Check in with medallion

[jamie15401]

Hello. We are boarding the Sky Princess on March 7 and cruising to the Eastern Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale. Our stateroom is located on the Aloha deck which means we are the first group to board.   We have our Medallions and I know this helps us to board easier. However what is the process to board with the medallion and what is a good time to arrive at the terminal and what is the  earliest we can enter the ship?  I prefer to arrive early to avoid long lines. I thought boarding started at 12:30 but I read where someone was able to board as early as 11am   Thank you! Simply can’t wait to see and enjoy this new ship!! 

[triple7tahoe]

11 AM often works but don't expect it. We were on Royal this past month and we were put in first group to board but that still was after 11:45.

[Colo Cruiser]

19 minutes ago, jamie15401 said:

Hello. We are boarding the Sky Princess on March 7 and cruising to the Eastern Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale. Our stateroom is located on the Aloha deck which means we are the first group to board.   We have our Medallions and I know this helps us to board easier. However what is the process to board with the medallion and what is a good time to arrive at the terminal and what is the  earliest we can enter the ship?  I prefer to arrive early to avoid long lines. I thought boarding started at 12:30 but I read where someone was able to board as early as 11am   Thank you! Simply can’t wait to see and enjoy this new ship!! 

In Port Everglades they have been starting boarding by 11:00am unless there are inspections/prior cruise disembarking issues etc.

That time you see for your deck is just a suggestion.

We always arrive around 10:30.

[snoozecrooze]

Keep your medallion visible so everyone asking to see it can give you the right directions. Keep your passport handy if and/or when they need to see it. If you have printed boarding passes as a back-up, you can keep them handy too. You won't need anything else, if I'm not mistaken. Boarding should be pretty fast, and a lot of the more seasoned cruisers will have the same idea of arriving early; nonetheless, you should be ok. Your headache will likely arise more from getting to terminal 2 itself because of the transportation issues arising from the port's construction.

[LMADAMS91]

We were on the Sky in January; at the port around 11 and onboard in our stateroom well before noon. There were a couple of minor issues with our medallions but they were quickly corrected and we were on our way. 

 

[Steelers36]

47 minutes ago, jamie15401 said:

Hello. We are boarding the Sky Princess on March 7 and cruising to the Eastern Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale. Our stateroom is located on the Aloha deck which means we are the first group to board.   We have our Medallions and I know this helps us to board easier. However what is the process to board with the medallion and what is a good time to arrive at the terminal and what is the  earliest we can enter the ship?  I prefer to arrive early to avoid long lines. I thought boarding started at 12:30 but I read where someone was able to board as early as 11am   Thank you! Simply can’t wait to see and enjoy this new ship!! 

Princess doesn't board its ships by Deck.  They board priority guests first (Elites, Suites, followed by Platinums).  Other guests are handed priority letters/numbers upon check-in and they call boarding groups in order - so it is by order of arrival at check-in, even for the priority group as similar letter codes are handed out to them as well.  Once those who arrived early (ahead of ship being cleared for new passengers) have boarded the ship in groups, all other passengers arriving later to the port terminal proceed directly on-board after checking in.  

 

Checking in with Medallions in hand (or around neck) is somewhat faster, but depends on length of the lines.

 

[blastofftosj]

We got to the ship about 1:30, walked right on, we had to have our medallions scanned a few times on our way thru the terminal, and sometimes we just had to show it.  It was very quick and easy.  Have fun, we were on the Crown last month.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Arrived at 12 noon . 2 Carry on's. Went through the baggage check and the scanner. Directly to the person reading the medallions. Wanted to see our passports. Went directly to boarding. Next floor up wanted to scan the medallion again. Just this time only one of ours, not both again the passports. Then went directly to the ship. Our rooms were ready. Simple and fast. PS If they do not like the picture you put on the check in at home. They will take another. Still fast. Liked my wife's not mine. I can understand that one 😎

[WallyNDiane]

On our Feb 2 Caribbean Princess cruise we arrived at the terminal at 12:15. The line to get into the terminal was quite long. It was wrapped onto the front of the terminal. From our experience, the wait was to get through the security clearance X-ray stations. Once we cleared security, we picked up our Medallions and started walking to the ship in just a few minutes. 

 

I didnt pay attention to the time, but I estimate 20-30 minutes line time to get through security.

Edited February 22, 2020 by WallyNDiane