Midsomer Madness

We were always early boarders as well, shame they've changed it, with Cunard we are platinium so get priority and with Princess, after this cruise, we will be Elite, still got a long way to go to get to caribbean though with P&O!

We will try and stick to the time as that is what we have been asked to do...we will stop off en-route for a drink if it looks like we will arrive too early!

We have about an hour and half, two hour drive, depending on traffic so its not too bad!

Hi Amanda -

 

Thanks for the heads up that the E tickets are ready for that cruise.

 

We are on C deck and have a time of 2.30pm which suits us just fine.

 

We will have a light lunch at home as we live not too far away and will also aim for arrival as near to that as we can.

Looks like they are working from bottom deck to top deck for embarkation...someone on B deck has a 3.00 time so looks like it half an hour between each deck.

I think the buffet is now staying open all day for lunch...(I don't like buffets and try to avoid but will sometimes have something on embarkation day!)

I would suggest those who haven't received emails check their spam/junk folders within their email. Mine was sat in there! Also check email accounts for both people on the booking (if there are two). They do ask for repliese by 23rd November so time is running out.

Our eTickets have just become available, we are on Aurora for New Year. We are on E Deck and have an embarkation time of 1.30 and we are aiming to arrive as near to that as we can, but being one of life's early people I'm not sure how successful we will be!

This time ties in with what another person said earlier on this thread in that they were on E Deck on Aurora with a 1.30 embarkation time, changed their cabin to one on A deck and got a later embarkation time.

Whether they change it around so its fair I don't know but suspect we will find out over the next few months.

I quite agree , however our P&O flight detail summary clearly says baggage allowance : Maximum weight 23kg ..... P&O luggage tags 20kg whilst the standard Thomson allowance is 15kg although this may be 20kg as advised by the travel company ...all plus the 5kg hand luggage allowance.

 

Anyone looking at their P&O documents and turning up at check in could be faced with a nasty excess charge.

 

I would expect that in the present climate instructions for air travellers would be clear and precise as supplied by the travel company.

~We have always flown with Thomsons to the caribbean with P&O and have always had 23kg luggage allowance, and its the same this year.

The 20kg limit is for cruises departing southampton and you can take as many cases as you like. Your flight details on cruise personaliser should tell you your luggage allowance but as mentioned we've always had 23kg and our flight details say that on personaliser.

I think the post is merely referring to someone's perception at their time of boarding, rather than something which has come from official P&O channels. I know I read a post the other day where somebody said this and suspect its the same post.

As far as I've been told both by email from a senior customer services manager and also posted by P&O on their Facebook page, the only people who get priority early embarkation is liguiran and suite passengers and this is confirmed by the time on their etickets, which I believe is 12.30. Everyone else has to adhere to the time on their ticket, caribbean and baltic tiers get priority at that time.

My hubby always takes his dinner suit with him to the Caribbean and I would say a large proportion of other men do too

Whenever we have cruised with Cunard from Southampton, it's always been called Queens, Princess. Diamond, Platinum and then general boarding....

But it clearly states on your CP that you should adhere to your checkin time. It couldn't be clearer than that.

When you can access it of course...I tend to fill our details in and then leave the rest to the TA.. Plus it was only a short time ago we were told at check in that you don't even need an eticket...just your passport...communication is vital if p&o want new procedures to work....

I agree that all social media, forums etc only speak for a proportion but none of those have received anything from p&o about the new system, so think about the thousands who don't use these platforms, they will have no idea about the new system and wil, just turn up as they always have...this in turn leads to the overcrowding that p&o are trying to do away with...surely a simple letter or email to their passenegrs would alleviate it?

We visited friends in Fareham....heading back to Southampton the M27 was suddenly closed due to an accident...we were stuck on there for hours....thankfully it was the day before our cruise and we were booked into a hotel...however it was around the time that people would have been heading to the terminal if going off on a cruise...by the time the motorway reopened we would have missed not only our time slot but the ship would have sailed as p&o have said they won't wait for people who are late. Therefore those with a later time are probably going to make sure they arrive early......

Dai never, ever sees anything wrong with P&O, However those of us who have cruised with different cruiselines and see how easy everything is with them don't have the same Rose coloured specs as him....now he knows I like him and he knows I tease him about this :D but it remains that a lot of people are not happy about how p&o have introduced this...I've certainly not received any communication from them apart from what I've read on social media and message boards etc...not everybody uses social media etc...so those who don't will continue to arrive as they have always done.

We will allow ourselves plenty of time for travel. We won't bother booking hotels before a cruise in future as its pointless if you get a late embarkation time..we will arrive when we arrive, armed with a bottle of fizz, and will wait our turn. We won't be booking any further short cruises with p&o though, so they have lost our custom and our large bar bill on those!

Interesting post on FB regarding boarding today.

 

Just embarked on the Arcadia - was really dreading the getting on after all the negative hype!!!! A great experience- arriving to first drink in ONE hour and that included unpacking!!! Well done and thank you P&O - bring on the holiday!!!!!!! a fantastic start.

One does wonder what their embarkation time was though Dai, as they don't mention it?

I hope you have a fabulous time on your world cruise! Aurora has never been our favourite ship after a poor xmas cruise on her in 2011 but we are hoping that the changes which have been made including a Glasshouse and Sindhu will make it a more enjoyable cruise for us this time round!

Not looking forward to the embarkation debacle which it seems to be now but hoping things may be a bit more organised by then!

Most of our previous cruises have been 3pm to 3.30pm. I wonder if that was the time put out to most passengers, in the hope, some would adhere to it and therefore stagger their boarding times themselves.

 

We were forward E119 for 1.30pm embarkation.

 

We are now mid-forward A167 for 2.00pm embarkation.

 

Looks like I will be getting back on Aurora when you disembark on 2nd Jan!

We are E116 so will wait and see if we get 1.30 or our usual 3pm!

We will leave her spick and span for you...are you doing the world cruise?

We are due to board Aurora next week. Our boarding time for a cabin on E deck was 1330hrs. We have just paid to upgrade to a balcony cabin on A deck and our boarding time has been changed to 1400.

 

I think this just confirms what has been said in previous posts; the higher the deck the later the boarding time.

P&o are now saying its deck position which determines embarkation time...so where was your cabin on E deck compared to the one on A deck?

We are on E deck for new year on aurora 1.30 would be ok for us but all previous cruises have been 3pm! So we will see!

Indeed, the previous Gold tier passenegrs used to moan a lot that they were not made to feel special enough, so p&o changed them, and now they aren't happy. Be careful what you wish for!

I agree with the post above in that there are now so many Caribbean (gold) members that it's causing a problem.

Indeed.....I understand the need for staggered check in (although its worked perfectly well as it was in the 10 years we have been cruising) I just think they would be better saying when you book you pick you time, once that slot is full you choose a different one...early bookers then get the best times and bearing in mind when bookings first open Caribbean and above get a couple of days head start on everyone else they would then get the times they wanted. If they book later then obviously they have to take what is on offer at the time. However that is far to difficult for P&O!

Official response from P&O Facebook Page on Caribbean and Baltic embarkation:

P&O Cruises Hi Nikki,

Apologies for any confusion around the new embarkation procedures. Caribbean and Baltic Tier members currently receive priority boarding at the arrival time on their ticket.

For example, if Caribbean and Baltic tier members have an embarkation time of 14.00 and turn up at this time, they can have the priority check in queue at that time.

We hope this clears this up for you.

Thank you.

Of course it should be a perk for select fares, it would possibly encourage people to book early which is what P&O want....I think it unfair that's someone who has paid a cheap saver fare, gets allocated a cabin and that cabin happens to be one which boards first....whereas someone who has paid a much higher select fares gets a late boarding....surely it makes sense to say the earlier you book the earlier your embarkation time...it's just far to simple though for p&o!

We must not forget the Celebrity and RCI are both up to date and do on line check in, so everything is effectively done before you even arrive at the cruise terminal...we did Celebrity for the first time this year and were on board by 11.15 after arriving at 11.00... No pushing. No shoving. No moaning...we picked 8.00 am for disemarkation and were actually off at 7.45... Easy,no queues, no people blocking public areas and stairs etc...it was a very pleasant experience. I'm not sure where p&o get their ideas from but they are not appeasing a lot of their passengers at the moment.. We are next on board for the Aurora new year cruise.. We won't know our embarkation time until 5 weeks before but have said we will leave our home at the usual time and arrive when we arrive..if it is before our allotted time we are happy to sit and wait with our bottle of fizz (or 2)! i think our days of cruising with p&o from Southampton are coming to an end and we will be looking more at fly cruises...arrive at airport, when it's convenient for us, nice exec lounge to relax in and hopefully straight to the warm weather!

I do keep saying though that Cunard manage to have cabins ready and always have upon embarkation so have never understood why p&o have always found it so difficult!

You don't have to dress up, you can dress as per the smart casual/evening casual dress code but on formal nights you will have to eat either in the buffet or perhaps one of the select dining venues which does not enforce the dress code.

On smart/evening casual nights you can eat in the main restaurant, if you pick club dining you will be on the same table with the same people each night, if you pick freedom dining you can dine when you want and with who you want.

If you are Caribbean + level you get priority check in before main check in starts regardless of time on your ticket. If you should turn up after main check in starts, you will be fast tracked. Just let the ladies know when you first arrive.

Not anymore you don't, the only people who can board when they want are Ligurian tier and suite passengers, all others including Caribbean and Baltic should arrive at the time shown on their etickets..Caribbean and Baltic will then be given priority at that time...

Can anyone advise me when the boarding times are issued, as this has a relevance to which hotel I choose to book prior to our cruise (Azura to Norwegian Fjords in May). Have noted that several hotels in Southampton are already fully booked on the night prior to our cruise. Many thanks!

They are shown on your eticket which is usually issued around 5 weeks prior to departure...

We have only been cruising since about 2008.

Started off with a fly cruise, with Thomson, so you boarded when you arrived.

Then Fred, which is turn up when you like, but boarding does not start until 2pm, only snacks in the terminal, and no lunch on the ship, so if you had late sitting you could be all day without food:eek::eek:

Then we made it to P and O. From what has been stated by Pando they were having up to half the ship arriving from 11.30am onwards (I have seen this myself when on a few B2B we have done)

There surely must have been heaving terminals , with a large number all trying to be first. We used to arrive about 12.30-1pm, and there were always a large numbers of people already there

So Pando have come up with this cunning plan, which people are moaning about, but amongst all the wailing there are postings from people turning up at their allocated time and being on board with in 20mins.

Anyway agreed P and O should maybe have managed how they let people know about the new boarding arrangements better.

You still have the problem of how to board a lot of people.

I know those who have been on American ships will say, we walked on at 11.30am, but for you to do that ,somebody would have to have walked off at 6.30am.

Do P and O cruisers want that?

Do a huge number of people board the likes of Anthem at the same time, or are people arriving throughout the afternoon?

I have watched the video of the person boarding Anthem, it took approx. 2 1/2mins, maybe when I board on the next cruise I will see how long it takes, but I doubt it will be much more than that. Cruisers causing delays by not having the passport and etickets to hand, and having to fish around in the suitcase, and other sundry things. (how many times when leaving the ship in a port have you been behind someone who doesn't have their cruise card in their hand, and has to start searching in their bags for them)

People say if it wasn't broke, but obviously as regards the logistics P and O felt they could not continue with people turning up earlier and earlier in ever increasing numbers (how many times on here have people posted in the past ,ignore the time on your ticket, turn up when you like)

I notice on the mayflower terminal thread people some people have said they did not know about the changes (not everyone is on the web) However on your eticket it does state a boarding time, and requests that you stick to it.

Would people be happier if they did away with providing lunch altogether, so you had to eat shore side?

RCI do all their check in on line, register credit card and upload photo before you go, therefore you turn up amd board quickly and easily.

We have often arrived early at the terminal and have done many cruises from Southampton, never has there been a problem like there is now. People turned up, got a letter card, sat down and waited, check in opened at 12.. The only time I've seen the terminal clogged up was when their were IT problems or air bridge problems....

P&o are losing revenue by keeping people in the terminal when they could be on board spending money...our biggest day's bill has always been our first day, however if we board at 3.30 it will be straight to muster, back to cabin to unpack and then get ready for dinner....our first drinks purchase will therefore be around 7.30 pm...so that's a fair amount of cash they won't have received from us, and many others I suspect...once they realise they are losing revenue they will reassess!

As an aside we cruised with celebrity earlier this year, we picked our check in time and disemarkation time..we were on board by 11.15 and disemarked at 7.45... I personally prefer to be up and on my way once my cruise is over!

That might be a way of getting round it I suppose, but they are still supporting the place that does it....