People on vacation want to get every ounce of value from their trip. That's why you see people angling to get on their cruise ship as soon as possible.
If you snag an early boarding time, you get an extra few hours of vacation. The problem is that those hours happen early in the day.
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That's great if you love lounging around the pool or really want to attack the first-day buffet, but they come at a heavy price. In order to begin boarding ships at 10:30 or 11 a.m. Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line, and every other major cruise line have to get passengers out of their rooms by 8 a.m.
In many ways, that casts a pall over the last night of your cruise. When you should be soaking in every last bit of fun you can, an early morning wake-up hangs over you.
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Some passengers handle this by cutting the night short while others embrace their FOMO and party until the ship closes. That, however, comes with a price since going to bed after 2 a.m. and getting up in time to leave your cabin by 8 a.m. is simply brutal.
Virgin Voyages, however, has a better way and Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC Cruises, and other cruise lines would be smart to adopt it
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Carnival and Royal Caribbean add last-day stress
On the final day of your cruise, Royal Caribbean and Carnival make it clear that getting you off the ship is the top goal. You can hear the room stewards setting up their cleaning supplies outside the cabins around 7 a.m.
Breakfast is served in the buffet and the coffee shops are open, but the goal is to get you off the ship so new passengers can board before 11 a.m. That does not make for a relaxing morning and it pushes tired people into their cars or headed to airports with a very long day ahead of them.
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For me, it's not the actual getting up, it's knowing that I have to get up. On a regular cruise day, I rarely sleep past 8 a.m. but knowing that I can makes that sleep much easier. Add in an alarm clock (albeit on my watch) and the knowledge that going back to bed is not an option, and what should be a fun evening becomes a stressful one.
Virgin Voyages makes a trade
Virgin Voyages begins boarding its ships about 3 1/2 hours later than its rivals. So, you lose a first-day lunch but still get some pool time or a chance to explore the ship before embarkation.
That's a sacrifice Virgin believes passengers are happily willing to make. (Virgin is a joint venture of Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Bain Capital.)
"At Virgin Voyages, we completely support our Sailors' desire for a late checkout. With that, boarding generally begins at 2 p.m., but Sailors must follow their selected Terminal Arrival Time to complete terminal check-in," the cruise line shares on its website.
Boarding people later on their first day allows for a better experience for passengers looking to have a more restful disembarkation experience.
"We want our Sailors to be able to fully enjoy their final night with us and not feel rushed in the morning. With that, we've extended disembarkation through 10:45 am to allow the most flexibility. Please refer to your booking confirmation for an exact disembarkation time," according to Virgin Voyages.
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Passengers can sleep in a little, go have a full breakfast, and take a shower on their final day if they so choose to. It is a much less rushed experience, and that makes the last night of a Virgin Voyages cruise as much fun as any other night on the trip.
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Virgin currently operates three ships but has a fourth on order.
Royal Caribbean and Carnival could make a similar change, or even just shift back to give passengers until 8 a.m. in their cabins so they can truly enjoy their final night on the ship.
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