New to Holland America, Embarkation Question

We are sailing on the Eurodam three weeks from Saturday, on the 7 day Alaska itinerary. I just got an email from HAL about "an important update." The update is that there is a staggered schedule to board, so that boarding for deck 6 begins at 1:30 in the afternoon. Is this the normal way of doing things? My understanding from reading the boards is that people just typically start showing up at the cruise terminal 11ish or so, with no fixed schedule to board. Not trying to be nit picky, but the 11ish schedule worked great with the checkout time of the condo we've rented. So my question is, I guess, is it a new thing for HAL to have a boarding schedule?

My cruise is further out than yours, so I have not received an e-mail like that.

This was not the case on our last HAL cruise (in 2012).

Maybe they are doing this to help with crowding & lines?

My cruise is further out than yours, so I have not received an e-mail like that.

 

This was not the case on our last HAL cruise (in 2012).

 

Maybe they are doing this to help with crowding & lines?

Could be. Really, if that's what they want it's not an issue. We're coming two days before we sail and we have a condo rented right off if Pike Place Market so we could just arrange for our ride to come two hours later and have lunch at the market.

We are on the Koningsdam 6/25, and just received that email. We were told that our boarding will commence at 12:30. We are in an Neptune Suite, so I am hoping that we will be able to board earlier. We land in Amsterdam at 6:00 AM! I suppose that we can drop our luggage off and wander around town a bit.

To be honest, I don't like the idea of staggered embarkation.

For example, of you are assigned a time of 1:30, then you miss lunch in the dining room. But maybe this is a way of keeping the dining room closed on embarkation day???

These notifications have been a part of our boarding docs for some time now. In the fine print of our boarding docs for Nieuw Amsterdam in FLL in Jan. 2017, Prinsendam in FLL in Nov. 2016 and even Koningsdam in Rome in May 2016 there has been mention of staggered boarding times dependent on your cabin.

What's changed is HAL is now sending notifications out separately from the boarding docs pointing this out. We have yet to find any semblance of enforcing this policy at the terminals, but it's certainly a step in this direction. What HAL has yet to figure out, or other cruise lines either for that matter (Celebrity does the same thing in their docs) is that notifying anyone a few weeks prior to sailing about this is mostly useless as flights and other trips were planned far earlier than this notification (via boarding docs or separate email).

I agree with Krazy Kruizers there likely is some desire to limit service on embarkation day via this policy but it also is being pushed by the terminal operators and shore side services companies who deal with a crush of people all at once (8 large ships in FLL can really tangle everything from traffic to airports for hours). All it takes is an inspection by various government entities or a need to deep-clean a ship causing a delay in boarding and you escalate the potential to have violent incidents like those seen recently in airports and on aircraft. I hope it never comes to that, but civility does seem to have lost its way recently.

Anyhow, I would expect that you can arrive anytime after about 11:30 am and be processed for boarding. Of course, all things do change.... :rolleyes:

We'll be coming with my brother who is on a completely different deck and likely will have a different boarding time from us. Can we all just board at the earliest time assigned of our group?

We'll be coming with my brother who is on a completely different deck and likely will have a different boarding time from us. Can we all just board at the earliest time assigned of our group?

I'd be very surprised if they said no, unless HAL suddenly decides to follow the times strictly. Cruise lines have been assigning boarding times and then not enforcing them for years.

We are on the Koningsdam 6/25, and just received that email. We were told that our boarding will commence at 12:30. We are in an Neptune Suite, so I am hoping that we will be able to board earlier. We land in Amsterdam at 6:00 AM! I suppose that we can drop our luggage off and wander around town a bit.

Neptune Suites get Priority Boarding, so I would think you can board anytime. Plus, I seriously doubt that anyone would be turned away if they showed up before their time (just does not seem like something HAL would do).

To be honest, I don't like the idea of staggered embarkation.

For example, of you are assigned a time of 1:30, then you miss lunch in the dining room. But maybe this is a way of keeping the dining room closed on embarkation day???

I hadn't thought about it, but I wonder if they are trying to get away from a MDR lunch on embarkation day. On our last cruise, we boarded early enough to have lunch there, and it was the smallest turnout I've ever seen. The CD kept announcing that lunch was being served in the Lido, but no mention of the MDR, although MDR lunch hours were listed in the daily program.

Embarkation lunch in the MDR used to be a Mariner perk listed on the website. Now it isn't. So fewer people may be aware that it exists, which makes it easier for HAL to drop it entirely.

I'd be very surprised if they said no, unless HAL suddenly decides to follow the times strictly. Cruise lines have been assigning boarding times and then not enforcing them for years.

On our last 2 cruises, one with NCL and the other on Carnival, there has been staggered embarkation and times were enforced. I thought it worked well with NCL in Miami and less well in New Orleans with Carnival. I really don't know how much of the responsibility for enforcing times would fall on employees of the cruise line, and how much falls on employees of the port. There are a couple review threads of a recent Eurodam sailing to Alaska, maybe one of those reviewers would know.

From a poster who embarked Eurodam in Seattle five days ago:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=53009733&postcount=54

From a poster who embarked Eurodam in Seattle five days ago:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=53009733&postcount=54

Yeah, I have seen that be the norm so I planned accordingly. The "important update" kind of threw me, but I'm just going with the original plan.

Just checked my email (and spam folder) and no notification from HAL for anything like this for Oosterdam out of Seattle at we are now at 30 days and counting. We're planning an early Sunday brunch with our son and his family next door at Maggie Bluff's so will be there by 11am or so regardless. While we don't "need" assistance for my wife's wheelchair we've never been on a cruise (either RCCL or HAL) where they did not insist of wheeling her onboard so I suspect they'll board us whenever we show up.

This is all "suggested" (not mandatory). so as to keep the crowding down and make the. process flow smoothly. As has been siad, 4 and 5 Star Mariners and Suite passengers have Priority Boarding, and can board first....

I received an email like that before my K'dam cruise in Feb, one of very few people who did. I'm a 4 star and lost my perk because I was told to arrive at noon. When I arrived at the appointed time, the line was all the way out the door and almost to the back of the covered outdoor section. [FLL]

When I finally got inside and checked in, I didn't have to wait later than that, but they were already boarding numbers 9-12. I found only a few people who had even received the email. By obeying what they told me, I lost my 4-star perk and had to stand in a long, long line. Never again. I will arrive at my usual early time from now on.

We are sailing on the Eurodam three weeks from Saturday, on the 7 day Alaska itinerary. I just got an email from HAL about "an important update." The update is that there is a staggered schedule to board, so that boarding for deck 6 begins at 1:30 in the afternoon. Is this the normal way of doing things? My understanding from reading the boards is that people just typically start showing up at the cruise terminal 11ish or so, with no fixed schedule to board. Not trying to be nit picky, but the 11ish schedule worked great with the checkout time of the condo we've rented. So my question is, I guess, is it a new thing for HAL to have a boarding schedule?

Do you know if there is also a large pre-booked group on your cruise. That could also explain the staggered booking. The Eurodam is popular with large groups.

I received an email like that before my K'dam cruise in Feb, one of very few people who did. I'm a 4 star and lost my perk because I was told to arrive at noon. When I arrived at the appointed time, the line was all the way out the door and almost to the back of the covered outdoor section. [FLL]

 

When I finally got inside and checked in, I didn't have to wait later than that, but they were already boarding numbers 9-12. I found only a few people who had even received the email. By obeying what they told me, I lost my 4-star perk and had to stand in a long, long line. Never again. I will arrive at my usual early time from now on.

I would be very disappointed in your situation--wasn't there anyone you could ask about your priority boarding? I can understand your not wanting to walk past the queue and aggravate the people standing there, but there should have been some way to get to the priority check in.

I would be very disappointed in your situation--wasn't there anyone you could ask about your priority boarding? I can understand your not wanting to walk past the queue and aggravate the people standing there, but there should have been some way to get to the priority check in.

The long line was security, once I got to check-in, there was the usual priority line. Once I finished check-in, I went right on the ship.

Does an SS cabin qualify for any type of priority boarding?

Will be interesting to see if this is mentioned in future reviews. Just a suggested time or really enforced?

Does an SS cabin qualify for any type of priority boarding?

Will be interesting to see if this is mentioned in future reviews. Just a suggested time or really enforced?

Neptune and Pinnacle suites are the only suites that get priority boarding.

Do you know if there is also a large pre-booked group on your cruise. That could also explain the staggered booking. The Eurodam is popular with large groups.

Excellent thought! I checked, and nope. Just us average, everyday people in search of some balcony time.

When I sailed on the Koningsdam last August out of Amsterdam we were given a number upon checking in at the terminal. We then were told to wait until our number was called to board.

When I sailed on the Koningsdam last August out of Amsterdam we were given a number upon checking in at the terminal. We then were told to wait until our number was called to board.

Yeah, that's the standard, but suddenly they are sending out email updates with staggered boarding times that do not mesh with what I read from various travel reports and posts. My only deal was that if this is hard core I need to rearrange the pickup time for our ride to the pier, but I think all is well. At the end of the day I'm going to be on a vaycay with my husband and adult kids, and anymore that is really hard to arrange because everyone has such divergent schedules! It's all good, and it's going to be all fabulous.

Also, apropos of nothing, I received four free drink coupons from Southwest in the mail yesterday, so I may take it upon myself to quaff a Bloody Mary on our outbound flight. Nothing to do with this thread; it's just making me smile.