Staggered Boarding??

[Nancyquilts]

I hope Princess changes her policy soon, certainly before the Grand gets home-ported here next year. We have over 500 days on Princess, but when we got home from our wait with staggered boarding in SF in March, we booked two cruises on X. Loyalty should go both ways.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Is this Staggered Boarding now fleet wide or just for some Princess ships/ports of embarkation? :confused:

 

I believe it is just in SOME ports. Which ones, I don't know for sure. I believe they were pushing this new embarkation for the Sapphire and the Hawaii cruises, but not sure which others.

[Idratherbeatsea]

No, they go by decks, we are in a mini, and we are supposed to board at 2:00--this is from the email they sent:

12:30 PM - Caribe Deck / Cabins C100 -C757

1:30 PM - Baja & Lido Deck /Cabins B100-B753, L200-L311

2:00 PM - Dolphin & Emerald Deck / Cabins D102 - D741 & E100 - E735

2:30 PM - Aloha & Plaza Deck / Cabins A104 - A751 & P200 - P337

 

Must be some random decision, on our mid May voyage of the Grand, Dolphin deck boards at 1200, we are on Dolphin deck so we are pleased.

[arizonaperson]

I leave on May 12th for a CA. Coastal on The Sapphire and no e-mail received with staggered boarding information as of today.

My boarding pass says arrive after 2pm for a faster check in.(just a suggestion;not required)

Check in 12-3pm. Sailing is at 4pm.

I am on Baja deck.

No specific mention of staggered boarding, so maybe this is normal boarding?

I am also Platinum.

[don'tleavewithoutme]

Am scheduled to leave San Francisco on the Golden May 20. Staggered boarding is listed, but it plainly says Platinum, Elite and suites can board at their leisure beginning at 11:30 a.m., the earliest for any group.

[bdjam]

He was silent for a long time. Then said, "that's the rules" That was the end of the converstation. I was so mad that I was afraid she would move me to a different cabin.

wait - did you talk to two people ... a he and a she?

thanks for explaining it - that is what I figured. I'm sure you would have liked to say "may I speak to your suervisor" but as you said - who know what they may do - change your cabin location - like waiters spitting on your food when you send it back!

Oh brother...really?

[dog]

Am scheduled to leave San Francisco on the Golden May 20. Staggered boarding is listed' date=' but it plainly says Platinum, Elite and suites can board at their leisure beginning at 11:30 a.m., the earliest for any group.[/quote']

 

well, I hope this applies to all ships.

thanks

[denims]

Is this Staggered Boarding now fleet wide or just for some Princess ships/ports of embarkation? :confused:

 

We had staggered boarding in Port Everglades in Jan'11.

[1 HappyCruiser]

We had staggered boarding in Port Everglades in Jan'11.

 

When you say staggered boarding I don't think you meant being denied boarding until a certain scheduled time but simply boarding in the manner which they always do in Florida. When the ship is cleared & the rooms are ready the suites, handicapped & Elites first then Platinum's then everyone else in the order they arrived.

[Matcodixon]

I am guessing that this entire staggered boarding thing will be modified and never be a policy for every port. I can understand why they are trying in here in SF as the current terminal is lacking in almost everything, and it can create some real traffic problems. When the new port is finished, I suspect that things will change.

 

I have been reading all the posts about this with a great deal of interest. Over 90% of the posts are from those that have not experienced the reality of it. There have only been one or two actual reported problems.

 

Princess is not a stupid company. This entire procedure was designed to solve some real problems in a few selected locations. If the new procedure creates more problems than it solves, it will be changed again. I can see from the most recent posts that it looks like it has already has changed regarding priority for Elite and Platinum members.

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise..

[sez809]

What about the cruises that depart from Southampton and the passengers that use Eavesway Coaches to reach the docks from different part of the UK. Each coach carries at least 50 people, each coach arriving at different intervals according to traffic levels on the journey. Not everybody on each coach will have the same boarding time - will those who are early be left outside the terminal (in the English inclement weather we call summer) to await their 'slot time'. You really could not make it up.

 

We cruised from Soton last summer, on a family trip with my sister along for the ride! She booked entirely separately to us, and was on Dolphin whilst we were on Plaza. We were given staggered boarding times, our time being three hours later than hers. As we travelled together, we arrived at the port together, and boarded together as well! No-one mentioned the allocated times, there was no issue at all.

 

In fact we were on board half an hour after arrival at the dock!

 

We are cruising again this summer from Soton, with friends who have also booked with a different agent to us. Again we are on different decks; we are Gold (35 days and counting.....!!) they are first time cruisers. Imagine how dreadfully embarrassing it will be if Princess try to make on or other family wait for an allocated time.....and how much bad press!

[critterchick]

Am scheduled to leave San Francisco on the Golden May 20. Staggered boarding is listed' date=' but it plainly says Platinum, Elite and suites can board at their leisure beginning at 11:30 a.m., the earliest for any group.[/quote']

 

Our Star departure for Seattle doesn't say that, at least it didn't yesterday. Hoping that it will change...

[Stevesan]

Our Star departure for Seattle doesn't say that, at least it didn't yesterday. Hoping that it will change...

 

The Star March 27 sailing restricts "preferred" passengers to their boarding times. Following is directly from Cruise Personalizer under Itinerary then Seattle:

 

CRUISE CHECK-IN

To ensure a smooth start to your voyage, we operate a staggered check-in

schedule. Please arrive at your scheduled check-in time as noted below,

determined by your deck and cabin number. Due to security regulations and very

limited space inside the terminal, passengers arriving prior to their check-in

will not be permitted to enter the terminal. Passengers may drop off their

luggage and will be asked to return at their scheduled time. Priority check-in

will be available for Preferred passengers within your allocated check-in time

once inside the terminal.

10:30 am - Caribe & Lido Decks / Cabins C101-C753, L201-L312

12:30 pm - Baja & Plaza Decks / Cabins B201-B751, P201-P337

1:30 pm - Aloha & Emerald Decks / Cabins A201-A749, E101-E733

2:30 pm - Dolphin Deck / Cabins D103-D737

 

All passengers must be onboard by 3:30 pm.

[Cuizer2]

We just received an email from Princess regarding our upcoming cruise out of LA. They are now boarding according to what deck you are on. Our boarding time is 2:00. It says that if you get there early, you will be asked to go away and come back at your appointed time. Are they kidding? I was looking forward to boarding 12-12:30, having lunch, and touring the ship. Is this something new? I haven't been on Princess for 2 years, but they didn't have it back then. Do they really enforce this, or is it like the dress code on formal night??

 

I boarded the Sapphire Princess in Los Angeles on April 28, 2012 and that sure is not the way we boarded. I arrived at the pier around 11:00am and at check in I was given a number. My number was four. Others in the group that arrived before I did had the number three. The deck we were on had nothing to do with the boarding number we were given.

[SeattleCruiselover]

The Star March 27 sailing restricts "preferred" passengers to their boarding times. Following is directly from Cruise Personalizer under Itinerary then Seattle:

 

CRUISE CHECK-IN

To ensure a smooth start to your voyage, we operate a staggered check-in

schedule. Please arrive at your scheduled check-in time as noted below,

determined by your deck and cabin number. Due to security regulations and very

limited space inside the terminal, passengers arriving prior to their check-in

will not be permitted to enter the terminal. Passengers may drop off their

luggage and will be asked to return at their scheduled time. Priority check-in

will be available for Preferred passengers within your allocated check-in time

once inside the terminal.

10:30 am - Caribe & Lido Decks / Cabins C101-C753, L201-L312

12:30 pm - Baja & Plaza Decks / Cabins B201-B751, P201-P337

 

1:30 pm - Aloha & Emerald Decks / Cabins A201-A749, E101-E733

2:30 pm - Dolphin Deck / Cabins D103-D737

 

All passengers must be onboard by 3:30 pm.

 

I am leaving one week from today on Star, though from Vancouver, a d that notice has not yet appeared.

[cruising cockroach]

My party of 3 are sailing on the Island Princess out of Los Angeles this Friday (just thought of and bought the tickets Sunday afternoon) for a repo to Vancouver.

 

The only mention of boarding is that it must be completed by 3p (due to 4p sailing time). How early can one board?

 

I have looked at cruise personaliser and see nothing.

[caribill]

The only mention of boarding is that it must be completed by 3p (due to 4p sailing time). How early can one board?

 

 

Usually around noon

[Vietri Sul Mare]

Hi! Would anyone know if the bus that provides Princess Cruises transfers out of the Seattle, WA airport is going to pick-up earlier then 10:30 a.m. since that's when our deck seems to start boarding? :confused:

[Cuizer2]

My party of 3 are sailing on the Island Princess out of Los Angeles this Friday (just thought of and bought the tickets Sunday afternoon) for a repo to Vancouver.

 

The only mention of boarding is that it must be completed by 3p (due to 4p sailing time). How early can one board?

 

I have looked at cruise personaliser and see nothing.

 

Typically boarding begins around noon.

[cruising cockroach]

So the boarding crush is said to be between noon and 1P. If we take a shuttle and arrive at say 1145a, would this avoid the crush or should be get there say 1115a? The hotel is down the port and bit and the shuttles leave every 1/2 hr.

[jaive]

We're travelling on the Star in September. I haven't recieved a "notification" about this change in boarding but I did just check on the itinerary and down below in the gray notifications box, near the bottom is the heading Cruise Check-in which lists the staggered boarding. I'm not sure I ever would have noticed if I hadn't read about it here and checked!

[Level six]

Jaive, I know, me too. But once you make final payment, an email arrives in minutes to tell you about staggered boarding.......

I think that is the real problem. If princess wants to change their procedure, more power to them, just make it up front instead of only informing cruisers after the fact. Then, at least you know what you are getting and may or may not choose other cruise lines to travel. I probably would and will, depending on how it goes and how it is handled on the Star in July, to avoid the delay in boarding.

I guess the cruisers heading to Alaska soon will let us know how it goes and what to expect.

[Stevesan]

I am leaving one week from today on Star, though from Vancouver, a d that notice has not yet appeared.

 

There is a lot of inconsistency in the stagger system.

We can only hope the whole concept will experience an early demise.

[Josy1953]

We are sailing from Southampton 19th May and I found under "Important Notices" in the cruise personaliser the following :

 

CHECK-IN INFORMATION

To ensure a smooth start to your voyage, we operate a staggered check-in schedule. Please arrive at your scheduled check-in time as noted below,

determined by your deck and cabin number. Passengers arriving prior to their check-in time will be asked to return at their scheduled time. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. All passengers must be onboard by 3:00 pm.

 

12:00 pm - Dolphin Deck/Cabins D103-D737

12:30 pm - Caribe Deck/Cabins C101-C753

1:00 pm - Lido Deck & Aloha Deck/Cabins L101-L308 & A201-A749

1:30 pm - Baja Deck/Cabins B201-B751

2:00 pm - Emerald Deck/Cabins E101-E733

2:30 pm - Plaza Deck/Cabins P201-P337

It appears that Suites, Elites and Platinums have to follow the same schedule, this concerns me because we are arriving by coach for the first time and have no control over our arrival time, I had expected that this would not be a problem because being Elite we would just board whenever we got to the port, now it seems that if we arrive before 12:30 we will be told to return later. What do we do with our luggage if we can't board ?

[Cuizer2]

We are sailing from Southampton 19th May and I found under "Important Notices" in the cruise personaliser the following :

 

CHECK-IN INFORMATION

To ensure a smooth start to your voyage, we operate a staggered check-in schedule. Please arrive at your scheduled check-in time as noted below,

determined by your deck and cabin number. Passengers arriving prior to their check-in time will be asked to return at their scheduled time. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. All passengers must be onboard by 3:00 pm.

 

12:00 pm - Dolphin Deck/Cabins D103-D737

12:30 pm - Caribe Deck/Cabins C101-C753

1:00 pm - Lido Deck & Aloha Deck/Cabins L101-L308 & A201-A749

1:30 pm - Baja Deck/Cabins B201-B751

2:00 pm - Emerald Deck/Cabins E101-E733

2:30 pm - Plaza Deck/Cabins P201-P337

It appears that Suites, Elites and Platinums have to follow the same schedule, this concerns me because we are arriving by coach for the first time and have no control over our arrival time, I had expected that this would not be a problem because being Elite we would just board whenever we got to the port, now it seems that if we arrive before 12:30 we will be told to return later. What do we do with our luggage if we can't board ?

 

Check your luggage in. The staggered boarding is for the passengers, not their luggage.