Crown Princess - what time to board?

[Clampram]

If I get to the port about 12:30 on Sunday, I'm thinking I won't be standing in that long stinkin' line for very long.

 

Am I right?

[easyboy]

Maybe not too long, unless the ship’s boarding tine is delayed.

 

 

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[skynight]

Boarding will have already begun. Should not be too difficult.

[fishywood]

In November boarding Royal Princess we arrived at 11:30 and there were no lines at all; the first groups were being called as we were checking in after only the brief moments needed passing thru security and signing the health form.

 

A year prior boarding Emerald Princess we arrived at 1:45 and the lines were out the door and back to the end of the roped-off queue.

 

I think the determining factor was arrival times: Royal is alongside by 6:00 every turnaound day, while Emerald (in her final Caribbean season at the time) was not until 8:00.

 

Looking at the Port Everglades ship schedule Crown Princess is listed as moving from buoy to Terminal 4 at 5:45 (with Regal to Terminal 2 at 5:00). So guessing Princess is expecting Crown alongside around 7:00. My hunch is that you should arrive no later than 12:00.

[Clampram]

In November boarding Royal Princess we arrived at 11:30 and there were no lines at all; the first groups were being called as we were checking in after only the brief moments needed passing thru security and signing the health form.

 

A year prior boarding Emerald Princess we arrived at 1:45 and the lines were out the door and back to the end of the roped-off queue.

 

I think the determining factor was arrival times: Royal is alongside by 6:00 every turnaound day, while Emerald (in her final Caribbean season at the time) was not until 8:00.

 

Looking at the Port Everglades ship schedule Crown Princess is listed as moving from buoy to Terminal 4 at 5:45 (with Regal to Terminal 2 at 5:00). So guessing Princess is expecting Crown alongside around 7:00. My hunch is that you should arrive no later than 12:00.

 

Wow...........thanks for your detailed informed answer!!!

[Pati]

Just got back from crown yesterday. We boRded about noon and no lines anywhere at all! Great time, great staff?

[Ginnyfyr]

Just got back from crown yesterday. We boRded about noon and no lines anywhere at all! Great time, great staff?

 

We were told the ship arrived in Port Everglades early due to a medical emergency, so everything was ready to go earlier than usual (we were on the same sailing and were in our cabin by 11:45!)

[gotta cruise again]

Also just got off Crown. Arrived a few minutes after 10 & no lines at all except for departing pax waiting for their transportation.

 

 

Was told by staff in elite lounge that they’ve started opening doors at 10 to avoid lines and to keep people from waiting in the weather.

 

 

Boarding for elites began at exactly 1130; only 1 couple ahead of us as the only mobility assistance in the lounge; all were held at the “door” to ship as they weren’t expecting pax yet. They made a couple of calls the allowed boarding.

 

 

Our cabin on Emerald wasn’t ready enough to leave our bags but we had things to accomplish and took care of that; cabin ready not much later.

[WillandTam]

I got an email that we weren't to arrive by 2 on the day of the cruise because we were in Riviera deck. Seriously? Uh no. That sounds like the rediculous zone boarding Carnival does. We will arrive around 11 as we always do.

[gotta cruise again]

[quote=gotta cruise again

 

Our cabin on Emerald wasn’t ready enough to leave our bags but we had things to accomplish and took care of that; cabin ready not much later.

 

Ok. Guess I was too tired when typing my last entry!! “Emerald” is our next cruise...what I meant to say was our cabin on this most recent cruise on Crown wasn’t ready!!

[LovetheSea]

We cruise on the Crown in 10 days. I already got an email from Princess with the staggered embarkation schedule. They are saying with our cabin number, Riviera Deck, Balcony cabin, they would like to see us not board until 2:30 pm. But we are Platinum members and are to get priority embarkation. I don't know if they enforce the staggered boarding? Or just say that because everyone shows up too early and hopefully they will convince people to wait a bit?

[WillandTam]

We cruise on the Crown in 10 days. I already got an email from Princess with the staggered embarkation schedule. They are saying with our cabin number, Riviera Deck, Balcony cabin, they would like to see us not board until 2:30 pm. But we are Platinum members and are to get priority embarkation. I don't know if they enforce the staggered boarding? Or just say that because everyone shows up too early and hopefully they will convince people to wait a bit?

.

We're on the same cruise and in a balcony on the Riviera deck, so I called Princess and the representative said right now it is a recommendation and we wouldn't be forced to wait in the terminal until 2:30. I would imagine if they actually tried to enforce this they would have a lot of angry passengers. This is my 4th cruise with Princess and 19th overall and I have disliked every time that a line tried something like this. I wonder why they would even do this? In my experience, Princess has always been the fastest embarkation.

[jb008]

We were told the ship arrived in Port Everglades early due to a medical emergency, so everything was ready to go earlier than usual (we were on the same sailing and were in our cabin by 11:45!)

 

We were on the 12/30/17 departure too, we got there at about 10:10 AM as we didn't want to hang out at our hotel, and figured waiting in the cruise port would be more comfortable. There were still departing guests arranging ground transport when we arrived! And I think the last debark group was something like 9:40 or 9:45 in our disembarkation paperwork.

 

We were some of the very first people there, and were seated with our cruise cards within 10 minutes. They had a 3 premium boarding groups (which I presume was suites/elites/club class) and then started with boarding group 1 (we were in group 1). I have a picture from the gangway taken at 11:44 AM and cabin at 11:50.

 

We sailed out of FLL twice in 2017 (once X, once P) and both times were very smooth and waiting in the terminal was comfortable and seemed to have plenty of seating. My personal strategy will continue to be to get there early to be 101% sure of a seat and enjoy a good book in the terminal while waiting, but to each their own. One note, T4 did not have any shops of note that we saw; I know some terminals do have small souvenir and liquor shops.

 

Added in edit:

I feel like Princess has been pitching staggered embarkation since 2007 when I first sailed with them? I'm sure it's great for the people that want to get there later as lines are probably super short, but afaik they've never turned away a guest to come back at their "proper" boarding time. Getting there early means you _may_ need to wait in lines or wait in a seating area for your group to be called... Specific to FLL I'd rather wait at the terminal than wait in my hotel. By the time you drop bags in FLL you're pretty far from anything of interest to sightsee at. In contrast, we dropped bags in Vancouver and then went for lunch and a scenic stroll before embarking later in the afternoon because the terminal is so close to other things there.

[Clampram]

Just an update..........we got off the Crown this morning.

On the day of embarkation we got to the cruise terminal at 12:30 and it was awesome.......no waiting at all and we were on the ship in about 25 minutes.

 

We are boarding the Regal on Sunday and we are going to do the same thing.

[LovetheSea]

.

We're on the same cruise and in a balcony on the Riviera deck, so I called Princess and the representative said right now it is a recommendation and we wouldn't be forced to wait in the terminal until 2:30. I would imagine if they actually tried to enforce this they would have a lot of angry passengers. This is my 4th cruise with Princess and 19th overall and I have disliked every time that a line tried something like this. I wonder why they would even do this? In my experience, Princess has always been the fastest embarkation.

 

See you in the halls!