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Disembarkation


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Disembarkation is by deck from the top down. On our last cruise a few weeks ago it started at 7.30am and was set to finish by 9.30am.

 

You can self disembark at 7.15am if you can carry your own luggage.

 

You are out of your cabin by 8am and breakfast finishes then as well. All in all an early start.

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For clarity, I am describing what happened at Rosyth. It’s a fairly small port where most of the time Fred is the only cruise ship in the port so everything is quick and efficient

 

Others may be able to tell you if other busier ports are any different.

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It was the same at Dover and Southampton. I was annoyed that breakfast finished at 8, as usually we get out of the cabin by 8 and then go to breakfast afterwards, on other cruise lines. We are in no rush to get off and it meant getting up earlier, so as to have breakfast before 8! Fred really seem to want you off incredibly early, considering that they don’t do embarkation until the afternoon. I suspect everybody was off by 8.30 rather than 9.30.

 

 

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We disembarked in Rosyth, came out of our cabin at 8.00 and went for breakfast. The dining room doors were open until 8.30 am

 

 

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Was this in the last few months? Because I am pretty certain breakfast has been until 8.30 on previous cruises with Fred. It was on Braemar in May that they made it 8, making life more difficult.

 

 

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It is really early closure for breakfast, on all other cruise lines we have been out you are out of cabin for 8 but breakfast till 9am. Especially given with Fred O you are also very late embarking, with other cruise lines again we have been onboard at 12 noon and lunch served, granted cabins not ready till 1.30 but I am ok with that.

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It is really early closure for breakfast, on all other cruise lines we have been out you are out of cabin for 8 but breakfast till 9am. Especially given with Fred O you are also very late embarking, with other cruise lines again we have been onboard at 12 noon and lunch served, granted cabins not ready till 1.30 but I am ok with that.

Yes, I agree! I too don't see why it has to be so early, considering their later embarkation times.

 

Not everybody wants to be off so early. Sometimes we travel by train to Southampton and buy ‘off-peak’ tickets, so it’s no good going to the station too early.

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Was this in the last few months? Because I am pretty certain breakfast has been until 8.30 on previous cruises with Fred. It was on Braemar in May that they made it 8, making life more difficult.

 

 

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Yes , it was just last week we disembarked on 12th July

 

 

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It is really early closure for breakfast, on all other cruise lines we have been out you are out of cabin for 8 but breakfast till 9am. Especially given with Fred O you are also very late embarking, with other cruise lines again we have been onboard at 12 noon and lunch served, granted cabins not ready till 1.30 but I am ok with that.

 

We were on a recent back to back and the cabins were done by about 11am. A hoarde of travel agents and day passengers appeared and were escorted around the ship, they were everywhere. I suspect that’s why pax get kicked off early and don’t embark until later.

 

Some of the cabins were left open with signs on them eg x grade inside, y grade balcony etc so that the guests could see what was on offer in each grade of cabin.

 

They gave them drinks and a very good lunch, we know it was good because we were served the same beautifully presented food. It was the best food we had on the ship.

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Interesting that information, trying to grow new business, whilst potentially losing business that's in your hand and bank for the company. Again on a recent NCL cruise they were also showing groups round the ship on embarkation day but we as passengers had boarded the ship. They left just before muster.

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Interesting that information, trying to grow new business, whilst potentially losing business that's in your hand and bank for the company. Again on a recent NCL cruise they were also showing groups round the ship on embarkation day but we as passengers had boarded the ship. They left just before muster.

 

They could still do this type of marketing and let people have breakfast until a little later however a couple of people have said that the disembarkation was over by 8.30 which it would not be if people were hanging about in the restaurant.

 

To be fair to Fred they were also doing maintenance on some of the promenade areas, deep cleaning carpets etc. Getting people off quickly and on later gives them a window for this kind of maintenance I suppose.

 

It depends on what you are trying to market. The ship did look at its best when just spruced up and empty, it looked really spacious. Also Fred has a reputation for being a “floating care home”, I have read that phrase on these boards countless times. Perhaps they want potential guests/ agents to see the ship for what it is without the current demographic of passenger “ sleeping on the sofas”, another common phrase on here.

 

When we started cruising none of the lines started embarkation before 2pm. That was just the normal practice. it allowed staff a few hours off after the heavy shift of getting luggage and pax off and cleaning for the next lot.

 

The money men then decided that if pax came on earlier they would spend money so gradually embarkation came back by several hours.

 

I suspect that Fred make their money off the initial cruise purchase and trips to a greater extent than over the bar so it’s less important to get people on early. Other lines sell cabins at rock bottom prices but sell, sell, sell once you are onboard, so the earlier the better.

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We got off the "Boudicca" in Dover on 13 July at 0750, collected the luggage, got the van to collect the car from the terminal car park and drove home (22 miles) arriving there at 0830. I have sailed many times from Dover. This was the very best.

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But you see, not everybody is in a hurry to get home. I don’t see the point, unless you are going in to work or have a long way to travel. I like to spend the last day of my holiday on holiday not at home! So we like to disembark as late as possible, not as early as possible! Obviously there are two points of view on this.

 

 

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But you see, not everybody is in a hurry to get home. I don’t see the point, unless you are going in to work or have a long way to travel. I like to spend the last day of my holiday on holiday not at home! So we like to disembark as late as possible, not as early as possible! Obviously there are two points of view on this.

 

 

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That is our stance as well, especially if we have a long journey ahead as it is much better to start a journey relaxed and well rested, rather than wake early and a a lot of rushing about.

 

No one actually throws you off the ship when your deck is called though, so you can hang around until most passengers have disembarked. Must admit we like to leave our cabin at 8am and then have breakfast too. It is not totally clear that Fred has changed his policy regards breakfast time just because some people report differences on their cruise, though would be interesting if someone who is on a cruise soon asks about that - perhaps of the cruise director when on board a ship.

 

Two or three years ago we took a cruise from Dover and the ship was due to translocate to another port without passengers after we disembarked and they did have us off very early indeed. I think it was 7am out of cabins, and the rest followed very quickly. I also doubt all change over days are used as ship visits.

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That is our stance as well, especially if we have a long journey ahead as it is much better to start a journey relaxed and well rested, rather than wake early and a a lot of rushing about.

 

No one actually throws you off the ship when your deck is called though, so you can hang around until most passengers have disembarked. Must admit we like to leave our cabin at 8am and then have breakfast too. It is not totally clear that Fred has changed his policy regards breakfast time just because some people report differences on their cruise, though would be interesting if someone who is on a cruise soon asks about that - perhaps of the cruise director when on board a ship.

 

Two or three years ago we took a cruise from Dover and the ship was due to translocate to another port without passengers after we disembarked and they did have us off very early indeed. I think it was 7am out of cabins, and the rest followed very quickly. I also doubt all change over days are used as ship visits.

 

I would agree, they will not use the ship for visits at every changeover day. I do think they probably use it for maintenance though.

 

We had the 8am breakfast time 2 cruises in a row and while this does not indicate a change in policy it seems to be happening a lot as friends have had the same. Perhaps it is different at different locations? It would be interesting to know if it was a change, as you say.

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