Elite embarkation - royal princess - Fort Lauderdale

What time would be best for elite member to show up to port Everglades to get on the royal.

I don't want to show too early and wait for them to open up boarding. What is the best time to show, in your personal experiences?

Boarding will generally start around 11:45. The elites that have been checked in before that will be waiting in a room. Once boarding starts they will proceed the short distance to the ship. If the room is full they try to go by rows of seats in that room.

Any elite that show up after that will be able to board as soon as they are checked in.

So if you are elite and don't want any wait, just a fast boarding, then show up any time after 12:15

Great answer thank you!

Show up at 12:30 and you will walk right in.

This is my first time boarding Princess in Ft Lauderdale as a platinum. Do I have to wait in the line with everyone else for them to take our luggage or is there a separate line for that too?

This is my first time boarding Princess in Ft Lauderdale as a platinum. Do I have to wait in the line with everyone else for them to take our luggage or is there a separate line for that too?

Luggage handlers don't differentiate - vehicles are unloaded as they arrive.

We tend to arrive about 11:15, drop the luggage and then find the correct line to check in. There's a Princess boarding pass checker nearby, to verify which line you need to be in. Elite moves quickly, and once inside the building, you move through security and a waiting area. Yes, the photographers are there, ready to take your "welcome" pictures.

Past experience, it's close about 11:45 when those of us in the Platinum/Elite waiting area are then directed to board the ship. It's a mad dash to the elevators, BUT the rooms are not ready until about 1:PM, so passengers are hauling carry-on luggage and most are trying to head to the buffet on 16. Just a suggestion, forget the madness - NO, you cannot even access the rooms to drop small items, go directly to Alfredo's for lunch. It's one of our favorite dining spots, and adjacent to where you enter the ship. By the time you finish lunch, you can then access our room.

Darcy

Past experience for us ( 3 cruises in the last 90 days) on the Royal is that the cabin will be ready. All 3 times we boarded between 11:30 and 11:40. It's one nice thing about princess.

Past experience for us ( 3 cruises in the last 90 days) on the Royal is that the cabin will be ready. All 3 times we boarded between 11:30 and 11:40. It's one nice thing about princess.

I agree. We are elite and have always proceeded directly to our cabin when we board (and we aim to board as soon as possible). I have read of a delay but those are isolated incidents and not Princess policy.

Assuming you are in terminal 2, they usually open the building at 11. Lines start forming around 10:30, with the one next to the building for general boarding and next one out for platinum and above and suites. Sometimes it takes them a while to get the ropes set up, but they walk down the line and pull people when they get the special line set up. It has separate metal detectors. Of course if the other line is shorter you can use that - they have more security stations than preferred. Once through preferred there are several lines to check in and someone will point you to the elite line (although if other line is shorter you can use that).

If the ship isn't ready for boarding, they will direct elites to a lounge (last time it was a series of cubicals along the window and didn't have any pastries but usually it is a small room. When boarding is ready elites are directed in first (after BVE and weddings and sometimes wheelchair), then platinum, then everyone else in order of arrival. Boarding typically starts around 12.

Once boarding starts you do get priority over the folks waiting to board, but the crowd does clear quickly. In my case I left the ship after the first cruise to go to a store and came back just as boarding started. I was routed around the big crowd and went in as the platinum group was boarding. If I had been a bit later I would have just walked on with no crowd.

We usually show up around 10:30, get rid of bags and are in line around 10:45. But we do have to wait in the lounge for around an hour. As others have said, if you arrive a bit later you can check in and walk right on the ship.

Haven't been on Royal, but on Regal in November rooms were not accessible until 1 PM. As in transit passengers we were allowed in the room before, but we had to open and close the fire doors (lever high up on wall) and there was a lot of equipment in the halls to step over. Embarking passengers were not allowed (and I wouldn't have gone back to room if I had known condition of the hall in advance). Regal was the only Princess ship that I have seen where cabins were not open on boarding.

What time would be best for elite member to show up to port Everglades to get on the royal.

 

I don't want to show too early and wait for them to open up boarding. What is the best time to show, in your personal experiences?

We always get there about 10:30.

Boarding starts around noon.

With rare exceptions, which seem to be on the Royal and Regal, cabins are always available at boarding.

With rare exceptions, which seem to be on the Royal and Regal, cabins are always available at boarding.

We were denied access to cabins on our November Regal cruise as well. Never happened before.

Our target time is 10:30 to arrive at the pier and we usually are on board before noon unless there is a "scrubbing" after a code for Noro. We have cousins traveling with us who are on their third voyage with Princess and we should be able to drag them along with us in the Preferred Boarding line.

I think that normally, you may bring people with you to the preferred checkin. Then you are separated into the preferred boarding and regular. Of course, you can join your cousins in the regular lounge for boarding.

Don't mean to be unpleasant but unless they are in your room on your tickets they are not platinum or elite. Why should they get to go in the line for people who have earned it ?

On the February 8th cruise they started to enforce 2 non preferred guests in the preferred line and boarding area.

We did Alfredo's on one boarding and International Café on the other and let the crowds thin down at the elevators.