

We recently did a Wonder cruise out of SD. It's mostly confusing because everyone gets there early and wants to wait "up front" for their line to open up.

There are/were 3 lines set up outside the terminal. Every 15 minutes the sign at the head of each line changes what PAT that particular line is for. So that's a 45 minute wait if you arrive when they set up the line for your PAT. But, as I said, there were a lot of people whose PATs were 1 or 2 hours away just hanging around up close to the terminal.

Once the PAT arrives, that line is let into the terminal. Where another line awaits. This one is to confirm that you have your boarding pass and lets you into the security area and took about 20 minutes.

In the security area there's (guess what) another line to go through the scanners. That one took about another 20-25 minutes.

Once through the scanners, you walk about 2/3 of the way to the other end of the terminal and into another line for the check in counters. That line was really short and we only waited about 5 minutes there.

After checking in they direct you to sit/wait in the seating area there until your boarding number is announced. In our case, there was no one waiting, and we went directly to the end of the terminal to double back outside to the escalator up to the gangway.

All together, our PAT was 12:45 and we were onboard the ship at 1:30.

Same thing in Miami last weekend for the Dream. So many people standing outside or sitting in the direct sun waiting for their PAT. It was hard to get around them with our carryons. We arrived 15 minutes after our PAT due to traffic getting in the port and it actually worked out better since we walked right into the terminal. so glad we arrived late

 

[cvjw]

I really wish they would stagger the checkin time by tier. Or even save some of our info.

Just checked in for the 8 night on the fantasy in April. Some on my info was already filled in. Only problem was that it wasn’t my info. It had someone else’s passport info showing up!

 

[MillauFr]

I still don’t understand why Disney doesn’t outsource all of their computer systems to Amazon Web Services. I hope they don’t have to go through a Southwest style meltdown before they switch over

 

[Belle_Ann]

Yes, there was actually a separate line for luggage drop. The area for line-forming and waiting is barricaded off the street. There are 3 roped lines closest to the building, which will have PAT times posted; the head of each line is closest to the gate you walk through to get into the building. Closer to the street and parallel to those lines, there was a long, unmarked line for luggage drop-off. There was no signage or rope to indicate what that line was for; basically, everyone wanders around for a minute before noticing porters with carts at the front of the line (who may or may not be there at any given moment). So - if you see a long line of people with luggage, that is it.

However, I would caution that 10am may be a bit early. We had the earliest non-concierge PAT, which was 11-11:15am. And, we did not finish disembarkation until 10am. We had second seating breakfast at 8:30am, and the line to get off was pretty long. We were by no means near the end of the line. There were people already there for embarkation when we walked across the street to get our car, but the porters were still inside the gated area to deal with all the people still disembarking.

@cmph this is very helpful. Thanks! I think we’ll just store our bags at the hotel until we’re ready for our PAT. We don’t want to stand around or get into a rush of people still leaving.

 

[cmph]

@cmph this is very helpful. Thanks! I think we’ll just store our bags at the hotel until we’re ready for our PAT. We don’t want to stand around or get into a rush of people still leaving.

I think that is the best move. We got there right after they had removed the 11:00 PAT sign and replaced it with 11:45. We completely bypassed standing in the PAT line AND the luggage line. The CM just pointed us through the gate, and the luggage drop-off was on the left right away, so you barely have to take it further than the luggage line by the street. I'm not sure if people think there is a great deal of effort saved by using that luggage line - but there really isn't. The self drop-off is so close.