Boarding time enforcement

[Hotspring]

Does any one who has recently cruised had any experience arriving earlier than their scheduled boarding time, particularly with the Bliss?

The notice states we absolutely cannot check in before our boarding time but we have heard maybe that is not the case.

We originally had the time we wanted but a evening NCL person messed up that time when they tried to jiggle an issue in our completing our check in.  He ended up removing us from our original time, though  it only had 1 slot left, and when he was tried to get us back in it only had only one slot left for the 3 of us.  So we are set up for a half hour later, or an hour later than we hoped.

[marktwothousand]

Hmmm… do you remember that scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, where Steve Martin goes to the rental car place and wants a car right away. The lady at the front desk asks for proof on paper of the agreement. He doesn’t have it.

 

Well, I can’t say the next line of what she said in response to him, here on CC, except that it started with “oh boy…”

 

but that’s basically what the situation is buddy. Sorry. 
 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by marktwothousand

[KeithJenner]

I suspect that it will depend on when your cruise is.

 

NCL never used to enforce arrival times and my understanding is that they have been doing so lately due to the testing requirement and to control numbers.

 

As testing at the port ends at the end of February it is possible that they will start to allow some leeway with arrival times, especially after the ship starts boarding so that crowds in the terminal are less of an issue.

 

If your cruise is March or later then maybe look for some reports then to see how things change.

[bigrednole]

I have always been accept what is in your travel documents. This is like saying I have an 8PM flight that gets in at midnight with one stop but there is a flight at noon that is non-stop that gets in at 2PM. So, I will just get on the noon flight because I don't like the 8PM flight.

 

Lets say that the terminal is designed for ease of check-in of 100 people every half hour. Then all of the people with later check-in don't like it and flood the terminal with the earliest check-in times. Is it fair that those with say a 10AM check-in time cannot check-in until 12:00PM just because 2,000 people with check-in times at 12PM or later didn't like it?

 

Everyone is going to have an excuse why they should have an earlier check-in time. My computer failed, NCL's website messed up, the person I called messed it up, the dog threw up and had to go to the vet, and on and on. Just accept what is there, board 30 minutes later, and deal with it. If the 30 minutes is going to ruin your vacation so much, I think there are other things that need to be looked into first. Or, just upgrade to a Haven cabin if it is that important.

 

The other part is you state that what you have is 30-minutes later than your original time, but even that is 1-hour later than you wanted. This tells me you just want to be on earlier than you can anyway. Sounds a lot more like the ME First mentality.

Edited February 10, 2022 by bigrednole

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Or, just upgrade to a Haven cabin if it is that important.

 

 

Do you know for sure that people in the Haven can get the time they want?

[vacation44]

23 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Do you know for sure that people in the Haven can get the time they want?

 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Or, just upgrade to a Haven cabin if it is that important.

On our cruise, there was no distinction between Haven and commoners when getting in line and checking in for COVID testing at the terminal. Back of the line… and make sure you’re not early was there rule on our cruise. 
 

Life will change in a few weeks when everyone needs to show up at the terminal with a fresh COVID test result in their hands. Big mistake on NCL’s part. 

[Karaboudjan]

41 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Life will change in a few weeks when everyone needs to show up at the terminal with a fresh COVID test result in their hands. Big mistake on NCL’s part. 

 

I think it's choice that they have to make if they want to get back to full occupancy.  Testing at the pier seems to work okay at current occupancy levels but I'm not so sure the process can feasibly be scaled up the 3x that it would need to be.  

[Hutcha]

What about this? When checking in, I didn't have my wife's passport to input. I entered my info, and got a 9:30 slot. By the time I got her passport, she got an 11:00 slot. They'll let us go together at 9:30, right?

[Treasure Hunter]

Yes. That happened to us. My early time was on top and we were waved through.

[phillygwm]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:10 AM, Hotspring said:

Does any one who has recently cruised had any experience arriving earlier than their scheduled boarding time, particularly with the Bliss?

 

When I was on the Bliss in December, I took the earliest boarding time.  However, I nobody actually verified that at any point during my testing/check-in process.  Others on here have stated that they've shown up earlier/later than their assigned time.

 

Remember, they're just trying to level load the process so 1000 people don't show up at once.  That wouldn't be ideal from a social distancing aspect.  If a handful of people arrive a bit early, you're probably just offsetting people who were unexpectedly delayed.  

 

 

[Hotspring]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:37 AM, Hutcha said:

What about this? When checking in, I didn't have my wife's passport to input. I entered my info, and got a 9:30 slot. By the time I got her passport, she got an 11:00 slot. They'll let us go together at 9:30, right?

Really appreciate the idea, if that one slot is still open.  Thank you,

[Hotspring]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:28 AM, bigrednole said:

I have always been accept what is in your travel documents. This is like saying I have an 8PM flight that gets in at midnight with one stop but there is a flight at noon that is non-stop that gets in at 2PM. So, I will just get on the noon flight because I don't like the 8PM flight.

 

Lets say that the terminal is designed for ease of check-in of 100 people every half hour. Then all of the people with later check-in don't like it and flood the terminal with the earliest check-in times. Is it fair that those with say a 10AM check-in time cannot check-in until 12:00PM just because 2,000 people with check-in times at 12PM or later didn't like it?

 

Everyone is going to have an excuse why they should have an earlier check-in time. My computer failed, NCL's website messed up, the person I called messed it up, the dog threw up and had to go to the vet, and on and on. Just accept what is there, board 30 minutes later, and deal with it. If the 30 minutes is going to ruin your vacation so much, I think there are other things that need to be looked into first. Or, just upgrade to a Haven cabin if it is that important.

 

The other part is you state that what you have is 30-minutes later than your original time, but even that is 1-hour later than you wanted. This tells me you just want to be on earlier than you can anyway. Sounds a lot more like the ME First mentality.

We are Haven but on Facebook and in following comments it is apparent Haven priority means nothing until post testing.   I would agree with your ME first mentality but when I finally could do our check after midnight 21 days out we had plenty of slots available at 9AM onward,  we could have taken one of those and just arrived later when our NCL arranged flight and shuttle arrived, I just signed up for 11 thinking it would take 1 hour rather than 25 to travel from LAX to the pier.  I am going to go ahead and take the single slot and stack it on top of our paperwork,

[Hotspring]

7 minutes ago, Hotspring said:

We are Haven but on Facebook and in following comments it is apparent Haven priority means nothing until post testing.   I would agree with your ME first mentality but when I finally could do our check after midnight 21 days out we had plenty of slots available at 9AM onward,  we could have taken one of those and just arrived later when our NCL arranged flight and shuttle arrived, I just signed up for 11 thinking it would take 1 hour rather than 25 to travel from LAX to the pier.  I am going to go ahead and take the single slot and stack it on top of our paperwork,

 

8 minutes ago, Hotspring said:

We are Haven but on Facebook and in following comments it is apparent Haven priority means nothing until post testing.   I would agree with your ME first mentality but when I finally could do our check after midnight 21 days out we had plenty of slots available at 9AM onward,  we could have taken one of those and just arrived later when our NCL arranged flight and shuttle arrived, I just signed up for 11 thinking it would take 1 hour rather than 25 to travel from LAX to the pier.  I am going to go ahead and take the single slot and stack it on top of our paperwork,

Wow, I just went to try and take one earlier slot and stack our paper work to try and get in earlier when I found the NCL Gods somehow moved us to the 10:30AM slot we should have signed up originally but by the time we figured that out it was unavailable as were all but one 11AM slot.   Are the Gods the Haven onshore concierge or just common sense from the NCL travel coordinators, who knows.   Now we just to worry about the test itself.

 

[Hutcha]

5 hours ago, Hotspring said:

Really appreciate the idea, if that one slot is still open.  Thank you,

Lol, not an idea. That's what happened to me.

[ronheg]

Our experience on the Bliss 1/9/22 was that no one checked the time.  We could have arrived anytime.  The longest line at 11:15 am was 10 minutes for the covid test check.

[Double Jack]

On 2/10/2022 at 6:50 AM, BirdTravels said:

On our cruise, there was no distinction between Haven and commoners when getting in line and checking in for COVID testing at the terminal. Back of the line… and make sure you’re not early was there rule on our cruise. 
 

 

 Commoners?  Wow...aren't you full of self-importance?

[Sea Hag]

2 hours ago, Double Jack said:

 Commoners?  Wow...aren't you full of self-importance?

Or possibly full of self-deprecation, if they're one of the "commoners?"

[Hotspring]

On 2/12/2022 at 12:34 PM, Sea Hag said:

Or possibly full of self-deprecation, if they're one of the "commoners?"

I think the correct term is steerage ---but that seems to rile folks up.

[kenzie]

On 2/12/2022 at 6:17 PM, Double Jack said:

 Commoners?  Wow...aren't you full of self-importance?

I think this was typed with a light hearted spirit, I am sure he was just joking.

 

[Double Jack]

15 hours ago, kenzie said:

I think this was typed with a light hearted spirit, I am sure he was just joking.

 

Doubt it based on other posts.

[poohdreaming]

Wow, suddenly the topic of this thread became different.

BirdTravels should of not used the word commoners.

But let's all get back to the original topic.

 

To the original poster, it really depends on when you cruise and each port is different.

[ace2542]

What if you arrive late for the check in. That is after your assigned check in time but obiviously before the ship has left?

[debenson0723]

3 hours ago, ace2542 said:

What if you arrive late for the check in. That is after your assigned check in time but obiviously before the ship has left?

Been on 4 cruises since the restart, 4 different ports, no one has checked the arrival time of my check in.  Last week on the Escape my time was 11am, I got there at 9:15 and we were the only ones in the testing tent. This may all change as of 3/1/22 when testing is no longer conducted at the port.

[MrsTocko]

About this...

 

I have always checked us in completely from the moment that we book, except our arrival time - we like the first one.  And we have that complete for our April cruise (before they shut down access beginning at 21 Days). So I have to complete it yet (the health and safety and photo, as well as CC) at the 21 day mark.

 

Questions for those that may have had experience since the restart:

1: Are we able to access at Midnight East coast time of the 21 day? or midnight your local time (im in the west coast...) SO our cruise is 4/22 - can I log on at 9:02pm 3/31 (or 4/1 - i will check both), and complete my check in? or would I have to wait until 12:01am?

 

2: Can we take a picture ahead of time and upload it or do we have to take it at that moment?

 

With the limits (at the moment anyway) of port arrival time slots, to stagger... I know this is the best shot I have of getting that first arrival time.

 

(yes, I know that we will be waiting, but our excitement is harder to deal with than waiting there. Once we get there it is no turning back, vacation has started. it is the same when we fly, we would rather get to the airport 2-3 hours before flight, than have to rush through security or run to the gate. there are plenty of facilities there for all major needs.  We get that we are the odd ones compared to a lot of people, but we would rather wait there, then let ANYTHING delay our vacation because we weren't on time - and we are actually leaving from our home port, so it is a 25 minute drive to the port for us)

 

Thank you for any insight you may have and can offer,