Why does Princess bother to send this E-mail ?

[kruisey]

Just received an e-mail from Princess  giving the time folks on decks are supposed to board.

Why do they bother when many board as they arrive when boarding commences ?

[arizonaperson]

24 minutes ago, kruisey said:

Just received an e-mail from Princess  giving the time folks on decks are supposed to board.

Why do they bother when many board as they arrive when boarding commences ?

No one will really be able to give a definitive answer except Princess,but...

They bother because maybe enough passengers will read it and adhere to it,so it might help with over crowding and boarding.

Julie

[grouchomarx]

The same reason they try to make you think you need to eat in the buffet on embarkation day.  They hope enough people will believe it and therefore reducing crowding for those who do not believe it. It's a good system!  As I am in the latter group!

[NCbmwmom]

Because a lot of people are rule followers to a fault, and have never cruised before so they don’t know you can actually board when you want. I do know we can board when we get there, but I usually do what the email says because of  the whole rule following thing. 

[skynight]

Because Princess Santa Clarita does not really know how ships operate. Because Santa Clarita has no concern for passenger's travel or hotel schedules. Because Santa Clarita just wants passengers on some decks to have a shortened boarding day. Because it's in their computer notice program and no sr. manager has instructed them to remove it. Because it's contrary to all their medallion advertising regarding quick boarding. I guess they just want to be contrary. Enough said. It's sooooo puzzling.

[kruisey]

I think personally its kind of stupid.Unless you live close to the port or have overnight ed  there is no way folks can keep those times.Flights and coaches for example don't arrive for the 12.00 noon usually when you are told your deck  time to board.Again the cabin stewards  will not have your cabin ready until your boarding time say of 1.30PM.Do they have to slow down in their section?😁🤣😁😉

[Colo Cruiser]

2 hours ago, kruisey said:

Just received an e-mail from Princess  giving the time folks on decks are supposed to board.

Why do they bother when many board as they arrive when boarding commences ?

Because there are only 17 people on Cruise Critic that know about it.

[Ron the Rev]

17 x 10 to the  nth power

[Thrak]

31 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Because there are only 17 people on Cruise Critic that know about it.

 

Not exactly but I do agree with what you are saying. The percentage of cruisers on Cruise Critic is very small. Most folks who cruse likely have no idea they can board earlier.

[need2cruisesoon]

People are sheep, on our Regal cruise a couple year ago I noticed the long wait to guest check in. Me being a lowly Gold level (and standard cabin) I just walked the path of least resistance...

Edited October 2, 2019 by need2cruisesoon

[beabunny]

Cruised last week out of New York.  We were given a group number after entering the hall to wait for embarkation.  The Coast Guard was doing inspections and drills which delayed the boarding.  Boarding was organized and called to line up by the group number.  I don't think you could bump in line particularly after the 2 hour delay.  People were still  boarding after 5 and we were over an hour late leaving the port.

[Pam in CA]

1 hour ago, beabunny said:

Cruised last week out of New York.  We were given a group number after entering the hall to wait for embarkation.  The Coast Guard was doing inspections and drills which delayed the boarding.  Boarding was organized and called to line up by the group number.  I don't think you could bump in line particularly after the 2 hour delay.  People were still  boarding after 5 and we were over an hour late leaving the port.

Chances are your ship just arrived from a trans-Atlantic. Boarding is pretty much always delayed after a repositioning cruise. 
 

To answer the question, the purpose is to try to stagger people’s arrival time for check-in and reduce long lines. If you arrive at the port after 1pm or so, you can usually just check-in and board the ship. Most people want to get there in time for lunch. 

[fredflint]

We learned not too long ago that arriving late is the best way to go no long lines no frustrated people arrive at 2-2:30 PM or so have a nice lunch then just walk onto the ship with virtually zero line.

[caribill]

9 hours ago, Pam in CA said:

 

To answer the question, the purpose is to try to stagger people’s arrival time for check-in and reduce long lines. If you arrive at the port after 1pm or so, you can usually just check-in and board the ship. Most people want to get there in time for lunch. 

 

5 hours ago, fredflint said:

We learned not too long ago that arriving late is the best way to go no long lines no frustrated people arrive at 2-2:30 PM or so have a nice lunch then just walk onto the ship with virtually zero line.

 

Even when people arrive when they want to check in, it does not mean that there will be crowds for early boarding and hardly any wait later in the check-in boarding process.

 

I remember one cruise we took when we arrived about 10:30 AM for check-in and boarded by noon with very little crowding problems.

 

Speaking with some who arrived around 2 PM, it was a very busy and crowded time. Many had to wait in a line outside in a thunderstorm until there was room inside the terminal.

[beabunny]

yes the ship arrived from Europe but we wanted to arrive early at the terminal since we were driving into New York (nearly 150 miles) and you never know about traffic.  I thought the check in was easy and any time you are dealing with 3000+ people, one should expect issues and practice patience 🙂

[Married15]

We are taking a cruise out of Sydney in a couple of weeks and our boarding time is 4:30pm with a 6:45 sail away and a 5:30 dinner time. I have read (on CC) that they enforce the boarding times and will turn you away if you arrive sooner. Boarding begins at 12:30 according to my Princess paperwork. Should I adhere to that 4:30 boarding time or arrive sooner and take my chances. We are staying the previous night in Sydney, but check out is 10am. On all of our other cruises, we were given a boarding time but it was never enforced.

[Daniel A]

33 minutes ago, Married15 said:

We are taking a cruise out of Sydney in a couple of weeks and our boarding time is 4:30pm with a 6:45 sail away and a 5:30 dinner time. I have read (on CC) that they enforce the boarding times and will turn you away if you arrive sooner. Boarding begins at 12:30 according to my Princess paperwork. Should I adhere to that 4:30 boarding time or arrive sooner and take my chances. We are staying the previous night in Sydney, but check out is 10am. On all of our other cruises, we were given a boarding time but it was never enforced.

I would just go to the ship after you check out of your hotel.  Even if they were to keep you to the 4:30 boarding time, you would need to wait somewhere.  Chances are you'll be able to board before 4:30.   I've never heard of Princess making any PAX walk the plank because they showed up early.

[fredflint]

check and see if anyone that is on it now or next week will report back 

 

Just check their roll calls

[nanwel]

I boarded in Sydney, and yes, they would not allow you to board before your "time" - I could drop my luggage, then went for a walk around the pier Still lugging carryon - when I came to board 1/2 hour earlier than my "allowed "time they let me board.

Once you have checked out of your hotel or coming from the airport - and lugging luggage, you do not feel like going anywhere else and waiting!

There is a small group of stores, I meandered around them, used the facilities, sat with a coffee and people watched at the pier - then walked back and boarded.

The cruise is worth it - breath - you will get on board!

Note - once onboard, they had a place we could drop hand luggage - it was tagged. And watched - you had to come back for it. But you could walk around without all your stuff - rooms were not open when I boarded at 2 (time I got was 2:30).

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, nanwel said:

I boarded in Sydney, and yes, they would not allow you to board before your "time" - I could drop my luggage, then went for a walk around the pier Still lugging carryon - when I came to board 1/2 hour earlier than my "allowed "time they let me board.

Once you have checked out of your hotel or coming from the airport - and lugging luggage, you do not feel like going anywhere else and waiting!

There is a small group of stores, I meandered around them, used the facilities, sat with a coffee and people watched at the pier - then walked back and boarded.

The cruise is worth it - breath - you will get on board!

Note - once onboard, they had a place we could drop hand luggage - it was tagged. And watched - you had to come back for it. But you could walk around without all your stuff - rooms were not open when I boarded at 2 (time I got was 2:30).

This is a ridiculous system.  Sounds like someone in SYD port is running it "by the book".  

1.  Some people who have earlier times won't be there to board, while others are arbitrarily prevented from boarding??  Nuts.

 

2.  Arbitrary times by deck is patently unfair as those "selected" decks get first access to things that can only be booked after boarding.  Unfair as folks who want to be on board early and commit to show up early ought to be dealt with and checked-in and boarded.

 

We have cruised once out of SYD earlier this year.  We dropped off bags very early after checking out of hotel and no one was checking to see if we were allowed to board early.  However, we had purposely planned to walk around the Docks area and the gardens that morning (also picked up SIM cards at a Telstra store), had lunch and returned to the ship in the early afternoon - perhaps 2-ish as I recall.  Again, no one seemed to be checking for "our" boarding time.  There were no lines and we checked in quickly and boarded with no issues.  Lots of people on the ship.  So IDK how they would have been doing the staggered boarding for that cruise. 

 

[Married15]

Thank you for the heads up. I guess they do things a bit differently in Sydney.

[nanwel]

Think if you have a later time - and there is a line up they will send you away - if you have a later time and there is no line up they do not care....strange!

 

 

[brisalta]

On 10/2/2019 at 9:45 AM, grouchomarx said:

The same reason they try to make you think you need to eat in the buffet on embarkation day.  They hope enough people will believe it and therefore reducing crowding for those who do not believe it. It's a good system!  As I am in the latter group!

 

On the Grand Princess they do not make you think that you need to eat in the buffet on embarkation day. After you get your security photo taken they give you a slip of paper that lists the dining venues that are open for lunch. The MDR is listed. It serves a very nice lunch on the Grand Princess on embarkation day.

[Daniel A]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 1:52 PM, Married15 said:

We are taking a cruise out of Sydney in a couple of weeks and our boarding time is 4:30pm with a 6:45 sail away and a 5:30 dinner time. I have read (on CC) that they enforce the boarding times and will turn you away if you arrive sooner. Boarding begins at 12:30 according to my Princess paperwork. Should I adhere to that 4:30 boarding time or arrive sooner and take my chances. We are staying the previous night in Sydney, but check out is 10am. On all of our other cruises, we were given a boarding time but it was never enforced.

Were I in your shoes, I would start a new thread on CC Princess boards and label it something like "Sydney Boarding Times" and ask your question again there.  You are likely to get a better cross section of experiences specific to Sydney's procedures.  Just a thought...