Embarkation time?

Hi all,

We are embarking Seabourn Quest in Barcelona on May 2. We are frequent cruises on Princess and Celebrity but are excited to take our first cruise on Seabourn. Can you tell me what the usual time is that passengers are allowed to board? Our documentation says that our boarding time is 2 pm. Will we be held to that, or can we arrive to the port earlier than that and be allowed to board? Thanks for your help!

You can usually board at about 12:30 and have lunch. However, your suite will not be ready until 2PM.

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Hi CRUISER,

I know some people board earlier around 11.30 - 12MD. We sometimes drop our bags off earlier before heading out to have a final lunch in town and I have seen people lined up and being checked in. You can get lunch onboard, but as Chairsin stated, you won't be able to access your stateroom until 2pm.

Julie

By boarding early you won't "beat the rush" as lots of people have the same idea!

Not much of a rush. The only time in 14 cruises we ever had any wait was once years ago in FLL when the ship was under going an intensive inspection and as a result boarding, along with the loading of provisions, was delayed until the inspection was completed. Even in that case, once boarding was allowed it went smoothly and we waited maybe 10 minutes until we were called - once boarding was allowed. (And the ship, the Quest, received the first perfect score of a 100, Captain "GA" was very impressed with his crew, so a minor inconvenience to the pax for an outstanding job by the crew).

Thanks to all of you for your replies! I will plan on arriving around 11:30. :)

We just boarded the Quest last week. We are used to everything you have read in the above posts so we arrived at the port at 11:30. We were not allowed on board until 13:15.

This delay was anticipated and they sent messages the week prior to some of the guests. Unfortunately I was not one of those privileged pax. It would have been much more comfortable waiting in the lobby of our hotel.

Apparantly there is a huge communication problem. Yes it always states embarkation at 14:00, but for the past several years the practice has been different.

More about communication problems in another thread that I will start as soon as I can think clearly. I just spent the entire night last night before disembarkation wide awake due to the stressful mis-message I received from the Air and Sea department. Fortunately, the rest that took place between embarkation and disembarkation was fantastic but the relaxing benefits of the cruise disappeared at 9:45 last night.

I was thinking that 11:30 was just a little too early. After all, cabins are at 2pm so some time for lunch is fine, but 2-1/2 hours is a lot.

On our last two Seabourn cruises in March 2017 and Sept 2017 in the Caribbean and the Med, there was preferential boarding for some passengers at about 11.45am, and the rest of us commenced boarding around midday. There were a few lines but they cleared quite quickly.

... We were not allowed on board until 13:15. ... It would have been much more comfortable waiting in the lobby of our hotel.

We usually do not arrive until around 12:45 just in case of delays such as this. There are some ports where having to wait around is OK, and others: Monte Carlo, St. Marten, Buenos Aires, San Antonio Chile come to mind where there is no comfortable place to wait.

On our last two Seabourn cruises in March 2017 and Sept 2017 in the Caribbean and the Med, there was preferential boarding for some passengers at about 11.45am, and the rest of us commenced boarding around midday. There were a few lines but they cleared quite quickly.

In my many years of sailing, I have NEVER seen preferential boarding (except, perhaps, the guest who spent most of every year aboard) on any Seabourn ship.

In most ports there is now a separate line for Diamond and Diamond Elite members.

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In most ports there is now a separate line for Diamond and Diamond Elite members.

 

 

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Which wasn't well indicated in Cape Town :loudcry:

In most ports there is now a separate line for Diamond and Diamond Elite members.

 

 

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Yes, that is what I thought it was. The Seabourn staff selectively picked out some guests and invited them to come forward earlier than the rest of us. Some people seemed to be aware they could board first and had already identified themselves to staff. It didn't bother me at all!

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts. Based on your advice I will look at heading to the port at noon.

There is no rush!! Take it slowly. With only 450 guests to board, it is a very different experience from boarding a Princess or Celebrity ship. Have a lovely trip on your first Seabourn cruise. You will never look back!

For the wintergarden suite we have been boarded early.

I have a haircut in the salon scheduled for 12:30p embarkation day. Safe to assume they’ll allow boarding slightly prior for that appointment? I don’t want to imposition, but the only other time available for Day 1 was too late in the evening for my preferences. 

@jsea There are multiple variables involved; I'd say that on most cruises, you would be able to board by noon in order to make a 12:30 hair appointment, but it's never certain. There can be delays in arrival or customs which can push back boarding.

Ironically, because so many passengers know you can typically board in the 12:00-12:30 time period, there is sometimes a bit of a wait because so many show up at that time. On our just-concluded cruise, Diamond passengers were allowed to check-in and board first, and the rest of us were handed little cards assigning us zone numbers which were called in the order we had arrived.

If you arrive a bit early and identify yourself to the Seabourn representative managing the queue of people waiting to board and explain about your appointment onboard, I'm sure they will make every effort to get you onboard on time.