Boarding Times

[dizneefreak28]

Hi everyone!

 

Quick question....I'm heading on a cruise Saturday on Caribbean Princess. This is my 15th cruise so I'm not a newbie....however I received an email from Princess giving me my assigned boarding time. That is something new! We are flying in early morning and were just going to head straight to the port....however my boarding time is 2:00. Will they make us wait?

 

Thanks in advance!

[paul929207]

I believe the assigned times are more a suggestion that a requirement. The intent is to spread out the checkin/boarding to reduce the lines.

[skynight]

Hi everyone!

 

Quick question....I'm heading on a cruise Saturday on Caribbean Princess. This is my 15th cruise so I'm not a newbie....however I received an email from Princess giving me my assigned boarding time. That is something new! We are flying in early morning and were just going to head straight to the port....however my boarding time is 2:00. Will they make us wait?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Staggered boarding times by deck are a suggestion. If you arrive early you will be able to board. While most passengers do not pay attention to staggered boarding, Princess still puts out the announcements. To me this is a customer unfriendly, not good policy.

[pascalburns]

the answer to your question is,no

[hawkeyetlse]

I fully understand wanting to get on board on soon as possible, and I agree with you that it is in Princess's financial interest to get everyone on board as quickly as they can, too. But since you brought up logistical issues, they simply cannot board 2000 passengers between 11am and 11:30am. There are many ways to deal with this problem (build bigger terminals! hire 10 times more check-in staff!) but the simplest thing to do is to encourage people to arrive throughout the day in a steady trickle. And I don't see how you can get people to do that except by telling them to do that.

 

Of course there are friendly ways and unfriendly ways to give people instructions, but I don't think Princess's instructions are unfriendly. And they are pretty friendly about people who choose to pay no attention to them. Unfortunately this means that there can still be a long wait for check-in and boarding around lunchtime. Which does not make for a great first impression, but people should probably be looking at their fellow passengers and not at Princess if they have a complaint about that.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

I'm definitely not trying to be "selfish". Airline tickets were booked months ago and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with myself until the 2:00 assigned time when I'll have landed at 9:30 in the morning.

 

I'll be arriving in Long Beach at roughly the same time for a sailing on Crown in February. I have a boarding time of 1-3pm. As I haven't sailed previously with Princess, I'm glad to know that I can go straight from LGB to the port. Thanks for asking the question. :)

[jak378]

There is also the point that passengers are paying for this day.

[hawkeyetlse]

There is also the point that passengers are paying for this day.

Passengers pay for the cruise. The cruise line decides when the cruise starts and ends, and it doesn't have to be exactly the same for all passengers, and it does not correspond to a certain number of full days. You may have booked a 10-day cruise, but that doesn't mean you paid for and are entitled to 10 consecutive 24-hour periods on board. (Actually, maybe it does. Maybe we should sue them and make them stop advertising cruises this way and say "10-night" instead.)

[Cruisin' Chick]

I'll be arriving in Long Beach at roughly the same time for a sailing on Crown in February. I have a boarding time of 1-3pm. As I haven't sailed previously with Princess, I'm glad to know that I can go straight from LGB to the port. Thanks for asking the question. :)

 

Are you sure the Crown Princess is leaving from the Port of Long Beach? Usually Carnival uses the berth that's there and other ships leave from the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. It's very rare that Princess would start a cruise from LB.

 

 

I fully understand wanting to get on board on soon as possible, and I agree with you that it is in Princess's financial interest to get everyone on board as quickly as they can, too. But since you brought up logistical issues, they simply cannot board 2000 passengers between 11am and 11:30am. There are many ways to deal with this problem (build bigger terminals! hire 10 times more check-in staff!) but the simplest thing to do is to encourage people to arrive throughout the day in a steady trickle. And I don't see how you can get people to do that except by telling them to do that.

 

Of course there are friendly ways and unfriendly ways to give people instructions, but I don't think Princess's instructions are unfriendly. And they are pretty friendly about people who choose to pay no attention to them. Unfortunately this means that there can still be a long wait for check-in and boarding around lunchtime. Which does not make for a great first impression, but people should probably be looking at their fellow passengers and not at Princess if they have a complaint about that.

 

It's not the passengers that are causing any log jams. For years, the cruise lines will often say 1pm on the cruise docs or pre-cruise email we've received (at least on just about every cruise we've been on) and I can't imagine they want all the passengers arriving at that specific time -- that would cause a traffic jam entering the port.

 

I think it's more that they don't want passengers trying to get there at 9 am when there's others who are disembarking and waiting for their shuttles, etc. to pick them up.

 

And I would imagine part of the subtext is they don't want a rush of passengers trying to check in around 3pm.

[caribill]

I fully understand wanting to get on board on soon as possible, and I agree with you that it is in Princess's financial interest to get everyone on board as quickly as they can, too. But since you brought up logistical issues, they simply cannot board 2000 passengers between 11am and 11:30am. There are many ways to deal with this problem but the simplest thing to do is to encourage people to arrive throughout the day in a steady trickle. And I don't see how you can get people to do that except by telling them to do that.

 

 

So, what do you suggest for a family with two cabins on different decks that arrives at the airport at 11 AM which one cabin scheduled to board at 12:30 and the other at 3:00?

 

a) Hang around at the airport for several hours so they can board together

b) Hand around at the pier for several hours so they can board together

c) Go from airport to pier and check in together as soon as practical

[Snowesha]

so, what do you suggest for a family with two cabins on different decks that arrives at the airport at 11 am which one cabin scheduled to board at 12:30 and the other at 3:00?

 

A) hang around at the airport for several hours so they can board together

b) hand around at the pier for several hours so they can board together

c) go from airport to pier and check in together as soon as practical

 

c :)

[hawkeyetlse]

Yes, everyone has some reason why they should be allowed to board earlier. It is almost always some lame variation on "because I don't want to wait". There are probably some really good reasons out there, too. But really, any reason will do, because for now Princess does not usually enforce boarding times. So just show up at whatever time works best for you, and hope that there aren't too many other people in line ahead of you when you get there.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Are you sure the Crown Princess is leaving from the Port of Long Beach? Usually Carnival uses the berth that's there and other ships leave from the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. It's very rare that Princess would start a cruise from LB.

 

 

Thanks for the clarification. :) I'm flying into LGB. JetBlue has the most affordable flights from Portland, and they fly almost exclusively into Long Beach. I am aware that Crown sails from San Pedro. I had a bit of a preview as I was disembarking from Norwegian Sun two Saturdays ago. Crown slipped into port right behind us. Cheers!

 

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[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Lets face it, most people don't really have an opportunity to adjust they're schedule to meet Princess's suggestions and they're going to arrive early in the day. If you can get there later when they suggest it would probably help with the overall boarding bottleneck but just relize that you'll be late to go to the DR for lunch, maybe miss out on making reservations for the Sanctuary and barely get to your cabin without your luggage & then have to go to the muster drill.

If those item don't bother you then follow their recommendations but I know what's important to me & what time I'll be there. :rolleyes:

[JimmyVWine]

Passengers pay for the cruise. The cruise line decides when the cruise starts and ends, and it doesn't have to be exactly the same for all passengers, and it does not correspond to a certain number of full days. You may have booked a 10-day cruise, but that doesn't mean you paid for and are entitled to 10 consecutive 24-hour periods on board. (Actually, maybe it does. Maybe we should sue them and make them stop advertising cruises this way and say "10-night" instead.)

 

I find it really hard to buy into this when there are features on the ship that can only be enjoyed with early boarding. When one selects and pays for a Dolphin Deck cabin, one is not doing so knowing that they cannot book the Sanctuary for the full week, cannot gain access to the Chef's Table, cannot take the Ultimate Ship's Tour and cannot dine in the MDR on departure day. I suppose if this was made clear in the booking process, it would be more acceptable. But without such a clear understanding, all passengers should have equal access to all features that are included in their fare. And if it is understood that the early bird gets some of these worms, then all passengers should be eligible to be early birds. Some will win the race. Others will not. But Princess should not create a race and then stagger the start.

[hawkeyetlse]

I don't think anyone will disagree that there are many advantages and few if any disadvantages to getting on the ship earlier rather than later. So it is understandable that everyone wants to get on board as early as they can. And it would be great if there were some way to allow them all to do this, but there is not. The practical reality is that they can only check in so many people at one time, and then passengers board the ship one after another.

 

One way to address this is staggered boarding times, but you're right, this is unfair to people with late boarding times (or it would be, if it were actually enforced). So maybe it's not the best system. But can you propose a better one? (Telling 2000 people that they can all be the early bird if they want is not a system.)

 

I think people are OK with the idea that suite guests and platinum/elites get preferred check-in. Although those passengers often complain that there are so many preferred guests nowadays that they end up having to wait anyway, and there should be further prioritization within this preferred group. Maybe Princess should extend the principle and give every stateroom or group of travelers a boarding time simply based on how much they paid for the cruise per person. You pay more, you board earlier. And if you show up before your assigned time, you wait.

[JimmyVWine]

I don't think anyone will disagree that there are many advantages and few if any disadvantages to getting on the ship earlier rather than later. So it is understandable that everyone wants to get on board as early as they can. And it would be great if there were some way to allow them all to do this, but there is not. The practical reality is that they can only check in so many people at one time, and then passengers board the ship one after another.

 

One way to address this is staggered boarding times, but you're right, this is unfair to people with late boarding times (or it would be, if it were actually enforced). So maybe it's not the best system. But can you propose a better one? (Telling 2000 people that they can all be the early bird if they want is not a system.)

 

Unless and until Princess allows certain things to be booked on-line in advance, the best, most fair, and only way to board is first-come-first-served with the creation of a line. You are of course correct that not everyone can board at once. That is what the line is for. Not everyone can get to Toy Story Midway Mania when the park first opens either. So a line develops before Rope Drop. Imagine if Disney told folks staying at the Contemporary that they could begin arriving at 8:00 a.m., and told people staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge that they could not enter until 9:15. You can't do it. You just have to live with the concept of a line.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Unless and until Princess allows certain things to be booked on-line in advance, the best, most fair, and only way to board is first-come-first-served with the creation of a line. You are of course correct that not everyone can board at once. That is what the line is for. Not everyone can get to Toy Story Midway Mania when the park first opens either. So a line develops before Rope Drop. Imagine if Disney told folks staying at the Contemporary that they could begin arriving at 8:00 a.m., and told people staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge that they could not enter until 9:15. You can't do it. You just have to live with the concept of a line.

But Disney does allow people who stay in one of their resorts to enter the park an hour ahead of everyone else. Sort of like being Elite isn't it?

[hawkeyetlse]

You just have to live with the concept of a line.

I don't know how they do things at Disneyworld, but cruise terminals cannot live with the concept of a line of 1000 or more people.

[JimmyVWine]

But Disney does allow people who stay in one of their resorts to enter the park an hour ahead of everyone else. Sort of like being Elite isn't it?

 

Only once a week per park. The other six days, there is no "on site advantage." Plus, the number of on site guests averages around 60,000 on any given day. There are over 30,000 rooms filled to around 80% capacity with around 2.7 people per room, on average. So the idea of letting on site guests in early once a week is quite a bit different than allowing 400 preferred passengers on a ship.

Edited October 14, 2014 by JimmyVWine

[caribill]

 

One way to address this is staggered boarding times, but you're right, this is unfair to people with late boarding times (or it would be, if it were actually enforced). So maybe it's not the best system. But can you propose a better one? (Telling 2000 people that they can all be the early bird if they want is not a system.)

 

 

Princess does try to smooth out check-in even when not suggesting times by deck.

 

Even though check-in usually starts arount 11 AM and boarding around noon, usually the pre-cruise information says something similar to "Check In 12:30pm-3:00pm. Arrive After 2:00pm for A Faster Check In"

[Lynzchat]

Just curious...what's the earliest someone has gotten to board?:D

[caribill]

Just curious...what's the earliest someone has gotten to board?:D

 

On Princess boarding usually starts between 11:30 and noon although it could be a little later. The last time I boarded it was 11:45 AM.

[Lynzchat]

On Princess boarding usually starts between 11:30 and noon although it could be a little later. The last time I boarded it was 11:45 AM.

Holy Cow! That nice. It's been years since we've cruised Princess. Thanks!