Aug second - boarding and cabin concept

[thepla]

Hi

 

We have 11am boarding. Historically we all know cabins are not ready early on...

 

BUT, in this case there is not a cruise coming in at 7am and cabins need to be cleaned I am thinking cabins might be ready as we board. Does anyone think I have lost my mind or what I am saying is logical? Maybe someone whe was on another first cruise after COVID were cabins ready upon boarding?

[Preziosa]

Just enjoy and Explorer the ship until your room is ready. You Can always put luggage in your room

[deliver42]

I can't see cabins ready till at least 1 or 1:30.

[MarkusToe]

At the current cruise staterooms are ready at 230 pm....

[thepla]

Thanks for replies, I agree whenever we cruise we just take rollerboard and laptop bag on ship. It just seems easier to have laptop bag on rollerbag to "carry" bag. If we have another bag I put bagtag on and it gets to cabin.

 

It is no big deal to explore wiith this configuration. I was just thinking since we are on very first cruise that cabins will be clean and ready to go when we board at 11am or so. Not like a normal cruise where we are boarding after another cruise just came in a few hours earlier.

 

Either way we are looking forward to a great time and glad to be back on a ship.

[MotownVoice]

I have no history with MSC but don’t you have to surrender all your bags (carry ons, large bags, everything except purses and laptops) when you board?   So no matter what time you embark, your stateroom is not going to be a fun place to be until your steward brings all your luggage.   After you’ve rifled through the mini bar and checked out your balcony, you still often have a couple hours before they’re delivering bags.    In some cases they’ll even tell you, “you may go to your cabin at  14:00” or whatever.  

Edited July 25, 2021 by MotownVoice

[taylordg]

We boarded at Southampton on Saturday 24th July. Boarding times were irrelevant, we arrived at noon, our official time was 1:40 but by then the queue was already massive, and just got longer and longer. We finally stepped on board around 3:30pm. Apparently ship sailed with about 2,700 pax. Staff were looking for yc members who could jump the queue. The check seemed a little chaotic, they only gave our insurance docs a cursory glance, and didn’t check the results for the COVID tests the kids had take the previous day - not sure if that’s a new policy (as we were all tested at the port) or they just forgot. On board the buffet is back to self service, with very long queues for breakfast yesterday morning as they only had 2 stations serving the cooked breakfast. Also pool area very busy and long queues for the water park which only has a capacity of 75.

[colsky]

2 hours ago, taylordg said:

We boarded at Southampton on Saturday 24th July. Boarding times were irrelevant, we arrived at noon, our official time was 1:40 but by then the queue was already massive, and just got longer and longer. We finally stepped on board around 3:30pm. Apparently ship sailed with about 2,700 pax. Staff were looking for yc members who could jump the queue. The check seemed a little chaotic, they only gave our insurance docs a cursory glance, and didn’t check the results for the COVID tests the kids had take the previous day - not sure if that’s a new policy (as we were all tested at the port) or they just forgot. On board the buffet is back to self service, with very long queues for breakfast yesterday morning as they only had 2 stations serving the cooked breakfast. Also pool area very busy and long queues for the water park which only has a capacity of 75.

This isn't sounding promising is it, and we sail this Saturday 31/8, and are starting to get a little worried. Will they have learnt anything to improve the logistics by this Saturday I wonder.  The embarkation chaos is especially worrying. I'm sure I have read many times that, in these Covid days with extra checks to board, they would be strict about boarding times, but it's not sounding like it is it! We have a 12.20 boarding time, but if our boarding time was, say, 5pm, after reading these posts, I think we would probably just arrive at midday and join the free for all! My wife, who has less patience than I do, says that, if there's a long queue at embarkation, she will ask people in front their boarding times, and then push past them if they are there too early. MSC you have been warned!!

[thepla]

4 hours ago, colsky said:

This isn't sounding promising is it, and we sail this Saturday 31/8, and are starting to get a little worried. Will they have learnt anything to improve the logistics by this Saturday I wonder.  The embarkation chaos is especially worrying. I'm sure I have read many times that, in these Covid days with extra checks to board, they would be strict about boarding times, but it's not sounding like it is it! We have a 12.20 boarding time, but if our boarding time was, say, 5pm, after reading these posts, I think we would probably just arrive at midday and join the free for all! My wife, who has less patience than I do, says that, if there's a long queue at embarkation, she will ask people in front their boarding times, and then push past them if they are there too early. MSC you have been warned!!

I was thinking same, not as aggressive. People would respect times given, no matter how they feel it is unfair, to time given. Covid still exists so who wants to get to a terminal and have three times people msc expected. Msc should ban people who come say more than half hour prior to assigned time or offer free refund to people that get there at their time and are subjected to people that don't follow rules.

[MotownVoice]

The ship isn't leaving without you if you're in line and you have a boarding pass.

What's with all the hand wringing?

 

[colsky]

50 minutes ago, MotownVoice said:

The ship isn't leaving without you if you're in line and you have a boarding pass.

What's with all the hand wringing?

 

We have children with us, and we've been given an hour time slot for boarding (12.20 - 13.20). So you would be ok with people with later allocated times just turning up whenever they wanted and joining the queue (line), so that people had much longer than an hour's wait, and MSC not controlling this?!

[thepla]

45 minutes ago, colsky said:

We have children with us, and we've been given an hour time slot for boarding (12.20 - 13.20). So you would be ok with people with later allocated times just turning up whenever they wanted and joining the queue (line), so that people had much longer than an hour's wait, and MSC not controlling this?!

I agree 100 percent. Like anything else people want to game system. Even though I agree yc should have been given their own time slot, first in line, msc must have a reason. I do have 11am and on deck nine. Maybe they are thinking like an airline and boarding by deck. Don't know and don't care. I surely don't want to get there between 10:30 and 11 and have a very long queue. That defeats purpose of how msc computer is programmed for most safety.

[morpheusofthesea]

On 7/25/2021 at 2:40 AM, Preziosa said:

Just enjoy and Explorer the ship until your room is ready. You Can always put luggage in your room

On any other cruise when departing passengers have just departed and one is lucky enough to board early, always make sure to have your carry on luggage tagged if leaving it in cabin. Stewards and assistant butler have been known to mistake it as a forgotten piece of luggage and have it removed from stateroom and off the ship.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by morpheusofthesea

[thepla]

56 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

On any other cruise when departing passengers have just departed and one is lucky enough to board early, always make sure to have your carry on luggage tagged if leaving it in cabin. Stewards and assistant butler have been known to mistake it as a forgotten piece of luggage and have it removed from stateroom and off the ship.

 

Thanks for all advice. Normally I take my laptop, just in case, and do carry it around until room is ready. This is such a short trip we're just going to tag one or two bags and carry nothing with us on board. So when room is ready means nothing. We can change out of clothes, etc. Into cruise clothes later in day!

 

 

[MotownVoice]

3 hours ago, colsky said:

We have children with us, and we've been given an hour time slot for boarding (12.20 - 13.20). So you would be ok with people with later allocated times just turning up whenever they wanted and joining the queue (line), so that people had much longer than an hour's wait, and MSC not controlling this?!

Mask up, then mind your own business is probably the best policy.

[thepla]

Just received a text ny boarding time is not 8a to 8:30. I think I am correct since this is first cruise there is not a need to wait..

 

I never had a text so I went and sent another eticket. It says 8am.

[ziggyuk]

On 7/26/2021 at 9:31 AM, colsky said:

My wife, who has less patience than I do, says that, if there's a long queue at embarkation, she will ask people in front their boarding times, and then push past them if they are there too early.

 

Lovely lady! 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by ziggyuk

[colsky]

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Lovely lady! 

 

 

 

I don't think she would actually have the nerve to do it! Don't you agree though that it's wrong if MSC (and some passengers) aren't being strict about the boarding times?

[thepla]

1 hour ago, colsky said:

I don't think she would actually have the nerve to do it! Don't you agree though that it's wrong if MSC (and some passengers) aren't being strict about the boarding times?

i totally agree with her. Have a boarding zone 4 at airport and try and board with zone 1. They send you away until your zone is called. I hope MSC does same.