Embarkation Question - Boarding Groups

[Herschel Dirtwater]

Now that embarkation is more like the airlines with specific boarding groups, and we can check in 72 hours before sailing, my question is this:  Is the 72 hours at 12:01am 3 days out, or actual departure time?  I'm one of those who'll be pounding my finger on the mouse as soon as I'm able to get on as early as possible, 😉 

[Cruise Suzy]

When you finish your check-in has no bearing on your embarkation time. Most of the check-in can be done far in advance. Only the health assessment needs to be done within 3 days.

 

You will probably receive more than one notice of your time. Only the final one, with the barcode, needs to be printed.

[pengu1n]

So, what does determine embarkation time?

[CruiserBruce]

7 minutes ago, pengu1n said:

So, what does determine embarkation time?

Some unknown system at HAL.

[Herschel Dirtwater]

Interesting.  Thanks!

[NavyCruiser]

I checked in 6 weeks prior to embarkation & got Group A, 11 am time.

Checked in again 2 weeks prior to get the bar code on printed at home boarding pass...

[CruiserBruce]

6 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

I checked in 6 weeks prior to embarkation & got Group A, 11 am time.

Checked in again 2 weeks prior to get the bar code on printed at home boarding pass...

We checked in several months in advance, was a 4 star mariner at the time, and in a suite, but never got earlier than a 1:40 boarding. However, boarding pass said "Priority" on it, "Priority" was called first, and we were in our cabin before 12 noon.

 

There has been no obvious reasoning for the boarding time assignments, and we have been discussing it all year.

[melspar]

We are on cruise Oct 8, embarking in Quebec. The ship doesn’t depart until the next day. Question…we are traveling from Montreal via train on the 8th and won’t be boarding ship until at least 8 pm. Will that be a problem?

[richwmn]

41 minutes ago, melspar said:

We are on cruise Oct 8, embarking in Quebec. The ship doesn’t depart until the next day. Question…we are traveling from Montreal via train on the 8th and won’t be boarding ship until at least 8 pm. Will that be a problem?

I am on the same cruise and I'm on the train arriving at 4:15. I did the same thing arriving later in the evening several years ago without a problem. Just make sure that your TA / PCC / other booking agent lets HAL and therefor the ship know you will be late

[zhuangcorp]

How many boarding groups are there, and what are the possible boarding times you may be assigned to?

 

What happens if you try to board earlier before you assigned time?

[Clay Clayton]

Does one have to print the barcode or can we just show it on our phone? #retiredSoNoPrinter😂

[Cruise Suzy]

 

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Does one have to print the barcode or can we just show it on our phone?

As long as there is no hiccup at the terminal, you can show the boarding pass on the Navigator. Most cruisers do print the boarding pass page with the barcode just in case Murphy's Law strikes. Those of us who don't have a smartphone always print that page.

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, zhuangcorp said:

How many boarding groups are there, and what are the possible boarding times you may be assigned to?

 

What happens if you try to board earlier before you assigned time?

 

There are at least four boarding groups. Sometimes, I've been assigned a new group, other times my group stayed the same but the time changed - by as much as an hour.

 

Some terminals allow you to check in before your boarding time. Others make you come back later. Depends on the location and how many are in line.

[Loreto]

3 hours ago, zhuangcorp said:

How many boarding groups are there, and what are the possible boarding times you may be assigned to?

 

What happens if you try to board earlier before you assigned time?

At the port in San Diego for the Feb. sailing of the Koningsdam to Hawaii (which was heavily booked) there were 3 signs outside the terminal gate with about 100 passengers behind each time sign.  It was strictly monitored.  You dropped off your luggage and then got in line.  We are 5* (and I believe we could board any time) but also in a Neptune Suite.  We showed our boarding pass to the HAL rep and she allowed us to go through the gate to the terminal.

 

We were actually given a very late boarding time for this cruise, which was a problem as we had to wait in our hotel lobby and then take their shuttle to the cruise pier.  I called HAL and pointed out the we were 5* in a Neptune and could we possibly have an earlier boarding time?  We were moved up to the 2nd group, right behind the handicap group, which was allowed to board first.

[Guest ldtr]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Does one have to print the barcode or can we just show it on our phone? #retiredSoNoPrinter😂

Supposedly they will accept the versions on your phone BUT

On my cruise last week I showed the bar code on my phones, but their system would not recognize them, had to fall back to printed versions which were recognized.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Loreto said:

At the port in San Diego for the Feb. sailing of the Koningsdam to Hawaii (which was heavily booked) there were 3 signs outside the terminal gate with about 100 passengers behind each time sign.  It was strictly monitored.  You dropped off your luggage and then got in line.  We are 5* (and I believe we could board any time) but also in a Neptune Suite.  We showed our boarding pass to the HAL rep and she allowed us to go through the gate to the terminal.

 

We were actually given a very late boarding time for this cruise, which was a problem as we had to wait in our hotel lobby and then take their shuttle to the cruise pier.  I called HAL and pointed out the we were 5* in a Neptune and could we possibly have an earlier boarding time?  We were moved up to the 2nd group, right behind the handicap group, which was allowed to board first.

On the other hand in Seattle last week, no one cared what group you were in during the check in process.  It was only when they started boarding that they boarded by group number.  We were in group C and it was called maybe 5 minutes after Group A.

[melspar]

I did finally get someone on phone w Holland this evening re our question about late boarding. She says to contact them again after we get our boarding pass in a couple weeks, and they would make a notation on it saying we would be arriving late. Didn’t think it would be a problem. Yay. 

[Loreto]

3 hours ago, ldtr said:

On the other hand in Seattle last week, no one cared what group you were in during the check in process.  It was only when they started boarding that they boarded by group number.  We were in group C and it was called maybe 5 minutes after Group A.

We were on the Westerdam/Alaska Seattle in June and you are correct.  There was no place to line people up at that terminal, but they did have a large waiting area.  We had verifly and there was no line for that screening.  We came on the HAL bus from the airport Hilton and waited in the priority area.

I will say the Seattle cruise pier was a mess with 2 ships boarding at the same time.

 

It was more controlled for Hawaii/San Diego because everyone had to take a covid test at the pier, even though we did the required testing 2 days before.

[Clay Clayton]

6 hours ago, ldtr said:

Supposedly they will accept the versions on your phone BUT

On my cruise last week I showed the bar code on my phones, but their system would not recognize them, had to fall back to printed versions which were recognized.

Guess I’ll find a printer. Thanks!

[JesseLivermore]

4 hours ago, Loreto said:

We were on the Westerdam/Alaska Seattle in June and you are correct.  There was no place to line people up at that terminal, but they did have a large waiting area.  We had verifly and there was no line for that screening.  We came on the HAL bus from the airport Hilton and waited in the priority area.

I will say the Seattle cruise pier was a mess with 2 ships boarding at the same time.

 

It was more controlled for Hawaii/San Diego because everyone had to take a covid test at the pier, even though we did the required testing 2 days before.

 

+1 yep,  Seattle was  a mess in July too. Not sure it they cared about boarding time. 

 

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

14 minutes ago, JesseLivermore said:

 

+1 yep,  Seattle was  a mess in July too. Not sure it they cared about boarding time. 

 

 

 

When we boarded on August 27th it was just fine. Very smooth process. People boarding the Princess ship went to the left, HAL to the right. check in and security went smoothly. Just sat and waited for our boarding group to be called, then quickly on board.

 

Much better then I have seen with some other ports. Sometimes I have seen traffic back up a little to unload passengers butusuall6 not an issue.

Edited September 9, 2022 by ldtr

[Mosaic]

Boarding as a Neptune, Group F. Stands for......

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, Mosaic said:

Boarding as a Neptune, Group F. Stands for......

You need to call your TA or PCC and request a better boarding group - point out that you are in a Neptune and should be able to board early.

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

You need to call your TA or PCC and request a better boarding group - point out that you are in a Neptune and should be able to board early.

 

Or you could, as several of us have mentioned, just show up and board at the start. It has worked several ways...first, see if your final boarding pass says "Priority" on it. Ours for N.Statendam, July 16th did, and we were in a Neptune (Plus 4 Star Mariners). When they opened the doors, the called out "Priority Boarding", and we were on board by 11:45.

 

We also boarded early on KDam in February, similar to what @Loreto did, as described in post #14.

[RRFan]

19 hours ago, melspar said:

I did finally get someone on phone w Holland this evening re our question about late boarding. She says to contact them again after we get our boarding pass in a couple weeks, and they would make a notation on it saying we would be arriving late. Didn’t think it would be a problem. Yay. 

We had a flight delay a few years ago on this same itinerary but with Princess.  We didn't arrive at the ship until about 9 pm on the first day (just as your cruise, we also spent the first night in QC).  The only problem was that all of the embarkation people had already left for the day.  The terminal was open, but no one was there to help us (we had called early in the day and told them about our flight delay).  Once we got to the terminal, we called the ship and told them we were there to check in.  They sent an officer to the terminal who escorted us onboard to check us in and all was well.  Just to be safe, be sure you have a phone number to call in case the onshore people have all left the terminal when you arrive.  We will be on the NS for the Oct 8 QC to FLL with you and looking forward to it!!  

Edited September 9, 2022 by RRFan