Seriously, Princess?!?!

[tonit964]

So, I’m boarding the Sapphire out of LA tomorrow and it leaves from Berth 46 which a couple of miles down the road from the main terminal and have received ZERO information about where we should go to drop luggage, check-in and getting to the ship.

I’m planning on getting an Uber but don’t know where to have them drop me off. It’s a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

 

There are huge white tents at Berth 46 so is everything happening there and I’ll just get dropped off or do I go to the main terminal for check-in?

 

There is absolutely no excuse for Princess not to send an email explaining what we need to do.

It’s going to be a total s@&t show and I feel bad for all of those that don’t even know the ship is not at berth 92 or 93 where they usually are. 

Princess really dropped the ball on this one.

[kiwimum]

On our cruise that left from Pier 46, we dropped bags and checked in at 93 and were bused to 46.    Plenty of signage indicating such.

[Mike45LC]

1 hour ago, kiwimum said:

On our cruise that left from Pier 46, we dropped bags and checked in at 93 and were bused to 46.    Plenty of signage indicating such.

Mum, thank you for the information.  Unfortunately, this might not be how Princess is handling tomorrow's boarding.  

 

And even if it is, Princess should have sent an announcement to the passengers.  Even if there is plenty of signage at the docks, it is nice to know in advance.  Princess should have sent an email to all the passengers explaining the set-up.  It would have been easy to avoid the anxiety that NOT knowing will definitely cause lots of cruisers.  Who are probably anxious enough given that this is Sapphire's first cruise since the Pause.

[pris993]

This is the way it has always been handled; port always has sufficient signage directing you to where you need to go.  In 60+ cruises have never received an email with directions and that is true for all cruise lines I have taken.  Relax.  Keep your eyes open for directions when you get to the port.   Hope you have a great cruise.

[Outerdog]

14 minutes ago, pris993 said:

This is the way it has always been handled; port always has sufficient signage directing you to where you need to go.  In 60+ cruises have never received an email with directions and that is true for all cruise lines I have taken.  Relax.  Keep your eyes open for directions when you get to the port.   Hope you have a great cruise.

 

Good advice, but this one is a little strange. Berth 46 has zero facilities for passenger embarkation. It's helpful to know what to expect. I'm sure everything will work out just fine, but Berth 46 is strange and the logistics of accepting pax and bags and provisions at 91-93 and busing all of that to 46 (as suggested above) is daunting. If they do all of that at 46, well, the infrastructure there will support that effort very poorly.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Outerdog

[Steelers36]

I figure anyone smart enough to know how to search out the port berth location for a ship and goes thru the process to find out the answer is also well-enough informed to manage the process.  Others who arrive and find out in the morning will be well-advised by signage per above posts.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Steelers36

[JimmyVWine]

40 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

Good advice, but this one is a little strange. Berth 46 has zero facilities for passenger embarkation. It's helpful to know what to expect. I'm sure everything will work out just fine, but Berth 46 is strange and the logistics of accepting pax and bags and provisions at 91-93 and busing all of that to 46 (as suggested above) is daunting. If they do all of that at 46, well, the infrastructure there will support that effort very poorly.

 

 

 

Is that an aerial of the port or an F1 race course???

[Kay S]

My one experience with Berth 46 was on a B2B.  The first leg, I boarded at 93, but the second was at 46.  We docked there and disembarked.  I got back on again for the next cruise.  I remember the big white tents.  I think there were porta potties.  Once you get the the port, I'm sure there will be signs for 46.  Ubers and taxis are familiar with the set up.  This only happens when there are three ships docking.
 

[tonit964]

51 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I figure anyone smart enough to know how to search out the port berth location for a ship and goes thru the process to find out the answer is also well-enough informed to manage the process.  Others who arrive and find out in the morning will be well-advised by signage per above posts.

It would just be nice to know where we will need to check-in.

If Princess can send multiple emails about booking your excursions and spa appointments before the cruise,  is it too much to ask to send an email explaining the boarding process since this is different from most experience? SMH.

[tonit964]

1 hour ago, pris993 said:

This is the way it has always been handled; port always has sufficient signage directing you to where you need to go.  In 60+ cruises have never received an email with directions and that is true for all cruise lines I have taken.  Relax.  Keep your eyes open for directions when you get to the port.   Hope you have a great cruise.

In all of my cruises out of San Pedro, I’ve never received an email explaining the process either but never needed one, knew exactly where to go and what to do. 
The ship is almost 3 miles away from the terminal. This is out of the ordinary and should be explained by Princess as a courtesy.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

53 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

In all of my cruises out of San Pedro, I’ve never received an email explaining the process either but never needed one, knew exactly where to go and what to do. 
The ship is almost 3 miles away from the terminal. This is out of the ordinary and should be explained by Princess as a courtesy.

Ok

[cruzin4us]

I Googled Los Angeles Port Cruise Schedule and found this:

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by cruzin4us

[sloopsailor]

3 hours ago, Outerdog said:

 

Good advice, but this one is a little strange. Berth 46 has zero facilities for passenger embarkation. It's helpful to know what to expect. I'm sure everything will work out just fine, but Berth 46 is strange and the logistics of accepting pax and bags and provisions at 91-93 and busing all of that to 46 (as suggested above) is daunting. If they do all of that at 46, well, the infrastructure there will support that effort very poorly.

 

 

 

 

Not that different than some smaller ports we have embarked at. In this case, you drop you luggage off at berth 93, go inside and check in. Then you board a bus and it takes you to berth 46, just like when on an excursion where the bus drops you off at a dock that doesn't have a terminal.

 

You give your bags to a porter, he places them on a cart, and that is cart picked up by a forklift, is moved into the receiving area to be unloaded and scanned, then is loaded onto another cart, is picked up by another forklift and moved to the side of the ship and placed onto the loading platform to the ship. Just like on every cruise at every port in every city. In all cases, they need to move the luggage from where you drop it off and to the ship, which is often more than a block away around to the other side of the terminal. In this particular case, the distance moved is further, but the steps are identical.  

 

Your luggage is for the cruise line to worry about. They have it figured out, and don't need us to tell them they are doing it wrong.

Edited September 24, 2022 by sloopsailor

[sloopsailor]

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

In all of my cruises out of San Pedro, I’ve never received an email explaining the process either but never needed one, knew exactly where to go and what to do. 
The ship is almost 3 miles away from the terminal. This is out of the ordinary and should be explained by Princess as a courtesy.

 

Deleted. Already answered. 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by sloopsailor

[pris993]

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

In all of my cruises out of San Pedro, I’ve never received an email explaining the process either but never needed one, knew exactly where to go and what to do. 
The ship is almost 3 miles away from the terminal. This is out of the ordinary and should be explained by Princess as a courtesy.

I have boarded ships in foreign ports where tents where used to process everyone.  So common practice.  As I say hope you have a great cruise and all works out.  

[leck57]

I've usually found this info in my Personaliser in the "Itinerary " tab. Under the first day there has been some wording saying general port information. That has the address, transport info etc.

[san diego sue]

When this happened to us on Discovery, we got all the information from Princess. We were lucky that terminal 93 wasn't being used by another cruise ship so check in was in there, boarding buses, and luggage drop off. Wonder how you can check in if another ship is also checking in there.

Also people wanting to park at parking lot, none at 46 , so would have to at pier 92, 93.

We were lucky that returning cruise was at 93 so luggage pick up and car parked was  right there.

[Outerdog]

8 hours ago, sloopsailor said:

 

Not that different than some smaller ports we have embarked at. In this case, you drop you luggage off at berth 93, go inside and check in. Then you board a bus and it takes you to berth 46, just like when on an excursion where the bus drops you off at a dock that doesn't have a terminal.

 

You give your bags to a porter, he places them on a cart, and that is cart picked up by a forklift, is moved into the receiving area to be unloaded and scanned, then is loaded onto another cart, is picked up by another forklift and moved to the side of the ship and placed onto the loading platform to the ship. Just like on every cruise at every port in every city. In all cases, they need to move the luggage from where you drop it off and to the ship, which is often more than a block away around to the other side of the terminal. In this particular case, the distance moved is further, but the steps are identical.  

 

Your luggage is for the cruise line to worry about. They have it figured out, and don't need us to tell them they are doing it wrong.

 

I feel like I just got yelled at by my dad.

[CaliforniaDon]

You are bussed to a huge white tent to board!  Yet another chance to post this sign from the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau Alaska. 

 

 

[DiRonT]

What makes things worse is Princess has been giving conflicting information - "check in and drop luggage at 93" and "go directly to 46 drop luggage and check in - if you are driving go back and park at 93 and get a shuttle back to 46".  Also, the parking facility is telling people to drive directly to 46 to drop passengers and luggage.  Yesterday we spoke with people that will be working in the "tents" at 46 and they still hadn't been told what the procedures would be.  It was still under discussion between the port authority and Princess.  Berth 93 is definitely not equipped to be able to process passengers for 2 ships from different cruise lines.

[roxievegas]

I totally agree with the OP

 

There are so many things that they need to be more informative about.  Or at least have a better way of locating the information on their website.  You should not have to google the internet to find out info that Princess should have for you.

[startedwithamouse]

15 hours ago, tonit964 said:

So, I’m boarding the Sapphire out of LA tomorrow and it leaves from Berth 46 which a couple of miles down the road from the main terminal and have received ZERO information about where we should go to drop luggage, check-in and getting to the ship.

I’m planning on getting an Uber but don’t know where to have them drop me off. It’s a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

 

There are huge white tents at Berth 46 so is everything happening there and I’ll just get dropped off or do I go to the main terminal for check-in?

 

There is absolutely no excuse for Princess not to send an email explaining what we need to do.

It’s going to be a total s@&t show and I feel bad for all of those that don’t even know the ship is not at berth 92 or 93 where they usually are. 

Princess really dropped the ball on this one.

Drop off at Berth 93.  We sailed on Discovery and our luggage was loaded into rental trucks and driven to the ship. After we checked in, we rode a bus to the ship. Easy peasy. We showed up at our designated time and were onboard in about 30 minutes. Just go with the flow. Added bonus, you'll use the same doors and ramp The Love Boat passengers used! 🤣

Edited September 24, 2022 by startedwithamouse

[startedwithamouse]

We received this on our second sailing out of LA when Discovery docked at Berth 93. Gave us a chuckle as the cards must have been delayed at the printer for the inaugural. 

[PTMary]

58 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

I feel like I just got yelled at by my dad.

 

Post #22 explains why. LOL!!

[SantaFeFan]

 

You young whippersnappers have it easy, boy. When I was your age, we had to walk up hill in the snow with our suitcases on our backs to get on a ship. We had no luxuries like them big fancy buses to ride to the ship or our luggage loaded for us. We were tough back in them good ol' days!!!

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by SantaFeFan