Early embarkation purchase?

some on my roll call insist that Princess now sells early embarkation packages like Carnival does. It doesn't appear in my Princess options anywhere and I've tried on multiple devices (they claim it depends on what device you are on!). Anyone hear of this? My TA said she never heard of it either. I googled it. Nothing. Searched the boards. Nothing. Thanks.

Never heard of it either.

It's shown as sold out on our sold out cruise...:evilsmile:

Have not seen sales of priority for boarding. With all the Elite and Platinum passengers, paying to get to the bottom of the list is not a real good idea

some on my roll call insist that Princess now sells early embarkation packages like Carnival does. It doesn't appear in my Princess options anywhere and I've tried on multiple devices (they claim it depends on what device you are on!). Anyone hear of this? My TA said she never heard of it either. I googled it. Nothing. Searched the boards. Nothing. Thanks.

It showed up briefly about 6 months ago or so.. Lasted about a day before it was yanked.

It was around $45 or so for the cabin for priority boarding - after Bon Voyage, Weddings, Suite, Elite, Platinum and Club Class. So essentially , not really priority, as so many people have the other priority boarding already.

I have screen shots of it - and it was for my Royal cruse, despite the article below, just don't know how to embed them here.

Here's the CruiseCritic article about it: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8488

And a forum thread about it, here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2606688

Let's just say, it didn't take...

It's shown as sold out on our sold out cruise...:evilsmile:

where are you seeing it offered? When you open the personalizer or under manage your bookings? I see it no where as an option. People are saying only some see it? Thought maybe it was the BVE made easy

Here’s a link to a CC article about Princess testing this option on a few ships last Spring.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8488

“Called Princess Advance Boarding, the program is running on three Ruby Princess cruises between March 1 and March 25. The test price is $49 per cabin, with all occupants in the room receiving the benefits. Additionally, those who purchase the option can choose an early or late disembarkation time“.

I haven’t read anything else about this test but since they boarded after Elite/Platinum/Suite/In-transit/Weddings/BVE

passengers it wasn’t a great benefit for most passenger.

EDIT: reedprincess types faster than me. ;)

thanks so looks like it really isn't in effect but was another nickel and dime scheme gone wrong? It would really lower them to Carnival's level I'm afraid. Thanks everyone for the info! I appreciate it.

where are you seeing it offered? When you open the personalizer or under manage your bookings? I see it no where as an option. People are saying only some see it? Thought maybe it was the BVE made easy

Could it only be offered to passengers without any type of priority boarding? Passengers paying for this option board after passengers who have priority boarding.

Could it only be offered to passengers without any type of priority boarding? Passengers paying for this option board after passengers who have priority boarding.

Nope. It was offered to me back when it was first offered, and I have priority boarding..

It's not on offer to my friends, who've never sailed Princess at all, and they're sailing Ruby, which is supposedly the ship that was to trial it (although it was on offer to me for my Royal sailing )..

I highly, highly doubt anything came if it, as there's been zero chatter about it since early March, when it popped up for about 5 days, and then disappeared again....

Nope. It was offered to me back when it was first offered, and I have priority boarding..

It's not on offer to my friends, who've never sailed Princess at all, and they're sailing Ruby, which is supposedly the ship that was to trial it (although it was on offer to me for my Royal sailing )..

 

I highly, highly doubt anything came if it, as there's been zero chatter about it since early March, when it popped up for about 5 days, and then disappeared again....

Thanks for the information.

Wouldn't purchase it even if it was available. I always thought the idea of the "Faster to the Fun" thing was idiotic.

Wouldn't purchase it even if it was available. I always thought the idea of the "Faster to the Fun" thing was idiotic.

Lots of people on Carnival paying for it. Always thought it was wrong to offer it.

I saw the talk about it too awhile back.

Have not seen it.

Wouldn't purchase it even if it was available. I always thought the idea of the "Faster to the Fun" thing was idiotic.

Lots of people on Carnival paying for it. Always thought it was wrong to offer it.

The Princess offering was just to get you onto the ship faster than other passengers who had no boarding status. The disembarkation feature really is available to anyone on board.

However the Carnival FTTF provided other benefits besides getting onto the ship faster (after Platinum and Diamond PAX). These include:

o Cabin is ready and available when you board (Princess now says 1 PM for all PAX)

o Luggage has priority for delivery to your cabin

o Priority tendering to shore (only Elite and Suite PAX get this on Princess)

o Priority specialty restaurant reservations (only Suite PAX get this on Princess)

o Dedicated phone number and line at Guest Services (Princess has dedicated line (but not phone number) for elite/suite PAX)

The Princess offering was just to get you onto the ship faster than other passengers who had no boarding status. The disembarkation feature really is available to anyone on board.

 

However the Carnival FTTF provided other benefits besides getting onto the ship faster (after Platinum and Diamond PAX). These include:

o Cabin is ready and available when you board (Princess now says 1 PM for all PAX)

o Luggage has priority for delivery to your cabin

o Priority tendering to shore (only Elite and Suite PAX get this on Princess)

o Priority specialty restaurant reservations (only Suite PAX get this on Princess)

o Dedicated phone number and line at Guest Services (Princess has dedicated line (but not phone number) for elite/suite PAX)

Priority boarding is also given to Club Class folks. Not that it matters much, at

least in LA: We looked at the Priority line and at the "Steerage" line, got in the

"Steerage" line, and beat half the folks in the Priority line aboard. :confused:

It's under Onboard reservations in the Personalizer.

All my cruises show it as "sold out". It's not something we would pay for.

If you want to pay to get on early, find some friends to join you on a BVE, and pay for them. :) At least that way you can get on early (they need to attach your booking to their booking) and they get a photo out of it, they can join you for lunch in the dining room, wine or beer, and they get a photo :) If they book a future cruise in 3 months the $39 can be applied to the booking. AND you can get a Future Cruise Deposit while on board! So much better than paying for early boarding!!