Many cruise lines offer a variety of perks and benefits to their most loyal guests, travelers who set sail with them over and over. While some perks are more popular than others, one of Carnival Cruise Line’s most coveted perks is its priority debarkation process.
This benefit is provided to Platinum and Diamond level guests in the cruise line’s Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) program, and permits those guests to debark the ship first at the end of a cruise.
This can be very beneficial indeed, as travelers can get on their post-cruise way ahead of crowds and can even make earlier flights or be well on their way home before other passengers have even made it down the gangway.
The perk can be confusing when compared to self-assist luggage debarkation, however. One cruiser brought up the comparison to John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, who provided clarification on the overall process.
“What is the intent of self-assist?” the guest asked. “Why are self-assisters called to depart before VIP Diamonds who are waiting for luggage to be taken to the carousel? Other cruise lines do not have self-assist.”
Self-assist debarkation is when guests carry off all their luggage by themselves, with no bags removed the night before and placed in the cruise terminal for collection. Travelers must be able to handle all bags on their own – hence, “self” assist – as there will be no assistance from crew members or porters from the ship to the cruise terminal.
Heald noted that self-assist is essential for today’s ships, as larger vessels carry thousands of passengers and it would be impossible for all bags to be handled by crew members. The original poster had claimed to have sailed twice aboard Carnival Jubilee recently, which can welcome 6,631 guests if fully booked.
“We must have self assist,” Heald confirmed. “Without it the debarkation of 6,000 guests on your ship would take many more hours which would result in a very late embarkation [for the next cruise].”
Heald also notes that US Customs and Border Protection also has a say in managing cruise ship debarkation and timing, and would have input on whether or not self-assist processes were manageable and effective.
How Self-Assist Debarkation Impacts VIFPs
While the original poster does not appear to understand what self-assist debarkation is, they certainly don’t seem to want their perks interrupted regardless of efficiency.
“If you do this then let the perk of being first off the ship happen,” they insisted. “We were not off the ship until 8:15 [a.m.].”
Heald explains the overall order of how self-assist travelers as well as Diamond and Platinum VIFP guests are managed for debarkation.
“We do take Diamond and Platinum and Faster to the Fun and Suite guests who have all their own bags with them off the ship first, before anyone else,” he confirmed.
These travelers are the VIFP and purchased benefit travelers who are also electing to use self-assist debarkation. This is the very first group of passengers who are permitted off the ship, as soon as the vessel is cleared for debarkation.
“Then once your tag 1 and tag 2 bags have been placed ashore by the port authority stevedores we will call guests ashore,” Heald explained. “While we wait for those bags to be placed ashore then yes, we do allow other guests on self-assist to leave.”
This is where the commenter’s confusion may come from. Diamond and Platinum guests who are not using self-assist debarkation are automatically assigned luggage tags in Zone 1 and Zone 2, the first bags that will be unloaded from the ship and placed in the terminal for collection.
However, it does take time for those bags to be moved to the terminal and ready for debarking guests to claim. In that short interval after the vessel is cleared for passengers to leave and before all Zone 1 and Zone 2 bags are ready for guests, other self-assist debarkation passengers are allowed to debark, even if they are not Diamond or Platinum level VIFPs.
Read Also: 6 Ways to Protect Your Cruise Ship Luggage
This ensures that debarkation is moving along as efficiently as possible, without delays or breaks waiting for luggage to be offloaded and placed in the terminal.
“I should also say that having you off the ship by 8:15 a.m. is, well, not too bad I think,” Heald concluded.
As for the original poster’s claim that “other cruise lines do not have self-assist” – this is untrue. Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Disney Cruise Line, among others, all offer self-assist debarkation options – this writer has used it every time, on every line.
Other commenters also note that self-assist is a common option with all cruise lines, and that being off such a large cruise ship by 8:15 a.m. is indeed efficient when one does not carry their own bags.
Some cruise passengers simply prefer the convenience of having larger bags taken off by crew members so they are waiting in the terminal, while other passengers are more interested in ensuring a faster, earlier debarkation and therefore, tote their bags themselves.
What all travelers do tend to agree on, however, is that the entitlement of some guests – of any loyalty level – is far more ridiculous than any debarkation confusion.
