Royal Princess Dec 1st, new check-in time?

[jeanico]

Hello to my fellow cc members, and happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating tomorrow (I'm from Canada, so my 'thanks' were given last month!) :)

 

We are cruising on the Royal Princess this coming Sunday (Dec 1st), and never received an official notice by email, but read on these boards about Princess' new staggered boarding procedure at Port Everglades. Since we are on the Dolphin deck, we should be arriving for 1:30PM per those new instructions. Has this been enforced on any of the recent Royal cruises? We were planning on arriving at the terminal between 11:00AM and 11:30AM because we like to board as early as possible and have lunch on the ship to kick start our holiday, but won't do so if we are going to be forced to wait around for 2 hours until 'Dolphins' are allowed to board.

 

Any advice would be awesome! We are Gold members, so nothing fancy.

 

Best,

Nicole

Edited November 27, 2013 by jeanico

[CruisinChris]

They don't actually enforce it. It's just recommended. I didn't receive an email either but it's posted in the personalizer on the bottom of the itinerary page where they note "Important Notices"

[riclop]

Hello to my fellow cc members, and happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating tomorrow (I'm from Canada, so my 'thanks' were given last month!) :)

 

We are cruising on the Royal Princess this coming Sunday (Dec 1st), and never received an official notice by email, but read on these boards about Princess' new staggered boarding procedure at Port Everglades. Since we are on the Dolphin deck, we should be arriving for 1:30PM per those new instructions. Has this been enforced on any of the recent Royal cruises? We were planning on arriving at the terminal between 11:00AM and 11:30AM because we like to board as early as possible and have lunch on the ship to kick start our holiday, but won't do so if we are going to be forced to wait around for 2 hours until 'Dolphins' are allowed to board.

 

Any advice would be awesome! We are Gold members, so nothing fancy.

 

Best,

Nicole

No they dont. Get there early.

[CinWin]

We want to get on the ship earlier than 1:30 also. We always enjoy having lunch on ships and usually arrive at the port around 11:00 a.m. We are Gold Princess cruisers and our cabin is on the Emerald deck. :(

Cindy

[dmwnc1959]

I plan on showing up around 10am.... :D

[Sydney24]

I plan on showing up around 10am.... :D

 

Dave so pleased to see you are almost on board! Hope you have an amazing time. I am sure you will. I still have six months to go and counting. Enjoy! Anne

[dmwnc1959]

Dave so pleased to see you are almost on board! Hope you have an amazing time. I am sure you will. I still have six months to go and counting. Enjoy! Anne

 

It's been a loooong countdown. ;) Hopefully embarkation won't be as bad as it was last year, but that was right after Terminal 2 reopened.

[cattolica]

That's a bit early. They won't be ready for embarking passengers. We arrived at our off site parking lot earlier than expected (10am). The shuttle driver headed over, we sat in horrible traffic inside the port area for about 30 mins. I didn't care, he was the one that had to deal with the mess.

 

Disembarkation of the previous passengers will still be going on. We were able to get checked in around 11:15, didn't board until around 12:15 and it was a mess.

 

I am sure it is going to take longer since when we boarded they were not doing a extra check for wine so there was no special area for people to go if they exceeded the free allowance. I hear they are doing that now.

 

I plan on showing up around 10am.... :D

[dmwnc1959]

That's a bit early...

 

Last year I did a B2B on Allure of the Seas and Ruby Princess. I got over to Terminal 2 around 9:45ish and there was a line outside that grew to about 150 people by time they opened the doors. I was Gold then, and embarkation was a unmitigated disaster, people standing and sitting everywhere along the walls, floors, and in between.

 

I've gone from Gold to Platinum since last year so I'm hoping the waiting area, and embarkation, is a little more organized by time the 12/1 sailing arrives and they've fined tuned the experience a little bit from the previous cruises. ;)

[cattolica]

Good Luck,

We were Platinum. There were so many Elites on our cruise, they put the overflow Elites in the Platinum seating area. It was an absolute zoo. Not sure time is going to fix the number of people who are leaving the ship and then those who trying to board the ship.

 

Last year I did a B2B on Allure of the Seas and Ruby Princess. I got over to Terminal 2 around 9:45ish and there was a line outside that grew to about 150 people by time they opened the doors. I was Gold then, and embarkation was a unmitigated disaster, people standing and sitting everywhere along the walls, floors, and in between.

 

I've gone from Gold to Platinum since last year so I'm hoping the waiting area, and embarkation, is a little more organized by time the 12/1 sailing arrives and they've fined tuned the experience a little bit from the previous cruises. ;)

[dmwnc1959]

Good Luck,

We were Platinum. There were so many Elites on our cruise, they put the overflow Elites in the Platinum seating area. It was an absolute zoo. Not sure time is going to fix the number of people who are leaving the ship and then those who trying to board the ship.

 

THANKS. Looking forward to another 'madhouse'! ;):D

[CinWin]

I live in Ft. Lauderdale and could certainly eat lunch at home, but I want to enjoy the "ship experience" as soon as possible. Lunch onboard is something to look forward to. :)

Cindy

[Richmond]

Jeanico-

What time did you end up going and how did it play out? I looked for follow up posts but didn't see any. Would appreciate any feedback you have to offer. Thanks!

 

 

Hello to my fellow cc members, and happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating tomorrow (I'm from Canada, so my 'thanks' were given last month!) :)

 

We are cruising on the Royal Princess this coming Sunday (Dec 1st), and never received an official notice by email, but read on these boards about Princess' new staggered boarding procedure at Port Everglades. Since we are on the Dolphin deck, we should be arriving for 1:30PM per those new instructions. Has this been enforced on any of the recent Royal cruises? We were planning on arriving at the terminal between 11:00AM and 11:30AM because we like to board as early as possible and have lunch on the ship to kick start our holiday, but won't do so if we are going to be forced to wait around for 2 hours until 'Dolphins' are allowed to board.

 

Any advice would be awesome! We are Gold members, so nothing fancy.

 

Best,

Nicole

[LHARTWICK]

We've received the staggered boarding e-mail today for our April 5 Crown cruise out of Los

Angeles. Even if they were to enforce it, I don't see how they could get ALL passengers boarded in 2.5 hours? (Our e-mail indicates all passengers would board between 2:00 - 4:30 PM with staggered boarding times.) We took this same cruise 2 years ago and arrived by 10:30 AM I believe. At that time there were plenty of seats in the terminal. However, I could see where it could be VERY crowded during peak boarding times. By the time our group was called (around 11:30 or so) it was already becoming scarce on seats.

[Colo Cruiser]

We've received the staggered boarding e-mail today for our April 5 Crown cruise out of Los

Angeles. Even if they were to enforce it, I don't see how they could get ALL passengers boarded in 2.5 hours? (Our e-mail indicates all passengers would board between 2:00 - 4:30 PM with staggered boarding times.) We took this same cruise 2 years ago and arrived by 10:30 AM I believe. At that time there were plenty of seats in the terminal. However, I could see where it could be VERY crowded during peak boarding times. By the time our group was called (around 11:30 or so) it was already becoming scarce on seats.

 

 

Its a suggestion.

[LHARTWICK]

Thanks, Colo Cruiser. I've just never received a separate e-mail like that before. I know it's always been suggested in the past - I just wasn't sure if it was now being strictly enforced.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks, Colo Cruiser. I've just never received a separate e-mail like that before. I know it's always been suggested in the past - I just wasn't sure if it was now being strictly enforced.

 

I know at one time a year or so ago they had major issues in San Francisco. They did enforce it on a couple of cruises there at that time but no other port that I have heard of. :)