Unfair boarding times.

[navybankerteacher]

Sorry, but your argument is flawed. When a person pays for a higher category room, they are getting more room, better room amenities, and a better view. That has no correlation to the experience on the rest of the ship.

 

Much like in any town in any country, there will be less expensive houses and more expensive houses. The more you pay for a house, the nicer it will be, and probably in a nicer location. It doesn't mean that everyone else on the highways in your town has to wait for you to go first, or you go to the front of the line in the local stores, or you get free parking while everyone else pays, or you get faster emergency service. The cost only affects the house, not the town it is in.

 

We have heard over and over again how a ship is like a small city. If that is true, then when you pay for a more expensive stateroom, the main thing you are paying for is inside that nicer stateroom, not preferable treatment outside.

 

You fail to recognize the difference between PUBLIC (the “any town in any country” environment — where all are entitled to be treated equally) and PRIVATE (the privately-owned environment where all pay for whatever it is they want to pay for).

 

When you buy a first class air ticket (even from a government-owned airline) you do not just get the wider/reclining seat; you also get better food, more cabin attendant service, and, yes, early boarding - and, when arriving at Heathrow, even priority immigration processing (which, because it is a GOVERNMENT function, strikes me as seriously inappropriate).

 

When you buy priority accommodations on a cruise ship, there are lots of “priorities”: boarding, debarkation, priority tendering - pretty much everything. Before getting too upset about the “unfairness”, you should consider the fact that in most such situations (airlines and cruises) those who pay higher fares actually subsidize, in part, those who pay the lowest.

[lenquixote66]

We never pay attention to that and always get to the ship early. Never had a problem boarding.

 

 

Same here .In fact,everyone we know comes to the terminal when I want to .I would not say to come at 8:30 but many do.

[navybankerteacher]

Same here .In fact,everyone we know comes to the terminal when I want to .I would not say to come at 8:30 but many do.

 

I suspect that as ships continually gain size and the lines develop procedures to monitor timed boarding, it will become more and more common for enforced staggered boarding. Additionally, the lines are recognizing, and exploiting, ever new revenue sources - so they are unlikely to fail to enforce priority boarding.

[Elaine5715]

I started cruising when paying extra gained a passenger a better room only. Outside your room, everyone was equal. Now, more and more hospitality companies, including cruise lines, are going to the model of offering more and more amenities to just those people who can afford them. With private dining rooms, private lounges, private pools and sundecks, reserved seating in theaters, more and more of the cruise ship is being divided for only those who can pay, and banning those who can't. It is inevitable that the hospitality industry is catering more and more to people with the most money to spend. Profits are higher. And profits are king (I understand that as I own a business). But it is still a shame that everyone is no longer being treated equally outside their staterooms.

 

We are gradually being separated into classes as in the 19th century.

Those higher priced amenities help keep prices down for the rest. Being first or being last isn't unfair, someone has to be. It isn't like crew name calling those in interior cabins while addressing those in suites in a deferential tone. Should the cruise lines put everyone's name in a hat?

[sverigecruiser]

“Fair” and “unfair” are subjective terms. Don’t you think someone who paid premium price for top accommodations - which often include special service - would feel it unfair if he/she had to wait in long lines (if there were no priority boarding) or get assigned a late boarding time ( if there were assigned boarding)?

 

Airlines board first and business class passengers first; virtually every service provider “discriminates unfairly” depending upon how much the particular customer is worth (“worth” here means how much they are willing to pay a businesss for the level of service they want).

 

I suppose one could also call it “unfair” for people who pay for a balcony suite to have more space, view, and fresh air, than those who pay for an inside.

 

As a general rule, you get what you pay for.

 

We had a Yacht Club suite, top accomodation, on MSC Meraviglia last summer and we were assigned a very late boarding time. So we paid premium price and were assigned a very late boarding time. I think that it should have been very unfair if it had been enforced but it wasn't so that was no problem.

Edited July 22, 2018 by sverigecruiser

[MicCanberra]

I suggest dropping your bags as early as possible and then going for a walk through the old town. Pick up a bottle or two of wine, have a nice fish and chip lunch or a pub lunch and a brew or two before heading back for a stress free easy boarding process.

[Slugsta]

When we are on Ovation of the Seas, several years ago when she was new, we were allowed to select our embarkation time (from the slots available). In addition, staff were walking around with ipads to check passengers in, so there was no queueing (for us, others could have had a different experience).

 

So I am surprised to see the RCL are now allocating boarding times. However, this is in line with other cruises we have taken from Southampton.

[sverigecruiser]

Would it be more unfair if they escorted you to your cabin and told you that they did not have time to clean it, change the linens, etc?

 

How can it be unfair when cruise lines often make the boarding times quite clear. What do expect....to get on at 7AM, have access to your assigned cabin, only to find someone fast asleep in the bed?

 

The unfair thing is that some people can board a few hours earlier than the OP, if the assigned time is enforced.

 

If the cheapest cabins get a late time I think that's okay if they were informed about that when they booked the cruise. If not I agree that it's unfair.

[bUU]

The unfair thing is that some people can board a few hours earlier than the OP, if the assigned time is enforced. If the cheapest cabins get a late time I think that's okay if they were informed about that when they booked the cruise. If not I agree that it's unfair.

Both arrangements - giving priority to those who paid more and giving priority randomly - are legitimate and fair arrangements.

 

An unfair arrangement would be selling top priority and then allowing others to board earlier than those who bought priority.

[MicCanberra]

I can see why someone wants to start their holiday as early as possible but I am not sure I want all that stress and waiting in line. I would board at the scheduled time or later and have no lines at all, especially when there is much to see and do in port..

[OzKiwiJJ]

When we are on Ovation of the Seas, several years ago when she was new, we were allowed to select our embarkation time (from the slots available). In addition, staff were walking around with ipads to check passengers in, so there was no queueing (for us, others could have had a different experience).

 

 

I think this is a much fairer way of having staggered boarding. People can choose a time that suits their travel plans. Those that book early get first pick, of course, but that's fair enough.

[sverigecruiser]

Both arrangements - giving priority to those who paid more and giving priority randomly - are legitimate and fair arrangements.

 

An unfair arrangement would be selling top priority and then allowing others to board earlier than those who bought priority.

 

But we paid more and were still given a late embarkation time. As I said that was go problem since the time wasn't enforced.

 

I think that randomly given priority should be okay if everyone was clearly informed about it when the cruise was booked. Why shall some get an extra lunch on board and other not? People who choose to board late may miss the first lunch but then it's their choice to do that.

[bUU]

But we paid more ...

But not for priority boarding, explicitly.

 

I think that ...

I think you missed the point of the post to which you were replying. The point was that the cruise line gets to determine how this happens - not individual passengers unilaterally imposing the operational parameters that they want on the cruise line.

 

randomly given priority should be okay if everyone was clearly informed about it when the cruise was booked.

There are so many things that people say, "Oh the cruise line should inform us of that when we booked our cruise." I think people who say that sort of thing are fooling themselves or trying to deceive others. The American consumer has such a short attention span as it is they don't even read the terms and conditions that are provided for them. And you want the cruise lines to make the terms and conditions even longer, specifying all these details about their operational practices? That's silly.

 

Beyond that, it's pointless. Any such detailing of operational parameters at that level of detail is going to include standard disclaimers for changes at the last minute and changes over time. And so you'd just complain about those changes and the fact that you have to now monitor some web page for such changes.

 

What you're suggesting is simply inconsistent with the entire concept of the mass market. The mass market offers superior affordability for what it offers due to economies of scale. Those economies of scale come from being able to treat the customer base as a large group, willing to accept a common, supplier defined offering, rather than as a bunch of separately-picky individuals, each seeking to make their own individual agreement with the cruise line with their own concerns and focuses.

 

Why shall some get an extra lunch on board and other not?

Because that's the way it is designed to work. Those who board late aren't being imposed penalty as you would have it viewed. Rather, those who board early get a bonus.

 

 

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

[sverigecruiser]

But not for priority boarding, explicitly.

 

Priority boarding is a part of the Yacht Club experience so we did paid extra for that.

[sverigecruiser]

That is not true: When you buy an experience, you are buying the service (as it is explicitly described in promotional materials, and beyond that...) as the service provider has designed it, including whatever amenities, accommodations and privileges that they designed to be included. Suite passengers and elites in the loyalty program get priority boarding; that is part of the service that they purchased whether someone else likes it or not. In the OP's case, the service defined by the cruise line provides for staggered boarding by deck number as well. The only promise that the cruise line makes a passenger, in terms of boarding, is that you will be able to board prior to Sail Away.

 

 

Here you wrote that suite passengers get priority boarding.

 

Maybe our assigned late boarding time was some kind of mistake, I don't know.

[bUU]

Priority boarding is a part of the Yacht Club experience so we did paid extra for that.

I wasn't familiar with that benefit. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

 

Then, as I said earlier, "An unfair arrangement would be selling top priority and then allowing others to board earlier than those who bought priority." So your specific circumstance was indeed unfair - chunky0's perhaps not.

[sverigecruiser]

There are so many things that people say, "Oh the cruise line should inform us of that when we booked our cruise." I think people who say that sort of thing are fooling themselves or trying to deceive others. The American consumer has such a short attention span as it is they don't even read the terms and conditions that are provided for them. And you want the cruise lines to make the terms and conditions even longer, specifying all these details about their operational practices? That's silly.

 

It should be equally silly if they decided to enforce the early embarkation times. Someone arrival at 11.30 and are denied boarding because their assigned time was 11. I should not be happy about it!

 

I guess we just have to disagree but I really think that it's unfair that some might get some extra hours on the ship.

[cruisemom42]

I've never understood the scrum to be able to get onboard the ship first. You'll have plenty of time to check out everything, presumably, during your cruise. Do you have to discover everything within an hour??

 

I would rather spend time in an interesting port than rush to board the ship. Rome, for example, is one of my frequent embarkation points (mainly I cruise in Europe). It amazes me how people will happily miss spending another half day in Rome just to rush to the port and wait to board their ship. :confused:

 

Even in a port like FLL, I would rather have a leisurely lunch somewhere and board AFTER the first rush is over with. Goes so much faster!

 

Of course, one could always just avoid the really large ships with staggered boarding anyway, if it really bothers you.

[iancal]

Neither can we. I suspect that some people are desperate to get to the buffet. We prefer to linger, avoid the crowds, and essentially be able to walk on to the ship without lining up.

[sverigecruiser]

I've never understood the scrum to be able to get onboard the ship first. You'll have plenty of time to check out everything, presumably, during your cruise. Do you have to discover everything within an hour??

 

I would rather spend time in an interesting port than rush to board the ship. Rome, for example, is one of my frequent embarkation points (mainly I cruise in Europe). It amazes me how people will happily miss spending another half day in Rome just to rush to the port and wait to board their ship. :confused:

 

Even in a port like FLL, I would rather have a leisurely lunch somewhere and board AFTER the first rush is over with. Goes so much faster!

 

Of course, one could always just avoid the really large ships with staggered boarding anyway, if it really bothers you.

 

I book a cruise because I'm interested in the cruise. If the embarkation port was more interesting than the cruise I should probably stay in that town instead of booking a cruise.

[sverigecruiser]

Neither can we. I suspect that some people are desperate to get to the buffet. We prefer to linger, avoid the crowds, and essentially be able to walk on to the ship without lining up.

 

We want to spend as much time as possible on the ship.

 

We should defenitely not go to the buffet the first day.

[cruisemom42]

I book a cruise because I'm interested in the cruise. If the embarkation port was more interesting than the cruise I should probably stay in that town instead of booking a cruise.

 

Cruises are an ideal way to visit many different places in relative comfort. A great many people cruise for the itinerary and not for the ship.

[sverigecruiser]

Cruises are an ideal way to visit many different places in relative comfort. A great many people cruise for the itinerary and not for the ship.

 

Lots of people only cruise for the ship and doesn't care about the itinerary.

 

We haven't cruised a lot, only eight cruises so far, and we cruise both for the ship and for the itinerary. It doesn't matter where we embark, we always want to board as early as possible.

[navybankerteacher]

I book a cruise because I'm interested in the cruise. If the embarkation port was more interesting than the cruise I should probably stay in that town instead of booking a cruise.

 

The two are not mutually exclusive. The port (or surrounding area) may well be worth a few hours; after all you will have days/weeks on the ship.

 

Ultimately, however, if early boarding is essential, it might make sense to restrict your cruising to lines which enforce schedules—- and be willing to pay for any preference available.

[sverigecruiser]

The two are not mutually exclusive. The port (or surrounding area) may well be worth a few hours; after all you will have days/weeks on the ship.

 

I normally arrive to the town where embarkation is a few days before the cruise, especially when cruising from the US, so when it's cruiseday I want to board as soon as possible.