Embarking Pacific Princess late at start of cruise when its in Venice overnight

[Griller]

We have booked a 12 day cruise on Pacific Princess this fall but the way the flights work out if we travel on the reasonably priced ones we won't get to the ship until about 9.30pm.

Normally of course this could not possibly be any good but the ship is in port overnight.

Has any member ever done this?

Any ideas about whether its OK?

Should we try to set it up in advance or just turn up late?

On the paperwork I have so far it just lists the date as embarkation, no particular time is mentioned.

The ship doesn't sail until 5pm the next day.

What I don't want to happen is that we are refused boarding and have to sit on the pier all night with our cases.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Griller

[easyboy]

Suggest you call them and ask possibility. Someone needs to process your check-in.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Griller]

I would do that if I didn't know that if I called them 4 times I would likely get 4 different answers, and that a phone call isn't worth the paper it isn't written on when push comes to shove.

I will probably end up emailing them and hope to get an email reply.

[likeadisguise]

Did you book your air through Princess? If so, they won't sell you a flight that would get you to the ship too late.

[caribill]

Did you book your air through Princess? If so, they won't sell you a flight that would get you to the ship too late.

 

Since the ship overnights there, the flight would not be too late.

 

But if check-in has closed for the night and the OP must wait until the next morning to check in, it would be annoying.

[fishywood]

If you want it in writing, here is what the online Flight Guidelines say

 

VENICE

 

Embarking Passengers

For voyages that overnight in Venice and depart on day two at 12:00 pm, the latest flight arrival on day one is 11:59 pm.

For voyages that overnight in Venice and depart on day two at 1:00 pm, the latest flight arrival on day one is 11:59 pm.

For voyages that overnight in Venice and depart on day two at 8:00 am or 1:00 pm, the latest flight arrival on day one is 11:59 pm.

For voyages that depart from Venice at 6:00 pm, the latest arrival time is 2:30 pm

For voyages that depart from Venice at 7:00 pm, the latest arrival time is 3:30 pm.

For voyages that depart from Venice at 8:00 pm, the latest arrival time is 4:30 pm.

For voyages that depart from Venice at 9:00 pm, the latest arrival time is 5:30 pm.

For voyages that depart from Venice at 11:00 pm, the latest arrival time is 7:30 pm.

 

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp

 

 

So it appears check-in essentially never closes.

[leck57]

If you want it in writing, here is what the online Flight Guidelines say

 

 

 

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp

 

 

So it appears check-in essentially never closes.

 

I might be a bit thick but I reckon the first three lines of the Venice embarking guide is as clear as mud. I'd be writing to Princess and getting a written response back.

[Griller]

Did you book your air through Princess? If so, they won't sell you a flight that would get you to the ship too late.

 

Thankyou so much for reminding me about EzAir. had not even thought to check it to see if it was viable.

 

I am so used to having always arranged my own flights, anyway I checked EzAir and it was a very reasonably priced $238 each, from Orlando to Venice one way, which was cheaper than I could find myself, there are more stops of course but reasonable timings.

 

No more late night arrival at the ship.

 

Just had to decline the cheapest EzAir flight though as it crazily allowed only a 1h20m stop in Paris CDG and that really would not be enough time to retrieve checked baggage if necessary and clear customs and immigration and then find the new gate which would probably be in a different terminal.

I know we would have been rebooked at no charge but it seems better to play it safe in the beginning.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Griller

[pompeii]

We're on the cruise that overnights in Venice and sails on 11/24. My printed information from Princess' website says check in on the overnight day is from 1pm - 8pm. So I wouldn't try to just show up at the ship later than that, assuming you can embark without making prior arrangements with Princess.

 

As far as I know, as long as we've already checked in and have our cruise card, we can come back to the ship much later, maybe as late as we want. But that's as long as you already have your cruise card.

 

Edit: never mind, I see you've worked it out. Just wanted to say I feel your pain about the EZAir connections in CDG; we've switched flights several times through EZAir to finally get a decent connection. I don't know why they think a 1.5 hour connection in Paris is okay; from what I've read you need at least 2 hours. But as long as you're ticketed through to Venice, you won't have to collect your bags at CDG. You'll just need to go through passport control, which is slow enough from what I've heard.

[Griller]

Pompeii we are hoping to book the Transatlantic back to Florida immediately after this cruise as well, I have been hoping it will come down in price somewhat but no sign yet as its only just less than 90 days before sailing, time will tell. In previous years its been a deeply unpopular sailing.

Our aim is to always maximize the number of cruise days per flight, and that would make 29 straight days and only one day flying. Not too bad as these things go.

[pompeii]

Pompeii we are hoping to book the Transatlantic back to Florida immediately after this cruise as well, I have been hoping it will come down in price somewhat but no sign yet as its only just less than 90 days before sailing, time will tell. In previous years its been a deeply unpopular sailing.

Our aim is to always maximize the number of cruise days per flight, and that would make 29 straight days and only one day flying. Not too bad as these things go.

 

I'm with you on the max days sailing per flight, but I'm not retired yet so the 12 day cruise plus a couple extra days in Rome is as much as I can swing. My employer just doesn't take my travel time as seriously as I do....;). At least air fare isn't bad; we're paying under $600 RT from Cleveland.

 

So I assume we are on the same sailing, end of November? We are almost at final payment for the first leg so it should drop in price since there are lots of cabins left. If you are booking it as two separate cruises you have a couple of weeks until final payment on the second one.

[Griller]

Yes 23rd November, there are some excellent ports on this itinerary, we visited some of them already this year on Majestic Princess but are so happy to have the chance to return to them.

And Pacific is our favorite Princess ship, we just debarked after 16 days on her in August. It was very very nice. And will not be in the fleet forever, couple of years more maybe.

We had to pay the whole cost of the 12 days when we booked yesterday but we did get a special rate due to my old employer, however the special rate on the Transatlantic didn't yet work out quite as well as paying the normal rate and claiming all the various OBC.

Maybe catch you on the rollcall?

[skynight]

I believe you will be fine. All the cruise cards are prepared on the ship and carried to the pier for check in. When & if the check in desk closes undistributed cards would be returned to the ship. I would think at this point passenger services would handle any check in procedures. The Pacific Princess is a small ship and I would not think it is an issue as long as you have your boarding passes. EZ Air would not offer flights that didn't meet the ship's boarding requirements, and when the flights are entered in your cruise personlizer Princess knows you are coming. Check with Princess. Try Facebook. Facebook inquiries seem to get quick responses.

[Griller]

I believe you will be fine. All the cruise cards are prepared on the ship and carried to the pier for check in. When & if the check in desk closes undistributed cards would be returned to the ship. I would think at this point passenger services would handle any check in procedures. The Pacific Princess is a small ship and I would not think it is an issue as long as you have your boarding passes. EZ Air would not offer flights that didn't meet the ship's boarding requirements, and when the flights are entered in your cruise personlizer Princess knows you are coming. Check with Princess. Try Facebook. Facebook inquiries seem to get quick responses.

 

Hi, thanks for that however if you read back a couple of posts you will see that I did not originally have flights through EzAir, but I do now as they were cheaper and arrived earlier.

Having said that you will also see that EzAir tried to sell me a flight which had little over an hour in Paris to change planes and do immigration etc. Just cannot be done in that time. if I had taken that flight I would probably have arrived a lot later due to missing my connection and having to rebook the Paris to Venice leg. And my luggage would likely have gone missing for a few days.

[pompeii]

Hi, thanks for that however if you read back a couple of posts you will see that I did not originally have flights through EzAir, but I do now as they were cheaper and arrived earlier.

Having said that you will also see that EzAir tried to sell me a flight which had little over an hour in Paris to change planes and do immigration etc. Just cannot be done in that time. if I had taken that flight I would probably have arrived a lot later due to missing my connection and having to rebook the Paris to Venice leg. And my luggage would likely have gone missing for a few days.

 

Ditto this. People tend to say "just book the tight connection and the airline will have to get you on a later flight if you miss it" but what they forget is that your luggage will probably not make the rebooked flight. That's been our experience, anyway. We were halfway through our Japan cruise before our suitcases caught up with us, due to a thunderstorm-related missed connection.

[tailspintom]

We have booked a 12 day cruise on Pacific Princess this fall but the way the flights work out if we travel on the reasonably priced ones we won't get to the ship until about 9.30pm.

Normally of course this could not possibly be any good but the ship is in port overnight.

Has any member ever done this?

Any ideas about whether its OK?

Should we try to set it up in advance or just turn up late?

On the paperwork I have so far it just lists the date as embarkation, no particular time is mentioned.

The ship doesn't sail until 5pm the next day.

What I don't want to happen is that we are refused boarding and have to sit on the pier all night with our cases.

When we last took a cruise out or Venice we were set to arrive in the afternoon of the day of the overnight mooring. Well, long story short we arrived after midnight and were welcomed to the ship. It was one of the easiest boardings

we have experienced. Everything was available except that the boarding docs were at the passenger services area.

Off of this experience, I would say that you should be fine.