Elite boarding

[JerseyShore]

We Elite members.  We will be traveling with a first time Princess couple.   Will they be allowed to board with us?

[dog]

Just now, JerseyShore said:

We Elite members.  We will be traveling with a first time Princess couple.   Will they be allowed to board with us?

No, unless they are accupying your cabin with you.

[PacnGoNow]

12 minutes ago, JerseyShore said:

We Elite members.  We will be traveling with a first time Princess couple.   Will they be allowed to board with us?

Not supposed to.  You can ask when you’re directed to an area to check in.

 

They allowed me to do that in SF port.

Gave my DS and BIL boarding numbers with us to go wait in an Elite area.

Doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

[SargassoPirate]

You can do what we've done and stick with the first timers.  In the overall scheme of the cruise, will it make a big difference if you get on the ship before they do?

Edited February 4, 2023 by SargassoPirate

[dog]

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Not supposed to.  You can ask when you’re directed to an area to check in.

 

They allowed me to do that in SF port.

Gave my DS and BIL boarding numbers with us to go wait in an Elite area.

Doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

This is why I go later as too many do this.

[Thrak]

Board separately or wait with your friends. Either way works.

[cr8tiv1]

It would make it so simple if Princess allowed only Elite, Suite, Platinum to pick the early arrival time OR give a day's notice to all said passengers.

 

But of course, that would involve the "overwhelmed" IT department.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

34 minutes ago, dog said:

This is why I go later as too many do this.

True.  Only happened once and it was only a 1/2 full ship.  
Normally, we just meet them OB. 
 

[californiagirl]

Our cruise at the end of the month will be our first with elite status.  Is the procedure different for elite passengers?  The entire time we were platinum our friends, traveling with us in different cabins,  were always able to board with us.  The check in personnel - at different ports directed all of us to the platinum lounges.

[dog]

6 minutes ago, californiagirl said:

Our cruise at the end of the month will be our first with elite status.  Is the procedure different for elite passengers?  The entire time we were platinum our friends, traveling with us in different cabins,  were always able to board with us.  The check in personnel - at different ports directed all of us to the platinum lounges.

Élite benefit of priority boarding is the same as Platinum.

It is meant for those passengers earning this benefit and those sharing the same cabin as them are allowed to board with them.

[memoak]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

It would make it so simple if Princess allowed only Elite, Suite, Platinum to pick the early arrival time OR give a day's notice to all said passengers.

 

But of course, that would involve the "overwhelmed" IT department.

 

 

No one has ever asked about arrival times at the port on the 4 cruises we took last year. 5 more scheduled for this year and don’t expect anything different

[JimmyVWine]

The rules are set by Princess, not by posters on CC. So ask. And if told “no”, accept that graciously and either board separately before them, or hang back and board together. We’ve boarded in Port Everglades where the early boarding people outnumbered the others and adding even more people to that mass would have been unacceptable. We’ve also boarded in Athens where the P/E lounge has 7 people in it (no lie) at 11:00 when boarding started and adding some additional family members or traveling companions would not have affected anyone. Princess might even view this as a marketing opportunity to give the newbies a taste of what is to come if they book more cruises. Maybe that would upset some here, but they don’t make the rules. So ask politely and don’t make a scene if you don’t get the answer you were hoping for. 

[UpcountryTravelers]

We haven't seen ANY priority boarding on our last 2 cruises with Princess (last year: Seattle and Ft. Lauderdale).  Everyone just goes right aboard when checked in.  Everyone.  All the same.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, UpcountryTravelers said:

We haven't seen ANY priority boarding on our last 2 cruises with Princess (last year: Seattle and Ft. Lauderdale).  Everyone just goes right aboard when checked in.  Everyone.  All the same.

That is because you are arriving for check-in after boarding has commenced and did not see the groups waiting to board who came to check-in before general boarding had opened.

 

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

It would make it so simple if Princess allowed only Elite, Suite, Platinum to pick the early arrival time OR give a day's notice to all said passengers.

 

But of course, that would involve the "overwhelmed" IT department.

 

 

We don't need a specific arrival time.  We can show up anytime and be processed.  If you show up for check-in before general boarding has commenced, you will be seated in an area of the terminal set aside according to boarding priorities and given an appropriate boarding group number/letter card. 

 

(When PCL first announced the Arrival and Departure Group concept, it was perceived as something that would be tightly enforced.  It was actually derived as a Covid-19 response to thin out lines.  It quickly became a concern since how would Elites and Suites be guaranteed to get the earliest Arrival Group if desired.  Jan Swartz cleared that up very quickly and clarified we could continue to arrive at our leisure and be accommodated in priority processing.  It was not very long at all before the Groups meant nothing - similar to the old guideline by decks).

 

6 hours ago, memoak said:

No one has ever asked about arrival times at the port on the 4 cruises we took last year. 5 more scheduled for this year and don’t expect anything different

Correct.  Anyone can show up anytime and be processed through check-in.  However, there are designated seating areas and boarding cards given out for the start of general boarding.

 

 

Once general boarding is opened and the waiting crowd has boarded, later arriving guests simply head onto the ship as they process through check-in.  There continues to be priority area for check-in AFAIK and have always experienced this.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Steelers36

[caribill]

6 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

The rules are set by Princess, not by posters on CC.

 

But are enforced by port employees who are not Princess employees.

 

The port employees usually will work different ships for different companies and not be acquainted with the finer details of each company's policies.

 

So it is no surprise that some days the answer to this question is different, even at the same port.

[Mike45LC]

11 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

That is because you are arriving for check-in after boarding has commenced and did not see the groups waiting to board who came to check-in before general boarding had opened.

 

Thanks.  I have never seen the Elite waiting area for boarding because I’ve never been that early.  

[californiagirl]

Today I received an interesting email from Princess.  It instructed us that they would be boarding us in by deck.  (We are sailing out of Long Beach at the end of the month.)  In all our cruises we have never received a notice of this kind. Not sure why they made the change but are going to board when we had planned…around noon.  We want to be onboard in time to eat lunch in the dining room. 

[NavyCruiser]

All 14 of our group are OceanReady Green Lane, Group B boarding at 11:30am.

So how much time saved by being Elite vs Green Lane ready boarding...?

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

All 14 of our group are OceanReady Green Lane, Group B boarding at 11:30am.

So how much time saved by being Elite vs Green Lane ready boarding...?

It depends on how early you arrive at the terminal and if checked in before general boarding has commenced.

[cr8tiv1]

56 minutes ago, californiagirl said:

Today I received an interesting email from Princess.  It instructed us that they would be boarding us in by deck.  (We are sailing out of Long Beach at the end of the month.)  In all our cruises we have never received a notice of this kind. Not sure why they made the change but are going to board when we had planned…around noon.  We want to be onboard in time to eat lunch in the dining room. 

 

Are you sure you are on a Princess cruise?  Her ships leave from San Pedro.  Carnival ships leave from Long Beach.  Two different ports not remotely close (by walking).

 

They tried this deck thing before.  Didn't work back then either.  What did work is that they (firedoor) locked the floors and opened them up by scheduled time. That was a mess.  Again, no one stopped you from getting on board the ship.  So everyone mingled with their carry ons into the dining areas.

[TracieABD]

54 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

All 14 of our group are OceanReady Green Lane, Group B boarding at 11:30am.

So how much time saved by being Elite vs Green Lane ready boarding...?

On the Sky last week, Elites boarded at 10:30 am. It was as early as I have ever seen. And that included boarding the 400+ transit passengers before us.

[californiagirl]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Are you sure you are on a Princess cruise?  Her ships leave from San Pedro.  Carnival ships leave from Long Beach.  Two different ports not remotely close (by walking).

 

They tried this deck thing before.  Didn't work back then either.  What did work is that they (firedoor) locked the floors and opened them up by scheduled time. That was a mess.  Again, no one stopped you from getting on board the ship.  So everyone mingled with their carry ons into the dining areas.

Having lived in SoCal nearly all my life we refer to the entire area as Long Beach.  Yes, I’m aware of the different locations…Discovery Princess out of San Pedro.  (It’s also called the Port of Los Angeles.)  We have cruised several times on Princess from this port. What is unusual is the email listing boarding times by deck.  The option on the app to choose a boarding time never became available for us.  When I boarded last year on this same cruise, same port boarding times were done on the app.  I think I arrived at 11ish and waited briefly before boarding. 

[JimmyVWine]

14 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Today I received an interesting email from Princess.  It instructed us that they would be boarding us in by deck.

A number of years ago Princess was notifying people that they would be boarding by Deck (not sure if it was specific departure ports or all of them).  To my knowledge, this was never, ever implemented or enforced. Can you imagine the fainting and clutching of pearls if a newbie on the first deck to board got on the ship before someone who is Elite? Probably what happened is that in practice, Princess figured out that out of 3,400 people, if there were 1,000 Suite, Elite, Platinum and Club Class passengers spread all over the ship who got to board early, trying to stratify the remaining passengers by deck was rather pointless.  Whatever benefit they thought that they would derive by boarding by deck (more orderly and efficient elevator operation) got blown up when the early boarders got to board early irrespective of location.  Boarding by deck also probably looks good on paper when it comes to getting cabins ready.  If they clean and prepare the cabins in a particular deck order, then people are more likely to be able to go straight to their cabins upon boarding.  But again, the fact that early boarders are spread all over the ship makes this irrelevant.  Bottom line is I can't recall anyone ever reporting back here that they were on the 2:00-3:00 boarding deck and were denied boarding at noon. 

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Having lived in SoCal nearly all my life we refer to the entire area as Long Beach.  Yes, I’m aware of the different locations…Discovery Princess out of San Pedro.  (It’s also called the Port of Los Angeles.)  We have cruised several times on Princess from this port. 

 

I am not trying to argue with you.  There are a lot of passengers who do not live in Southern California and may inadvertently make arrangements to arrive at the Carnival terminal in "Long Beach".  

 

So for clarity and accuracy, this is what is posted on the Princess website:

 

What to Know About Cruising from LA

• Docking: Your cruise from Los Angeles docks at Los Angeles World Cruise Center in San Pedro.
• Tourist Information Office: For general inquiries, visit the office located at: Port of Los Angeles, Berth 93, Pacific Cruise Ship Terminal, San Pedro, CA 90731. Tel: (310) 514-9484