Embarkation times

[terrierjohn]

I was not answering your point John.

That was a great side step Dai, did you play rugby when you were younger?:)

However I was agreeing with Bee-ess, Celebrity do manage to unload luggage faster than P&O, and clear the ship quicker without forcing people to get off too early.

As a result Eclipse is ready to start checking in passengers by approx. 11:30am, sometimes earlier.

They permit all past passengers to check in when they want and not just Caribbean plus.

They have fewer coaches than P&O so probably about 1200 car or taxi arrivals, but queuing outside the port is no worse than Ocean terminal, even when there is also a ship at Mayflower which also uses dock gate 10.

The ABP parking is slicker than CPS, you park the car yourself and keep the keys, and the porters use vans to collect your luggage from the car park, you are then within walking distance of the terminal.

They have security first which is always the slowest part of the process, so once you are through security there is normally only a brief wait at check in then you can board immediately.

There is also the financial benefit to the cruise line of getting passengers on board early and getting them spending sooner.

Finally most of the Eclipse passengers end up happy and relaxed and I never here any criticism of the boarding process, unlike all my P&O cruises which leave most passengers tired, vexed and grumpy.

[Cruise_lover11]

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.

 

 

How long is a piece of string? It really varies so much and I would personally rather leave at a time that suits me and does not cause me undue stress. If you arrive early, you can always go elsewhere to eat etc. I have previously got on the M3 at around lunchtime on a Saturday and been faced with back to back traffic and other times went straight through. It varies so much so do what you are comfortable with.

[FluffyFiFi]

As the paying passenger I object to being told what time to check in, I want to get to the terminal in plenty of time as once there I can relax. If Celebrity can cope with this I don't see why P&O can't, I wonder whether the next step will be to charge us for the privilege of picking our own boarding times.

 

The amount of money the cruise industry brings into Southampton should mean the council will do what they can to keep the cruise lines happy so I can't see them getting too heavy handed with them, although they might ask them to manage the embarkation better.

 

If they realise the majority of people are going to turn up at around 12 they should have systems in place to deal with this, whether this is more staff, more check ins or use a mobile mobile check in system. There is no need to have cabins ready as they obviously need time to clean them but there is no reason the public areas can't be used.

 

I am looking at a cruise in October but have to work on the day of departure and won't be able to get to the terminal until 3pm, what happens if I get an early boarding time which Sod's law says I will. This could be allocated to someone else, I know it will make no difference as they will just board us when we arrive but it is the choice they have taken away which in my opinion is wrong.

[daiB]

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.

 

 

How can you disagree with the facts.

 

You said that it was nothing to do with police or council I showed that it was and that is all I said. I never said P&O do it better. Like others you are putting words into my mouth. Please in future comment on what I say and not what you think I say.

 

 

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[bee-ess]

How can you disagree with the facts.

 

You said that it was nothing to do with police or council I showed that it was and that is all I said. I never said P&O do it better. Like others you are putting words into my mouth. Please in future comment on what I say and not what you think I say.

 

 

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What facts - just because you state something that someone else has told you that does not make it fact. Even if what you say is fact does the same not apply to the other companies that manage an efficient and speedy embarkation

[daiB]

What facts - just because you state something that someone else has told you that does not make it fact. Even if what you say is fact does the same not apply to the other companies that manage an efficient and speedy embarkation

 

 

Again I have never said they did not have a speedy embarkation I have not made the comparison you are again misquoting me. I said the first companies to try this were RCI and Princess. They could not make it work, it was dropped.

 

I said no more. If you read my posts I do not give opinion. I keep that to my self. I post facts.

 

I do not make comparisons between companies.

 

 

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[berrywood]

Bee-ess you made the statement that "The port do what the Cruise Company want, not the other way round." I would be interested to know why you think that is so and what facts you have if it is indeed the case.

[gadabout60]

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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You would have struggled to get a seat on our Christmas cruise - many people standing.

 

Tiny coffee bar for thousand of people wan very inadequate.

 

We had a 2.30 time, arrived at 2pm, got on at 3.50pm. Not what I call a pleasant experience

[Ataraxia]

You would have struggled to get a seat on our Christmas cruise - many people standing.

 

Tiny coffee bar for thousand of people wan very inadequate.

 

We had a 2.30 time, arrived at 2pm, got on at 3.50pm. Not what I call a pleasant experience

 

Not mentioning the airbridge problem then - hardly fair

[daiB]

Not mentioning the airbridge problem then - hardly fair

 

 

Let's not introduce fact to spoil the story.

 

 

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[kevinyork]

That was a great side step Dai, did you play rugby when you were younger?:)

However I was agreeing with Bee-ess, Celebrity do manage to unload luggage faster than P&O, and clear the ship quicker without forcing people to get off too early.

As a result Eclipse is ready to start checking in passengers by approx. 11:30am, sometimes earlier.

They permit all past passengers to check in when they want and not just Caribbean plus.

They have fewer coaches than P&O so probably about 1200 car or taxi arrivals, but queuing outside the port is no worse than Ocean terminal, even when there is also a ship at Mayflower which also uses dock gate 10.

The ABP parking is slicker than CPS, you park the car yourself and keep the keys, and the porters use vans to collect your luggage from the car park, you are then within walking distance of the terminal.

They have security first which is always the slowest part of the process, so once you are through security there is normally only a brief wait at check in then you can board immediately.

There is also the financial benefit to the cruise line of getting passengers on board early and getting them spending sooner.

Finally most of the Eclipse passengers end up happy and relaxed and I never here any criticism of the boarding process, unlike all my P&O cruises which leave most passengers tired, vexed and grumpy.

 

 

Cannot disagree with any of this. If I'm thinking of booking a Celebrity Cruise, I know check in will be a breeze. If thinking about booking a P&O cruise the idea of their current check-in arrangements depresses me.

 

 

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[gadabout60]

:eek:

Not mentioning the airbridge problem then - hardly fair

 

The airbridge didn't become an issue until 1pm

However the weather was as forecast so presumably they would know there could be a problem with bridge

 

When we did get through to security we boarded quickly on the ground level

[Eglesbrech]

On my last celebrity cruise it took less than 15 minutes from arrival to being onboard. You can disembark at 6.30 if it suits you for travel arrangements but absolutely no one is forced to do so.

 

We have not travelled with P&O in a while and what I am reading on this thread is not warming me to the prospect, well at least as it pertains to boarding the ship.

 

If the Council or the Police wanted something then they would simply enforce it - on all lines, not just P&O. Consequently this is more likely to be a P&O initiative.

 

From a business perspective you would think they would want passengers on board asap as that means money over the bars etc. The new system also seems to be annoying some people, not great for customer service.

 

I will reserve judgement until I go through the process myself.

[Callyscally]

He is a fact, sailed four times with Celebrity each time been on board by 12 midday. Very smooth experience not of waiting around the terminal,

Cruised with P and O three times, each time spent longer sitting around the terminal, and a lot slower getting on the ships.

In fact last June we were going on the Britannia arriving at the port at 2pm finally got on the ship 3:45.

Fingers crossed we don't have a slow check in on the 8th April when we sail again on the Azura

 

John

[P&O SUE]

I have never waited longer than half hour to board P&O but the last time was June so don't think the 'new' system was in place then. This was Azura. Be interesting to see what happens next cruise (October)

[jeanlyon]

nor me. My last checkin last September was 1.30. arrived at 1300, was on the ship in 30 minutes total. I really do think this is a fuss about nothing.

[aurorakippa11]

It would seem that there have been a whole range of experiences and there certainly are just as many expectations. This all seems a repeat of the previous thread.

It would seem to me that beling able to select your own convenient time would be welcomed but my guess would be that it would only be deemed better if the desired time was available. Those unable to secure the early times would I guess still arrive early for all the reasons previosuly cited so I can't see that it would be that much better.

The alternative would be to abandon all check in times apart from the high tier early arrivals. Everyone then just turns up when they want to but after the high tierers and wait their turn. I think it's likely it could be fairly chaotic early doors but a lot of people want to be able to turn up when they want to, and there can't be many complaints as everyone has the same right to turn up as early as everyone else.

As I understand it the previous system worked better for those ignoring their allocated time because others werent aware that they could turn up early. As this became better known, more and more people did it, causing problems. Just my thoughts.

[daiB]

It would seem that there have been a whole range of experiences and there certainly are just as many expectations. This all seems a repeat of the previous thread.

It would seem to me that beling able to select your own convenient time would be welcomed but my guess would be that it would only be deemed better if the desired time was available. Those unable to secure the early times would I guess still arrive early for all the reasons previosuly cited so I can't see that it would be that much better.

The alternative would be to abandon all check in times apart from the high tier early arrivals. Everyone then just turns up when they want to but after the high tierers and wait their turn. I think it's likely it could be fairly chaotic early doors but a lot of people want to be able to turn up when they want to, and there can't be many complaints as everyone has the same right to turn up as early as everyone else.

As I understand it the previous system worked better for those ignoring their allocated time because others werent aware that they could turn up early. As this became better known, more and more people did it, causing problems. Just my thoughts.

 

 

One problem was that more and more people were turning up very early causing some congestion, with parking and in the terminal.

 

 

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[peteukmcr]

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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Well said, never waited more than 30 minutes to check in with RCI or Celebrity here in Southampton, Barcelona, Civitavcecchia, Venice, Port Canaveral, Port Everglades or Miami. And you're correct the guests of these companies won't stand for it, they expect the previous guests off the ship by 9 and for theirs to start around 11:30 am which must include lunch.

 

Oh dear, 2 night cruise, 3:30pm check in day 1, checked out of hotel at 11, no lunch provided, so only 2 dinners, 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch on a 2 night, 3 day sailing. Mmm

[peteukmcr]

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???

Because most cruise lines call this Day 1 of your cruise, not Evening 1 of your cruise and guests have paid for Day 1, not 8.5 hours (you must be on board in most cases 90 minutes before sailing).

[jeanlyon]

But actually, your cruise is booked by the number of nights, not days. Therefore it is your first night on board!

[peteukmcr]

But actually, your cruise is booked by the number of nights, not days. Therefore it is your first night on board!

Very true, but most hotels allow check in at 14:00 so you can enjoy most of the day. As I said, most US guests would not accept the restriction on boarding times that appears to be unique to P&O. Not very customer friendly IMHO. But then again if you enjoy losing most of your first day, then fine. I expect more as I have become accustomed to on RCI, Carnival, Celebrity and NCL.

[jeanlyon]

I have always been on board by 1400 so far, will await to see what time my next one is in October. before that we are on Fred in May and you don't get lunch with Fred, you don't get on board until 1400 or later.

[Scriv]

Hi again, Pete -

 

I am seriously wondering whether you have made the right decision in this cruise with P&O and without being in any way rude to you, I do feel you would be better off sticking with the other lines you mention and those which appeal to the American market.

 

You seem to mention often how this and that would not appeal to Americans, but a lot of us P&O fans like P&O because it targets the English market and not the American markets.

 

Horses for courses and I do fear you have chosen the wrong course here, but I sincerely hope you enjoy your cruise anyway despite everything as it is a long way to travel just for a 2 night cruise.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Scriv

[jeanlyon]

Well said Scriv.