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Staggered Boarding??????????

delidan

By delidan,
in Princess Cruises

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Astro Flyer

Astro Flyer

Posted
Posted
Is Princess doing staggered boarding for all cruises, or is it just the April 27th sailing out of LA?

Are you talking about giving priority passengers (Elite/Platinum/full suite) a group number like we did last November on the Golden? If so, it worked nicely because the surge of priority passengers was controlled to minimize crowding at boarding. Another thing that helped was to have all passengers go through security before arriving in the waiting area eliminating the security slowdown at boarding.

 

I found both of these helped the embarkation process...could this be what you meant when asking about "staggered boarding"? :confused:

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

Posted
Posted
I recieved a Email from my TA, each deck has a boarding time. I'm on P and can't board until 2:30.
Never heard of this and it makes absolutely no sense. Did your TA forward a letter directly from Princess? No matter what, arrive when you want. If you really want to check, look at your Cruise Personalizer which will probably have a boarding time of 1pm. That's a suggested time to avoid crowds, which most people ignore.
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emmtee

emmtee

Posted
Posted

I saw this mentioned once before. (I remember being concerned because my family group has people on 2 different decks, and in one case the parents are on one deck while their DD's will be with cousins on another deck.)

 

I haven't seen any mention of it in quite a while, so it must be done pretty infrequently.

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

Posted
Posted
Looks like he just retyped what they sent him.
Possibly but they're not going to turn you away if you arrive earlier. If Princess did send something, it would be a "suggested" time rather than a "this is the only time you can board and if you arrive early, you'll have to wait or if you arrive later, you can't board" requirement. Unless the ship's embarkation has been substantially delayed and you receive an Emergency notification, in which case you'd receive it embarkation day or the day before, ignore it.
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emmtee

emmtee

Posted
Posted

I re-read the thread. The staggered boarding seems to be related to having 2 ships in port at the same time. The port schedule link in the other thread didn't work, but I googled "LA port schedule" and found the calendar. Sure enough, there are 2 ships in port on 4/27.

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BARBYDOLL

BARBYDOLL

Posted
Posted
We got an email requesting the same staggered boarding times for our Diamond Princess cruise out of Beijing early May. Everyone on our roll call thought it was because of the Chinese customs etc. Maybe it is Princess trying to stop the crowds after all.

 

We also got a staggered boarding request for our Diamond Princess cruise out of Beijing (deck-by-deck). However, as we are on a Princess pre-cruise stay with Princess transfers, I am expect that we will not make our boarding time and that those on the coach will all board together, especially as lunch is provided on that day as part of the tour. On our last cruise, we did all the paperwork at the hotel before boarding which was excellent - it saved lots of times and we went straight on board after going through US immigration in Vancouver.

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CruisinMinnie

CruisinMinnie

Posted
Posted
I re-read the thread. The staggered boarding seems to be related to having 2 ships in port at the same time. The port schedule link in the other thread didn't work, but I googled "LA port schedule" and found the calendar. Sure enough, there are 2 ships in port on 4/27.

The staggered boarding is in our cruise personalizer (though not on the boarding pass). We sail on the Golden from San Pedro on April 13th. When I looked at the port schedule we are the only ship there on embarkation day. So, I'm not sure what Princess is using to determine when to use staggered boarding.

 

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Quilter n Cruiser

Quilter n Cruiser

Posted
Posted

This new staggered system was on our Feb 16th cruise on the Golden. We were part of a bus load (tour group) and our daughter had the airport transport by Princess. Since it was a mixture of deck levels for at least 80 passengers they had us all there by 11:00. The line moved very quickly and there was literally no wait, very smooth. I think they are just trying to avoid long lines by spreading out the arrivals. For those arriving and using the Princess transfers (my daughters situation) They picked the passengers up at the airport and took them to a nearby hotel where coffee and tea etc. were provided and they did the embarkation paperwork there. She was also on board shortly after 11:00 AM.

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cruzinchris

cruzinchris

Posted
Posted
The only staggered boarding we have seen was from the two gentlemen who spent the morning in McDuffy's Tavern.:)

 

LOL! I was thinking, too, that the "staggered" boarding that I've noticed isn't during embarkation but after a day in port :D

 

Bon Voyage!

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donna5

donna5

Posted
Posted

Also part of the problem is if every cabin arrived at the same time there would be a line of traffic so long the highway exit would be backed up.:eek:

 

 

And yes they could very well make you wait until your boarding time if they wanted. Remember they only enforce the rules that are more convenient for them.

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

Posted
Posted

Interesting. This must be something very new. We boarded the Sapphire in January and the Golden was in port at the same time. We arrived in the port area at about 12:15pm, got to the drop-off at 12:20pm, were checked in and I was in my cabin at 12:45pm. My luggage arrived at 12:55pm (that'll never happen again.) There were no lines, no crowds. I bypassed the ship's photographer but otherwise, it was very fast and smooth. You wouldn't know there were two ships in port at the same time.

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Cruise Junky

Cruise Junky

Posted
Posted

If this is going to be a new thing with them they're going to have to change the way the Sanctuary weekly passes are handled. This would be completely unfair. Perhaps they should do it like shore excursions and spa reservations, allow everyone to book online the same day and time.

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Putterdude

Putterdude

Posted
Posted

Here is the notice from Princess:

 

To ensure a relaxed and organized start to your voyage, we operate a staggered

We kindly request that you arrive at or shortly after your scheduled check in

 

If your cabin number starts with a B or a S, please arrive at 12:00pm.

If your cabin number starts with a C or a F, please arrive at 12:30pm.

If your cabin number starts with an D, please arrive at 1:00pm.

If your cabin number starts with an E, please arrive at 1:30pm.

If your cabin number starts with a L or an A, please arrive at 2:00pm.

If your cabin number starts with a P, please arrive at 2:30pm.

 

Please note all passengers must be onboard 1 hour prior to sailing due to

immigration procedures, failure to do so will result in denied boarding

 

I seriously doubt that they are going to deny earlier boarding to Elite and Plantinum pax...so the argument over the rush to book the Sanctuary and the fairness of this will rage on.:)

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Pearlbill

Pearlbill

Posted
Posted

Agreed Putterdude.

 

Also, the debate between what is a "rule" or a "suggestion" will continue. (Dress codes, deck chairs and so on). People will do what they want to do. They pick and choose what they are going to follow. It will be interesting to see how those who are adamant about dress "guidelines" will handle boarding "guidelines". The bottom line is

to use commonsense and respect others.

 

Pearl

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