Embarkation at Sydney OT?

[scotgal1]

Hi all you expert cruisers ;)

We are going on the Diamond Princess in February to Singapore.

Our information states that check in is between 2pm and 7pm.

Has anyone checked in earlier than this at Sydney on a Princess cruise?

If so what is the earliest that we could check in our bags and get to our cabin??

Thank you in advance :confused:

[rkmw]

Hi all you expert cruisers ;)

We are going on the Diamond Princess in February to Singapore.

Our information states that check in is between 2pm and 7pm.

Has anyone checked in earlier than this at Sydney on a Princess cruise?

If so what is the earliest that we could check in our bags and get to our cabin??

Thank you in advance :confused:

 

you should be able to check in your bags anytime after 8am and if they dont have staggered boarding you could be on by 12 noon

[Gerko]

you should be able to check in your bags anytime after 8am and if they dont have staggered boarding you could be on by 12 noon

 

How do you work that one out? I've sailed on many Princess cruises from the OPT and if they say boarding is from 2pm you can get there at 10am if you wish but all that will happen is you'll stand around until 2pm because that will be when they commence check in. Yes I think you can leave your bags earlier than that but the desks aren't open so you can't get on board. Your comment seems to say that even though th Princess say boarding is from 2pm they will actually start hours earlier than that. Has that happened with you? Its certainly never happened with us and as Elite we get through embarkation as fast as anyone.

[rkmw]

How do you work that one out? I've sailed on many Princess cruises from the OPT and if they say boarding is from 2pm you can get there at 10am if you wish but all that will happen is you'll stand around until 2pm because that will be when they commence check in. Yes I think you can leave your bags earlier than that but the desks aren't open so you can't get on board. Your comment seems to say that even though th Princess say boarding is from 2pm they will actually start hours earlier than that. Has that happened with you? Its certainly never happened with us and as Elite we get through embarkation as fast as anyone.

 

we have embarked from OPT quite a few times and we have always been on by 12 noon, they normally open check-in before 12 noon if they dont have any problems....they could say boarding starts at 2pm but they always open early and being elite we get priority boarding

 

if you get there at 2pm you will get a quicker check-in than us getting there at 10am and waiting around until they open up the desk but we dont mind and like to get on early and have lunch

Edited November 9, 2013 by rkmw

[silverwillow]

I have always been on board before 12 o'clock and I am not elite.

[MicCanberra]

I have always been on board before 12 o'clock and I am not elite.

 

I have always boarded within the times allocated by the cruise documentation, sometimes prior to 12 noon and sometimes as late as 3 pm. It all depends on how the times are allocated, if it is a specific time, I adhere to these, if it is like the OP has stated, I would then make a decision as to how it suited me for the day. This may mean dropping the bags off early and checking the line lengths, if they are short, I would check-in or if they are long, return in a few hours after more sightseeing.:D

[Gaznjo]

It really is hit and miss ..... I worked down there one day and whilst there were long queues we enforced the time slot rules by checking boarding passes..... If the lines where empty we allowed people through.....

 

This was with carnival but it is the same company that handles princess, just different shirt colour...... We did have a preferred boarding line that you could use if you were entitled.....

[MicCanberra]

It really is hit and miss ..... I worked down there one day and whilst there were long queues we enforced the time slot rules by checking boarding passes..... If the lines where empty we allowed people through.....

 

This was with carnival but it is the same company that handles princess, just different shirt colour...... We did have a preferred boarding line that you could use if you were entitled.....

 

Yes, just drop your bags and check the lines.:D

[BuzzBuzzen]

Wow MicCanberra I thought I must have been the only one who arrives at the terminal as per orders ! Nice to see i am not Robinson Crusoe :)

[MicCanberra]

Wow MicCanberra I thought I must have been the only one who arrives at the terminal as per orders ! Nice to see i am not Robinson Crusoe :)

 

Yeah, does that mean I can get a girl Friday as well?:rolleyes:

[mr walker]

On our recent Voyager OTS cruise, during the Captain's Corner event a passenger complained about his experience at OPT Sydney re the length of lines when emabarking - this was on prior cruises as we had embarked in Singapore.

Captain Charles stated that the problem is that people insisted on not taking notice of the allocated times and when many turn up together, then there are lines and complaints.

Many people want to board as early as possible of course, & many have had to check out of hotels mid to late morning, but the fact is that there is limited capacity and everyone turning up at the same time means delays.

I suggest that MicCanberra's idea is good. If you arrive early, drop your bags and check the lines. If the lines are short, go ahead and check-in, else go do something else and come back later.

[Gerko]

Giving people recommended boarding times according to deck is a joke. Naturally people want to spend as much time on board as possible, particularly on shorter cruises, so telling some people to check in at 4.30pm when they know the desks open at noon is never going to work. They must either give people a time and enforce it pretty strictly or go back to just letting people arrive when they like and copping long lines if need be.

 

They could follow in the ways of the airlines to reduce lines. Have everyone check in online, print out boarding passes with barcodes, have people lodge their bigger bags outside the terminal (as already done), scrap the desks and have people proceed straight to customs and security. The only thing the desks seem to do is check the passports, unnecessary as customs does this as well, and hand out cruise cards, which could be delivered direct to cabins instead.

[MicCanberra]

Giving people recommended boarding times according to deck is a joke. Naturally people want to spend as much time on board as possible, particularly on shorter cruises, so telling some people to check in at 4.30pm when they know the desks open at noon is never going to work. They must either give people a time and enforce it pretty strictly or go back to just letting people arrive when they like and copping long lines if need be.

 

Cannot agree with this, if people adhere to the times then there will be hardly any wait, although the effectiveness in any policy is in the enforcement of it.

[gbenjo]

Giving people recommended boarding times according to deck is a joke. Naturally people want to spend as much time on board as possible, particularly on shorter cruises, so telling some people to check in at 4.30pm when they know the desks open at noon is never going to work. They must either give people a time and enforce it pretty strictly or go back to just letting people arrive when they like and copping long lines if need be.

 

They could follow in the ways of the airlines to reduce lines. Have everyone check in online, print out boarding passes with barcodes, have people lodge their bigger bags outside the terminal (as already done), scrap the desks and have people proceed straight to customs and security. The only thing the desks seem to do is check the passports, unnecessary as customs does this as well, and hand out cruise cards, which could be delivered direct to cabins instead.

 

And you would get through the ship security screen HOW..without your seapass:confused::confused:

 

 

And your onboard charges would be activated HOW?????

 

your health questionnaire would be collected WHERE?????

 

The only way the ships can control the health,charges etc is to do it all before embakcation ...once on board it would be impossible.

 

Perhaps if more people had all the correct paperwork signed sorted and ready at check in and not make others wait while they fill it in at the check in desk the lines would be a lot shorter. You would be amazed if you saw the number of EXPERIENCED cruisers who do not have their documentation in order at check in.

 

Agreed everybody should be able to board whenever they want but unfortunately with the space limitations at the OPT (at least )and the larger ships now operating here, the cruise lines have no other option but to apply staggered check in times.......any other (sensible) suggestions would gladly be taken on board( no pun intended)

[gbenjo]

By the way check in normally starts at 10:45 ..11:00am not 12:00

 

And I spelt embarkation wrong in the previous post (my typo :D:D)

[gbenjo]

Also...Not sure about the "other" cruise lines but with Royal (& Celebrity ) there is no staggered check in for Crown and Anchor members so anyone doing more than one cruise with them should not need to line up and ....I guess that would be a lot of us on CC.

[Kinkacruiser]

Be grateful that all 2000- 3000 cruisers don't belong to CC or such, otherwise everyone would be queueing at 11:00 for an early lunch.

Fortunately for us, some folks do follow the 'rules', but the word is slowly getting out.

[MicCanberra]

Be grateful that all 2000- 3000 cruisers don't belong to CC or such, otherwise everyone would be queueing at 11:00 for an early lunch.

Fortunately for us, some folks do follow the 'rules', but the word is slowly getting out.

 

A lot of cruisers do not know about CC but are very experienced cruisers and as such know all the tricks of the trade anyway.:D

[Kinkacruiser]

A lot of cruisers do not know about CC but are very experienced cruisers and as such know all the tricks of the trade anyway.:D

 

I agree, but there will always be first time cruisers who aren't privy to the 'tricks of the trade' :D.

[MicCanberra]

I agree, but there will always be first time cruisers who aren't privy to the 'tricks of the trade' :D.

Yes, but more and more people are joining CC as well.:D

[gbenjo]

Yes, but more and more people are joining CC as well.:D

 

We know well in advance how many C&A members are on each cruise so we can adjust the lines and check in agents upstairs to accomodate and as many of the CC members have sailed more than once with Royal they will be included in the numbers..........unless we set up another line just for CC :cool:;)

[The_Big_M]

We know well in advance how many C&A members are on each cruise so we can adjust the lines and check in agents upstairs to accomodate and as many of the CC members have sailed more than once with Royal they will be included in the numbers..........unless we set up another line just for CC :cool:;)

 

I didn't realise you went that far - that's pretty good.

 

Things have definitely improved from when they started sailing here. :)

[MicCanberra]

We know well in advance how many C&A members are on each cruise so we can adjust the lines and check in agents upstairs to accomodate and as many of the CC members have sailed more than once with Royal they will be included in the numbers..........unless we set up another line just for CC :cool:;)

The CC I was referring to was Cruise Critic not Captains Club.:D

[scotgal1]

Thanks to everyone who has kindly replied to my question :D

 

We will get to the OPT late morning, and if possible we will check in.

If not then we will drop off our bags and go relax around the harbour happily knowing that we have started our adventure:p:):)

When they open up for boarding and there are no long queues then we will proceed - with all our forms completed;):cool:.

 

Only 99 days to go YEAH

[MicCanberra]

Thanks to everyone who has kindly replied to my question

 

We will get to the OPT late morning, and if possible we will check in.

If not then we will drop off our bags and go relax around the harbour happily knowing that we have started our adventure:p:):)

When they open up for boarding and there are no long queues then we will proceed - with all our forms completed;):cool:.

 

Only 99 days to go YEAH

The time will go very fast (with Xmas in the middle) and then you can enjoy your cruise.:D