What is the earliest you have been able to board Carnival Splendour at Circular Quay?

[korky1]

We are going on Splendour on Monday and have a 12 noon boarding time.  We can quite often  board Princess from 11am, as they start thr boarding process earlier than scheduled.   Can't remember if Carnival do the same, even though we were on Splendour in November.   Ah, the joys of getting old!

[Hogbay]

Do you want some ones permission to push in ? You have a 12 noon boarding time .

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, korky1 said:

We are going on Splendour on Monday and have a 12 noon boarding time.  We can quite often  board Princess from 11am, as they start thr boarding process earlier than scheduled.   Can't remember if Carnival do the same, even though we were on Splendour in November.   Ah, the joys of getting old!

Same check-in staff as for Princess but wearing different logos on their clothes.

Same terminal and terminal operator as for Princess

On a good day, check-in will open at 11ish, well before the first assigned check-in time. 

[aussielozzie18]

Boarded 10 days ago..  Check in time was 12.  They let me through at 11.30am.  Probably helped that I was solo and there was a gap in cruisers going through when I dropped off my suitcase.

 

There was a slight delay with border control so once we arrived upstairs they asked us to be seated until the queues ahead cleared.  Probably sat for 10mins or so.  All very organised & orderly.

 

in case you weren’t aware - you can now take a bottle of wine or champagne on board per person (like Royal & Princess)

Edited May 25, 2023 by aussielozzie18

[korky1]

On 5/25/2023 at 7:26 AM, Hogbay said:

Do you want some ones permission to push in ? You have a 12 noon boarding time .

 

[korky1]

Why be so nasty Hogbay?  I have no intention of "pushing in".    More and more nowadays the cruiselines seem to allow boarding to start ahead of scheduled time if the disembarkation process has run smoothly that morning.  I think post covid theory is to let anyone who is there get on board before the terminal gets crowded with people.  We always arrive at CQ  about 11am as we have no other choice due to the limited train options from where we live.  We are happy with our 12 o'clock timeslot but it's nice if boarding starts a wee bit early. 

[korky1]

22 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Boarded 10 days ago..  Check in time was 12.  They let me through at 11.30am.  Probably helped that I was solo and there was a gap in cruisers going through when I dropped off my suitcase.

 

There was a slight delay with border control so once we arrived upstairs they asked us to be seated until the queues ahead cleared.  Probably sat for 10mins or so.  All very organised & orderly.

 

in case you weren’t aware - you can now take a bottle of wine or champagne on board per person (like Royal & Princess)

 

[korky1]

Thank you sooooo much aussielozzie for that info.  I had no idea Carnival were finally allowing us to bring a bottle of wine each.  Hubbie and I will definitely  both bring a bottle  each,  his white and my red.  Now all we need to do is convince P&O to let us do the same!

[Hogbay]

53 minutes ago, korky1 said:

Why be so nasty Hogbay?  I have no intention of "pushing in".    More and more nowadays the cruiselines seem to allow boarding to start ahead of scheduled time if the disembarkation process has run smoothly that morning.  I think post covid theory is to let anyone who is there get on board before the terminal gets crowded with people.  We always arrive at CQ  about 11am as we have no other choice due to the limited train options from where we live.  We are happy with our 12 o'clock timeslot but it's nice if boarding starts a wee bit early. 

Really ... We have train arriving at 610 am and got a 230 pm boarding time. 

[korky1]

22 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Really ... We have train arriving at 610 am and got a 230 pm boarding time. 

 

[korky1]

Why is your boarding time so late?  Were all the earlier timeslots taken when you went online to check-in?

[rkmw]

The earliest time slot is 11.30 to 12 but if things are running smoothly they may start check in about 11am but not much point getting there before 10.30 because there’s no where to sit and platinum and diamond have priority boarding so they go first 

Edited May 26, 2023 by rkmw

[Hogbay]

4 hours ago, korky1 said:

Why is your boarding time so late?  Were all the earlier timeslots taken when you went online to check-in?

Yes only available was 230 3 pm . There is 3700 passengers to board .some peoples have to be last . Enjoy lunch .

[rkmw]

6 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Yes only available was 230 3 pm . There is 3700 passengers to board .some peoples have to be last . Enjoy lunch .

Think the Splendor holds 3012 passengers and I’d hate to be onboard if it holds 3700 passengers……I came off the Splendor on Wednesday and it was pretty full and we had a couple of crappy days leaving Sydney and everyone was inside and it seemed so full 

[buchhalm]

Why would you want to go on ANY Carnival ship earlier than you have to?

[korky1]

58 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

Why would you want to go on ANY Carnival ship earlier than you have to?

We really enjoy cruising on Carnival,  same as we enjoy our cruises on P&O, . Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity .  Find pros and cons on all cruise lines.  This will be cruise number 45 for us.  Next one booked is P&O in July , then Royal Caribbean in January.   Variety is the spice of life!

[rkmw]

1 hour ago, buchhalm said:

Why would you want to go on ANY Carnival ship earlier than you have to?

People do like to get on when they can and enjoy lunch before the rush starts , they don’t open the dining room on embankment day so it’s only the buffet

[buchhalm]

I just KNEW that I would get a reaction. 😉

[rkmw]

2 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

I just KNEW that I would get a reaction. 😉

Yes it was a weird statement 

 

do you get on the other ships at 3pm so you don’t have to worry about the buffet 

[buchhalm]

13 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Yes it was a weird statement 

 

do you get on the other ships at 3pm so you don’t have to worry about the buffet 

If I'd have to "worry about a buffet being open or not on embarkation day for lunch, I would reconsider the affordability of a holiday.

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Really ... We have train arriving at 610 am and got a 230 pm boarding time. 

I will wave at your train when it zooms past my place at 4:20am. On time most mornings when I am getting ready for work.

[korky1]

1 hour ago, buchhalm said:

I just KNEW that I would get a reaction. 😉

Why do you post provocative comments to deliberately get a reaction?  I thought the whole point of this platform was for us to chat to each other and gain knowledge from each other's experiences.  Thankfully most people on here seem to come on with that in mind. 

[Jean C]

On a lighter note, it's a goal of ours to one day board early enough to get a late breakfast in the buffet 🍲 ! Now before anyone jumps down my throat I should add that boarding for us is after lengthy travel to the embarkation port so it's just silly talk and a pipe dream at best. Although I book our boarding time the minute they're released, and the first slot is available, I choose a time realistic to our arrival at port 😇 But maybe one day ...

[MMDown Under]

Is there anyone else like me who chooses the latest time available?

 

The reason is there are no queues then, so boarding is very quick and efficient. 

[Jean C]

We once had an allocated boarding time of about 4pm on a Carnival Spirit sailing from Sydney. We got there much earlier courtesy of flight times, but planned and dropped off our bags then caught the ferry over to Manly and walked along to Fairy Bower, such a lovely experience (would happily do it again). When we got back to the OPC we must have been the only ones boarding, and we were able to literally walk straight through, with usual checks, and onto the ship - very easy 😊