Staggered Boarding??

[caribill]

Seems to me that this is an easy fix. Since Princess knows the passenger's arrival time, it can pair that passenger up with a boarding time that most closely reflects the anticipated arrival time of the Transfer Shuttle. People who purchase a Princess transfer get slotted seamlessly, adding incentive to buy the Transfer.

 

This will be a lot of fun at the port when two people on the same deck find they are boarding hours apart because one of them took the Princess xfer and the other did not need to.

[LARGIN]

The problems that you describe seem to have more to do with unusual and unfortunate circumstances and less to do with staggered boarding.

 

Agree, as the March 19th fiasco was an abnormality. We had the staggered boarding on our April 28th cruise from SF. Our time was 2:25.. We arrived at noon and were in our room at 12:15...

[flooded01]

San francisco is the worst port we have been through, unless Vancouver bc for organization. Where as with most ports we can just walk in with little or no waiting. Sometimes there is a seprate waiting area for plat and elite customers, but that is usually because they had more sickness on the previous cruise and are doing extra sanitizing.

 

What other ports are people being notified about? This does seem to be about those icky ports. Maybe if we cc people use each other to organize limos, we can go someplace comfy to wait. We have found if there are 4 or more of us it is cost effective to hire our own transport in most ports.

[timetravler]

Being that I am from the San Francisco area and know the Embarcadero well, I just e-mailed Princess with a suggestion.

If Princess could rent a convention room at a hotel near the port and have everyone go there instead and assign numbers in a first come, first serve fashion, I think this would solve much of the problem. I also suggested that they have electric carts to bring dissabled passengers to the port when their number is called much like what airports have.

Or I suggested that they use the very large area near pier 30 as a area in the same way. This large mostly unused area now has a few benches and nothing else. It is not under construction, and is a clean paved area where tables and chairs could be easly set up for waiting.

Finally I don't know if Princess could do this or maybe they already do this, but cone off the lane on the Embarcadero closest to the sidewalk for ONLY buses, drop-offs or pick-ups, and taxi's. That way those who are not cruising, but are only driving on the Embarcadero could get through easier.

Finally, I let Princess know that passengers are not happy with the way the staggered boarding is now. I saw this myself on Mothers day with 3 ships in port. It was a mess. Also where the Island Princess was docked near the Ferry building, they had a HUGE paved area right there that appeared to be completely unused. All busses, taxi's and such could have easily pulled into this big lot. All that would have to be done is some clean up there.

[RaMar]

Thank God that we didn't have any of these problems out of SF last August. No staggered boarding procedure then. It actually was extremely fast, but this was because we're platinum and didn't have to wait around. I can only imagine the mess there now knowing what the Embarcadero area is like.

[crows nest club]

I e-mailed princess UK regarding the staggered boarding at Southampton for our cruise on the grand in the summer and they have said that 'the time given is a guideline but they hope that passengers will adhere to the suggested time in order to minimise queues. But we do appreciate that not all passengers can arrive at their suggested time and this will be taken into account and that a dedicated check in for Platinum and Elite members is open at all times".

 

From this, and reading between the lines, we will assume that if you arrive outside your guideline time, you will not be turned away. However, that is how we are going to interpretet the rather ambiguous reply!!

[COP]

The confusion is what bothers me. You have a cruise line that 1. Not consistent, 2. Did not use common sense in setting this system (or no system) up. When you book, would be the time to explain the staggered boarding policy to its passengers. As far as coming back from an excursion, it makes no sense attempting a staggered boarding. I would think that Princess needs to hire an adult to set this policy up if they have any plans on keeping it, which I hpe not.

COP

[JimmyVWine]

This will be a lot of fun at the port when two people on the same deck find they are boarding hours apart because one of them took the Princess xfer and the other did not need to.

I was less than clear. I was trying to suggest that staggered boarding can work quite well, but it probably shouldn't be tethered to deck occupancy. There is no question that categorizing people by deck is the most random of all chosen methods, short of a lottery. Disembarkment is tied to airline departure time, so boarding could be tied to arrival time. At least to some degree. Princess knows which passengers have not submitted any flight plans and thus are in the local area on their own, knows which passengers are arriving by plane a day or more before the cruise, knows which passsengers are arriving between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. the day of the cruise, which passengers are arriving between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. on the day of the cruise and which passengers are arriving later than that. Seems fairly simple to group boarding times according to various ranges of arrival times. You would never have an equal distribution of people in each boarding slot. But I don't think you need to. And it has to be better than the "every man, woman and child for themselves" approach used without staggered boarding. This still gives people some amount of control over their boarding time as they can manipulate their arrival schedule to a certain degree to line up with the earliest boarding times.

 

But beyond this, I still like the idea of allowing people to pick their boarding time the same way they pick their dining preference. Early bookers get the most options.

[Josy1953]

I e-mailed princess UK regarding the staggered boarding at Southampton for our cruise on the grand in the summer and they have said that 'the time given is a guideline but they hope that passengers will adhere to the suggested time in order to minimise queues. But we do appreciate that not all passengers can arrive at their suggested time and this will be taken into account and that a dedicated check in for Platinum and Elite members is open at all times".

 

From this, and reading between the lines, we will assume that if you arrive outside your guideline time, you will not be turned away. However, that is how we are going to interpretet the rather ambiguous reply!!

 

The actual notice states:

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.

When I emailed them I received the same reply which appears to be a standard reply, but as I specifically wanted to know whether Elites had to adhere to the schedule I tweeted them and they have tweeted the following back :

 

If sailing out of a port where staggered check-in is operated Elite pax will have Preferred Check-in but during their assigned time

 

Although I agree that the reply is ambiguous, it would seem from the notification on the cruise personaliser that we will be turned away and the tweet seems to suggest that this will apply to all pax regardless of staus.

[LARGIN]

The actual notice states:

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.

 

When I emailed them I received the same reply which appears to be a standard reply, but as I specifically wanted to know whether Elites had to adhere to the schedule I tweeted them and they have tweeted the following back :

 

If sailing out of a port where staggered check-in is operated Elite pax will have Preferred Check-in but during their assigned time

 

Although I agree that the reply is ambiguous, it would seem from the notification on the cruise personaliser that we will be turned away and the tweet seems to suggest that this will apply to all pax regardless of staus.

 

 

See post 427

[crows nest club]

See post 427

 

Quite. As the e-mail says it is only a suggested time given, then we may choose not to go with their "suggestion". As you say, we have been given times before, but have never ever been turned away if we have arrived outside our time. We have already booked our transport to the docks on the day and as we are elite members, have assumed that the preferred boarding would be in operation from the time of first embarkation, as has been the case last year. Unfortunately we cannot change the timing of our drop off. As my husband is over 80, if Princess really want to leave us outside the terminal till a minute past our 'alloted time', then it is good bye from us next year,after over 50 cruises.

[Cuizer2]

I think it would be more acceptable if it was done in order of booking rather than by deck. That would be fairer, in my opinion.

 

(On Disney cruise line, you select your boarding time when you do online check-in, which is another way of doing it. Of course the earliest slots are snapped up first.)

 

How about a merger of the two ideas. Instead of order of booking, why not select your boarding time at the time of booking, just like you do for dining time. Not every early booker wants to be an early boarder. But early bookers would be assured their first (or second) choice of boarding times. The problem with selecting it at the time of on-line check in is that everyone on the ship becomes eligible for check-in at precisely the same time, and you are forcing people into hanging around their computer hitting "refresh" every 5 seconds trying to time perfectly their check-in to coincide with the turning over of the calendar day that opens up the check-in window. No need to make this liek bidding on E-Bay or buying Springsteen tickets. By way of example, in trying to get an assigned boarding order on SW Airlines, if you don't check in in the first 5 seconds, you are going to be a "B". I absolutely hate that system and avoid SW for that reason alone.

 

Why is everyone trying to come up with a better idea? That is how someone at Princess came up with this ridiculous system, by trying to come up with a better idea.

 

What is wrong with boarding in the order you checked in? Give priority to those that earned it and arrived before boarding started, then board the rest of the people in the order that they arrived. This way you don't have to worry about what to do with people that have early boarding times and show up late, or people that have late boarding times and show up early.

[tserface]

Maybe they are cleaning the rooms floor by floor and that's the order they become available.

 

Tom

 

There is no question that categorizing people by deck is the most random of all chosen methods, short of a lottery.

[tserface]

I think those of us who cruise often should give priority to those who rarely, or have never before, been on a cruise so that they can have an extra special experience. Seems to me since we get to cruise often (life has afforded us that luxury) it would be nice for us to let the newbies have first crack at the ship. We've been there before.

 

Tom

 

Why is everyone trying to come up with a better idea? That is how someone at Princess came up with this ridiculous system, by trying to come up with a better idea.

 

What is wrong with boarding in the order you checked in? Give priority to those that earned it and arrived before boarding started, then board the rest of the people in the order that they arrived. This way you don't have to worry about what to do with people that have early boarding times and show up late, or people that have late boarding times and show up early.

[KirkNC]

I was less than clear. I was trying to suggest that staggered boarding can work quite well, but it probably shouldn't be tethered to deck occupancy. There is no question that categorizing people by deck is the most random of all chosen methods, short of a lottery. Disembarkment is tied to airline departure time, so boarding could be tied to arrival time. At least to some degree. Princess knows which passengers have not submitted any flight plans and thus are in the local area on their own, knows which passengers are arriving by plane a day or more before the cruise, knows which passsengers are arriving between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. the day of the cruise, which passengers are arriving between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. on the day of the cruise and which passengers are arriving later than that. Seems fairly simple to group boarding times according to various ranges of arrival times. You would never have an equal distribution of people in each boarding slot. But I don't think you need to. And it has to be better than the "every man, woman and child for themselves" approach used without staggered boarding. This still gives people some amount of control over their boarding time as they can manipulate their arrival schedule to a certain degree to line up with the earliest boarding times.

 

But beyond this, I still like the idea of allowing people to pick their boarding time the same way they pick their dining preference. Early bookers get the most options.

 

If you are going to have staggered boarding times, that is the best idea I have heard on how to do it so far.

[KirkNC]

I think those of us who cruise often should give priority to those who rarely, or have never before, been on a cruise so that they can have an extra special experience. Seems to me since we get to cruise often (life has afforded us that luxury) it would be nice for us to let the newbies have first crack at the ship. We've been there before.

 

Tom

 

Sorry, you are nicer then I am, I was hoping you were going to reverse the order and let the vets on first :p.

[Princess Patches]

Why is everyone trying to come up with a better idea? That is how someone at Princess came up with this ridiculous system, by trying to come up with a better idea.

 

What is wrong with boarding in the order you checked in? Give priority to those that earned it and arrived before boarding started, then board the rest of the people in the order that they arrived. This way you don't have to worry about what to do with people that have early boarding times and show up late, or people that have late boarding times and show up early.

 

So refreshingly simple. The only post that makes sense in 12 pages. Princess, just forget about staggered boarding and leave boarding as it was!

[JimmyVWine]

Why is everyone trying to come up with a better idea? That is how someone at Princess came up with this ridiculous system, by trying to come up with a better idea.

 

Because certain terminals cannot handle the crush of 2,000-3,000 people showing up at 10:30, all hoping to be first on board. Unlike the cynics and conspiracy theorists who think that everything that Princess does is designed to line its pockets, there is no economic advantage here for Princess. Instead, it has identified a problem and is trying to fix it. San Francisco is ill-suited for the purpose of loading multiple cruise ships on a given day. Getting 3,000 people off a ship and 3,000 new passengers on it is hampered by the chaos of everyone showing up at the same time. Logic, math, common sense and organizational skill sets all dictate that staggered boarding is more efficient. The question is, how do you implement it? Princess has chosen a rather random way of doing it. No harm in trying to figure out a better way since abandoning the process does not seem to be in the cards.

[bdjam]

Because certain terminals cannot handle the crush of 2,000-3,000 people showing up at 10:30, all hoping to be first on board. Unlike the cynics and conspiracy theorists who think that everything that Princess does is designed to line its pockets, there is no economic advantage here for Princess. Instead, it has identified a problem and is trying to fix it. San Francisco is ill-suited for the purpose of loading multiple cruise ships on a given day. Getting 3,000 people off a ship and 3,000 new passengers on it is hampered by the chaos of everyone showing up at the same time. Logic, math, common sense and organizational skill sets all dictate that staggered boarding is more efficient. The question is, how do you implement it? Princess has chosen a rather random way of doing it. No harm in trying to figure out a better way since abandoning the process does not seem to be in the cards.

And add to that complaints because people have to wait in line to get on the ship. I think the only reason to do this is partly because of those kinds of complaints. I think I said it a few pages back - be careful what you wish for.

 

The thing I find interesting is the number of posts from people who say they will ignore this process and so make the boarding process even MORE frustrating than it was before.

[Cuizer2]

Because certain terminals cannot handle the crush of 2,000-3,000 people showing up at 10:30, all hoping to be first on board. Unlike the cynics and conspiracy theorists who think that everything that Princess does is designed to line its pockets, there is no economic advantage here for Princess. Instead, it has identified a problem and is trying to fix it. San Francisco is ill-suited for the purpose of loading multiple cruise ships on a given day. Getting 3,000 people off a ship and 3,000 new passengers on it is hampered by the chaos of everyone showing up at the same time. Logic, math, common sense and organizational skill sets all dictate that staggered boarding is more efficient. The question is, how do you implement it? Princess has chosen a rather random way of doing it. No harm in trying to figure out a better way since abandoning the process does not seem to be in the cards.

 

If the terminal is unable to handle the job, then don't use that terminal. There are lots of cities up and down the coast that would love to have a cruise ship home port there. If San Francisco can't handle it, don't home port a ship there.

 

You are defending a system that simply does not work. The cruise line should be taking care of its customers (the passengers). The home port city should be taking care of its customers (the cruise line). If the home port city is not up to the job, find another home port.

 

Some people have no choice regarding their arrival time. This system punishes the people because their flight arrived at 9:30am instead of 12:30pm.

 

Also, Princess seems to be the only one using this system. Why is it the other cruise lines are able to handle boarding on a first come first board system and Princess cannot?

 

The staggered boarding system simply does not work. Why are you defending it?

[Captain Canuck]

at my work somebody just made a really STUPID policy ...crap is hitting the fan and now nobody remembers who made the decision....making it harder to reverse the policy...

 

Princess may be going through this..but since we PAY them and not the other way around they better fix this FAST

 

got a cruise brochure from Princess today...went straight to the garbage

[JimmyVWine]

You are defending a system that simply does not work.

No. You are not reading what I have said closely enough. I agree that the chosen method of implementation is wrong and ineffective. But the overall goal of staggered boarding as being faster and more efficient is unassailable. You cannot prevail in arguing that 3,000 people trying to board at once works as well as having 750 people show up each hour for four hours. Quite simply, if such a system were in place and you were assured being in the first group every time, you would love the system.

 

Some people have no choice regarding their arrival time. This system punishes the people because their flight arrived at 9:30am instead of 12:30pm.

Did you not read my post where I advocated boarding according to arrival time? This directly addresses your point and refutes your contention that I am supporting a system that would not work. Rather, I am suggesting a fix that feeds directly into your concern.

 

The staggered boarding system simply does not work. Why are you defending it?

I am not defending their system. I am suggesting a better one.

[Cuizer2]

Did you not read my post where I advocated boarding according to arrival time?

 

This is the system all the cruise lines use, including Princess (most of the time). Those that arrive at the pier first are the first to board the ship. There is no reason to replace this system with anything else.

[LARGIN]

I am not defending their system. I am suggesting a better one.

How about like this..

 

Elites/Suites.. Anytime

Others.. When you book your cruise you state your dining preference correct? How about stating your boarding preference also.. either 11-12, 12-1, 1-2, 2-3? As requesting dining preferences, first come, first served..

[rdsqrl]

. . . Is it infuriating to those who want to be first aboard for whatever reason? Sure. But infuriating can co-exist with efficient as long as the infuriated are nothing more than a vocal minority.

The infuriated are those like me who believe that I paid for that day on board, including lunch, and I want what I paid for, or at least equal access to it as anyone else. Why should some benefit that full experience: enjoying a relatively empty ship for a brief period, a leisurely dining room lunch, a stroll to the IC for a mocha to enjoy while unpacking before muster -- and others are denied it simply because the deck they booked on or when they reserved their cruise? I don't know why you, a normally reasonable person, don't get how that could be infuriating.

 

Because certain terminals cannot handle the crush of 2,000-3,000 people showing up at 10:30, all hoping to be first on board. Unlike the cynics and conspiracy theorists who think that everything that Princess does is designed to line its pockets, there is no economic advantage here for Princess. Instead, it has identified a problem and is trying to fix it. San Francisco is ill-suited for the purpose of loading multiple cruise ships on a given day. Getting 3,000 people off a ship and 3,000 new passengers on it is hampered by the chaos of everyone showing up at the same time. Logic, math, common sense and organizational skill sets all dictate that staggered boarding is more efficient. The question is, how do you implement it? Princess has chosen a rather random way of doing it. No harm in trying to figure out a better way since abandoning the process does not seem to be in the cards.

First of all, except for that March 19 fiasco, I have yet to hear how there have been a chaotic crush of people at any ports. Seems to me like people naturally sort themselves out, except for the usual lines before the doors open for boarding. I have never heard of any cruise where all 3000 passengers showed up at once to board -- that's patently ridiculous. Second, if people want to get there early and deal with a huge crush, let them. If I've been warned about crowds and choose to line up anyway, that's on me. I don't need the nannies at Princess to tell me when I can arrive at the pier.