Embarkation times

[Roundy78]

We've just been on Ventura twice. We were given a 3.30pm check in on the 1st cruise, we turned up at 2.30pm and checked in immediately. The 2nd cruise we were given a 2.30pm check in, turned up at at 12.45pm and were given a coloured card. We waited about 20 minutes to be called and then after filling everything in we got onboard about 1.30pm. I've got a photo of our cabin at 1.35pm. It does say you can check in earlier if it's possible.

[terrierjohn]

Get people off the ship very early and do not have the cabins ready. Keep the cabin areas locked off so no one can just drop their hand luggage.

Do as we do and limit your hand luggage to what fits in the wheelchair bag, my cruise begins once I am on board and the lines that get me through the embarkation process the fastest are my preferred lines.

 

You can't have more check in staff if there are no more seats.

 

Seats are irrelevant if security is done before check in, then it is the number of desks and how quickly you are processed that matters.

 

 

I think early disembarkation is a myth

I get off at the same time on both Celebrity and P&O

 

I totally agree, P&O seem to create their own problems by taking far longer to offload luggage than other lines. I am not certain if this is due to poorly trained and managed on board staff, or whether they don't employ enough shoreside handlers.

Celebrity Eclipse normally docks at 5:30-6:00am and all the luggage is off by 7:00-7:30.

As you will know from our last cruise P&O kept announcing that due to the higher volumes of luggage they had to delay normal disembarkation, surely they must have known how much they put on board 28 days eralier, unless of course everyone bought extra cases to cover their holiday purchases!!!! And all this despite docking earlier than scheduled at 1:00am.

Hope you and Linda had a good journey home and I do look forward to you sampling a Celebrity cruise sometime soon.

[daiB]

I totally agree, P&O seem to create their own problems by taking far longer to offload luggage than other lines. I am not certain if this is due to poorly trained and managed on board staff, or whether they don't employ enough shoreside handlers.

Celebrity Eclipse normally docks at 5:30-6:00am and all the luggage is off by 7:00-7:30.

As you will know from our last cruise P&O kept announcing that due to the higher volumes of luggage they had to delay normal disembarkation, surely they must have known how much they put on board 28 days eralier, unless of course everyone bought extra cases to cover their holiday purchases!!!! And all this despite docking earlier than scheduled at 1:00am.

Hope you and Linda had a good journey home and I do look forward to you sampling a Celebrity cruise sometime soon.

 

 

Nice to chat on the cruise, however as you know there are a number of reasons you will not see us on the big X anytime soon.

[the english lady]

Not the US lines. The Americans would not stand for it. Unfortunately it seems most Brits capitulate so P&O get away with it. When checking in for Celebrity or Royal at Southampton there are about 50% more check in desks open. We've found the disabled check in for P&O to be woefully overwhelmed at times unlike with the slick check in with US lines. Clearly P&O don't want to pay for that level of service so they place restrictions on passengers. We've been checking in with Celebrity and Royal around 10.45 numerous times. The terminal was quiet and things flowed. That earlier check in opening time also helps ease the passenger load over longer times. P&O restrictions on boarding times have nothing to do with making things better for passengers and everything to do with cutting costs.

 

Royal thought out of the box with their larger Anthem of the Seas check in and let people select a check in time online in advance that suited them, subject to availability, so on a first come first served basis, it worked like a dream for us.

 

They way I look at it, we've paid for 14 nights, 14 dinners, 14 Breakfasts and 14 lunches, not 13 lunches with P&O and the additional cost of a lunch in Southampton.

 

 

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If it works for P and O why would the American lines not go along with it, if the port,police, and council say to them, this is what we want you to do.

If you pick a time when booking and your time is gone. Do you book a later time, but still turn up at the earlier time, because that is the one you wanted.

If you are checking in at 10.45, what time did the people on the cruise before you get kicked off. When do they clean the ship.

Or is all of this so it fits in with what you want...

[terrierjohn]

If it works for P and O why would the American lines not go along with it, if the port,police, and council say to them, this is what we want you to do.

If you pick a time when booking and your time is gone. Do you book a later time, but still turn up at the earlier time, because that is the one you wanted.

If you are checking in at 10.45, what time did the people on the cruise before you get kicked off. When do they clean the ship.

Or is all of this so it fits in with what you want...

EL, the US lines don't need to do it because they are better organised than P&O, at least RCI and Celebrity are.

As regards the port, police and council, I cannot see them needing to intervene since outside the terminals now that the roadworks are complete there is not much of a problem.

West Quay road can be congested at times but generally the traffic keeps moving especially at City Terminal which seems to cope easily with a high percentage of passengers arriving between 11:00am and 1:00pm.

So there really is no reason for RCI/Celebrity to change their current procedure; and anyway the chances of P&O making it as easy for their passengers as RCI/Celebrity do for theirs is non existant.

[kevinyork]

If it works for P and O why would the American lines not go along with it, if the port,police, and council say to them, this is what we want you to do.

 

If you pick a time when booking and your time is gone. Do you book a later time, but still turn up at the earlier time, because that is the one you wanted.

 

If you are checking in at 10.45, what time did the people on the cruise before you get kicked off. When do they clean the ship.

 

Or is all of this so it fits in with what you want...

 

 

By having shorter check in opening times P&O cause more congestion than the US lines do as they spread the load over a longer period. People arrive throughout those times based on where they are journeying from.

 

With Anthem people turned up at their chosen check in slot. Those arriving early were seated and made to wait. There is more transparency in people choosing a check in time that suits them based on availability than being forced to accept an unsuitable one picked for you.

 

Departures from the ship start at 6.30 through 9.15 generally. The ship is clean anyway. It's only the cabins that need turning around and these become available at 1 pm.

 

 

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[gunn3rs3]

Well we will just have to wait a few more weeks to get our e tickets to find out our boarding time, regardless of time we are leaving at 1000, from Basildon by private taxi, may have toilet stop on way but we will arrive around 1230/1300.

[mandylennon]

When we queued to get into Southampton docks to go on Ventura last October, the queue line of traffic for Anthem of the Seas was horrendous, we just sailed past them so I don't suppose they got on early either, we got on around 3 with a 3.30 slot.

[malchancock]

Question,if you had a plane flight with a departure time of 17.00 would you expect to be able to get on the plane at 13.00 of course not, so why when a ship has departure time of 17.00 do some people expect its their right to get on the ship when they like???

[jeanlyon]

absolutely spot on. I have said this before. It's not that difficult to get to the port about an hour b efore you need to.

[terrierjohn]

Question,if you had a plane flight with a departure time of 17.00 would you expect to be able to get on the plane at 13.00 of course not, so why when a ship has departure time of 17.00 do some people expect its their right to get on the ship when they like???

Possibly because they have sailed a similar number of cruises with Celebrity, and this enables them to check in anytime between 11:30 and 3:30, and they wonder why P&O's loyalty programme does not provide them with similar perks.

[the english lady]

Possibly because they have sailed a similar number of cruises with Celebrity, and this enables them to check in anytime between 11:30 and 3:30, and they wonder why P&O's loyalty programme does not provide them with similar perks.

no I mustn't say it, no I mustn't say it...

[terrierjohn]

no I mustn't say it, no I mustn't say it...

If you had really meant to keep quiet, you would have done.;)

 

Joking apart we are never going to agree on this issue, but unless or until you have checked out the alternatives ( which I am unable to ascertain from your signature) then you really cannot make realistic comparisons.

[tom_uk]

absolutely spot on. I have said this before. It's not that difficult to get to the port about an hour b efore you need to.

 

As long as there no major hold-ups. Someone further up the thread mentioned being held up on the M42 for four hours, while on their way to S'ton. It doesn't happen often, but it's only got to happen to you once, and you become very cautious about journey times. Result? - on all the times the journey is OK (which is most times), you arrive very early, or (like us) travel the day before if possible.

[P&O SUE]

I don't need to travel the day before, however we have to negoiate the dreaded M25 so would never leave it too late. Having said that I'm going on a ship visit on Britannia in July and for that have booked the Premier Inn for the night before as it's an earlyish start.

I'm now really pleased about this as this will mean we become more familiar with the area. If I have a late check-in on my cruise in October I shall get there earlier but hang around in Southampton somewhere before I head to the port.

[the english lady]

If you had really meant to keep quiet, you would have done.;)

 

Joking apart we are never going to agree on this issue, but unless or until you have checked out the alternatives ( which I am unable to ascertain from your signature) then you really cannot make realistic comparisons.

 

Terrierjohn. No I don't think we will ever agree;)

We have done a river cruise, a cruise round the Scottish Western isles and down the Caledonian canal, plus ocean cruises with Fred and Thomson and P and O. So no I haven't tried the opposition. However I like the pando product. It suits us.

Do I wish to sail on one of the large ships no I don't. I do not like glitz for glitz sake.

I guess I base my objections to people being annoyed about when they are asked to board on the fact it's not being done by pando soley to annoy people, although some are.

It is the port,police,council who would like it to be done in a more ordely fashion.

The down side of boarding from 11.30 am is that someone has to be off the ship at 6.30am..and it will not be me.

I look at it from that aspect ,not what do I want. Life does not always give you what you want.

[bee-ess]

Terrierjohn. No I don't think we will ever agree;)

We have done a river cruise, a cruise round the Scottish Western isles and down the Caledonian canal, plus ocean cruises with Fred and Thomson and P and O. So no I haven't tried the opposition. However I like the pando product. It suits us.

Do I wish to sail on one of the large ships no I don't. I do not like glitz for glitz sake.

I guess I base my objections to people being annoyed about when they are asked to board on the fact it's not being done by pando soley to annoy people, although some are.

It is the port,police,council who would like it to be done in a more ordely fashion.

The down side of boarding from 11.30 am is that someone has to be off the ship at 6.30am..and it will not be me.

I look at it from that aspect ,not what do I want. Life does not always give you what you want.

 

With respect English Lady this is just not true - my experience of disembarking Celebrity did not involve 6:30 disembark, I have disembarked Celebrity and Princess in Soton and it was no earlier than P&O. Others in this thread have said the same thing.

I don't the think that P&O now making their embarkation later and taking all afternoon has anything to so with the port,police, or council. The port do what the Cruise Company want, not the other way round.

I think you have to face the fact that the others do it better.

[Cruise_lover11]

We're on a cruise in April and have been allocated 15.30 as our check in time. We plan to arrive early and drop off our luggage and then go and park somewhere and have something to eat/look around and then arrive nearer to the time. We have experienced terrible traffic on a previous cruise that meant we were cutting it very fine, so won't do that again and would rather be in the area so that we don't have the stress of it. I'm sure there is plenty to do in Southampton and it's just a different way of doing things.

[daiB]

With respect English Lady this is just not true - my experience of disembarking Celebrity did not involve 6:30 disembark, I have disembarked Celebrity and Princess in Soton and it was no earlier than P&O. Others in this thread have said the same thing.

 

I don't the think that P&O now making their embarkation later and taking all afternoon has anything to so with the port,police, or council. The port do what the Cruise Company want, not the other way round.

 

I think you have to face the fact that the others do it better.

 

 

You do know that RCI and Princess were the first ones try this out two years ago only they could not get it to work. We have a friend who works on check in at the City Terminal.at the time she said that the push was coming from the council and police. So quite clearly we ca. See who wanted it to work.

 

 

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[dsrdsrdsr]

absolutely spot on. I have said this before. It's not that difficult to get to the port about an hour b efore you need to.

 

Depends how good your knowledge of local conditions is. Can you advise me how long it will take to get from the M3/M27 junction to the port on 27th July? I need to know what time to leave home, and I'm not well enough up on Southampton traffic to know the answer.

[terrierjohn]

You do know that RCI and Princess were the first ones try this out two years ago only they could not get it to work. We have a friend who works on check in at the City Terminal.at the time she said that the push was coming from the council and police. So quite clearly we ca. See who wanted it to work.

 

 

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Whether or not your friend is giving you pukka information makes no difference to my point, since even when/if Celebrity were trialling it they still allowed past passengers to choose their own check in times, and that covers a high percentage of passegers.

And this is the point I keep trying to make, Celebrity treat all their past passengers alike, unlike P&O who only allow this perk to their highest loyalty tiers.

[daiB]

Whether or not your friend is giving you pukka information makes no difference to my point, since even when/if Celebrity were trialling it they still allowed past passengers to choose their own check in times, and that covers a high percentage of passegers.

And this is the point I keep trying to make, Celebrity treat all their past passengers alike, unlike P&O who only allow this perk to their highest loyalty tiers.

 

 

I was not answering your point John.

 

 

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[the english lady]

ok stranger things have happened at sea.

Pando listen to everyone, and make check in time part of the options when booking the cruise.

You pick the one that is most suitable for you.

Not everyone will be able to pick 12-12.30 , so once those have gone what do people do...that is my question.

From what has been posted on this and other threads people cannot turn up to a time. So they wanted 12.30..that had gone, all that was left when they book the cruise was 15-15.30. What do they do, from what people have posted they cannot arrive for a 15.30 get on board ..so they arrive at 12.30, which is the time they wanted in the first place. So then what.

How is the above different than what is in place now. You will always get people who will turn up hours before. So they sit in the terminal, as they do now..

So people who turn up nearer their time find a full terminal.

which is sort of where we have got to now.

We are going round in circles now.

There have been posts from people passing the q of cars for AOTS and saying how long it was.

I am sure there is some pushing from the council/police/port authority.

[bee-ess]

You do know that RCI and Princess were the first ones try this out two years ago only they could not get it to work. We have a friend who works on check in at the City Terminal.at the time she said that the push was coming from the council and police. So quite clearly we ca. See who wanted it to work.

 

 

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I'm sorry Dai but I disagree. None of this answers how the US ships can do more efficiently - do the council and police not affect them ?

The new P&O system has only succeeded in making boarding later and take longer. It is nightmare for people travelling from a long way if you don't have priority boarding. I don't think anyone on here who has used other companies as well as P&O would say that P&O have it right. As I said sometimes you have to admit that others do it better.

[MawganTr]

I really think this has been blown out of proportion. For our trip at the end of March the tickets ask us to arrive at 2:30 but if we are early we may still board early but they can't promise. There are lots of factors that affect arrival times from train times, traffic, coaches, transfers and I'm sure P&O are flexible. At least there's a terminal with seats and coffee shop if we do need to wait.

 

 

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