New to cruising - whole group is new to Disney cruising. We are going on the Magic in Alaska. Can someone share some general details about getting off the boat at the ports during the cruise (not end of trip). Wondering what that process is like.
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It will be posted what deck to go to for disembarking at the port. The Navigator app will list the time when you can go ashore and also what time you need to be back onboard.
Make sure every member of the group (including children) has their key card. You need to scan those when you leave and when you get back. All adults should also have a form of government id. On your return to the ship, you will have to go through security and have any bags scanned.
It’s a pretty easy process in both directions!
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Do you have any excursions booked?
Not through Disney - so we won’t be meeting a port excursion on board to get off with them.
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Ok then you’ve gotten pretty good advice! Depending when the gangway opens and when you want to get off it can get sort of busy with elevators. You can try using the elevators on the other end of the ship or take the stairs.
Standard any cruise advice: aim to be back at the shop at least an hour before the all aboard. Any good private excursion will assist you with this.
Enjoy! We are going to Alaska in August.
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Thank you! In general, if you want to get off quickly, is this a head to area a little early and line up? I’m not nervous about making it to activities on time, but there a few places some of our group would love to head for a local coffee or donut if we can get off quickly.
We will be all good making it back to the boat on time - the couple organized excursions we booked with providers other than Disney are half day and leave plenty of room for us to explore and make our way back the ship before time.
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Yes, generally! The gangway times are always a little bit fuzzy because the ship usually has to clear paperwork and you need the port staff in the right place. So if you keep your eye on the pier (if you can) and at least get down to the low decks ahead of time you can be off before they make the formal announcement.
What times are you docking? All of my times in Alaska are at 6am so I don’t think I will be off the minute the gangway goes down 
Two of them are early lol - Skagway is 7:15AM. Icy Strait Point is 7 AM. Ketchikan is the weird one, not until 2 in the afternoon.
I think our excursion times will be fine. We’ve got 9AM railroad tickets in Skagway. So we should have plenty of time to get to the depot for that. We have something in Icy Strait Point that will be pretty tight, but we’re a group of 9 and they can only take 10 so have assured me they can’t leave without us since it’s basically a private group. In Ketchikan, even though it’s a short port time - 2 to 7 - our activity doesn’t start until 3. So we’ve got some solid buffer there too.
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Interesting that my port time in Ketchikan is 7am-2pm. They must try to crank us through this port!
I can’t wait! When are you going? We leave Aug 1.