Boarding Times

[Ocala200]

Does anyone know how many boarding times there are on a Pinnacle class ship?  I have been assigned boarding group D on the Rotterdam next week, scheduled to board at 1pm.  Is that considered early?

 

With the ships sailing with reduced capacity, is it likely that the actual boarding time for a group will be earlier than schedule?

 

I’m trying to decide whether to grab a quick lunch on the way to the terminal or wait until I get on board.  Obviously, I would prefer to have lunch on board.

[KirkNC]

I think the first time, Group A is 12:00.

[Nickelpenny]

I am in Group B at 12:20 for Sunday's cruise.

[Cyberhwk]

I can only speak anecdotally, but we've arrived well before our group before and walked straight through check in with nobody saying anything.  The groups could be more of a "we don't really care, but we just want to space things out so everybody doesn't arrive at once" thing.  Maybe things have changed though.

[FlaMariner]

+1

 

We've been on two cruises since the unpleasantness and in both cases, boarding times did not matter.

 

Our times were both after 2pm.  We arrived around 11am and boarding began at 11:30am and we were enjoying lunch on quiets ships at noon. 

 

I think the Covid excited crowd considers it their patriotic duty to adhere to the boarding times so I hope that continues and we can continue our early boarding. 

 

(As they say, "past performance does not guarantee future results"...LOL.  But we prefer to get the party started as early as we can and if we are stopped because we are "too early" we are prepared to sit down and be patient, but so far, we've been all good to board)

[victory2020]

Are you assigned a time? Can you choose a time? If so, is it first come, first served?

[Crew News]

25 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Are you assigned a time? Can you choose a time? If so, is it first come, first served?

Assigned a time.

[lovetocruisee]

32 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Assigned a time.

  Where can this be found? I don’t see it anywhere

[Crew News]

6 minutes ago, lovetocruisee said:

  Where can this be found? I don’t see it anywhere

Boarding passes are issued about 90 days from Embarkation Day and will appear on your Navigtor app as well as the HAL website.  Nobody on this forum has been able to determine how they are assigned.  Be prepared for several changes of times before you cruise.

[JEH]

Just now, Crew News said:

Boarding passes are issued about 90 days from Embarkation Day and will appear on your Navigtor app as well as the HAL website.  Nobody on this forum has been able to determine how they are assigned.  Be prepared for several changes of times before you cruise.

 

[JEH]

Where on the HAL WEBSITE , I've  searched for 2/13/22 boarding  time but can't  find it.All help is greatly  appreciated . THANKS . 

[Crew News]

3 minutes ago, JEH said:

Where on the HAL WEBSITE , I've  searched for 2/13/22 boarding  time but can't  find it.All help is greatly  appreciated . THANKS . 

Go to your HAL account, choose your cruise, go to Check-in, click on Docs, and click on Print Boarding Pass.  The first page will show your boarding/check-in time.

[Duquesmom]

I’m sailing on Eurodam on 2/6/22 and just got my boarding time last night on website & app.  

[FlaMariner]

Based on our HAL cruises in October and December, boarding times do not matter......Go to the ship when you wish.....At least that was our experience on our recent cruises...

 

...And have a great time!

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, JEH said:

Where on the HAL WEBSITE , I've  searched for 2/13/22 boarding  time but can't  find it.All help is greatly  appreciated . THANKS . 

The website says it will appear on your boarding pass about 14 days prior to sailing.

[jeh10641]

For our 12/01/21 cruise on Rotterdam, our boarding time started at 1 PM; then it became 1:20; then it became 12:00; then it settled at 1 PM all within the last two weeks before embarkation. That is one of the reasons I used a travel agent (no extra cost to use, extra onboard goodies). We arrived at noon for testing (long story) and were in our cabin at 12:40 and our bags were already there.

[zgscl]

On 1/17/2022 at 4:19 AM, Ocala200 said:

Does anyone know how many boarding times there are on a Pinnacle class ship?  I have been assigned boarding group D on the Rotterdam next week, scheduled to board at 1pm.  Is that considered early?

 

According to what I have seen there are groups every 20 minutes with about 250 people per group. The number of groups depends on how full the ship actually is - sometimes the last group isn't until mid to late afternoon. Group A is mostly comprised of people who booked the pre-cruise hotel through HAL & people with flight ease who arrive early. Depending on how many of those people there are some other lucky folks might make it into group A also. Boarding times are based in large part on your flight arrival time as reported during online checkin with same day early arrivals being prioritized over prior day arrivals who have independently purchased their hotel. Also keep in mind that HAL will assign boarding times up until 3 days out and your boarding time is not final until that last update. Mariner/Neptune suite status doesn't seem to count for a lot in terms of boarding time, but at the pier there will be a separate checkin area/line which is prioritized within your group. 

[JEH]

Thanks to all  who have been posting valuable  information  to those of us who haven't  experienced  the new normal boarding procedures . 

[JCDC1314]

On 1/28/2022 at 12:31 AM, zgscl said:

According to what I have seen there are groups every 20 minutes with about 250 people per group. The number of groups depends on how full the ship actually is - sometimes the last group isn't until mid to late afternoon. Group A is mostly comprised of people who booked the pre-cruise hotel through HAL & people with flight ease who arrive early. Depending on how many of those people there are some other lucky folks might make it into group A also. Boarding times are based in large part on your flight arrival time as reported during online checkin with same day early arrivals being prioritized over prior day arrivals who have independently purchased their hotel. Also keep in mind that HAL will assign boarding times up until 3 days out and your boarding time is not final until that last update. Mariner/Neptune suite status doesn't seem to count for a lot in terms of boarding time, but at the pier there will be a separate checkin area/line which is prioritized within your group. 

Thanks for the information!