You'll want to get onboard your cruise ship as soon as possible to get your vacation started. After all, the price you paid doesn't change if you board at 11am or 2pm.
As a result, you're going to want to get an early check-in time to assure you'll board the ship first.
Boarding a cruise ship is somewhat similar to boarding an airplane. Everyone waits for the ship to be cleared and ready to welcome passengers, and then boarding commences in groups.
Usually suite guests go first, followed by other passengers based on different criteria.
But before you can get into the cruise terminal, Royal Caribbean assigns check-in times to every passenger. It's part of the pre-cruise check-in process, and there are limited slots to each check-in window.
Knowing when to check-in for your cruise can be the difference between an early time and one in the afternoon. While a relatively straightforward process, it's important to know the proper steps as well as what to avoid when checking in.
Getting the earliest check-in time
You'll be able to reserve a check-in time closer to your sail date, and it's imperative to be on the ball to get those early time slots.
Royal Caribbean's online check-in opens 45 days before your cruise is set to begin.
It's slightly confusing exactly what time check-in opens, because it's 45 days at midnight based on the ship's home port time. Meaning, if you live in New York, but your Alaska cruise departs from Seattle, your check-in time opens at 3am Eastern/midnight Pacific.
In my experience, check-in will open up a few minutes past midnight. It's rarely exactly at midnight, usually five or ten minutes later.
You can do online check-in via Royal Caribbean's website or their app. Trust me, you'll want to use the Royal Caribbean app and not the website.
The primary reason to use the app is when check-in opens, you can skip right to the check-in times and select a time. The Royal Caribbean website will make you first fill out personal information before getting there.
You'll need to reserve a check-in time for everyone in your party. After you're done and have the times confirmed, you can go back into the app later and fill out the rest of the personal information.
I know what you're thinking, "do I really need to stay up until midnight to check-in?" and the answer is yes, if you want the earliest time.
If you wait until morning, you'll probably have access to the second or third earliest check-in times. That's far from terrible, and you'll still be way ahead of people that try to do it later. But if you absolutely, positively need to the earliest time, starting the check-in process at midnight is critical.
The earliest check-in times begin around 10:30am or 11:00am. It can vary from sailing to sailing.
Book a suite
The strategy outlined in this article applies to all passengers, but those staying in a suite have one advantage over other passengers.
Suite guests enjoy a flexible check-in window of plus or minus one hour based on the check-in time you reserved.
This means if you had an 11:00am check-in time via the app, you could check-in as early as 10:00am.
If you book a Star Class cabin, your Royal Genie will coordinate with you a specific time you want to arrive and they will work around your preference. It's the ultimate "fastpass" for checking in, but Star Class cabins will easily cost you five figures.
Keep in mind the check-in times doesn't correlate to boarding time. It simply refers to what time they'll admit you into the cruise terminal to begin checking in.
It should go without saying that spending the extra money to move up to a suite just for an earlier check-in time almost certainly is not a great value. But it's a lovely perk to add onto the suite experience.
Purchase The Key
There's one other way to get an early check-in by throwing money at the problem.
Royal Caribbean offers a VIP extra-cost add-on, known as The Key.
Guests that buy The Key get a number of added benefits, including priority access into the terminal on Day 1.
You still select a boarding time during online check-in, but a couple weeks before the cruise, you will get an email that tells you you can board with The Key (usually 11:30 after suite guests) or keep your scheduled time.
I'm not a fan of purchasing The Key, but it's worth noting it could get you checked-in and onboard faster (among other benefits).
