Best Time to Arrive in LONG BEACH

[kellanderson]

When is the best time to arrive at the Queen Mary in Long beach? Any thoughts, personal experiences. Did you tip the bag porter? How much?

[wwakla]

Tip one dollar per piece.

We arrived at the Queen Mary at 9:30am. Registered and then proceeded to the terminal doors and waited until 12:30 to board. Personaly we wanted to get on asap as this was our first cruise and we did not travel with children.

It was a three hour wait.

Anyway, we had a blast meeting people in line and just staring at the ship. One guy was plastered even before we entered the terminal. Cranberry juice my a**. :eek: From what I heard he spent a little time in the brink for disorderly conduct.......hmm...I don't see why that would have happened.:confused:

 

Hope this helps.

Have a great cruise.

[momthecruisedirector]

The best time is to arrive the night before and stay on the ship! Or staying at the Coast Hotel is very nice.

 

We were just on the Paradise on 12/26 - 30. We got to the pier at about 11:00 and were on board by 11:30. I do think, however, that the ship wasn't very full as there were never any lines and disembarkation took only about 10 minutes from the time our color was called to getting our luggage.

 

One of our favorite welcoming lines from the porters (at each port) is, "Ma'am this is the last time you'll see your luggage... until it arrives at your room". We always tip $1 a bag. Don't forget to bring a handful of dollar bills for room service and excursion tipping too.

[cremebrulee]

We were on the Pride from 1/1-1/8.

We got to the terminal at about 11:10-11:15am.. short line for regular boarding. The people in the early boarding line got on 10 minutes before us.. tops.

Now had I arrived at 11:30 or 11:45 am the line got long by then.. big time.. but we were one of the first on the ship after disabled, wedding parties, and early boarding and those were super short lines on a holiday boarding day with a full ship!

 

I would say shoot for 11am if you want the regular boarding line.. plenty of time.. waited all of 45minutes to board.. and didn't have to arrive at 9am!

Good Luck!

[CAPTAIN TEW]

I was wondering the same thing! I was wathcing the web cam from long beach last night, and the Paradise did not leave port until close to 6 pm. My wife and I are sailing 03/05/06. I have not decided yet as to when to get there either. Pobably do the early check in at the QM.

[southbayer]

yep, 9:30am is the best time to arrive and go to the early check in.... after that, you'll have a couple hours to kill... Just do the self tour of the queen mary.. See the workers standing at the enterance to the early check in for discounted price of like 10 bucks a ticket... Its an interesting tour, and then after that, go to the west side of the dome, and find the line you need to be in and wait for the doors to open:cool:

[tess2cruz]

I was wondering the same thing! I was wathcing the web cam from long beach last night, and the Paradise did not leave port until close to 6 pm. My wife and I are sailing 03/05/06. I have not decided yet as to when to get there either. Pobably do the early check in at the QM.

 

do you have a link to that webcam?

[Nanatravel]

We stayed at the Coast Hotel and their shuttle took us to the port at 10:30 a.m. As passengers are still disembarking, just raise your hand high to get the attention of an available porter. We tip $1 per bag or $5 depending on what we have in our pocket for cash. We registered at the QM and then walked about outside - the wait began. Our cruise never started to board until about 1:30 p.m. after the Weddings and Special needs folks, etc. We were in zone #1. Some people who did not pre-checkin, got on board before us as the security line was so slow and long. Just be prepared to stand in line and wait. We had a beautiful sunny day outdoors, which made the wait more enjoyable.

Bon Voyage

Nanatravel

[Splinter]

I assume you are talking about the QM II (modern cruise ship) not the QM I which is a stationary older ship that is used as a hotel and convention center in the Long Beach harbor.