Princess at Sydney - boarding and cabin access times?

[lorri111]

Wondering what boarding is like in SYD nowdays (we're on the Royal)- what time are you usually allowed to board and what time are you able to access cabin if just to drop off bags? Hoping to avoid carrying bags to lunch.

[arxcards]

33 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

Wondering what boarding is like in SYD nowdays (we're on the Royal)- what time are you usually allowed to board and what time are you able to access cabin if just to drop off bags? Hoping to avoid carrying bags to lunch.

On a good day, check-in and boarding will start at 11 to 11 30. Priority for elite/suite/premier package will speed this up, but the previous cruise has to fully disembark first. There can be delays there that will cause a delayed embarkation, so take note of Princess communications and terminal staff announcements. You can take your bags directly to cabin.

[MicCanberra]

Cabins are usually available after 1pm if embarkation starts at 11am.

[arxcards]

5 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Cabins are usually available after 1pm if embarkation starts at 11am.

We have never had to wait to enter our cabin on Princess. Not always 100% ready, but have always been able to drop our carry-ons straight after boarding. 

[cruisevac4]

We arrived at the port just before 11:00 for a cruise on the Grand last month.  I read somewhere that we could drop our luggage after 8:00am.  We walked right on the ship.  We actually had to wait for the dining room to open before eating lunch!

[resordanis]

On Majestic last week, we were on board by just after 11. Cabins were not available till around 1. I did notice that one of the bars were holding small hand luggage so that you didn’t have to have it with you whilst walking around. Unfortunately I didn’t read that till the evening when we had lugged our wine, iPads and tablets around till our cabin was ready😩. I might add Princess did embarking and disembarking extremely well on that cruise.

 

[cruisevac4]

 

On 3/6/2024 at 9:11 AM, cruisevac4 said:

We arrived at the port just before 11:00 for a cruise on the Majestic last month.  I read somewhere that we could drop our luggage after 8:00am.  We walked right on the ship.  We actually had to wait for the dining room to open before eating lunch!

 

[Russell21]

If the previous cruise was to NZ and the cruise you are boarding is going to NZ again, you may receive a notice that boarding will start at 3.00PM. This is because of the number of people who boarded at Auckland and are entering .Australia and needing border clearance.. This happened to us a few weeks ago but we actually boarded just before 2.00PM.

[lorri111]

Thankfully its coming from Tassie and off to Japan afterwards