Embarkation advice

We are going out on the Royal Princess in December. It's the first Princess cruise for us since 2002. We've been on many since (mostly HAL) but are looking forward to returning to Princess.

In recent years, we've become early arrivers (once we were actually first in line). We like the chance for an uncrowded lunch and tour the ship.

However, in viewing these boards, I'm am detecting that early may not be the best strategy on this line. Our boarding pass shows a 12:30-3:00 check-in window.

What can we expect? This will be a Monday departure and the Royal is the only ship in at Port Everglades.

This is our experience:

Arrive at the pier around 11am. You might have to wait outside, under cover, for a short period. Check in usually starts around 11am. After check in you will be shown to a seated waiting area, seated in the order you arrived. Around noon boarding begins with priority boarders first, then general boarding. You should be on board by 12:30. Go directly to your cabin, it will be ready. No need to carry around your carry on bags. Most passengers will be on board by 1pm. One DR should be open for lunch from noon to 1:30. It is normally the DR on Deck 6 mid ship, but it could be another one. Check the Princess Patter which will be in your cabin. Other options for lunch include: The International Cafe, Deck 5, (a favorite of ours) Alfredo's, Deck 6, (sit down served individual pizzas and other Italian items), Horizon Ct./Horizon Bistro Buffet, Lido deck, with both indoor and outdoor seating (check out the Horizon Terrace seating area aft), Trident Grill & Prego Pizza also by the pool on the Lido deck. We found the buffet on the Royal is very much improved from other Princess ships. All areas mentioned are at no extra charge.

This is our experience:

Arrive at the pier around 11am. You might have to wait outside, under cover, for a short period. Check in usually starts around 11am. After check in you will be shown to a seated waiting area, seated in the order you arrived. Around noon boarding begins with priority boarders first, then general boarding. You should be on board by 12:30. Go directly to your cabin, it will be ready. No need to carry around your carry on bags. Most passengers will be on board by 1pm. One DR should be open for lunch from noon to 1:30. It is normally the DR on Deck 6 mid ship, but it could be another one. Check the Princess Patter which will be in your cabin. Other options for lunch include: The International Cafe, Deck 5, (a favorite of ours) Alfredo's, Deck 6, (sit down served individual pizzas and other Italian items), Horizon Ct./Horizon Bistro Buffet, Lido deck, with both indoor and outdoor seating (check out the Horizon Terrace seating area aft), Trident Grill & Prego Pizza also by the pool on the Lido deck. We found the buffet on the Royal is very much improved from other Princess ships. All areas mentioned are at no extra charge.

I wonder if you can address the issue of check in times that Princess sends out. I received an email stating that our boarding time on Regal, 11/30 is between 12:30AND 1:30. We will be driving and arriving at approximately 11 AM. We are Platinum.

Just remember, EVERYBODY wants to be first. It do get crowded sometimes.

I wonder if you can address the issue of check in times that Princess sends out. I received an email stating that our boarding time on Regal, 11/30 is between 12:30AND 1:30. We will be driving and arriving at approximately 11 AM. We are Platinum.

Your printed boarding time is a suggestion. You can arrive earlier and board earlier if you wish. Like the above poster, we like to arrive at 11:00 am and are usually on board the ship by 12:00-12:30 pm.

Our last cruise in Europe with Princess we arrived around 11am (Venice) we were able to check in (after some hostility from the check-in employee for not having printed copies of our boarding pass as i had pdf on my tablet to save paper) and waited for over an hour and a 1/2 before our number was called. I am not sure if you number was assigned based upon first come first served or based upon your original board time. The best check-in we ever had was Royal Caribbean. Our second cruise, we checked in and they gave us priorty boarding as past guests and allowed us to board right away. I too love getting on early. Worst case, you sit around a bit but at least they take your large luggage bags and put them on board. In all our cruise experience, we have never had to wait outside in the sun/heat but not all terminals have a/c. Venice was really hot but they provided lots of ice water. My biggest piece of advice, have printed boarding passes to give them ar check-in.

Cheers

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On all but one of our Princess cruises we have arrived @ the terminal between 11 & 12 and been onboard by around 12:30 (some earlier) I believe our longest wait was probably around 45 mins. - but no one can tell you what will occur for your sailing, so have a "go with the flow, I'm on vacation" attitude :) -

Usually any long delays are caused by things that are out of Princesses control...late disembarking from previous cruise due to lack of immigration/custom officers, through cleaning due to norovirus, slow disembarking previous passengers...etc. ~

Princess wants folks onboard spending that $$$ ;)

Knight's run down was pretty accurate but on our last cruise we arrived around 10:30 and there was no real line, we dropped off our bags and proceeded inside, went through security and chickened in very quickly. We were Ruby back then and we were led to a seating are just outside of the "elite" area. We waited for a while and then were led onto the ship.

We were in our stateroom before noon! I was upset because we had 15 minutes to wait before we could get to the MDR for lunch!

That was a smooth embarkation.

Our last three cruises were out of the Port of LA and the two times we arrived before noon, there were no lines (maybe one or two parties before us). The time in between, the company we booked to pick us up from home messed up the booking and we got there after noon -- a line.

You just don't know how it will be from cruise to cruise (and as someone said, there could be other factors out of Princess's control), but it seems to me whenever we arrived later no matter the port, we've faced a line. Earlier, not necessarily.

On all but one of our Princess cruises we have arrived @ the terminal between 11 & 12 and been onboard by around 12:30 (some earlier) I believe our longest wait was probably around 45 mins. - but no one can tell you what will occur for your sailing, so have a "go with the flow, I'm on vacation" attitude :) -

Usually any long delays are caused by things that are out of Princesses control...late disembarking from previous cruise due to lack of immigration/custom officers, through cleaning due to norovirus, slow disembarking previous passengers...etc. ~

 

Princess wants folks onboard spending that $$$ ;)

We've found the above to be true as well! :)

LuLu

Port Everglades is not many, more low key but like others have said, 11 is good. At least then you're not too early, but more on time to beat the lines and make preparations. We usually do 11 or 11:30, and just eat on the ship when we get onboard. If you did want to eat beforehand, it's up to you when you arrive at the terminal. But your bags are getting there later too, and you'll probably be waiting longer for them too.

I'm not much of a morning person but I find when traveling, it's better to anticipate and be prepared, than deal with the alternative. I think if you wanted to bring a snack and eat in the terminal they won't mind. I know I've brought water and coffee in and they don't care.

Knight's run down was pretty accurate but on our last cruise we arrived around 10:30 and there was no real line, we dropped off our bags and proceeded inside, went through security and chickened in very quickly. We were Ruby back then and we were led to a seating are just outside of the "elite" area. We waited for a while and then were led onto the ship.

 

We were in our stateroom before noon! I was upset because we had 15 minutes to wait before we could get to the MDR for lunch!

 

That was a smooth embarkation.

Which is always much preferred to being chickened out.

Thanks, all. Looks like we'll be sticking with our traditional early arrival strategy.