Embarkation Times - Recent Experiences?

[barriead]

Errrr, this is a discussion board...its a question of respect and all views can be worded respectfully...when they are not it then becomes heated...can be entertaining though.:D

 

I guess I am like many here...love the P&O experience... boarding aint perfect but nothing a cup of coffee and biccys and a paper/ipad cant help.

 

Roll on July 9th (Azura D Deck, 15.00 embarkation time expected)...cant wait, will get there 2.0pm-ish.:D

 

 

Aurora in December on (A Deck, embarkation time 14.00 expected)...will get there 1.0pm-ish, no probs but I do live only 30 minutes away.:D

[Maizyday]

Our book in time is 2.30 pm , so we will go really wild and eat lunch on the way down......you never know , it might catch on

[dgs1956]

Our book in time is 2.30 pm , so we will go really wild and eat lunch on the way down......you never know , it might catch on

 

Love it !!! No doubt that you'll have a great cruise.

[whoops]

P&O issue questionnaires enquiring about the passenger experience. That being the case I find it astonishing that some people seem to object to those of us who don't like the current boarding system expressing their views.

[BMT]

Well, since we are having such a good-natured debate:evilsmile: - let's forget Celebrity (I can't as I board tomorrow!) and compare to Cunard, Princess etc. Unfortunately, same argument applies. We have sailed many times with these and other lines and never had this problem.

 

Again, I am 75 and travel with my mother who is almost 102. We have to have the taxi early in order to leave sufficient time in case of hold-ups on M25 and M3. If we left to arrive at 3.30pm and there was a hold-up, we could well miss the ship!! At 102 my mother is in no fit state to kill time wandering around West Quay!! Neither can she sit at the terminal and wait for hours without access to toilet facilities!!

 

She also (surprise, surprise) needs a few hours rest before the muster drill after travelling down and doing the check-in, security etc.

 

I have been quite astonished at some of the uncaring comments on here - all I can say to you (and you know who you are) - is that I hope when you are very old and on the receiving end of uncaring behaviour, that you remember how unkind you were!! Karma - what goes around, comes around.

 

Anyway, this is an interesting thread, because if you omit the comments of the Pando cheerleaders (and perhaps some posters from Pando staff:p) there are many posters not happy with the Pando check-in - seems a bit of a lottery really!!

 

I would point out that on other lines, passengers are embarked prior to cabins being opened. This obviously gives more time to check-in passengers. On Celebrity, I think cabins open at about 1.00pm ish, but embarcation takes place from about 11.00 am.

 

As I said, the entertainment is much better on Pando and I am not saying it is a rubbish line. Far from it. But .......their check-in IS rubbish IMHO. The service on board is also a bit strange - rather stilted and forced and mainly, quite stand-offish. Hard to explain after the friendly service on other lines - even Cunard is not so impersonal. Having said that, Ventura's Front office staff were extremely friendly.

 

Oh well, every cruiseline on CC has its cheerleaders who do not accept any criticism of their favourite line. However, its a poor show that luck or money has anything to do with satisfactory boarding procedures.

[Mrs Tinkywinky]

Our book in time is 2.30 pm , so we will go really wild and eat lunch on the way down......you never know , it might catch on

Don't tell peteukmcr that. He dismissed the idea that those of us who were on a long coach transfer would miss lunch and I said that we would need to take a "packed lunch" . He nearly had a thrombie :eek::eek:

We can't all embark when we want , we all have a time which we will try to stick to and no matter what we have paid , then we all embark at the same time on a coach.

So go wild and perhaps even have a packed lunch:D:D

[dgs1956]

 

Anyway, this is an interesting thread, because if you omit the comments of the Pando cheerleaders (and perhaps some posters from Pando staff:p) there are many posters not happy with the Pando check-in - seems a bit of a lottery really!!

.

 

Personally I don't have a problem with people complaining about P&O. We are all different and entitled to our view. What I do get annoyed at is being called CHAVS, Human Detritus, cheerleaders and all the other offensive terms that people hurl at those that love or cruise with P&O. Perhaps if people stopped using these terms then we could have a better Forum.

[Deeliteful]

As you will see from my signature I usually cruise with Celebrity or RCL but have cruised other lines too. I hadn't cruised with P&O for about 12 years until I did the Norwegian Fjords cruise on AZURA on 7th May.

My recollection of embarkation on P&O previously was that it was chaotic.

However, hats off to them, whilst it still looked chaotic, I felt it was very good. We arrived about 1.30 for a 3.30 check in and were on the ship by 2 pm.

Disembarkation was an absolute breeze, breakfast at 8am off the ship at 8.30 and on the road before 9 am

Shout out to CPC for car parking too, they were brilliant.

[barriead]

Most people on here are respective of others....but not all...reflects human nature I suppose.:)

 

Mind you some of the bun fights are good fun as well....have never seen really insulting stuff on here or really bad language...unlike some of the stuff you can find on the internet, thats why I like Cruise critic boards...well monitored with some very good Mods.:D

[amajaa]

So no surprise is there. I post how efficient Celebrity is and all I get is either, well in that case sail Celebrity or turn up at your allocated time and you'll be ok. Do you lot not understand that other lines do it better than P&O or are you so blinkered to the P&O's ways that you couldn't care less.

 

No wonder I'm cancelling my future P&O cruises. I've even one night and spoken to people who are saying Celebrity are so superior than P&O.

 

Interesting as I just read a post on Facebook ( not a P & O site but a general cruise one) where someone said the departure on Celebrity was chaotic and others agreed. Also saying food not too good.

 

That won't stop me from trying Celebrity if a deal comes up.

[Josy1953]

We arrived at Mayflower terminal last Monday at 12:50 for a 13:30 boarding time and were told to go straight to check-in and were on board Oriana at 13:10

[kikki21]

On board in about 40 mins for the2 night cruise. Would have been faster but for some reason they weren't calling out the embarkation colours or letters out in the terminal building. Lots of people were waiting to board - we went up to the ladies handing out the cards & waited. We boarded about 1.5 hrs earlier than scheduled.

 

 

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[terrierjohn]

A quick update on our Azura boarding experience on 14th May, because Hudds Town were in the play offs we watched the match on Sky Go in the hotel foyer on their free wi fi, so it was 2:00 pm before we left the hotel and 2:15 when we reached Mayflower. CPS was very slow as a result it was 2:45 before we went into the terminal we were given blue L card and this was the second one called forward, even though we had a 3:30 time, as a result we were in our cabin with our suitcases by 3:05. A good result but I suspect the card giver was generous with the card given because my wife was in a wheelchair.

[peteukmcr]

Interesting as I just read a post on Facebook ( not a P & O site but a general cruise one) where someone said the departure on Celebrity was chaotic and others agreed. Also saying food not too good.

 

That won't stop me from trying Celebrity if a deal comes up.

Well food is very subjective, and may also depend on the ship, but all I can say is that on Celebrity Reflection, the food is fantastic and no green beans in sight and the buffet, well far better than anything we've experienced recently and that's P&O, MSC and RCI.

 

As for disorganised departure, that is invariably out of the control of the cruise line, it is in the hands of the port authorities and border protection staff, and disembarking in the US, especially for non-US residents, it is an ordeal.

[cruise saint]

We were on Azura on 7th May. We drove down from Scotland and stayed the night in a Travel Lodge in Newbury. We had a horrendous night's sleep due to a very rowdy group also staying there and refusing to quieten down when asked by the night porter. The police eventually threw them out about 3.30am, but we couldn't get properly back to sleep and left early in the morning. We arrived in Southampton about 8.30am and had a wander around and then went for lunch.

 

We had a boarding time of 3-30pm but headed to the terminal at 1pm fully prepared to sit and wait if necessary (we were very tired by this time). The was very little wait at CPS and we went into the terminal at 1.20pm. We were given a red P card and realised the were calling red I. We were in our cabin by 1.50pm.

 

Very impressed with the whole process.

[whoops]

A hit and miss system is far from ideal. Some turn up early and get on the ship soon after arrival while others have to wait. If P&O think this is acceptable then they will lose customers. The P&O system takes no account of those who have to stay in a hotel overnight and are ejected early leaving little alternative other than to turn up at the Port early. If other cruise lines can organise a better embarkation procedure why can't P&O?

[terrierjohn]

A hit and miss system is far from ideal. Some turn up early and get on the ship soon after arrival while others have to wait. If P&O think this is acceptable then they will lose customers. The P&O system takes no account of those who have to stay in a hotel overnight and are ejected early leaving little alternative other than to turn up at the Port early. If other cruise lines can organise a better embarkation procedure why can't P&O?

My most recent post merely stated what happened at embarkation, it was certainly not an endorsement of the system which I still feel is inferior to other southampton sailings.

We have just requested our disembarkation time for Sunday, the earliest time for those not willing to handle their own luggage is 8:45 although the final time is expected to be about 9:30 or 9:45. So no real justification for not starting boarding of the next cruise until 12:30, when other lines with similar final disembarkation times can and do start before 11:00am.

[Scriv]

It seems from experiences on here and on facebook that the embarkation procedure is far from consistent recently.... ... sometimes it is strictly imposed, other times not. Sometimes people arrive early and have to wait, sometimes they are allowed straight through. Sometimes if travelling in a group with different times, they are allowed to go through early together ( like one case where the non-suite, low tier couple were even allowed at the Peninsular lunch in the MDR) and sometimes they are not. There seems no explanation for why it happens one way on a certain day on a certain ship, and then the next time, same ship, completely different..... Does it depend on the itinerary? Length of cruise? Amount of luggage? Ship? Terminal? Or the staff on duty on the day?........................... I feel lack of consistency is the major issue here whichever policy they choose to promote otherwise it will degenerate into chaos. Just MHO

[dgs1956]

Is it not the case that if you arrive at your designated boarding time then the procedure is consistent?

Obviously if passengers arrive early then P&O will board them if they can depending on how many are already in the queue. This leads them to being accused of being inconsistent.

It seems to me that there are two issues.

1 P&O clearly don't, for whatever reason, board people as early as other cruise lines. Whilst I accept that is a problem I do think they must have reasons for it otherwise they would change the system. I accept it would be good to know why they don't.

2 Too many passengers think that, for whatever reason, they will ignore the boarding time, arrive early and then are annoyed that they cannot board earlier.

 

It does seem a shame to me that so many get so uptight about this that it must have an effect on their holiday. Clearly those that are unhappy should complain/comment on the customer questionnaire form but the reality is don't arrive early and expect to board. If you do board early then its surely a bonus.

Incidentally, I do also think there should be a system that people with genuine reasons (not fear of missing a lunch) for boarding on arrival are able to do so.

[Eglesbrech]

The short answer is no. We arrived at our proper boarding time and were kept waiting, and waiting and waiting......

[dgs1956]

The short answer is no. We arrived at our proper boarding time and were kept waiting, and waiting and waiting......

 

How long roughly and did they explain why?

[Eglesbrech]

Around 45 minutes and no explanation or apology. We were quite fortunate as speaking to others on the cruise they has to wait much longer.

 

If I was guessing I would say that it was associated with coaches arriving getting priority but that's pure speculation on my part.

 

As Scriv says lack of consistency.

 

Other people arrive far too early and are boarded. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to it.

[Scriv]

dgs1956... a few months ago, I would have agreed with you. My own experience has always been that I have always gone straight through if I arrive about 20 mins before my allocated time. Now though, we seem to be reading of people who arrive way before their time and even before 12 30 and go through, completely disregarding their times.... and we are also reading of those who are towing the line and arrive near to their time but then have to wait.

[amajaa]

Well food is very subjective, and may also depend on the ship, but all I can say is that on Celebrity Reflection, the food is fantastic and no green beans in sight and the buffet, well far better than anything we've experienced recently and that's P&O, MSC and RCI.

 

As for disorganised departure, that is invariably out of the control of the cruise line, it is in the hands of the port authorities and border protection staff, and disembarking in the US, especially for non-US residents, it is an ordeal.

 

 

I think they were referring to arrangements onboard the ship for where to wait etc and instructions before getting off.

[dgs1956]

dgs1956... a few months ago, I would have agreed with you. My own experience has always been that I have always gone straight through if I arrive about 20 mins before my allocated time. Now though, we seem to be reading of people who arrive way before their time and even before 12 30 and go through, completely disregarding their times.... and we are also reading of those who are towing the line and arrive near to their time but then have to wait.

 

As far as I remember nobody who has arrived a short while before their allocated time has said how long they have waited.

The only thing I would say is that there does appear to be a lot of people who go early and when P&O stick to boarding times then they are criticised and when they don't then it backfires on them. I don't know the answer but I just get the feeling that if they allowed boarding at a much earlier time then all the passengers would turn up then and the same problem would result.

Surely the only solution is to allocate a boarding time and stick to it.