check in time

[cdnphotogirl]

I just checked out boarding documents for our cruise. I found it a bit odd that check in time starts at 1:00 pm and we are scheduled to depart at 4:00 pm. I thought everyone was expected to be on the ship at least an hour before we cast off. I don't know how they plan to get 2600 people onto a ship in 2 hours. Does that seem a bit odd to anyone else? On my cruise last year everyone started boarding at 11:30 for a 5 pm sail away.

 

Travel summary says noon boarding time. So now I am even more confused.

Edited April 19, 2015 by cdnphotogirl

[Lulubelle45]

I'm curious too. My boarding info has only the 430 pm sail time

[Colo Cruiser]

As long as you did not get an emergency notice (email) about deep cleaning and delayed boarding for noro then its just the normal suggestion to come later.

 

Remember this is not the first rodeo for Princess.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[paul929207]

Checkin usually begins about 11 or 11:30

[skynight]

I just checked out boarding documents for our cruise. I found it a bit odd that check in time starts at 1:00 pm and we are scheduled to depart at 4:00 pm. I thought everyone was expected to be on the ship at least an hour before we cast off. I don't know how they plan to get 2600 people onto a ship in 2 hours. Does that seem a bit odd to anyone else? On my cruise last year everyone started boarding at 11:30 for a 5 pm sail away.

 

Travel summary says noon boarding time. So now I am even more confused.

You did not mention which port and boarding can be different at different ports, and in different countries. In U.S. ports Princess normally starts boarding around noon with priority boarders, then general boarding in the order of arrival. Luggage is accepted as early as 10am by the dockside workers. Check in normally starts around 11am. Those arriving before 11am generally have to stand in line outside the terminal building. After check in passengers are guided to a waiting area. If you arrive somewhere in the 11am time frame you should be on board before 12:30pm. Once started boarding goes very quickly. From my observation in the ports of San Pedro, San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale by the time 1pm rolls around probably 75/80% of all passengers have boarded. The dockside and entry area activity has slowed way down. If you want to walk right on board arrive around 1pm. It puzzles me why Princess keeps pumping out this kind of passenger boarding information when it does not resemble what is actually happening at the piers.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We got this info before our last three cruises (all from San Pedro) which said 1 pm. Each time we came earlier and were never told to come back after 1pm. Two of these times we didn't even have a wait to check in -- maybe one party in front of us in line. I would imagine if we came after 1pm, we would have to stand in a long line.

[geoherb]

They actually start taking checked luggage much earlier. We arrived around 8:15 for one cruise. We had taken an early morning flight and grabbed a cab directly to the port from FLL. The porters took our checked bags right away. We sat outside on a bench and waited a couple of hours as all the disembarking passengers left. They opened the doors to the terminal around 10 for preferred passengers. Boarding was a little before noon.

[Colo Cruiser]

We always try to arrive by 9:30 and have always been able to give our bags to the porters. ;)