Pearl Castaway Club members can currently arrive anytime for their Disney Cruise Line sailing instead of selecting a boarding time.

Pearl Castaway Club Arrivals

The Pearl Castaway Club tier for guests who have sailed on 25 or more sailings launched earlier this year with the start of the Silver Anniversary at Sea. Before that, the highest tier was Platinum, for guests who have been on 10 or more sailings.

Scott Sanders of Disney Cruise Line Blog chronicled the quiet roll-out of the new feature. Disney Cruise Line guests are usually required to select a port arrival time, to limit overcrowding at the terminal, but recently, Pearl Castaway Club members checking in online noticed they were not required to select a port arrival time.

Pearl members are instead allowed to arrive anytime at the port, as long as it is at least one hour before all aboard time. Pearl members who had already checked in even found that their boarding group number was moved to #2 – an earlier time — or they were told they no longer needed to select an arrival time.

This privilege used to be available to Platinum Castaway Club members. After cruising returned in 2021, though, Disney Cruise Line required and enforced the port arrival time for all guests, regardless of their Castaway Club tier. This helped manage the amount of guests that were in the terminal at the same time.

The Disney Cruise Line website still states Pearl members can “Select port arrival times and complete online check-in 40 days prior to sailing” (other tiers can select between 33 and 38 days prior). It’s possible the perk is being tested or that the Disney Cruise Line website hasn’t been updated yet.

Are you in the Castaway Club? Let us know your experiences in the comments.

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