Azura - New Improved Embarkation Process

[Brayman]

The system appeared to work very well for those who arrived at the correct time. If anybody was dis-satisfied, it is likely that they were trying to board early. I just hope that P&O stick to the new system and are not tempted to slide back into what was previously a free for all.

 

 

yeah yeah cheer cheer cheer cheer

happy happy happy happy

:D:D:

what else can I do to show I agree with this

:p:p

 

Well, the topic heading is "improved embarkation process". Good to see it is :)

[Kitekat]

Glad they were ok, which ship was it (sorry it's probably a few pages back)

 

They are on Oriana - boarding was at the Mayflower terminal. It is usually reasonably well organised there (way better than Ocean terminal where it is total chaos as there are only two short lanes for pick up and drop off and in waiting you stop anyone else going through. Who designs these approaches?)

 

I hope the weather is warmer for them than it is here. Brrrr!

[Florry]

They are on Oriana - boarding was at the Mayflower terminal. It is usually reasonably well organised there (way better than Ocean terminal where it is total chaos as there are only two short lanes for pick up and drop off and in waiting you stop anyone else going through. Who designs these approaches?)

 

 

 

I hope the weather is warmer for them than it is here. Brrrr!

 

 

I know it's gone very cold! It's interesting having the perspective of the terminals from a 'drop off' situation.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Florry

[silver service]

Yes, I am sure it is much fairer for everyone. However , I will miss

Arriving at midday, and usually getting straight on.

No flack please! I agree it is for the best! So will arrive close

To the ticket time, from now on. Love and peace.

[gadabout60]

I am sure the new system is "working" but what I don't get is why it was necessary in the first place

 

Passengers turned up when convenient to them and their individual circumstances and travel arrangements

 

If you turned up at a busy time you had to wait until the queue went down

 

Now people are being forced to turn up at a time which could be hugely inconvenient for them. I just don't get why so many people on this forum think thats great.

[pete14]

 

If you turned up at a busy time you had to wait until the queue went down

 

 

Under that non-system where some did what they wanted, those who were waiting for the queue to go down were often those arriving at their allocated time who were waiting whilst those who were deliberately there early boarded before them.

[Scriv]

Agreed, Pete - so everyone (including us, I have to say) went early because the allocated boarding times meant nothing and so aggravated the problem.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Scriv

[the english lady]

I am sure the new system is "working" but what I don't get is why it was necessary in the first place

 

Passengers turned up when convenient to them and their individual circumstances and travel arrangements

 

If you turned up at a busy time you had to wait until the queue went down

 

Now people are being forced to turn up at a time which could be hugely inconvenient for them. I just don't get why so many people on this forum think thats great.

 

As the ships are getting larger and larger, pando had reached the situation that they were having more and more people turning up earlier and earlier. It was a small problem that was getting bigger and bigger, they were saying up to half the passengers (could be up to 1000 people) were turning up in the first hour.

Once this cunning plan is bedded in, and they can see what effect it has on Southampton port there is nothing to say it will not be applied to other lines/ships.

An airport is built from the ground up for a lot of people to be hanging around for hours, cruise terminals not so much..they are just trying to spread the load..not just for getting aboard, but also the parking of cars etc etc.

[Mysticalmother]

When you think about it.....the system hasnt really changed at all.....only thing that has changed is that P&O are now enforcing the embarkation times that they have always given passengers, but in the past have allowed passengers to ignore....:rolleyes:

 

Cant really blame them for tightening up imho .....

Edited November 22, 2015 by Mysticalmother

[Scriv]

Yes, I agree MM - and we have to remember that we only see lots of people in the terminal and don't witness the problems that build up behind the scenes.

[Midsomer Madness]

Before social media etc was around there was not really anywhere much to discuss things like embarkation...however the past few years I have seen more and more people on facebook and cruise forums etc telling people to turn up early...those people in turn then tell others and before you know it half the ship is turning up early....we always used to arrive early usually due to us staying in Southampton the night before, but will stick to our time as allocated from now on in and hope that eventually everyone else will too! What it will stop us doing is booking any further short cruises as getting a 3.30 or 4.00 pm embarkation time for a 2 or 3 night cruise would make it not really viable.

[Somerset Cruiser]

Before social media etc was around there was not really anywhere much to discuss things like embarkation...however the past few years I have seen more and more people on facebook and cruise forums etc telling people to turn up early...those people in turn then tell others and before you know it half the ship is turning up early....we always used to arrive early usually due to us staying in Southampton the night before, but will stick to our time as allocated from now on in and hope that eventually everyone else will too! What it will stop us doing is booking any further short cruises as getting a 3.30 or 4.00 pm embarkation time for a 2 or 3 night cruise would make it not really viable.

 

The Internet has a lot to answer for ;)

[Whitechapel girl]

How does embarkation work being allocated a boarding time - by surname, cabin number?

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Well, we are just off to Oxford Station to catch the train to Southampton. I booked the 10.16 in case of delays and in any case I did not know the embarcation time until after I had booked it. We shall arrive around noon, our boarding time is 1.30pm so we shall have to wait. I could have booked a later time if I had known the boarding time.

 

If they want us to stick to the times we need to know them earlier, though not sure if this is possible?

 

We did have letter from P&O this week which asks us to arrive as near as possible to our allocated time, but also states that they realise that people cannot always arrive at the scheduled time, but that if you arrive early you can wait in the reception area and they may get you on earlier than your boarding time - so nothing different to last time we went really :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Edited November 23, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[terrierjohn]

I still do not understand why P&O make a mountain out of an embarkation system that other cruise lines operate with minimum aggravation to their paying customers.

However I will defer judgement on the performance until after our Jan. cruise.

Edited November 23, 2015 by terrierjohn

[daiB]

I still do not understand why P&O make a mountain out of an embarkation system that other cruise lines operate with minimum aggravation to their paying customers.

However I will defer judgement on the performance until after our Jan. cruise.

 

 

John, I feel it is people on Internet chat rooms and forums who are making a mountain out of it especially those who constantly turned up 3/4 hours before their check in time. All P&O are doing are giving you a time and then asking you to stick to it. No mountain there.

[terrierjohn]

John, I feel it is people on Internet chat rooms and forums who are making a mountain out of it especially those who constantly turned up 3/4 hours before their check in time. All P&O are doing are giving you a time and then asking you to stick to it. No mountain there.

Not sure you're the best judge Dai, as a suite passenger, and a Goldie to boot, P&O will roll out the red carpet whenever you arrive, and whisk you on board "toute suite", it will be the rest of us plebs who suffer the aggravation.

[daiB]

Not sure you're the best judge Dai, as a suite passenger, and a Goldie to boot, P&O will roll out the red carpet whenever you arrive, and whisk you on board "toute suite", it will be the rest of us plebs who suffer the aggravation.

 

 

Goldie....Baltic please.

 

My judgement comes from our two cruises on Britannia, under the new system, and reading copious, posts on here, there and everywhere. P&O have only enforced what they have done for years, given people a time and asked them to stick to it.

 

Of course it is not just P&O as you may remember that RCI/Celebrity/Princess tried to do this early last year with their departures from City. They had to abandon it as people would not conform. I suspect that they may try again.

[pete14]

Not sure you're the best judge Dai, as a suite passenger, and a Goldie to boot, P&O will roll out the red carpet whenever you arrive, and whisk you on board "toute suite", it will be the rest of us plebs who suffer the aggravation.

 

As a pleb in Mediterranean tier who has never had a suite, I am happy that P&O are seeking to enforce boarding times. It worked for us recently and the 'pay off' (if that is what it is) of having cabins ready when you board, is a most welcome one. No aggravation, just a smooth check in and boarding procedure because we did not attempt to ignore the system by turning up when we wanted. Simples!

[the english lady]

I still do not understand why P&O make a mountain out of an embarkation system that other cruise lines operate with minimum aggravation to their paying customers.

However I will defer judgement on the performance until after our Jan. cruise.

 

terrierjohn

What will you do if pando persevere with this and having seen it work with them, the other lines will bring it in.

Will you try and stick to your allocated time in January, so you can be on board with in 20-30mins tops, or will you chose to arrive hours early so you can say about the chaos in the terminal , which would be self inflicted?

I still say it is probably not just pando but the port authority and Southampton city council as well, in the background.

[the english lady]

Not sure you're the best judge Dai, as a suite passenger, and a Goldie to boot, P&O will roll out the red carpet whenever you arrive, and whisk you on board "toute suite", it will be the rest of us plebs who suffer the aggravation.

 

The plebs as you call them (not sure your fellow passengers will like you calling them that!) only will suffer aggravation if they decide that boarding/arrival times do not apply to them so turn up enmasse.

Another thought I had, ref the wonderful amazing Anthem (not what I would call the monstrosity). You pick your time when booking,(if the time you want is available) and magically people manage to arrive at that time..how is that different from a booking time allocated by pando that means there is no way that one can plan to arrive anywhere near that time. Goodness not I will have to arrive hours before that ....

[the english lady]

Do you think we can keep this thread going till we hit the 1000 posts?:D:D

 

looks like you will get your wish MM

[john watson]

How does embarkation work being allocated a boarding time - by surname, cabin number?

 

It seems to be allocated on a random manner and it's all down to luck. There may be better allocations for certain categories of people but nobody appears to know. Arriving on a coach and disabled persons seem to go through quickly and I can see why. Realistically if the ship leaves in 8 hours and you have a target time of 6 hours to arrive spot on allocated time based on normal traffic and public transport hold up whichever is relevant, a 2 hour problem holding you up will mean you have missed the boat. So I can see why a lot of people arrive early they simply factor in a margin for problems say an hour and a half. Things go well on the journey and you gain half an hour on the normally expected time. You then turn up two hours early, which is fine in my opinion provided one is happy to wait. This is my plan and I feel it is completely reasonable.

 

Regards John

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Arrived Southampton midday. Given a numbered card as before. No-one looked at our boarding time of 13.30. On the ship by 1pm. Having lunch in the Plaza :) Easy peazey :) Don't panic!

[Somerset Cruiser]

Couldn't resist :)