When you get to a hotel before the stated check-in time, your room may not be ready if it's before the allotted check-in time. When that happens, you can often check your bags, go get a coffee or something to eat, and come back at the posted time.
Sometimes, of course, you get lucky and a room is available (or you can pay for an early check-in). On a cruise ship, people can often board the ship before rooms are ready.
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In most cases, boarding for Carnival and Royal Caribbean brands starts between 10:30a.m. and 11 a.m. with the last slots being around 2 p.m., or a little later. Cabins on cruise ships, however, are generally not available until 1 p.m. or 1:30 p.m.
Most cruise ship passengers, even ones who check their luggage, usually have a carry-on bag. Many people pack a bathing suit, a change of clothes, any medicine they might take, and other essentials in a bag they carry on the ship with them.
On a Royal Caribbean (RCL) ship, passengers generally have to keep their carry-ons with them until rooms open. There are some exceptions as people who buy the early boarding package, "The Key" can check their bags onboard for quick delivery to their room while top-tier suites get immediate access to their cabins.
Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by Royal Caribbean Group, invites all passengers to drop their carry-on luggage in their cabin when they board. Once they do that, however, they are expected to quickly leave the room so finishing cleaning touches can be made.
The cruise line actually posts signs on the cabin doors reminding passengers to drop their bags and leave.
Carnival has a similar policy, but only for select passengers and enough people don't follow the rules that Brand Ambassador John Heald regularly posts about it on his Facebook page.
Carnival Cruise Line has a clear boarding rule
While Royal Caribbean does not allow most passengers to drop off their bags before rooms open, and Celebrity allows all passengers to drop their bags off, Carnival has a more mixed policy. The cruise line allows higher tier Diamond and Platinum loyalty program members, suite guests, and people who pay for "Faster to the Fun" early boarding to drop off their carry-on luggage before cabins open.
Some passengers, however, take advantage of the policy and don't simply drop their bags off and leave. Heald addressed that in a recent post.
"Again, I have to say that when a housekeeping crewmember says to you 'D' to please leave the cabin, he is not being rude. He is saying I still need time to clean your cabin," Heald posted. "Yes, you can put your carry-on bags in the closet, but please leave straight away. I need to clean the cabin. He wasn’t being rude. He just needed the time to get this done."
The Brand Ambassador essentially pleaded with his followers to follow the rule.
"Thank you to everyone who has the priority boarding and is able to do this to please remember to kindly leave the cabin so they can clean. They just want to do the best for you. That’s all," he added.
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Carnival customers support Heald, cabin stewards
The over 300 comments on Heald's posts were broadly supportive of the work the cabin stewards do and getting out of their way.
"Yep. Respect the cabin stewards, who work hard to let us have a great cruise. They have a job to do. The last thing they need is someone getting in the middle of their job. Nobody needs to sit in their cabin the minute they walk on board. Give them time to take good care of you," shared Raymond Owens.
Some expressed anger that people can't follow what seems like a simple rule.
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"It's really not that hard to understand that cabins aren't ready until a certain time. So that means don't go there until that time. Some people have to be entitled and expect that the rules don't apply to them. It's sad really," wrote Mike Scotty.
Other posters were concerned that people who abuse the perk might cause the cruise line to take it away.
"People, please drop and go so we don’t lose this wonderful perk! Why do people always have to push the limits?...Just because no one calls you out doesn’t make it right. Play nice and have a great cruise," added Diana Dirla.
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