Groups

Is there any way of finding out how many groups are on a particular cruise. I am trying to work out our probable boarding time. I thought it was in deck order but on our last cruise they did the groups first and we had quite a long wait past the boarding time given.

We have never had an experience of groups being given priority, though if they arrive by coach, I think it is usually the case that the coaches arrive early, so those people will get to the port earlier than others and will check in earlier. I do not know what happened on your previous cruise though, so I am not criticising your comment.

The deck gives a suggested check in time as I understand it, but also people who arrive earlier check in earlier, so get their boarding cards earlier. Hence they will likely have an earlier embarkation slot anyway. even if on a lower deck.

The only priorities I have known, once at the UK ports are suite passengers, gold ocean's members who have paid freedom fare and disabled passengers. Those groups always have priority from a UK port and they will be embarked before others who arrived earlier than them. Some cruises have a lot of gold members who have paid freedom fare and there are a lot of gold members around now.

Fred can be slow to embark at times and the first 'meal' provided is afternoon tea as you probably know, but not sure there is any way to tell what will happen on any particular day, except that if a cruise has been unpopular and has a lot of people on anchor fares, then there will not be many gold people with priority embarkation because that is not provided for any who book anchor fares. The reverse is also true - so if a cruise has sold very quickly and has a lot of people on Freedom fares, then there will be more gold people entitled to early embarkation.

Different coloured embarkation cards are given out for suite passengers and gold people on freedom fare and those colours are called before other passengers, who have a different colour of boarding pass again.

Thanks Tring, it seems to be quite complicated. On our last cruise we were on Deck 8 in a Junior Suite and had quite a long wait as there were quite a few groups called before us, some of them quite large. This time we are in a Superior Suite on Deck 9 (free double upgrade from a Superior Balcony completely out of the blue) so hopefully we will board earlier.

We are sailing from Dover and in view the situation today on the roads around Dover we are trying to work out whether to drive down the day before. The information on our booked cruises sections gives 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm, quite a long time frame.

nb125 - if you are cruising soon, I would definitely advise going to Dover the day before. I know it is an extra expense, but I would say worth it for peace of mind.

Thanks Tring, it seems to be quite complicated. On our last cruise we were on Deck 8 in a Junior Suite and had quite a long wait as there were quite a few groups called before us, some of them quite large. This time we are in a Superior Suite on Deck 9 (free double upgrade from a Superior Balcony completely out of the blue) so hopefully we will board earlier.

 

We are sailing from Dover and in view the situation today on the roads around Dover we are trying to work out whether to drive down the day before. The information on our booked cruises sections gives 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm, quite a long time frame.

If you are in a suite, (and where last time), you should have priority boarding over most people, including Gold freedom fare passengers. The boarding card colours we have experienced have been green for suite passengers, goldish colour for gold freedom fare and white for everyone else. I am not sure if disabled (i.e. wheelchair) people have a different colour, but they are directed to an area near the embarkation point and are assisted with a member of staff and a wheelchair. I am wondering if you were given the wrong colour boarding cards, so perhaps a good idea to check you have the priority ones next time. I am not sure if anchor fare suite passengers still have priority boarding, but I think they do.

I agree with lincslady would definitely go down the day before - especially if you intend to park at the port. We sailed from Dover in early May and, given last years antics, we went by train and stayed in a hotel in the town, but there are replacement buses on some trains as the line between Folkestone and Dover collapsed last winter. Would not recommend the hotels there really as there is a lot of noisy traffic in the town, but it did mean we had no problems getting to the port - a short taxi ride or we could have walked at a push. It was the third time we have sailed from Dover over the last few years, but we will not be tempted to do it again.

Your check in time will be 1.00pm and 3.30pm will have been mentioned as the latest check in time, (after which they close check in, so you have to arrive by then at the latest). They will not start check in until about 1pm, but I suspect a lot of people will turn up early as there can be problems getting there. If there are a lot of people present when they start check in, they usually restrict the check in to people in suites, and perhaps the top couple of decks, so you should be OK.

Good Luck,

Barbara

Thanks for the advice Tring and lincslady. We are definitely leaning towards travelling the day before as being the sensible option.

Oceans Gold members can usually board as soon as the ship is ready.