My Bon Voyage Experience Review - Sea Princess

[MTJSR]

My parents boarded the Sea Princess yesterday Aug 18th, in San Francisco and My Aunt and I joined them by taking the Bon Voyage Experience. We arrived around 10:30 at the pier for our 11 am boarding time. The security at the terminal door seemed to have no clue what the BVE was and after scratching their heads, let us proceed thru. We were instructed to wait in the Elite/Platinum seating area till the Princess reps arrived to process passengers. Once set up, we were ushered to the front desk to be processed. One word of caution, bring your passport. Even though you are not sailing anywhere, their computer terminals need to scan a passport to identify you. I did not have mine so it took a supervisor to override what the Princess rep thought she had to do to let me board. (fyi, about half the Princess reps in San Francisco are made up of local travel agents, who moonlight for the cruise lines and have uniforms for each line they serve) We were then ushered to the special needs waiting area where the Future Cruise Sales person would come and escort us onboard. About 15 minutes later he came and took us to the security scanners and the photographer area for a souvenir boarding photo. We boarded thru a different entry door (perhaps the crew door) then the passengers did. We were then offered a tour of the ship, which was optional. We however decided to wait in the atrium for my parents to board, approx 10 minutes later. The 4 course lunch that is included, is in the main dinning room between 12 and 1:30 only. To my surprise, you are not offered the normal lunch menu, you are given a special BVE menu that has only 2 entree selections available. Salmon or Chateaubriand. Lunch starts with a shrimp and cantaloupe platter (quite good) then a pasta dish (good) and the main course next (very good) with a lemon soufflé desert to close out the meal (very good) Wine is included as well. After lunch we toured the ship and their cabin. FYI, You must be off the ship by 3pm. If you don't want to eat in the main dinning room, you are free to eat the pizza, burgers, hot dogs or go to the Horizon court. I highly recommend the BVE if you have to option to try it. A final heads up, you must be signed up at least 7 days prior to sailing for the Homeland Security process to be completed. Enjoy!

[karatemom2]

Great review! Sounds fun.

[GoofingOff]

How interesting! Didn't know this is an option. How much does the BVE cost?

[caribill]

We however decided to wait in the atrium for my parents to board, approx 10 minutes later.

 

It is my understanding that your parents should have been allowed to board at the same time that you did.

[MTJSR]

It is my understanding that your parents should have been allowed to board at the same time that you did.

Yes that is true, unfortunatly the Princess reps didn't seem to know that little detail, they were told to follow their platinum /elite group to the boarding area where they thought they were boarding before us. They ended up in a waiting area upstairs as we were boarding from below. It really didn't seem to us that Princess had fully trained the terminal personnel on the BVE, we ended up coaching some when it seemed they were clueless.

[Starshine95123]

Sounds like the staff still haven't been told how it's supposed to work. We had a friend join us for the BVE last October. They wouldn't let us board with her. She took the ship tour and waited for us to join her so we could have lunch. By the time we boarded the dining room was closed so we ate in the buffet. (My hubby told a Princess employee our BVE guest was waiting for us and he let us on right away.) Princess refunded all BVE guests that day because the ship was late getting in and guests wouldn't be onboard very long. It was also the first day a ship could plug in at the port. They were having a celebration so I thought that may have just added to the confusion with the BVE. Now I'm not so sure, it sounds like they're still confused. :eek: My friend is willing to try it again in September though. :D We'll just speak up earlier so we can have lunch in the dining room this time.

[starsjohn]

We tried to set up a Bon Voyage party when the Island Princess reaches San Pedro in September. Princess does not offer the program for this port.

[ShelbysMom]

I think it is voyage specific. We were able to set up a BVE on the Island out of LA in April.

Edited August 20, 2011 by ShelbysMom

[Woobstr112G]

Glad you enjoyed the BVE. We had some friends who did it with us when we sailed to Hawaii in February who also enjoyed the entire experience. I agree with you the lunch was indeed very good.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited August 20, 2011 by Woobstr112G

[aaerobear]

A couple of points.

 

1. ALL of the staff in San Francisco are employed by a shore handling company...not "half". They are not all travel agents "moonlighting", they come from all walks of life and several were in other transportation jobs.

 

2. The BVE procedures are changed by Princess corporate on a regular basis, one time they will allow the passengers to board with the BVE guests, the next time, maybe not.

 

3. Biggest problem is either BVE guests or Passengers showing up at different times and wanting to "wait" for each other. This is not possible and causes delays for everyone.

[Phyljim]

Interesting reading. Knew the program existed, but did not know what was offered. Now I do, thank you.

[sashas_mom]

Don,t forget the cost of the BVE is credited to you when you book a cruise, even if you are a past passenger. Remind your TA or Princess.

[Dachsie5]

Also note that when Noro Virus has been on a ship it is likely that the BVE could be canceled out. This happened last Oct (2010) on the CB sailing out of NY. Those signed up were at least notified a day in advance that it was canceled.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Dachsie5
spelling

[MTJSR]

 

1. ALL of the staff in San Francisco are employed by a shore handling company...not "half". They are not all travel agents "moonlighting", they come from all walks of life and several were in other transportation jobs.

 

 

What I said was:

 

(fyi, about half the Princess reps in San Francisco are made up of local travel agents, who moonlight for the cruise lines and have uniforms for each line they serve) I know they work for METRO, I never said otherwise. One of the Princess reps told me exactly what I wrote.

[sassyredhat]

:eek: My friend is willing to try it again in September though. :D We'll just speak up earlier so we can have lunch in the dining room this time.

 

Aha, Karen~~~so you are boarding before the rest of us !! :D

Pat

[Bucky3]

Thanks for the BVE information. We hope to do this in December and been hoping for someone to post of their experience. Much appreciated.

[JWJs]

Very interesting. Sounds fun. :) Wonder if the Bon Voyage Experience participants cry when they have to get off the ship like I always do when my cruise is over.

Edited August 21, 2011 by JWJs

[MTJSR]

Very interesting. Sounds fun. :) Wonder if the Bon Voyage Experience participants cry when they have to get off the ship like I always do when my cruise is over.

Actually it was kinda weird coming off the ship, I had almost settled in like I was going on a cruise. The dockside staff were looking at us, probably wondering why passengers were walking off the ship.

[srpilo]

Sounds great..

 

 

 

Like others have said though, it must be hard to have to leave :)

Srpilo

[Bucky3]

Hmmm - We're beginning to have second thoughts! We'll be sailing with just half of our family on a Christmas cruise and thought it would be fun to have the others join us on embarkation day, but now I'm beginning to wonder if that's a really great idea. Hoping it would be a happy time, but maybe that would only be for those of us actually sailing!

[caribill]

Wonder if the Bon Voyage Experience participants cry when they have to get off the ship like I always do when my cruise is over.

 

At least they do not have to pack before disembarking.

[aaerobear]

MJTSR,

 

Your princess rep is incorrect.

[Cruzn ELM]

Hmmm - We're beginning to have second thoughts! We'll be sailing with just half of our family on a Christmas cruise and thought it would be fun to have the others join us on embarkation day, but now I'm beginning to wonder if that's a really great idea. Hoping it would be a happy time, but maybe that would only be for those of us actually sailing!

 

I was with MTJSR. In the total scope of the big picture, the confusion was a minor inconvenience. By all means proceed with your plans to have the rest of the family come aboard. And JWSj, I at least had a lump in my throat if not a tear in my eye, thank goodness I too have some booked cruises to look forward to.

[tequilasunrise]

Sounds like fun, thanks for posting!:)

[RickEk]

My parents boarded the Sea Princess yesterday Aug 18th, in San Francisco and My Aunt and I joined them by taking the Bon Voyage Experience. We arrived around 10:30 at the pier for our 11 am boarding time. The security at the terminal door seemed to have no clue what the BVE was and after scratching their heads, let us proceed thru. We were instructed to wait in the Elite/Platinum seating area till the Princess reps arrived to process passengers. Once set up, we were ushered to the front desk to be processed. One word of caution, bring your passport. Even though you are not sailing anywhere, their computer terminals need to scan a passport to identify you. I did not have mine so it took a supervisor to override what the Princess rep thought she had to do to let me board. (fyi, about half the Princess reps in San Francisco are made up of local travel agents, who moonlight for the cruise lines and have uniforms for each line they serve) We were then ushered to the special needs waiting area where the Future Cruise Sales person would come and escort us onboard. About 15 minutes later he came and took us to the security scanners and the photographer area for a souvenir boarding photo. We boarded thru a different entry door (perhaps the crew door) then the passengers did. We were then offered a tour of the ship, which was optional. We however decided to wait in the atrium for my parents to board, approx 10 minutes later. The 4 course lunch that is included, is in the main dinning room between 12 and 1:30 only. To my surprise, you are not offered the normal lunch menu, you are given a special BVE menu that has only 2 entree selections available. Salmon or Chateaubriand. Lunch starts with a shrimp and cantaloupe platter (quite good) then a pasta dish (good) and the main course next (very good) with a lemon soufflé desert to close out the meal (very good) Wine is included as well. After lunch we toured the ship and their cabin. FYI, You must be off the ship by 3pm. If you don't want to eat in the main dinning room, you are free to eat the pizza, burgers, hot dogs or go to the Horizon court. I highly recommend the BVE if you have to option to try it. A final heads up, you must be signed up at least 7 days prior to sailing for the Homeland Security process to be completed. Enjoy!

 

BTW, that is the normal embarkation day lunch menu. On all the cruises where we were able to make it to the MDR for lunch on embarkation day, that was the menu.