Terrible Check-in So Far for the Edge

[cangelmd]

30 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

When we arrived everyone was lined up against the wall like in your photo. I dropped DW off at the second concrete pillar on the right curb with luggage to be tagged by awaiting porter. The head of the line stopped just feet before the glass doors to the left, but the non suite passengers from this line in the photo were beckoned to enter through the glass doors to the right. Unvaccinated had a separate entrance for testing at the other end of the building which I passed by while walking from the parking garage to rejoin my DW at that second pillar. Being (entitled) suite  guests DW headed straight for the sliding glass doors to the right, was stopped and redirected to the glass door farthest to the left just feet from the head of that long line of passengers in your photo. Had our passports and vaccination cards photographed, wrist ribbons attached, took an elevator up to lounge, again showed passports and vaccination cards, asked if we wanted to be seated and have refreshment, but opted to get right on board (seeing others ahead of us heading out the door to the gangway).  Yes, there was a carry on screening and metal detector (one) on the second floor. And yes the doors separating suite from non suite entrance were only 10 feet apart.

Thank you for sharing - if you don’t mind what time was that?

[jalves]

Obviously experiences vary.  There's another post here on CC with vastly different experience from the same sailing.

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I am sorry to hear this. Perhaps it is just because of the reporting of those of us in the Retreat that did sail before you. Our check-in time was 4:30 pm and we arrived at 12:15 and we were escorted right in. I guess that everyone in line ahead of you read the same reports and arrived early as well, having later check-in times.

 

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

When we arrived everyone was lined up against the wall like in your photo. I dropped DW off at the second concrete pillar on the right curb with luggage to be tagged by awaiting porter. The head of the line stopped just feet before the glass doors to the left, but the non suite passengers from this line in the photo were beckoned to enter through the glass doors to the right. Unvaccinated had a separate entrance for testing at the other end of the building which I passed by while walking from the parking garage to rejoin my DW at that second pillar. Being (entitled) suite  guests DW headed straight for the sliding glass doors to the right, was stopped and redirected to the glass door farthest to the left just feet from the head of that long line of passengers in your photo. Had our passports and vaccination cards photographed, wrist ribbons attached, took an elevator up to lounge, again showed passports and vaccination cards, asked if we wanted to be seated and have refreshment, but opted to get right on board (seeing others ahead of us heading out the door to the gangway).  Yes, there was a carry on screening and metal detector (one) on the second floor. And yes the doors separating suite from non suite entrance were only 10 feet apart.

 

1 hour ago, cangelmd said:

Thank you for sharing - if you don’t mind what time was that?

It appears based from his first post, it was at 12:15 on an earlier sail date in July. Hopefully, when we show up for our cruise in a few weeks, we won't run into the same mess @GeorgiaPeach51experienced today.

[crusinthrough]

Isn't the easiest solution to reject check in for passengers who arrive early?  At assigned check in times a rep can canvass the line and pull out passengers with that assigned time.  If you arrive 2 hours early you will stand in a line for 2 hours.  As word spreads over social media people will stop arriving early to wait in the hot FL sun.  

 

Carnival will not let you in the building before your assigned check in time.  Maybe Celebrity can take a lesson from Carnival's playbook.  

 

[sail2day]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I do have a question as we will be in a sky suite on the Edge in 3 weeks. From my recollection as a suite passenger on a prior cruise, the suite folks go into the terminal, turn left, then left again and then go up to the glass-enclosed room you see in the picture. The non-suite folks go straight ahead once they enter the terminal.

 

Based on this one would think there would be two separate lines going into the terminal, one for suite guests and one for everyone else; all of whom have to get their temps checked before entering. But from this picture there only seems to be one line, similar to what you initially described. Was there actually a separate suite line outside the terminal doors (which we should check for when we arrive in 3 weeks) or did everyone line up in the same line prior to entering the terminal like it appears they are in the picture, get their temps checked and then subsequently go their separate ways?

That line is crazy long......

[K12Guy]

Cruising has indeed returned.

[natefish95]

I just think it's funny that there is another post of someone who boarded today and arrived at almost the same time, but was onboard 30 minutes later. Looks like Celebrity transfer folks directed OP to the wrong line, but when something seemed amiss, OP never double checked what line they were in. 

[runningtide]

In all my years of cruising, I have never seen passengers standing outside a terminal in the heat. If you did arrive early, and yes I admit I did many times, at worst, once thru security you found a chair inside and waited. I plan to arrive at 1230 for my September cruise as requested by Celebrity, understanding the restarting process is different. But what is so startling is Celerity allowing passages to stand in the hot sun waiting to get into the terminal. Has Celebrity ever heard of a tent and chairs ? Also water available for their waiting guest? Not sure of the details why early passengers cant get into the terminal, but for God's sake, this is not a line to a rock concert. Some people will always try to get on ahead of their scheduled time, but I find the images in the pictures attached to this thread unforgivable. Shelter with shade and seating is not rocket science. Many older passengers could become seriously ill spending long periods in the sun. Put up a damn tent, with chairs and have water available if the port is unable to admit early passengers into the terminal. 

[Covepointcruiser]

Believe we have Florida to blame for this.   Need to screen Vaccinated/Not vaccinated and attach wristbands.   Believe the unvaccinated have to be tested, Suite or not.   What are the percentage of suite guests on the Edge for the Florida sailings?   If they fill up the suites there could be a significant suite line if everyone decided to board early.   What about unvaccinated Suite guests?   Will they eat in a separate area of Luminae?   What about the Retreat areas?   

[hcat]

6 hours ago, runningtide said:

In all my years of cruising, I have never seen passengers standing outside a terminal in the heat. If you did arrive early, and yes I admit I did many times, at worst, once thru security you found a chair inside and waited. I plan to arrive at 1230 for my September cruise as requested by Celebrity, understanding the restarting process is different. But what is so startling is Celerity allowing passages to stand in the hot sun waiting to get into the terminal. Has Celebrity ever heard of a tent and chairs ? Also water available for their waiting guest? Not sure of the details why early passengers cant get into the terminal, but for God's sake, this is not a line to a rock concert. Some people will always try to get on ahead of their scheduled time, but I find the images in the pictures attached to this thread unforgivable. Shelter with shade and seating is not rocket science. Many older passengers could become seriously ill spending long periods in the sun. Put up a damn tent, with chairs and have water available if the port is unable to admit early passengers into the terminal. 

You have been lucky. We have had several experiences with X at Port Ev  of long lines in hot sun regardless of cabin assignment or status with the cruise line...once the Sheriffs Dept was put in charge because of the uncontrolled chaos, sometimes they give out water and take handicapped folks in earlier...mostly you just have to stand and wait in the hot sun or rain.

 

Most of these times it was b/c the ship had not  been cleared or was having a special inspection after a  transatlantic crossing ( we try to avoid those cruises)

 

Happily, this does not happen all the time but frustrating when it does

 

Note also that X is also fairly bad at disembarkation...just the way it is! Plan accordingly ,...

[morpheusofthesea]

10 hours ago, cangelmd said:

Thank you for sharing - if you don’t mind what time was that?

We arrived at the port at 12:15. We  were told port did not open until 12:00. Obviously the port opened much sooner for passengers to form such a line at 10 am.

Edited July 18, 2021 by morpheusofthesea
grammer

[vswan]

While I understand the OP frustration, there are fewer people staying in suites than in "regular" cabins. This issue needs to be resolved for future sailing for all who are boarding the ship.

[bigbeergut]

10 minutes ago, vswan said:

While I understand the OP frustration, there are fewer people staying in suites than in "regular" cabins. This issue needs to be resolved for future sailing for all who are boarding the ship.

 

Absolutely true.  Celebrity needs to enforce the arrival times to keep the entire process moving smoothly.  Even for the suite guests.

[wrk2cruise]

On the 7/3 sailing which was 58% capacity the suites were 100% sold.   A concierge told me that 30% of all passengers on the ship were suite guests.

 

This was the third sailing so kinks should have been worked out on the prior 2 sailings and thing should be getting better, not worse.

 

If you are going to arrive before your assigned time you are going to be waiting outside.  The whole issue is they are not allowing people to congregate in the terminal.  They are not letting people into the terminal before the ship is ready for boarding.   You get checked in as you enter the terminal and go straight onboard the ship.

[bigbeergut]

5 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

On the 7/3 sailing which was 58% capacity the suites were 100% sold.   A concierge told me that 30% of all passengers on the ship were suite guests.

 

This was the third sailing so kinks should have been worked out on the prior 2 sailings and thing should be getting better, not worse.

 

If you are going to arrive before your assigned time you are going to be waiting outside.  The whole issue is they are not allowing people to congregate in the terminal.  They are not letting people into the terminal before the ship is ready for boarding.   You get checked in as you enter the terminal and go straight onboard the ship.

 

Sounds like a great system.

[tori0417]

Question. I have a 3pm check in time for next week but when I went to choose my husbands time, 4pm was only available (what are the odds I got the last 3pm time lol). Will they give us a hard time boarding together at 3pm? 

[bucfan2]

5 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Believe we have Florida to blame for this.    

Glad you found someone to blame. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

9 hours ago, natefish95 said:

I just think it's funny that there is another post of someone who boarded today and arrived at almost the same time, but was onboard 30 minutes later. Looks like Celebrity transfer folks directed OP to the wrong line, but when something seemed amiss, OP never double checked what line they were in. 

No.  We did double check with three different people and were told we were where we were supposed to be.

[ipeeinthepool]

Hopefully Celebrity begins to enforce their policy to only allow boarding at your designated time.  If people arrive early they will likely have to wait their turn.  If it's still a "terrible" experience for some, it will be their own fault.

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, tori0417 said:

Question. I have a 3pm check in time for next week but when I went to choose my husbands time, 4pm was only available (what are the odds I got the last 3pm time lol). Will they give us a hard time boarding together at 3pm? 

That is a question you might want to ask Celebrity about. When I checked my DW and I in for our Equinox cruise, we got the same boarding time. Even if you got the last 3pm slot the next slot would have been 3:30-4pm.

[ipeeinthepool]

21 minutes ago, tori0417 said:

Question. I have a 3pm check in time for next week but when I went to choose my husbands time, 4pm was only available (what are the odds I got the last 3pm time lol). Will they give us a hard time boarding together at 3pm? 

 

Just tell your husband you'll meet him at the bar.

[morpheusofthesea]

5 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

What about unvaccinated Suite guests?   Will they eat in a separate area of Luminae?   What about the Retreat areas?   

They came into Luminae wearing their masks and sat down, removing their masks to eat, replaced their masks and left the Luminae when finished.

[morpheusofthesea]

5 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

   What are the percentage of suite guests on the Edge for the Florida sailings?

July 3, 2021 sailing. 1546 total passengers/270 suite passengers = 17.46 %

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

They came into Luminae wearing their masks and sat down, removing their masks to eat, replaced their masks and left the Luminae when finished.

Are you sure they were unvaccinated?  According to Celebrity protocols, I believe,  unvaccinated adult passengers are supposed to have a separate dinning area in all venues.

[Homosassa]

This comment is not directed to anyone on this thread, but is just a common sense hypothetical wondering about who is to blame:

 

1. I am cruising out of a port on Florida when I know the weather will be hot and humid.

2. I know that if I arrive early, I may not be allowed in the terminal.

3. I have an assigned check in time, but I decide to ignore the instructions about arrival and time and come early.

4. I do not plan ahead and bring water or a hat for sun protection.

5. I arrive early and am directed to remain outside in a line in the heat and humidity.

6. To my shock, it is hot and humid, I have no shade or water to drink.

7. It is the cruise line's fault that I am standing outside, hot and thirsty. 

8. "They" should have known that I am special and provided me with a tent, water and a good looking tent boy (I am female) to fan me gently.

 

Does this cover the blame game?