3 Reasons to Disembark Early Through Express

There is part of a cruise that even people who love cruises dislike: disembarkation day. Not only does it signify the end of your cruise, for most, it signifies the end of their vacation and a return to the ho-hum everyday world. Traditionally, it has been an unpleasant experience, with the people who had previously pampered you and seen to your every whim now rushing you off of the ship.

It isn’t the most pleasant way to end a vacation. Although, to be fair to the officers and crew on the ship, getting quarters for a few thousand people cleaned and ready in the span of few hours isn’t easy. Fortunately, the experience has been getting better, and for many cruisers disembarkation doesn’t mean being turned out of their staterooms to wander aimlessly for hours until their numbers are called. Disney worked out a breakfast then disembark system that goes amazingly smooth on most voyages. Royal Caribbean will allow cruisers to remain in their staterooms until their section is called on some ships. Nearly every ship and nearly every port will also allow cruisers to keep their bags with them the night before people are scheduled to get off the ship, and disembark as soon as customs officials give clearance.

There are a few reasons why you would want to disembark early through express:

1. You’re In a Hurry

While cruising is something that you can’t really call hard, it is something where delays can make your vacation difficult and stressful. While missing the flight back home isn’t nearly as bad as missing the flight to your cruise—your house doesn’t move, and if it does you have bigger worries than a missed flight—but it might be, due to all of the explaining you have to do when you finally manage to get back to the office.

If your flight departs early in the morning, then you may need to be the first off of your ship in order to catch the earliest shuttle to the airport. If you have a flight between 10 AM and 12 PM, we recommend upgrading your Fly Snooze Cruise Package to express transportation and express debarking from the ship. The shared shuttle included in our packages is an excellent way to save money, but the shuttles depart as seats are filled, and it’s first come first served, this means your arrival time at the airport is flexible. The express shuttle upgrade gets you a seat on the first shuttle that departs Port Canaveral at 8 AM and will make sure that you catch an early flight.

If you happen to be driving in, and you didn’t take advantage of the free cruise parking offered by Go Port, then beating the traffic caused by a few thousand people simultaneously trying to exit the Port is probably enough reason to want to be the first down the gangway.

2. It Encourages You to Pack Light and Stay Light

The most often given—and ignored—advice given in cruising is to bring half the clothes you think you need. The reason is that storage space is limited in your stateroom, and you’ll be traveling with laundry facilities. You can wash your clothes halfway through, and if you’re willing to pay, have housekeeping do it for you. People still have a tendency to pack like they’re going on an expedition to the Himalayas.

The knowledge that you’re going to have to navigate your bags up and down the stairs yourself in order to get off the ship is an extra encouragement to leave that second pair of sandals back home, and keep you luggage light. It can also be a major factor in helping you save money. The truest test for the value of souvenirs isn’t how it looks when worn or on the shelf, but how well it goes around corners when you’re trying to disembark, and whether it can fit into an elevator with you, your friends and family, your bags, and other cruisers who are trying to take the same elevator.

3. You Want to See Something

There are a couple of reasons you might want to be among the first people off of the ship. There is the aforementioned needing to be somewhere, and also wanting to be somewhere.

Most cruise ports are located near places that are destinations worth a vacation on their own. While your cruise vacation is over, you might want to use your remaining time away from work and the other everyday cares of the world to see something near the port. The extra hour or so not having to wait to disembark can be the difference between enjoying something, going through it in a hurry, or skipping it entirely to make a flight.

It is after all your cruise vacation and nothing says it has to end the moment you step off the ship. It can be combined with other attractions.

How to Express Debark

In order to express disembark properly, you need to do a few things. Unfortunately, it is not quite as easy as keeping your bags and walking off the ship. Each cruise line has slight differences in how it does express debarkation. Thankfully we have outline all you need to know about express debarking for each cruise line sailing out of Port Canaveral here.