Boarding NCL. Why are the cabins not open till after 2pm?

[Cruising Lynne]

We usually board around 11:30 when they call for Platinum and above to board, and I realized that this is a great time to grab a drink before the next group of passengers show up. By the time we have our drinks and eat lunch they are announcing that rooms are ready. On Prima we did end up with a little lull after lunch, but we found some loungers by the pool to chill for a while until the rooms were ready. I had my small rolling carry on with me, and had no problem finding a spot with space to park it next to me. On Breakaway we just grabbed a quick snack, took turns changing, and enjoyed the hot tub until rooms were ready.

 

Comparing NCL to Cunard is kind of silly. Although, I have never actually tried a Cunard cruise. I do not consider boarding the NCL ship a zoo. I call it an exciting time with people having fun getting their vacation started.

 

[trivimp]

3 hours ago, ace2542 said:

On other lines when you board the cabin is ready for. Why on NCL is it not?

Because most people prefer clean sheets on the bed.  

[weltek]

Based on what they charge, I suspect Cunard might have more stewards/housekeeping staff, so it gets done a little quicker. 

 

And yeah, I've never experienced a "zoo of people with their luggage" once on the ship at embarkation. A zoo of people, yes sometimes, but not a lot of people have their luggage with them at that point. Some do, but not many. We just always plan to get quickly to an outside bar for a drink until the madness around the elevators and embarkation deck dies down.

[All-ready2cruise]

I've never thought of first day on any NCL ship as a zoo.  For me, it's a great opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, including staff, and find new venues to visit during the upcoming cruise. 

I love this part of the cruise experience.  

Grabbing a chilled glass of wine and settling in at a venue for lunch, so nice!

[PTC DAWG]

Just another good reason to give most of your unneeded luggage to the porters...

[UKstages]

the report of one steward having 28 rooms to service seems, well, incredible.

 

assuming a very conservative thirty minutes are spent in the room each day for the initial daily cleaning, that would be 14 hours. assuming another conservative fifteen minutes are spent in the room for turndown/evening service, that would add an additional 7 hours. that would mean that particular steward was working for a minimum of 21 hours. that doesn't seem possible. and, again, these are very conservative time estimates which assume every room takes the same amount of time, not accounting for suites and haven accommodations. 

 

even the report of being responsible for 16 rooms seems incredible... the math just doesn't work out.

[The Traveling Man]

4 minutes ago, UKstages said:

the report of one steward having 28 rooms to service seems, well, incredible.

even the report of being responsible for 16 rooms seems incredible... the math just doesn't work out.

The crew on board a ship do not normally work 8 hour days.  Their days usually run 12, 14, or more hours.  So, with 16 rooms your steward can spend almost an hour per room.  That's probably 30 minutes per room in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening, plus a few minutes per room of going and coming.  The math seems to work out fine.

[GeezerCouple]

I'm guessing that the

"...14 cabins, 3 suites and 11 club balcony ( mini) suites..."

 

probably means something like "3 suites and 11 club balconies, for a total of 14..."

"14 cabins: 3 + 11..."

 

GC

[phillygwm]

4 hours ago, ace2542 said:

NCL sadly is a zoo when people board at first with people sitting everywhere with bags waiting for the cabins to open.

I've sometimes noticed people queued up to exit when DISembarking but never encountered any issues at embarkation.

[Liljo22]

I have done NCL, Carnival and RCI and they all had guests wait until at least 1-1:30 for their cabins.  Carnival actually lets you pay extra if you want your cabin before that time.  

 

Related story

My Mom actually just got off RCI's Liberty OTS.  They were letting guests know that rooms would not be ready until after 1:30 but you could stop by and pick up your keycards to start making purchases(they leave the keycard in an envelope outside the room).  She went down and the Steward made a huge deal about it and even called their manager down to chastise her about going to the room early.  

[Liljo22]

You are comparing a boutique cruise line to mass market cruise lines.  You are going to find a lot of things different that are going to probably bother you if you are going to go in with a negative attitude.  

[Mom2kmo]

5 hours ago, ace2542 said:

On NCL the cabin door sections are locked off with the fire doors closed until annnouncement is made. On Cunard at least the stateroom is already ready when you board. NCL sadly is a zoo when people board at first with people sitting everywhere with bags waiting for the cabins to open.

Since you already have a negative taste in your mouth about NCL, why not stick with Cunard?   

[cruiserbear55]

49 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

I'm guessing that the

"...14 cabins, 3 suites and 11 club balcony ( mini) suites..."

 

probably means something like "3 suites and 11 club balconies, for a total of 14..."

"14 cabins: 3 + 11..."

 

GC

 

    I knew I should have put a colon in there after I posted it!! It meant 14 cabins in all; 11 balcony cabin suites ( mini-suites), and 3 regular suites. On the eleventh deck of the Pearl ( and the rest of the Jewel class ships, IIRC) there are 10 two bedroom suites; the rest are club balcony suites. That's why our steward had a mix of clubs and suites.

[cruiserbear55]

58 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

She went down and the Steward made a huge deal about it and even called their manager down to chastise her about going to the room early.  

 

   That would be the end of the stewards tip for me!

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, Liljo22 said:

My Mom actually just got off RCI's Liberty OTS.  They were letting guests know that rooms would not be ready until after 1:30 but you could stop by and pick up your keycards to start making purchases(they leave the keycard in an envelope outside the room).  She went down and the Steward made a huge deal about it and even called their manager down to chastise her about going to the room early.  

Oh my, I'm afraid the manager and steward would be getting the Karen side of me for that one. You don't chastise a paying customer for doing something that's recommended by the cruise line. 

[DaisyGoldberg]

I remember waaaay back in time when they would make announcements that this set of rooms is ready, that set of rooms is ready. And you'd wait, and maybe the lounge you were in was noisy, and you wouldn't know if they had called your deck.  Seems to work better to just release the whole boat at one time!

[ChiefMateJRK]

I don't understand the rush to get to my cabin.  I'm more interested in eating and drinking than getting my backpack to the cabin.

[kelib]

7 hours ago, ace2542 said:

On other lines when you board the cabin is ready for. Why on NCL is it not?

I know on Celebrity you can drop your luggage off right away, put stuff in safe, then leave till rooms are ready. I also like not standing in line to get sea pass and just going straight to your room where sea pass is in your mail slot outside the door. 
 

[deliver42]

I sail Royal and Celebrity in addition to NCL, and their cabins aren't ready till 1:30. In fact with Royal, you can't even get to the cabins until they're ready.

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, ace2542 said:

On other lines when you board the cabin is ready for. Why on NCL is it not?

Hmmmm, we're platinum cruisers on Cunard and don't remember being able to directly access our cabins,,, even in grill class. 

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, ace2542 said:

On other lines when you board the cabin is ready for. Why on NCL is it not?

Hmmmm, we're platinum cruisers on Cunard and don't remember being able to directly access our cabins,,, even in grill class. 

 

An NCL cabin steward has 16 rooms to clean and prepare for the next cruiser between 8 am and 1 pm. 

[pickle11]

6 hours ago, All-ready2cruise said:

I've never thought of first day on any NCL ship as a zoo.  For me, it's a great opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, including staff, and find new venues to visit during the upcoming cruise. 

I love this part of the cruise experience.  

Grabbing a chilled glass of wine and settling in at a venue for lunch, so nice!

Bring back the lifeboat drill.  

[davidwar]

2 minutes ago, pickle11 said:

Bring back the lifeboat drill.  

Or as my daughter used to say when she was little "the mustard drill"

[genealogyfan]

On my most recent cruise, I didn't depart my cabin until about 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave the cabins (8:30am), although the latest time to depart the ship was 10:00am. As I was leaving,  I noticed the stewards had most cabin doors open and then were totally removing all linens off the beds and replacing all lines with new ones. Add to that, a deep cleaning of everything in the room.  I also noticed just as I was about to leave, a steward had removed the divider between the balconies (not exactly sure what he was doing out in the balconies, but looked like he was aligning all the chairs/tables. He surprised me when he walked past my balcony door.

 

I would rather be able to board and wait. The past two cruises, it was announced all cabins were ready while I was eating lunch at one of the sit down restaurants. I didn't notice it was much of a zoo with people dragging baggage around.   

Edited November 10, 2022 by genealogyfan

[Lakesregion]

10 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

What lines? What boarding times?

 

 

Cunard - Boarding at noon. Rooms always ready. Maybe the passengers don't create as much of a mess as they do on the lower lines.