WHEN CAN I GET ON BOARD THE SHIP?

[Boiler Cruiser]

My DW and I will be departing on the Royal Princess in December.

 

I am, admittedly, one of those people who like to get on our cruise ship early.  With the ship departing from Ft. Lauderdale, when is the earliest that we can board the Royal? 

 

We are not Premier or any thing like that.  This is our third cruise on Princess, and we enjoy getting on board, exploring the ship and getting some lunch before sail-away.

 

Thanks. 

[skynight]

8 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

My DW and I will be departing on the Royal Princess in December.

 

I am, admittedly, one of those people who like to get on our cruise ship early.  With the ship departing from Ft. Lauderdale, when is the earliest that we can board the Royal? 

 

We are not Premier or any thing like that.  This is our third cruise on Princess, and we enjoy getting on board, exploring the ship and getting some lunch before sail-away.

 

Thanks. 

Believe the Royal will be at pier two. Boarding is very quick. Priority boarders should be boarding around 11am maybe 11:30. Others will follow quickly thereafter. Your cabin may not be ready until around 1pm.

Edited November 7, 2018 by skynight

[Potstech]

This will be the Royals first cruise after a one week maintenance period.  This means the usual delay waiting for passengers the debark should not be a problem.  Hopefully that means rooms will be ready when they start passengers board. No one gets on until the crew allows it but I am hoping for 11:00 or there abouts.

 

We will be joining you and there is a Roll Call if you would like to join it.

[Colo Cruiser]

Ft Lauderdale boarding starts around 11:00am. Unless as stated there are issues from the prior cruise, and or inspections etc.

Cabins are not ready until 1:00pm. 

[c-boy]

12 minutes ago, Potstech said:

This will be the Royals first cruise after a one week maintenance period.  This means the usual delay waiting for passengers the debark should not be a problem.  Hopefully that means rooms will be ready when they start passengers board. No one gets on until the crew allows it but I am hoping for 11:00 or there abouts.

 

We will be joining you and there is a Roll Call if you would like to join it.

are you gonna do alive from ?

[satxdiver]

As soon as boarding is ready, the order of boarding is 

1.  wedding parties

2. suite and elite pax

3. platinum pax

4. all other pax 

 

You will most likely be onboard the ship by 12:30 or so depending on how early pax arrive and wait in line. 

 

Boiler Up!!

Edited November 7, 2018 by satxdiver

[Host CJSKIDS]

1 hour ago, satxdiver said:

As soon as boarding is ready, the order of boarding is 

1.  wedding parties

2. suite and elite pax

3. platinum pax

4. all other pax 

 

You will most likely be onboard the ship by 12:30 or so depending on how early pax arrive and wait in line. 

 

Boiler Up!!

don't forget BVE passengers!

[Potstech]

3 hours ago, c-boy said:

are you gonna do alive from ?

 

Never have before so why start now.

[Colo Cruiser]

4 hours ago, Potstech said:

 

Never have before so why start now.

Turning over a new leaf? 

Oh never mind.

[trbarton]

5 hours ago, satxdiver said:

As soon as boarding is ready, the order of boarding is 

1.  wedding parties

2. suite and elite pax

3. platinum pax

4. all other pax 

 

You will most likely be onboard the ship by 12:30 or so depending on how early pax arrive and wait in line. 

 

Boiler Up!!

 

After the wedding parties there is another group, people doing the BVE, Bon Voyage Experience. Since I done many BVE’s I very familiar with the order. 

 

I was on the Grand recently & found some staterooms, at least opened, so perhaps you could at least leave a carry on bag. 

 

Tom😎

[Potstech]

4 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Turning over a new leaf? 

Oh never mind.

Not in my agenda.  Oh I mind.

[MissP22]

On 11/7/2018 at 7:29 PM, trbarton said:

 

After the wedding parties there is another group, people doing the BVE, Bon Voyage Experience. Since I done many BVE’s I very familiar with the order. 

 

I was on the Grand recently & found some staterooms, at least opened, so perhaps you could at least leave a carry on bag. 

 

Tom😎

Same thing on the CB. They crew was telling everyone that the cabins weren't ready until 1 PM but most people just went to their cabins to drop off their luggage anyway. It's better than lugging your suitcase to the DR or buffet. 

[Colo Cruiser]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Same thing on the CB. They crew was telling everyone that the cabins weren't ready until 1 PM but most people just went to their cabins to drop off their luggage anyway. It's better than lugging your suitcase to the DR or buffet. 

Of course.  🙄

[trbarton]

FYI...I’ve been on a Princess ship where the doors to the stateroom passageways were closed & there was staff there telling people that they couldn’t go to there stateroom until 1:30 pm. So I guess it depends. 

 

Tom😎

[satxdiver]

As with everything Princess it depends on the crew present.  Sometimes we have been allowed to drop off luggage and sometimes not.  We are boarding the CB later today so we will find out the latest.  Pax dragging luggage around the ship particularly in the HC and MDR is a problem for an already crowded area.  

[MissP22]

There was no problem dropping off luggage at you cabin on the CB. 

The crew will tell you that the cabins aren't ready until 1 PM but no one stops you from going to the cabin to just drop off your luggage & put stuff in the safe.

There were no locked doors nor any announcements to indicate the rooms weren't ready until a certain time but if you prefer carrying your luggage to the DR or buffet you always can.

Edited November 11, 2018 by MissP22

[Daniel A]

17 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Same thing on the CB. They crew was telling everyone that the cabins weren't ready until 1 PM but most people just went to their cabins to drop off their luggage anyway. It's better than lugging your suitcase to the DR or buffet. 

 

It has always been my experience that crew members are operating the only functioning elevators after an early boarding and they will only take pax from the Plaza decks non stop to the Lido Deck for the Buffets.  If asked, the crew would not stop on any of the cabin decks.  I don't know how people were able to get to their cabins early.  Even the stairways were closed off.  Maybe one or two smaller ships don't do this, but certainly the Regal did it every time and so did Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess.  I believe the OP is sailing on Royal and I am assuming that will be the same process as Regal.

[JF - retired RRT]

3 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

It has always been my experience that crew members are operating the only functioning elevators after an early boarding and they will only take pax from the Plaza decks non stop to the Lido Deck for the Buffets.  If asked, the crew would not stop on any of the cabin decks.  I don't know how people were able to get to their cabins early.  Even the stairways were closed off.  Maybe one or two smaller ships don't do this, but certainly the Regal did it every time and so did Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess.  I believe the OP is sailing on Royal and I am assuming that will be the same process as Regal.

Interesting...never experienced that.

Of course, once you're on Lido, there's noting to stop you from going down the stairs with your luggage and going to your cabin. Going down with luggage is easier than going up.

[skynight]

23 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

It has always been my experience that crew members are operating the only functioning elevators after an early boarding and they will only take pax from the Plaza decks non stop to the Lido Deck for the Buffets.  If asked, the crew would not stop on any of the cabin decks.  I don't know how people were able to get to their cabins early.  Even the stairways were closed off.  Maybe one or two smaller ships don't do this, but certainly the Regal did it every time and so did Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess.  I believe the OP is sailing on Royal and I am assuming that will be the same process as Regal.

Also not our experience. Not all elevators are operated by crew. Some are available, especially those forward and aft. On many cruises there are hundreds of passengers on b2b's with a need to access the entire ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

They have made arrangements where luggage can be checked in a designated secure venue onboard until camis are ready.  

 

Cn the Regal it was Club 6.

[TracieABD]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

They have made arrangements where luggage can be checked in a designated secure venue onboard until camis are ready.  

 

Cn the Regal it was Club 6.

Not seen that before. I would be hesitant to check because of electronics in my carry on.

[Colo Cruiser]

8 hours ago, TracieABD said:

Not seen that before. I would be hesitant to check because of electronics in my carry on.

This was for the Regal......

They had similar on the CB month.

We left ours there with no issues, as did many others.

[jlp20]

You already know Princess has informed you what time they recommend you arrive. That being said, there is no magic answer. Ship officers advise cruise center when to start boarding. This can be hours before the the published time or hours later due to issues on the ship. We once had to wait three hours, previous cruise disembarkation pax count was one short. Entire ship had to be searched.

[artmc]

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 9:05 AM, Boiler Cruiser said:

My DW and I will be departing on the Royal Princess in December.

 

I am, admittedly, one of those people who like to get on our cruise ship early.  With the ship departing from Ft. Lauderdale, when is the earliest that we can board the Royal? 

 

We are not Premier or any thing like that.  This is our third cruise on Princess, and we enjoy getting on board, exploring the ship and getting some lunch before sail-away.

 

Thanks. 

in 2017 we sailed the Royal Princess out of Barcelona. We had finished checking in at 1:10, and a sign said cabins would be available at 1:30. Much to our pleasant surprise, we were told that in fact the cabins were ready, so we went there to drop off our hand luggage. Much to our really pleasant surprise, our suitcases were already outside our door when we got there. I suspect this is more the exception than the rule.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

This was for the Regal......

They had similar on the CB month.

We left ours there with no issues, as did many others.

It says to consult your Patter for the dining venues that will be open. Of course this is the Patter that will be waiting for you in the cabin you are not allowed to have access to yet. You would thus need to get a Patter copy at the Passengers Service desk.