ms Amsterdam Delayed Boarding

I just received an email from HAL advising a delay in boarding the ship in Seattle for the July 17 Alaska sailing. I read that this has also occurred on other recent departures from Seattle. Is there a noro problem or some labor disruption at the port? It seems to be becoming a regular experience.

 

Here is the boarding schedule:

1:00 PM - Deck 6 & Deck 7 (Verandah & Navigation)

1:30 PM - Deck 3 (Lower Promenade)

2:00 PM - Deck 2 (Main)

2:30 PM - Deck 1 (Dolphin)

We invite our 4 and 5 Star Mariners, Pinnacle and Neptune Suite guests to arrive anytime between 12:30 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.

I believe they're just trying to stagger the number of people arriving at the terminal for check-in to avoid long, long line-ups.

 

If it was noro, the email would indicate that, and would advise an even later arrival time. We experienced that in FLL a couple of years ago.

There is no Noro-issue on Amsterdam and there was no delayed boarding on the three Seattle departures prior to 19 Jun

I just received an email from HAL advising a delay in boarding the ship in Seattle for the July 17 Alaska sailing. I read that this has also occurred on other recent departures from Seattle. Is there a noro problem or some labor disruption at the port? It seems to be becoming a regular experience.

 

Here is the boarding schedule:

1:00 PM - Deck 6 & Deck 7 (Verandah & Navigation)

1:30 PM - Deck 3 (Lower Promenade)

2:00 PM - Deck 2 (Main)

2:30 PM - Deck 1 (Dolphin)

We invite our 4 and 5 Star Mariners, Pinnacle and Neptune Suite guests to arrive anytime between 12:30 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.

 

 

This appears to be the new boarding protocol. We ignored it and showed up at 11am for our Alaska cruise leaving Seattle in late May. The check-in process had already begun, and boarding commenced at 11:30am. The ship's crew and staff were completely ready to welcome new guests on board at that time, our cabin was available to us, and the main dining room opened at noon for lunch. I guess HAL is trying to reduce boarding bottlenecks, or something ( I think they don't want everyone converging on the main dining room, which closes at 1:30).

We've seen those staggered boarding times twice at other ports, but since we are 4-star we ignored them and arrived at our usual time around 11:00. I don't know for certain, but I don't think they are requiring anyone to wait until their "assigned" time.

We sailed on Amsterdam out of Seattle on June 5 and prior to we did not receive an email like that.

 

We were 1-Star but boarded at 11:40 with no issues as we were in a Neptune Suite.

I personally don't like the idea of staggered boarding times.

And this is not a large ship.

I don't recall a cruise where there wasn't staggered boarding times.

I don't recall a cruise where there wasn't staggered boarding times.

This is not the same as getting a boarding "group number" at check-in, it is an attempt to not have everyone arrive early for check-in. HAL only started doing it around last November or so. Before that the boarding passes always said check-in time was 1:00 for everyone.

This is not the same as getting a boarding "group number" at check-in, it is an attempt to not have everyone arrive early for check-in. HAL only started doing it around last November or so. Before that the boarding passes always said check-in time was 1:00 for everyone.

Not referring to the group numbers. On all my boarding documents there has been a specific, staggered, boarding time listed, going back years.

 

Editing to add that the emails with the boarding times is new; the process is not, however.

Princess also has tried to do this for years and people still check in and board whenever they want to.

Not referring to the group numbers. On all my boarding documents there has been a specific, staggered, boarding time listed, going back years.

 

Editing to add that the emails with the boarding times is new; the process is not, however.

:confused::confused: This is very strange. We've been on 20 HAL cruises starting in 2002 and have never seen staggered check-in or boarding times before our K'dam cruise last November. Are you sure you are not thinking of some other cruise line?

:confused::confused: This is very strange. We've been on 20 HAL cruises starting in 2002 and have never seen staggered check-in or boarding times before our K'dam cruise last November. Are you sure you are not thinking of some other cruise line?

Most definitely. :)

:confused::confused: This is very strange. We've been on 20 HAL cruises starting in 2002 and have never seen staggered check-in or boarding times before our K'dam cruise last November. Are you sure you are not thinking of some other cruise line?

Here's a recent thread on it. Just so you don't think I'm crazy. ;p lol

Click Here

Here's a recent thread on it. Just so you don't think I'm crazy. ;p lol

Sorry, I DO think you're crazy! ;p I looked at a half-dozen my edoc pdfs and even a few blue-pouch docs dating back 12 years (18 cruises) and can find no mention of check-in or boarding times varying by deck. Even our Koningsdam cruise last November, for which we got an email stating that boarding time would vary by deck, listed a fixed Embarkation time of 2:00 pm in the boarding pass. (That was because of the inspections expected for her first time in a US port.) Everything else I could find said 1:00 pm. :D

Sorry, I DO think you're crazy! ;p I looked at a half-dozen my edoc pdfs and even a few blue-pouch docs dating back 12 years (18 cruises) and can find no mention of check-in or boarding times varying by deck. Even our Koningsdam cruise last November, for which we got an email stating that boarding time would vary by deck, listed a fixed Embarkation time of 2:00 pm in the boarding pass. (That was because of the inspections expected for her first time in a US port.) Everything else I could find said 1:00 pm. :D

:') You special.

 

But seriously though. My check-in times were always different! I swear! :') I remember feeling jilted about getting a 2:30pm boarding time once.

Does anybody reading this thread concur with Miss G that prior to late 2016 their docs (not an email) stated that their check-in or boarding time depended on what deck their cabin was on, or was different from other people on the ship? I mean on HAL of course.

Edited June 28, 2017 by catl331

... their check-in or boarding time ...

Let me re-phrase that to the Embarkation time stated on their boarding pass.

Does anybody reading this thread concur with Miss G that prior to late 2016 their docs (not an email) stated that their check-in or boarding time depended on what deck their cabin was on, or was different from other people on the ship? I mean on HAL of course.

NEVER had a staggered boarding time with a lot of HAL cruises since 1981, which was my 1st HAL cruise, with usually another HAL cruise at least every other year.

 

Must be a 'thing' for larger ships for some of the above posters. Do know Seattle embarkation can jam up and it is not a big facility - might be a Seattle terminal personnel issue.

Does anybody reading this thread concur with Miss G that prior to late 2016 their docs (not an email) stated that their check-in or boarding time depended on what deck their cabin was on, or was different from other people on the ship? I mean on HAL of course.

 

Never in all my HAL cruises. Our experience has been the same as yours.

 

The only time we saw staggered boarding times in our docs was on our Oceania cruise.

Never in all my HAL cruises. Our experience has been the same as yours.

 

The only time we saw staggered boarding times in our docs was on our Oceania cruise.

 

I agree with Jacqui!!!!

Never with HAL since 2004. We did do a cruise on Oceania in The Greek Isles and our docs did a staggering times. We had no problem from what I remember.

Denise🤗

Holland is trying different things.