Staggered Boarding??

[JimmyVWine]

You do not get charged by the days. You get charged by the nights. If you sleep in a hotel for 7 nights you pay for 7 nights. If you sleep on a cruise ship for 7 nights; same thing. Nobody is paying for your days; just their own.

 

Not exactly analogous. A hotel is charging you for a bed, so you pay by the night. Doesn't matter if you check in at 3:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m. after a late flight. If your head hits the pillow 3 times, you pay for three nights. But on a cruise, you are paying for room and board. A 7 day voyage should include 21 meals. On a Saturday-Saturday voyage, you get three meals Sunday through Friday (18 meals). You get breakfast on your Saturday disemarkation day. Contrary to what was posted above, that meal is not a "freebie". That brings us to 19 meals. The 20th and 21st are supposed to be lunch and dinner on embarkation day. So if you don't get to board until 3:00, you most certainly are being deprived of one of your 21 paid-for meals. Early boarders aren't getting an "extra" meal. Rather, late boarders are getting one less than they paid for.

[popper]

Here is the text from the email:

 

Good Afternoon.

 

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:

 

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

 

Priority check in will be available for Preferred passengers within your allocated check in time as above. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. All passengers must be onboard by 3:00pm.

 

We look forward to welcoming you onboard the Sapphire Princess

[compozer]

It's also distinctly unfair to Platinum and Elite passengers, who have earned that status through customer loyalty and paying for a lot of cruises. Their priority boarding should be honored whatever time they arrive at the terminal, regardless of the staggered boarding schedule.

 

You forgot about the suite passengers - for what they are paying for the cruise (sometimes it is 4 X as much as an inside) they should be allowed to board first.

[Pia1913]

Not exactly analogous. A hotel is charging you for a bed, so you pay by the night. Doesn't matter if you check in at 3:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m. after a late flight. If your head hits the pillow 3 times, you pay for three nights. But on a cruise, you are paying for room and board. A 7 day voyage should include 21 meals. On a Saturday-Saturday voyage, you get three meals Sunday through Friday (18 meals). You get breakfast on your Saturday disemarkation day. Contrary to what was posted above, that meal is not a "freebie". That brings us to 19 meals. The 20th and 21st are supposed to be lunch and dinner on embarkation day. So if you don't get to board until 3:00, you most certainly are being deprived of one of your 21 paid-for meals. Early boarders aren't getting an "extra" meal. Rather, late boarders are getting one less than they paid for.

 

If you're inclined, the seven day voyage can include 42 meals. It's just how you elect to have them. Where does it say that you get 21 meals? Your booking entitles you to meals. Plural. As many as you want.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Sapphire coastal, but why should it make a difference? Wouldn't this be a company wide policy?

 

We are leaving on Saturday on the Sapphire for Hawaii... One person on our roll call has received the email but no one else!:mad: Out of the four cruises we have taken out of LA, this is the first time I have heard of this.

[aaerobear]

I am curious about the e-mail. Has anyone who is a platinum or Elite or a suite passenger received the e-mail?

 

Perhaps the computer only sends it to those who will not have "preferred" boarding. We have not gotten this e-mail for any of the last 10 or so cruises, but then we are Elite and have been in a suite a couple times.

 

We did get the e-mail for our cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and we totallt ignored it, got to the pier in NYC at 11:30 and were on board by 12:15. Our time was supposed to be 2:30pm.

[Nancyquilts]

I am curious about the e-mail. Has anyone who is a platinum or Elite or a suite passenger received the e-mail?

 

Perhaps the computer only sends it to those who will not have "preferred" boarding. We have not gotten this e-mail for any of the last 10 or so cruises, but then we are Elite and have been in a suite a couple times.

 

We did get the e-mail for our cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and we totallt ignored it, got to the pier in NYC at 11:30 and were on board by 12:15. Our time was supposed to be 2:30pm.

We have 26 cruises with Princess, and got the e-mail through our TA.:mad:

[MTJSR]

You do not get charged by the days. You get charged by the nights. If you sleep in a hotel for 7 nights you pay for 7 nights. If you sleep on a cruise ship for 7 nights; same thing. Nobody is paying for your days; just their own.

 

 

You are right, I was doing my fast math incorrectly. I have a cruise out of San Francisco coming up and I have guests doing the Bon Voyage Experience. If I as platinum have to board later due to my deck, my family is walking the ship at 11am and having lunch alone. Sounds like fun to me:eek:

 

I did the BVE in SF when my parents sailed on the Sea Princess, and I was asked to arrive at 11am and then escorted onboard by the Future Cruise Director. There was no coordination with my parents boarding at all, in fact I was onboard first and waited for them to come thru the door. This policy or trial policy by Princess just has to many potential issues associated with it for it to work at all.

[gooch47]

On our recent Sea Princess cruise, some of the people who were at the Meet and Greet did mention the staggered times.

 

We are elite and didn't see anything of the sort.

 

As for elite getting EARLY boarding, no, we don't, but compared to others it is EARLIER.

[Times Prince]

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 have to wonder if this is a function of the port facilities. When we sailed Princess out of LA we used a Princess hotel for the night before and their transfer (somewhat early) to the port. The port was a fiasco. There were two ships in port and ours (Star Princess) was docked where the boarding area was a great big circus tent. It is the only time we've sailed where there was a long, long line for Priority boarding, and the regular boarding queue was outrageous.

 

I don't see how a "board by deck" system could work when your arrival time is dictated by available flights/drive times/transfers/previous night hotel stays, etc.. They have always had check-in by deck with different tables, but arrival times are usually not in the passenger's control.

[CaliWC]

We are Platinum and received the email.

[grandmaa]

I just checked the San Pedro Port schedule and the Sapphire Princess is the only cruise ship in port on March 24..so cannot imagine why all this nonsense with staggered boarding by decks. We have boarded many times here in San Pedro and never have had such notice not to board until 2:30 because of the deck (Aloha) we are on...and we are elite passengers!

[judyjudy56]

A few cruises ago we got this same email. We were departing from San Pedro. We are platinum and had our son drop us off at about 11:00. We were able to check in right away with no questions asked about what deck we were on. We were on the ship right about 11:30. I got the same email for our March 24th cruise. We are planning on doing our normal thing. At this point we do not even have a cabin assignment. I wonder what people do who do not get a cabin assignment until they get to the pier. How would they know what their boarding time should be.

[JimmyVWine]

If you're inclined, the seven day voyage can include 42 meals. It's just how you elect to have them. Where does it say that you get 21 meals? Your booking entitles you to meals. Plural. As many as you want.

We are in agreement that you can have more than 21. But anything less than that is contrary to their published documents. They state quite clearly that they provide lunch on the date of embarkation and breakfast on the last day. You can piddle around with all the other days in any fashion you wish. Heck. Go ahead and fast for the whole trip for all I care. The issue is not how many meals you eat. It is how many meals do they say they provide. And the documents say that they provide B,L and D for all full days; L and D on day one and B on the last day.

[Putterdude]

I am curious about the e-mail. Has anyone who is a platinum or Elite or a suite passenger received the e-mail?

 

 

Short answer, yes we have. As I mentioned in post #33 we chose to ignore the email and didn't not have a problem.

[coo359a2]

We are in agreement that you can have more than 21. But anything less than that is contrary to their published documents. They state quite clearly that they provide lunch on the date of embarkation and breakfast on the last day. You can piddle around with all the other days in any fashion you wish. Heck. Go ahead and fast for the whole trip for all I care. The issue is not how many meals you eat. It is how many meals do they say they provide. And the documents say that they provide B,L and D for all full days; L and D on day one and B on the last day.

 

This would be good info to have. What type of document is this and how can we get a copy?

[Kenosha Cruiser]

We are on Aloha deck on the Sapphire and our notice said to board after 2:30

With all aboard by 3 and sailing at 4.

 

That's absurd!!! I say go when ever you want, nobody is going to turn you away and tell you to come back after 2:30. I've been on 10 Princess cruises (mostly the big ships) and have always arrived between 11am to 1pm with no problem for embarkation. Don't worry about it, just go and have a wonderful cruise.

[Habs_Fan]

I always stay at a hotel pre-cruise and check out is usually by 11 which is when I check out and take a taxi to the pier. I definitely would not be happy waiting around a terminal for 3 or so hours if I have a 2:30 check in.

[tiller]

Yeah, I agree with those who say board when you want to--the worst that can happen is you have to wait. My mom and I had a similar situation with Holland America last year--we were supposed to board at 2 p.m. but we had plans to eat in the dining room for the returning cruisers' lunch. We boarded around noon with no problem. But to be on the safe side, I'll eat a decent breakfast.

[Nancyquilts]

It was interesting that our e-mail referred to the multiple ships at the pier as the problem. The only other ship is the Oriana on the second day of her visit to SF on her world cruise. If they cry "wolf" over a non-problem, how will we be able to trust them if they really have a problem?

[aaerobear]

There is definitely going to be a problem in San Francisco on 3/19. Yes the Oriana is on a two day stop, BUT, on the second day they will be checking in and boarding almost 1000 new passengers, that with the Star having 2500 passengers, the terminal will be extremely crowded.

 

Be aware that the terminal also has a limit on how many people can be in the check-in hall at one time, hence the lines to get in may be very very long on the sidewalk. Just a warning, it may all go smoothly.

 

Normally the pier can handle two ships as long as one is just a day stop, but as the Star will be a full turn and the Oriana a partial turn it will be crowded.

[catmom040]

Just found out the our boarding on the Golden is for 1 p.m. Thanks everyone for helping know where to look:)

[Pamster]

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

 

Hmmm - BA on 3/31, Caribe deck - haven't received an email like that. My boarding pass has the "arrive after 2:00 for quickest boarding" No elite boarding as this is our first Princess Cruise.

 

And only the Sapphire is in port that day...

 

Going to check the roll call, see if anyone has received such an email.

[Astro Flyer]

Sapphire coastal, but why should it make a difference? Wouldn't this be a company wide policy?

I embarked on the Sapphire on the 3rd from LA & never received such an email nor was anything like this enforced during the boarding process.

[judyjudy56]

I just read on the facebook roll call for our March 24th cruise on the Sapphire that someone talked to Princess and they said they were doing this because there are so many elite and platinums on this cruise. They said they are going to stick to this and they don't care if people are mad. We don't have a cabin assignment yet and if we don't have one until we get to the pier, I can't believe they would say I would have to wait to check in. We are also platinum so we usually get to the pier at around 11 and check right in.