Rhapsody boarding time

[slouman]

Hello All...

We are sailing on the Rhapsody next month and received documents yesterday. In documentation it said to plan to board after 2 p.m. What is the "real" time we can begin boarding? I usually board around noon but have never been through the boarding process for RCCL in Galveston. Naturally, we want to board as early as possible but don't want to sit around the terminal waiting either.

Thanks,
Robert

[Cruise Fanatic]

Well nobody likes sitting around waiting. But there is no guarantee of what time boarding will start. They give you 2pm as a worst case scenario. Usually boarding starts much earlier when they clear the last cruise. Chances are if you arrived around 12noon you probably wouldn't have much wait.

[slouman]

The documentation says to arrive NO EARLIER than 2 PM. I've never sailed from Galveston on RCCL so wasn't sure if there was a particular reason for that or are they just trying to prevent the early rush in order to clean cabins, etc.

Anyone have any personal experience with embarkation in Galveston?

Carnival also goes out of the same port in Galveston. The earliest we were able to arrive was 12noon and got on the ship by 12:45pm - guess it depeneds on how fast the cleaning crew can move. NCL is out of Houston. Hope that helps.

[Oma24Boys]

We went on the Rhapsody last year and were allowed to board before 2PM but we were not allowed to take our carryons, etc. to our staterooms. We were directed to the buffet or pool area.

[slouman]

Well, we just got back from a GREAT cruise and I thought I'd post an answer to my own question in case anyone else is wondering.

Since we had to check out of our hotel by 11 we went directly to the pier. We arrived at the terminal with bags unloaded around 11, checked in immediately, and were directed to a waiting area. The ship started boarding at 11:15 and we were on the ship at 11:20 but cabins were not available until 1 o'clock. Windjammer was open for lunch and at exactly 1 the cabins were made available.

The whole process could not have been smoother considering our early arrival.