NEWS: Disney Cruise Line Makes Major Change to Boarding Process

Disney Cruise Ship

If you’re planning to set sail on a Disney Cruise later this year, be forewarned that a seemingly minor change could have a MAJOR impact on your sailing if you don’t plan accordingly. Later this fall, the Disney Cruise Line is changing their all-aboard time for select cruises.

For those unfamiliar with cruising vernacular, all-aboard Time is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: The designated time by which all passengers must be on board the ship before departure from its home port. Disney’s all-aboard time for most sailings has been 4:00PM for the most part. Until this coming September that is.

According to emails sent to those who’ve booked Disney Cruises out of Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale this fall, Disney is changing that all-aboard time to 3:00PM.

The email read in part, “The All Aboard time for your sailing has recently changed from 4:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. All Guests must be onboard by 3:00 p.m. Guests arriving after 3:00 p.m. or without proper citizenship documentation will be denied boarding.”

Set Sail with Disney Pals!

The Disney Cruise Line went on to stress that passengers with independent flight arrangements — IE those booked themselves and not as part of a larger Disney travel package — may wish to check the Disney Cruise Line website for the “recommended flight-time guidelines for their departure.” In other words, Disney will NOT wait for those flying into Orlando on their own flights, so make sure you have AMPLE time to make it to the port in time.

Despite this time change, the process will remain similar to what cruisers are used to. Beginning 30 days before your trip, you can begin an online check-in process that, according to Disney, “will streamline your port arrival experience. As part of this process, you will need to submit the required citizenship documents as well as select a Port Arrival Time. Online Check-in can be completed or modified up to one day prior to sailing.”

Checking in one more time

Looking at the Disney Cruise Line’s itineraries for September 2004 sees the Disney Magic sailing from Fort Lauderdale and the Disney Wish sailing from Port Canaveral, which means that its sailings on those two ships are affected by these all-aboard time changes.

Disney is banking on these changes not being too big a deal for most cruise passengers, writing “We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause. It is our hope that Guests will enjoy getting their sailing underway an hour.”

We’re on the Disney Wish!

While Disney’s tweak to all aboard time is just making them an hour earlier, this tiny change can have a large butterfly effect on your Disney Cruise if you don’t adequately plan accordingly.

July 16th, 2024 — Update: In a message shared with travel agents, Disney noted that those booked on Disney Dream sailings starting November 6th, 2024 OR Disney Fantasy sailings starting December 14th, 2024 that depart from Florida-based ports should receive a SeaMail about the updated All Aboard time. The All Aboard time for those affected sailings has been changed from 4PM to 3PM.

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Stay tuned to DFB for further Disney Cruise Line updates.

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