Embarkation day

[ss3437]

Read somewhere that you are now allowed to access your room as soon as you get on board. Is this true?

[taxmantoo]

Read somewhere that you are now allowed to access your room as soon as you get on board. Is this true?

Not true ... Rooms on HAL are "USUALLY" available immediately at boarding time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The majority of the time the cabins are ready by 11:30 so that you can drop off carry-ons, etc.

There have been a couple of times when they were not ready. Like when the entire ship crew had to go through a special immigration, when the ship had to do a CDC check (passengers are delayed getting on as well).

[catl331]

Generally boarding will not begin until all rooms are ready. Just once in the 7 years that "Boarding Direct" has been the policy was our boarding delayed by about 20 minutes.

[EeyoreRN]

We just returned from an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. Boarding began at 11:00 but we were not allowed to go to our rooms until 12:00. So I guess the short answer is "it depends."

[CruiserBruce]

The vast majority of the time, rooms will be ready when you board. This has been HAL's policy for probably 10 years now.

[OlsSalt]

One reason to honor the boarding time zone HAL sends you instead of just showing up early. I have assumed those boarding time zones correspond to the work schedule getting the cabins ready and available for boarding passengers.

 

We like knowing our cabin is ready when we board as hanging around in the public rooms with our carry-on in the past, waiting for the announcement the cabins were now available, dampened the early cruise anticipation. Having everything unpacked and put away before dinner is even better.

 

Good work HAL. This is one welcome, passenger service centered change. Kudos to HAL management for this one.

[catl331]

The vast majority of the time, rooms will be ready when you board. This has been HAL's policy for probably 10 years now.

The first time we saw it was Dec 2010. Did not see it 3 months earlier.

 

I have assumed those boarding time zones correspond to the work schedule getting the cabins ready and available for boarding passengers.

But 4/5-star can board anytime, as well as Neptune suites on multiple decks. Edited June 14, 2018 by catl331

[OlsSalt]

The first time we saw it was Dec 2010. Did not see it 3 months earlier.

 

But 4/5-star can board anytime, as well as Neptune suites on multiple decks.

 

That known fact can be easily accommodated in the cabin turnround work schedule. Do those assigned cabins first.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

All I know is that for years and years now, leaving from Seattle (the port I know best), we always show up before 11 am, boarding commences at 11:30 am, and we are able to drop off our hand carried bags in our clean and prepared cabins, before we proceed to the main dining room for lunch shortly after 12 noon.

[catl331]

That known fact can be easily accommodated in the cabin turnround work schedule. Do those assigned cabins first.

Sure, but I would think they would not want a lot of priority boarders traipsing through the corridors while they are trying to do mass cabin servicing. Besides, those suggested boarding schedules aren't being enforced.

[OlsSalt]

Sure, but I would think they would not want a lot of priority boarders traipsing through the corridors while they are trying to do mass cabin servicing.

 

They are not cleaning the corridors, they are cleaning and making the cabins ready. Not sure there are masses of people traipsing through the corridors anyway on embarkation day any more than during a regular cruise day when they prepare cabins too.

 

Anyway, that was only an assumption i was making - staggered boarding times might be related to their ability to have cabins ready for embarking passengers. It is a nice change and there is nothing wrong trying to accommodate this HAL effort to make the passenger experience with embarkation easier, by mutual cooperation.

[catl331]

Not sure there are masses of people traipsing through the corridors anyway on embarkation day any more than during a regular cruise day when they prepare cabins too.

Sure there are. I can't count the number of times I've walked the length of a ship on a cabin deck on a non-turnaround day and not seen anyone except a steward or two. Sometimes not even stewards.

Anyway, that was only an assumption i was making - staggered boarding times might be related to their ability to have cabins ready for embarking passengers.

But unless they start enforcing it like Carnival it's a pretty futile goal.

[OlsSalt]

.......

But unless they start enforcing it like Carnival it's a pretty futile goal.

 

Sigh. Too bad mutual cooperation in this unique closed-system environment exists only if it is "enforced".

[bUU]

Sure, but I would think they would not want a lot of priority boarders traipsing through the corridors while they are trying to do mass cabin servicing. Besides, those suggested boarding schedules aren't being enforced.

I expect that eventually they will start enforcement. There is a cost impact and it isn't clear that that cost is justified by an incremental amount of revenue the cruise line gets as compared to other cruise lines that do enforce cabin access times.

 

This message may have been entered via voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[Bruinboy]

Question ... much is made of MDR lunch ... to make that lunch one has to board earlier rather than an assigned time after the MDR closes. Is that correct? Publicizing lunch in the MDR encourages earlier boarding regardless of assigned time.

 

 

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[Old As Dirt Mom]

Question ... much is made of MDR lunch ... to make that lunch one has to board earlier rather than an assigned time after the MDR closes. Is that correct? Publicizing lunch in the MDR encourages earlier boarding regardless of assigned time.

 

 

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The embarkation lunch in the main dining room is offered from 12 noon to 1:30pm, sometimes they stop serving at 1pm. The main dining room lunch is actually not publicized very much, I guess because if everyone ended up there they couldn't possibly accommodate the crowds, as only the lower portion of the dining room is open and available.

[grsnovi]

As long as 4 and 5 star Mariners are invited to board at their leisure (and they would be more likely to know about the MDR lunch) and their numbers are likely small on any given cruise it's no big deal. We've boarded prior to noon but without access to our room lugging carry-ons to the MDR didn't seem like much fun. I think in the last 10 years we've only done lunch in the MDR on boarding once. On embarkation day, I'm more about getting settled than having a formal sit-down lunch.

[livetheatre]

This is very impressive to me. What a great first impression. We were on a RCL in January and felt like it was several hours after our boarding before we were able to get to our rooms.

 

Well done crew on making this happen!

 

 

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[MajMom96]

Our cabin has always been ready on a HAL cruise as soon as we board. And we like to board early so we can have a relaxing lunch in the mdr. We hate fighting the crowds in the Lido and trying to find a table! And when we board early, we go straight to our stateroom to drop off our carry-on. Sometimes the cabin steward is putting the finishing touches on the cabin, like filling the ice bucket or delivering confirmation envelopes for pre-cruise purchases, but they are always welcoming and help us get settled. We drop off carry-on (which usually includes our allotted bottles of wine) and then head to the mdr to get our vacation underway! Much nicer than my last cruise on Celebrity where the fire doors were closed and secured to the passenger cabins and didn’t open until two hours after we boarded. [emoji483]

 

 

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[syesmar]

Crew News was kind enough to post the “When and Where” daily brochures from a recent sailing: http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/on-locations-specific-cruises/alaska-ms-zaandam-14-day-when-where-daily-activities-2018

You can see on Embarkation Day, many of the special areas have an “open house” or tour of sorts. On my last cruise, I checked out an iPod from the library and did the self-guided Tour of the Ship's Art Collection (I think you can also download it prior to the cruise on your own device).

 

I agree that it's very nice to be able to go to your stateroom upon (or close to) boarding. Have fun!

Edited June 15, 2018 by syesmar
spacing

[joekerstef]

Remember too that servicing cabins is also a function of when pax get off the ship on the previous cruise. The cabins vacated first get turned over first no matter who's going to be occupying them next.