Anyone Had Recent late check in experience for Arvia/Iona

[Selbourne]

11 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

 

I'm not one to get hung up on status, it will come around at some point.  Having said that I protect my Virgin Atlantic membership with gusto and wear my Cunard Diamond pin with pride!

I agree. I don’t give a fig about loyalty tier as a ‘bragging right’ (especially as there are thousands who put our cruise history to shame!) but the few perks can be useful. Priority boarding might be critical on ships like Iona and Arvia if certain speciality restaurants can’t be booked until you are on board (and sell out). The 10% discount is also useful if you are able to book pre-cruise (which it seems that you can’t now on some ships). Having only just scraped into Caribbean pre Covid we have yet to experience a loyalty lunch, so will give that a go in July 🤞

[Megabear2]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I agree. I don’t give a fig about loyalty tier as a ‘bragging right’ (especially as there are thousands who put our cruise history to shame!) but the few perks can be useful. Priority boarding might be critical on ships like Iona and Arvia if certain speciality restaurants can’t be booked until you are on board (and sell out). The 10% discount is also useful if you are able to book pre-cruise (which it seems that you can’t now on some ships). Having only just scraped into Caribbean pre Covid we have yet to experience a loyalty lunch, so will give that a go in July 🤞

Yes, seems a shame about the venues going only to high tier guests.  I do think a level playing field for all needs to be considered and have said previously I think that if buying in advance is no longer an option then booking for everything should not open onboard until all passengers are on.

 

I also think on Britannia downwards block booking of Sindhu and Epicurean etc should not be allowed either in advance or onboard to give everyone a chance to try them.  I know I'm an outlier on this though, but I do believe that everyone should have the opportunity to try everything when there's less choices for speciality on those ships. Iona and Arvia, well they're a law to themselves it seems!  I'd assumed they would work like the big RC and MSC ships but that's definitely not happening.  Rather than stressing I'll go with the flow, there's always room service!!!!

[Kittyonions]

Well, the information given by Moley regarding boarding times doesn’t work on our latest experience. We are on Arvia on 14th May and have booked 3 adjacent cabins on deck 10. We have all been given different boarding times (including 12.45 for us as mere Atlantic mortals) and are travelling down to Southampton together with a friend who has been given 3.30 boarding.

As we all booked select, I would like to suggest that those paying full fare should have the opportunity to choose a boarding time when making the booking (obviously those on higher loyalty levels taking priority)

See you on board Megabear and Purplesea!!

[Selbourne]

31 minutes ago, Kittyonions said:

Well, the information given by Moley regarding boarding times doesn’t work on our latest experience. We are on Arvia on 14th May and have booked 3 adjacent cabins on deck 10. We have all been given different boarding times (including 12.45 for us as mere Atlantic mortals) and are travelling down to Southampton together with a friend who has been given 3.30 boarding.

As we all booked select, I would like to suggest that those paying full fare should have the opportunity to choose a boarding time when making the booking (obviously those on higher loyalty levels taking priority)

See you on board Megabear and Purplesea!!

That’s a nuisance. I have also booked 3 adjacent cabins on deck 10 on Arvia and assumed that the boarding times would be the same. We have linked the bookings. I wonder if that makes any difference?

[purplesea]

34 minutes ago, Kittyonions said:

Well, the information given by Moley regarding boarding times doesn’t work on our latest experience. We are on Arvia on 14th May and have booked 3 adjacent cabins on deck 10. We have all been given different boarding times (including 12.45 for us as mere Atlantic mortals) and are travelling down to Southampton together with a friend who has been given 3.30 boarding.

As we all booked select, I would like to suggest that those paying full fare should have the opportunity to choose a boarding time when making the booking (obviously those on higher loyalty levels taking priority)

See you on board Megabear and Purplesea!!

We have a boarding time of 12.15, which as we travel up the day before is ideal😃

[Kittyonions]

Forgot to mention we too have linked bookings. Hope you are luckier than us Selbourne!!

[amajaa]

We had a 4 o’clock boarding and even though we are Caribbean and were told by P&O it was a mistake and we should have priority boarding the dockside people said well we’re not P & O so we waited in a queue with others for over 3 hours and were let on about 3.45 

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, amajaa said:

We had a 4 o’clock boarding and even though we are Caribbean and were told by P&O it was a mistake and we should have priority boarding the dockside people said well we’re not P & O so we waited in a queue with others for over 3 hours and were let on about 3.45 

I’m afraid I’d play merry hell if they tried that with us. They would have had to have physically stopped me from walking straight past them. Did you complain about this afterwards to P&O, as clearly somebody hasn’t briefed the dockside staff about those who have priority boarding? Some of our group are cruising for the first time and we are the only ones with priority boarding. On the basis that you only get one chance to make a first impression, I can see that for some people a 3 hour queue would be their first and last cruise experience!

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Kittyonions said:

Forgot to mention we too have linked bookings. Hope you are luckier than us Selbourne!!

Linked bookings have no effect on boarding at all. They are only there for set dining. The link will get you allocated the same table. And that it.

[daiB]

15 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. We know not to expect anything on Iona (7 days) but we have three 14 night cruises booked, two on Ventura and one on Britannia and these will be our first cruises since reaching the dizzy heights of Caribbean tier, so we are keen to experience the few extra perks that come with it 😂 

You will get lunches and parties on your cruises, only on the two big buggers there is no party but they do have a lunch for 14 night cruises.

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, daiB said:

Linked bookings have no effect on boarding at all. They are only there for set dining. The link will get you allocated the same table. And that it.

Agree that the linking is only for dining, but it seems very odd that people in adjacent cabins get different boarding times. There’s a good chance that two couples with a linked booking may be travelling to Southampton together. If they are not priority boarders, surely it makes sense for them to be given the same boarding time or one couple is left hanging around?

[purplesea]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Agree that the linking is only for dining, but it seems very odd that people in adjacent cabins get different boarding times. There’s a good chance that two couples with a linked booking may be travelling to Southampton together. If they are not priority boarders, surely it makes sense for them to be given the same boarding time or one couple is left hanging around?

We have 4 cabins next door to each other (linked bookings) later on in the year on Britannia. I have the highest tier, my mother has assistance and is on the same tier as my OH, but the remaining four people in our party are first time cruisers with P&O. So will be interesting to see!

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Agree that the linking is only for dining, but it seems very odd that people in adjacent cabins get different boarding times. There’s a good chance that two couples with a linked booking may be travelling to Southampton together. If they are not priority boarders, surely it makes sense for them to be given the same boarding time or one couple is left hanging around?

My BIL and his wife just got of Iona on Saturday. They boarded 1.00pm, their son and daughter in law not allowed on until 3.45.  They were very upset as arrived in one car.  BIL is very well known at Southampton port as he's quite high up at Hapag, it held no sway just go without them mate or wait with them.

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My BIL and his wife just got offIona on Saturday. They boarded 1.00pm, their son and daughter in law not allowed on until 3.45.  They were very upset as arrived in one car.  BIL is very well known at Southampton port as he's quite high up at Hapag, it held no sway just go without them mate or wait with them.

Bonkers. I can understand that some people might try to abuse the system and queue jump, but there needs to be some common sense in all this. What happens if you need the loo in a 3 hour queue? I wonder if the US lines with ships the size of Iona and Arvia subject their passengers to 3 hour queue’s? I suspect not as they wouldn’t put up with it like we do. 

[Megabear2]

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Bonkers. I can understand that some people might try to abuse the system and queue jump, but there needs to be some common sense in all this. What happens if you need the loo in a 3 hour queue? I wonder if the US lines with ships the size of Iona and Arvia subject their passengers to 3 hour queue’s? I suspect not as they wouldn’t put up with it like we do. 

With RC on  Allure I've always been asked to select a time from a list of available slots, normally only 10 minutes apart. Same with MSC, Norwegian, Celebrity and Princess.  Can't say about Cunard are I'm preferential with them.  Time for P&O to catch up perhaps.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Time for P&O to catch up perhaps.

 
Sounds like it. You’d think they’d have introduced a system like their competitors for the two new mega ships. They are targeting the ‘new to cruising’ market and as I said previously, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

 
Sounds like it. You’d think they’d have introduced a system like their competitors for the two new mega ships. They are targeting the ‘new to cruising’ market and as I said previously, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

Yes, it was my nephew's first "grown up" cruise and he had his new wife with him as well. Luckily it was good weather. They did like the cruise though.

 

As my new eyes, any idea how to stop all these CC notifications flooding my inbox?  Never had them before, don't like them and it's putting me off posting!

[happy v]

11 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes, it was my nephew's first "grown up" cruise and he had his new wife with him as well. Luckily it was good weather. They did like the cruise though.

 

As my new eyes, any idea how to stop all these CC notifications flooding my inbox?  Never had them before, don't like them and it's putting me off posting!

If you click on your name. It will show your name with a settings icon. You scroll down to notifications click, then click turn off 

[Ardennais]

18 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

My BIL and his wife just got of Iona on Saturday. They boarded 1.00pm, their son and daughter in law not allowed on until 3.45.  They were very upset as arrived in one car.  BIL is very well known at Southampton port as he's quite high up at Hapag, it held no sway just go without them mate or wait with them.

We’ve had vastly different boarding times in the past when my parents were with us. The sensible thing to do, in my opinion anyway, is arrive for the latest time. I would never expect my travelling companions to be able to jump the queue. 

[Megabear2]

14 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

We’ve had vastly different boarding times in the past when my parents were with us. The sensible thing to do, in my opinion anyway, is arrive for the latest time. I would never expect my travelling companions to be able to jump the queue. 

Nobody wanted to jump the queue, it was just an observation they came in one car (some 4 hour journey) which was left with me and they then took the short train journey.  As the trains have been having some problems they didn't want to risk the 4.30 cut off, particularly with my nephew never having cruised before except for when he was a small child.

 

[Ardennais]

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Nobody wanted to jump the queue, it was just an observation they came in one car (some 4 hour journey) which was left with me and they then took the short train journey.  As the trains have been having some problems they didn't want to risk the 4.30 cut off, particularly with my nephew never having cruised before except for when he was a small child.

 

I’m sorry they were upset and can understand their fear regarding the train. There were people muttering in the Britannia queue behind us when we arrived but told us that their boarding time was 3.30 - and it was 1.30 at the time! What did they expect! Ours was 1.45 and the gentleman led us to the front having checked our paperwork. 

[zap99]

On 4/25/2023 at 9:30 AM, Selbourne said:

I agree. I don’t give a fig about loyalty tier as a ‘bragging right’ (especially as there are thousands who put our cruise history to shame!) but the few perks can be useful. Priority boarding might be critical on ships like Iona and Arvia if certain speciality restaurants can’t be booked until you are on board (and sell out). The 10% discount is also useful if you are able to book pre-cruise (which it seems that you can’t now on some ships). Having only just scraped into Caribbean pre Covid we have yet to experience a loyalty lunch, so will give that a go in July 🤞

We have been Promoted to Bronze with BA ( that's one off the bottom ). It was quite nice to walk past the queue in Malta. Priority is a good perk when flying.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We have been Promoted to Bronze with BA ( that's one off the bottom ). It was quite nice to walk past the queue in Malta. Priority is a good perk when flying.

Pah!  Nothing, Zap! I’ve been promoted to Dross with Stagecoach, and on a good day I get a seat on top of the luggage.

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Pah!  Nothing, Zap! I’ve been promoted to Dross with Stagecoach, and on a good day I get a seat on top of the luggage.

A seat, sheer luxury. 

[P&O SUE]

21 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Bonkers. I can understand that some people might try to abuse the system and queue jump, but there needs to be some common sense in all this. What happens if you need the loo in a 3 hour queue? I wonder if the US lines with ships the size of Iona and Arvia subject their passengers to 3 hour queue’s? I suspect not as they wouldn’t put up with it like we do. 

My friend is going from Southampton tomorrow on MSC - she’s got a 10.30am boarding time!!