Koningsdam Boarding Time???

[teacherman]

We are scheduled to board Koningsdam at Port Everglades on Wednesday, Feb 13.  Sailing time is 5:00.  Our boarding passes say embarkation time is 1:00.  Is that when it begins, or when they suggest we board to "stagger" arrivals?  When do they begin to allow passengers to board?  We had hoped to have lunch in the DR on boarding day.  Would a 1:00 pm boarding allow us to do that?  This is our first HAL cruise in about 10 years, so any information/advice is welcome.  Thank you.

[grsnovi]

I've never boarded in Port Everglades (at least not in the last 10 years).

HAL has apparently been sending suggested boarding times for some time.

When we boarded K'dam in Amsterdam bound for Norway, we walked from the hotel to the departure lounge around 10 AM and were on-board by 11:30 and had lunch in the MDR.

Many will say: "How rude to disregard..." however I have not seen any change in the boarding process in the last 10 years of cruising with HAL.

[canadianbear]

We just got off the Kongingsdam this morning.  Everyone was told to come at 1pm (although others apparently showed up earlier). There were 8 ships in port and we arrived around 1:30 to a long lineup.  Lucky for us a HAL rep was walking along the line pulling out 4 & 5 star mariners and Club Orange and escorting them to their dedicated check in. 

 

Not sure if the ones that arrived earlier were allowed on ship or not but hopefully someone else will answer.

[dogsdogs]

We were on the 1/4/19 sailing on the Koningsdam.  We got to the ship about 11:15 am.  We are only 3 stars, so we had to wait in a long line.  Security was quick, but they didn't have many check-in agents and we were in line for at least an hour.

 

It has been our experience that all lines ask you to arrive later, but we never do.  We like to get there in time for lunch in the dining room.

[CruiserBruce]

This has been discussed here many times. KDam had been doing a suggested staggered boarding time, but it sounds like that test has ended, and they have reverted to the standard suggested, long time HAL fleetwide policy of a  1pm arrival that is never enforced.

[teacherman]

Thank you to all who took the time to reply.  I guess we will either arrive at 11:30 or 1:30, depending on the weather and the shuttle availability from our hotel.

[gifted]

Hi

We were on the Koningsdam in January. My advice is to get there no later than 11:30 or you can expect long lines and If it is hot, standing out in the sun. 

We always come earlier and have no problem boarding.We are only 2 stars so it does not matter.

 

[Nashna]

On January 13th, we arrived at 10:40am, received our cards and were upstairs sitting for about 30 minutes when our Number 8 was called.  We were onboard by 11:40am.  The actual boarding time listed on our documents was 1:00pm.  We heard from lots of folks that arrivals after 1:00pm had long waits in line.