Suite guest check in time Southampton/ ‘Special Delivery’

[chemmo]

Can suite guests check anytime? If so what is the earliest time you can arrive.

 

Has anyone used the ‘Special Delivery’ on the staycation cruises. We have cruised suites from Southampton before so know how it usually is, we just want clarification for these particular cruises.

 

Can you stop your car and unload your cases (with a member of the party staying with them) at the Special Delivery point then park up?

Did you just unload your suitcases in the car park and hand them over there?

Where is the Special Delivery drop off point?

 

We would be very grateful if anyone can respond to these questions.

 

 

[hawkesbaynz]

Interested too🤨

[Jim_Iain]

Generally yes but the Special Delivery is only available for Upper Suites - RS and above.  I don’t recall them having one in Southampton 

 

When I checked in it was a real mess and there was just a huge queue going into the terminal to clear security.    I saw an agent and asked and she escorted us to the front of the line to clear metal detectors.   Once inside after security there are separate areas according to Room Classification and Status.

 

this is what line to get into terminal looked like. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[groryjm]

From current experience.ie 6th Aug staycation in an RS. We dropped suitcases, parked and then returned

.. sent to check in 

... Special delivery did not seem to happen 

We've got a PH for 28th Aug so will try again but it seemed no one had heard of special delivery. 

I intend to clarify the previous lack on the 6th and ask shoreside if it will be improved for 28th. 

[Jim_Iain]

18 minutes ago, groryjm said:

From current experience.ie 6th Aug staycation in an RS. We dropped suitcases, parked and then returned

.. sent to check in 

... Special delivery did not seem to happen 

We've got a PH for 28th Aug so will try again but it seemed no one had heard of special delivery. 

I intend to clarify the previous lack on the 6th and ask shoreside if it will be improved for 28th. 

We had the same experience.    I got to the head of the line by asking to speak to a supervisor.   I also never  saw a Special Delivery even though Shoreside Concierge sent me a picture of  what to look for

 

It was quite a mess until I got through security.  

[chemmo]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Generally yes but the Special Delivery is only available for Upper Suites - RS and above.  I don’t recall them having one in Southampton 

 

When I checked in it was a real mess and there was just a huge queue going into the terminal to clear security.    I saw an agent and asked and she escorted us to the front of the line to clear metal detectors.   Once inside after security there are separate areas according to Room Classification and Status.

 

this is what line to get into terminal looked like. 

 

Thanks, we have used the special delivery service at Southampton before (a lady with a lollipop stick) but wondered if it was actually operating at present.

 

Looks chaotic! I hope our experience is better...

[chemmo]

4 hours ago, groryjm said:

From current experience.ie 6th Aug staycation in an RS. We dropped suitcases, parked and then returned

.. sent to check in 

... Special delivery did not seem to happen 

We've got a PH for 28th Aug so will try again but it seemed no one had heard of special delivery. 

I intend to clarify the previous lack on the 6th and ask shoreside if it will be improved for 28th. 

 

That is great, let us know how you get on. We did ask our rep to contact the shoreside concierge to confirm if special delivery was happening and we were told, yes...I wonder if they still use a lady with a lollipop stick?  She was very easy to miss,! 

 

Could you check in at whatever time you wanted? If so what was the earliest time?

 

We also have a PH booked (September) so would be grateful if you could feedback re your experiences boarding at the end of August and anything else of interest. The special delivery is important to me as I have some mobility issues....If I can avoid queuing I can board independently, if there are large queues I will struggle.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by chemmo

[canderson]

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

 

That is great, let us know how you get on. We did ask our rep to contact the shoreside concierge to confirm if special delivery was happening and we were told, yes...I wonder if they still use a lady with a lollipop stick?  She was very easy to miss,!

And where there is typically only one lollipop, that means there's none to be seen at all when that one is already performing escort service.  If they had a pair that could trade off alternate guests, waiting for one to return before the other leaves ... but then, that wouldn't be typical pier-side service (ahem).  While X has an amazing shipboard product, the people to whom they contract their pier services are rarely as good.  Granted, they're sometimes stuck with whatever union occupies a given port, but still ...

 

All of which is to say, if the SSC you speak to ahead of time says you should expect someone to be there to greet you, don't be too surprised if you don't spot them right away.  It may take a few minutes, and you may also find that no one else knows what you're talking about if you ask.

Edited August 17, 2021 by canderson

[scottie920]

TBH I find this unacceptable. Suite passengers pay a premium for extended service including early embarkation WITH Priority lines. Looking at the queues there appears to be no organisation and no celebrity staff available to sort it out. 
If guests are not sticking to their allocated embarkation times and turning up as early as they can. This will contribute to the chaos.

Celebrity need to address this problem or they will lose loyal customers. 
Sorry rant over.

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, scottie920 said:

TBH I find this unacceptable. Suite passengers pay a premium for extended service including early embarkation WITH Priority lines. Looking at the queues there appears to be no organisation and no celebrity staff available to sort it out. 
If guests are not sticking to their allocated embarkation times and turning up as early as they can. This will contribute to the chaos.

Celebrity need to address this problem or they will lose loyal customers. 
Sorry rant over.

 

As you say, it should be available. If for any reason given present circumstances it needs to be stopped then at least if we know will not be wondering around looking for the lollipop lady!!

 

Much as we enjoy quick boarding as a perk I am sure we are not the only ones who find queues physically challenging. I know we can prearrange wheelchairs but we have not generally needed to if Special Delivery is available...

[chemmo]

8 hours ago, canderson said:

And where there is typically only one lollipop, that means there's none to be seen at all when that one is already performing escort service.  If they had a pair that could trade off alternate guests, waiting for one to return before the other leaves ... but then, that wouldn't be typical pier-side service (ahem).  While X has an amazing shipboard product, the people to whom they contract their pier services are rarely as good.  Granted, they're sometimes stuck with whatever union occupies a given port, but still ...

 

All of which is to say, if the SSC you speak to ahead of time says you should expect someone to be there to greet you, don't be too surprised if you don't spot them right away.  It may take a few minutes, and you may also find that no one else knows what you're talking about if you ask.

 

Agree!

 

We were advised by the shoreside concierge prior to our last cruise from Barcelona to use the phrase “We are VIPs” rather than try to explain the suite we were in...It did sort of work!

 

At least hopefully the shoreside staff in Southampton will understand English even if they haven’t a clue about the service we are talking about...

[chemmo]

We spoke to someone from Celebrity who contacted the port to find out if Special Delivery was happening.

 

There is a suite luggage priority drop off point.

 

Suite guests queue with everyone else for security.

 

Once inside the terminal there will be staff available to escort premium suite guests onto the ship.

[ela123]

Thanks for the information. Did you find out if suite guests can get there at any time and if so what’s the earliest time you can check in? Thanks 

[upwarduk]

We were in a 2A cabin but are Elite. As far as I could see there was no priority boarding at Southampton on 6th August.

Our embarkation time was the first, at 12 noon.

We arrived by taxi from our overnight hotel at 11.35 and our luggage was loaded on to a Trolley by the porters. We were asked if we had our PCR results and when I said yes we were told to continue to on our way, as embarkation had already started, but to have passports and documents in hand. Our only hold up was a couple in front of us who said they had been told they didn’t need to bring passports. They were kept to one side to let us go through to security. By the time our passports etc had all been scanned with an iPad, we progressed to the ship quickly ( no photographers to hamper us).

We were on board before 12 noon.

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, ela123 said:

Thanks for the information. Did you find out if suite guests can get there at any time and if so what’s the earliest time you can check in? Thanks 

 

We were told we could board anytime. I didn’t confirm if that was all suite guests or higher suite guests, sorry. Earliest check in we were told was 12.

[ela123]

Perfect thank you 

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

We were in a 2A cabin but are Elite. As far as I could see there was no priority boarding at Southampton on 6th August.

Our embarkation time was the first, at 12 noon.

We arrived by taxi from our overnight hotel at 11.35 and our luggage was loaded on to a Trolley by the porters. We were asked if we had our PCR results and when I said yes we were told to continue to on our way, as embarkation had already started, but to have passports and documents in hand. Our only hold up was a couple in front of us who said they had been told they didn’t need to bring passports. They were kept to one side to let us go through to security. By the time our passports etc had all been scanned with an iPad, we progressed to the ship quickly ( no photographers to hamper us).

We were on board before 12 noon.

 

Very reassuring, thank you! Hopefully we will not be queuing too long. 

[Jim_Iain]

My experience with the picture posted earlier the queue was only about 10 minutes.  

[chemmo]

30 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

My experience with the picture posted earlier the queue was only about 10 minutes.  

 

Thank you,  again reassuring...As I said earlier in this post not so much needed as a ‘suite perk’ as a ‘mobility aid’ at this stage in our cruising life!!!