Arrival & Departure Group Choice

[brenton]

First time cruising on Princess and using Medallion Class app.  Part of the Travel Checklist is choosing "Arrival & Departure Groups", but when I try, it says "There are no Arrival Groups currently available".  Are these only available a certain time out from the cruise?  If so, when?

[jennybenny]

Hi! Welcome to Princess!!
The Groups are new.  None of us have experienced them. I suspect after final payment, and before the cruise, we will be able to select our arrival and departure groups but no one really knows yet 

Edited May 3, 2021 by jennybenny

[Astro Flyer]

 

[Steelers36]

25 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

I don't see this as an OM feature.  It is more like Princess dividing up passengers into boarding groups like the old deck system no one paid attention to.  My guess is that it will be to control number and flow of passengers through the terminals for check-in and boarding.  That will apply whether one uses OM or not.

 

[caribill]

I experienced enforced boarding schedules when Carnival was first testing them out several years ago.

 

You had to pick a half-hour period in which you wanted to check-in.

 

If you showed up before that selected time, you were definitely not allowed to check-in then.

 

If you showed up later than that selected time, you were allowed to enter with the current group.

 

Those waiting for the next group to be admitted were packed together more densely than a Princess elevator after a show lets out.

 

If you have a five hour period for check-in, that means 10 groups. If the ship holds 3000 passengers, that would be 300 people every half hour.

[skynight]

No one knows how this will work. No one knows if this is a covid protocol issue or something post covid. However it is supposed to work it will not be popular with Princess' customers. For years Princess has been attempting to spread out boarding with no success. Most passengers want to board as early as possible. Some passengers arrive at the airport in the morning hours with nowhere to go except the pier. I can report that boarding medallion ships was very quick. 

Disembarkation, just pick an early time. You can always sit around if you want to and disembark around final call. Latest disembarkation is around 9:30/10:00am.

[Steelers36]

I think the old process worked fine as people showed up when they wanted or when they could.  Arbitrary boarding by decks would be both unfair and unreliable to spread out people.  I didn't explicity state earlier, but this smack of a Covid protocol to try and reduce number of folks in the terminals at once.  If to be strictly enforced, at least the early birds can select the early group(s) and the late birds can select a late group.

[voljeep]

7 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I think the old process worked fine as people showed up when they wanted or when they could.  Arbitrary boarding by decks would be both unfair and unreliable to spread out people.  I didn't explicity state earlier, but this smack of a Covid protocol to try and reduce number of folks in the terminals at once.  If to be strictly enforced, at least the early birds can select the early group(s) and the late birds can select a late group.

"early bird check in hogs" - book an early time ( taking that slot ) then show up 'whenever'

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

"early bird check in hogs" - book an early time ( taking that slot ) then show up 'whenever'

You are correct.  That very well could happen.  It will be important to know the date when these choices will open up in order to get one's preferred time slot.  

I hope by Fall 2022 this will be unnecessary.

[voljeep]

8 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

You are correct.  That very well could happen.  It will be important to know the date when these choices will open up in order to get one's preferred time slot.  

I hope by Fall 2022 this will be unnecessary.

hopefully, at least, it will open up for time slots like boarding does now - wedding parties, suites, then by captain circle levels ...but even then it penalizes the cruisers who are happy with just picking up the OM's at the port and not using the app

[BarbinMich]

I haven't sailed since 2017, but at that point and going back for years, boarding for elites was first (or maybe suites) and then down the line of loyalty levels.  I don't know if the advent of the medallion changed anything about this order.  Even with the "old way" there was always a long line when we arrived before the doors were open.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

................... ...but even then it penalizes the cruisers who are happy with just picking up the OM's at the port and not using the app

I believe those are two different things.  You can setup your information, etc, and then the shipping is another option.  Except if outside USA - only choice is to pick up at the terminal. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Steelers36

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I believe those are two different things.  You can setup your information, etc, and then the shipping is another option.  Except if outside USA - only choice is to pick up at the terminal. 

i was trying to point out, not very well it seems, is that those people who either can't or choose not to download the MC app, will not be able to select boarding times and will possibly just be assigned one when they pick up their OM at the port

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

i was trying to point out, not very well it seems, is that those people who either can't or choose not to download the MC app, will not be able to select boarding times and will possibly just be assigned one when they pick up their OM at the port

Right.  Got you.  Well, if they just show up - say early - will they be turned away as one would assume their assignment to be later in the afternoon - on the presumption that most folks using the app will have taken all the earlier places?  I imagine Princess will include info in boarding passes and Cruise Personalizer (pure speculation).  Anyone who books a cruise and then tunes out until departure day, travels at their own risk.  😉

 

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

then tunes out until departure day

we've only done 2 OM cruises - we downloaded the app after final, imputed the required info, ordered the OM's and received them in the mail about 2 weeks prior to sailing - easy

 

the booking boarding times on the app would be a major reason for us ( the earlier the better ) to now do that as soon as available after booking ... 

[pms4104]

So, if people are asked (required?) to select their boarding group ... what happens to priority boarding?  Will any of this be enforced ... or will these be suggested timeslots?  

[JF - retired RRT]

2 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

So, if people are asked (required?) to select their boarding group ... what happens to priority boarding?  Will any of this be enforced ... or will these be suggested timeslots?  

Who Knows?

Guess we'll find out when that first ship sails.

[Steelers36]

40 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

So, if people are asked (required?) to select their boarding group ... what happens to priority boarding?  Will any of this be enforced ... or will these be suggested timeslots?  

Who knows indeed, but I would think at the least, Elites & Suites would still have priority within each group, along with the former order of arrival in sub-groups.  Or, perhaps E&S passengers will have reserved space in the first group if they want it.

[Steelers36]

42 minutes ago, voljeep said:

we've only done 2 OM cruises - we downloaded the app after final, imputed the required info, ordered the OM's and received them in the mail about 2 weeks prior to sailing - easy

 

the booking boarding times on the app would be a major reason for us ( the earlier the better ) to now do that as soon as available after booking ... 

Yes, and agree all.  I have used OM since the start.  Last cruise we did, I shipped them to our FLL pre-cruise hotel.  Since we are typically among the first few at the terminal, it didn't save much time for check-in process.  We were perhaps close to 10 minutes ahead of our friends.  It was enough to get us seating upstairs by the door (Pier 2) and saved two seats for them.

 

[PaperSniper4]

12 hours ago, caribill said:

I experienced enforced boarding schedules when Carnival was first testing them out several years ago.

 

You had to pick a half-hour period in which you wanted to check-in.

 

If you showed up before that selected time, you were definitely not allowed to check-in then.

 

If you showed up later than that selected time, you were allowed to enter with the current group.

 

Those waiting for the next group to be admitted were packed together more densely than a Princess elevator after a show lets out.

 

If you have a five hour period for check-in, that means 10 groups. If the ship holds 3000 passengers, that would be 300 people every half hour.

That's how I remember my last Carnival cruise from NOLA in 2018.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

i was trying to point out, not very well it seems, is that those people who either can't or choose not to download the MC app, will not be able to select boarding times and will possibly just be assigned one when they pick up their OM at the port

I suspect when we are talking about boarding times we are really talking about check-in times. If each group is about 300 passengers, boarding the ship would be right after checking in.

 

People will not be allowed into the terminal before their selected check-in time.

[Sprocket]

Waiting to see in what group the casino VIP priority check in will be.  Most of our upcoming cruises offer this but we're all going to get on eventually anyway.

 

Literally can't wait lol.

[Pamster]

On 5/2/2021 at 10:50 PM, caribill said:

I experienced enforced boarding schedules when Carnival was first testing them out several years ago.

 

You had to pick a half-hour period in which you wanted to check-in.

 

If you showed up before that selected time, you were definitely not allowed to check-in then.

 

If you showed up later than that selected time, you were allowed to enter with the current group.

 

Those waiting for the next group to be admitted were packed together more densely than a Princess elevator after a show lets out.

 

If you have a five hour period for check-in, that means 10 groups. If the ship holds 3000 passengers, that would be 300 people every half hour.

It does go really fast with the medallion though - at least for those who do their set up before they get to the port.  Just walk up to the stand and swipe your medallion and then sit down.  The one Medallion cruise we were on, there were lots of people who were standing at the usual check in lines, because they didn't have their Medallions already.

[skynight]

It seems Princess is trying to solve a problem that does not exist, and situations that they really can't control. No matter what, select boarding times will not be popular with customers for many reasons such as flight time arrivals, hotel check out times and others. I think the medallion techs have reached too far. From lots and lots of experience, both before and now with a medallion, boarding goes fairly quickly. Last February in F.L., just before the shutdown, boarding was so fast that arriving passengers just about walked into the terminal and on to the ship. This was around 11am. It's just fast, so what is the reason to slow it down by attempting to spread out passenger boarding.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

It seems Princess is trying to solve a problem that does not exist, and situations that they really can't control. No matter what, select boarding times will not be popular with customers for many reasons such as flight time arrivals, hotel check out times and others. I think the medallion techs have reached too far. From lots and lots of experience, both before and now with a medallion, boarding goes fairly quickly. Last February in F.L., just before the shutdown, boarding was so fast that arriving passengers just about walked into the terminal and on to the ship. This was around 11am. It's just fast, so what is the reason to slow it down by attempting to spread out passenger boarding.  

Nervous Nellies?  After all, passengers are going to be in groups and close quarters once on board.

 

They could also let the first X passengers into the terminal and not let more in until boarding opens and then things move along as you indicate.  Passengers would be safer outside.  But then there is inclement weather issues.  

 

At first, crowding is less of an issue if cruises are going out at low capacity.  Once back at full capacity, it should be safe enough to sail that these groups will be unnecessary.  ESPECIALLY if we are all vaccinated!!!