Cruise Parking - Iona

[Angel57]

23 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We have been given 12pm also and are just Caribbean. I’m optimistic that we will be on board pretty soon after that and will be disappointed if we aren’t. In spite of what @molecrochip says, I struggle to think that P&O would set themselves up to fail, giving their highest spending and most loyal customers a time that they know that they cannot meet. That would take a level of incompetence that ……. (fill in the gaps 😂). 

that……99.9% of passengers are quite happy to queue outside the terminal in all elements for over over an hour after their allotted boarding time 🙄

[Selbourne]

15 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

I can’t remember with P & O as I don’t have any higher tier loyalty status but I do with Cunard so receive priority boarding. I have just  checked for next cruise on QM2 it says arrival time 12 30 it doesn’t say I can board then. So presumably P&O are the same your time on your boarding pass is when you can begin check in. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can be onboard at or by that time or I am I misunderstanding and it’s different ? If  there has been a delay boarding you still get priority with Cunard and get on board in one of the first tranches. If the ship is not ready it’s not ready. I did do a Britannia cruise in May and was onboard about 1 30 ish and was surprised my cabin was not ready and I couldn’t drop my bag or collect my cruise card. 

When we went on QM2 in May we had priority boarding at 12.30pm. We arrived at midday and were on the ship within minutes. In all fairness, with most of our P&O cruises we have been on board at around our boarding times or before, unless there has been a problem. Iona is a different scale altogether though, hence my original question. 

[Selbourne]

17 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

No, of course not! It just seems to me from reading these boards that people are over-thinking the parking/boarding process and getting worked up unnecessarily. 

I know that you always make similar comments on any thread about boarding and, as the originator of this thread, presumably your comments are directed at me.
 

To clarify, as I have said, I am very happy with the boarding times that all of our group have been given. That is not the issue. We have never been on a ship the size of Iona, let alone in the August school holidays when over 6,000 people will be boarding. Furthermore, our last experience of CPS in August school holidays wasn’t brilliant - and that was on a smaller ship. I therefore consider it to be a perfectly legitimate question to enquire from those who have experienced boarding Iona or Arvia in the peak school holiday period whether our usual arrival 30 minutes before our allocated time is still sensible or whether we should allow longer. Those who do not feel that this is a legitimate question are free to ignore this thread. 

[Ardennais]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I know that you always make similar comments on any thread about boarding and, as the originator of this thread, presumably your comments are directed at me.
 

To clarify, as I have said, I am very happy with the boarding times that all of our group have been given. That is not the issue. We have never been on a ship the size of Iona, let alone in the August school holidays when over 6,000 people will be boarding. Furthermore, our last experience of CPS in August school holidays wasn’t brilliant - and that was on a smaller ship. I therefore consider it to be a perfectly legitimate question to enquire from those who have experienced boarding Iona or Arvia in the peak school holiday period whether our usual arrival 30 minutes before our allocated time is still sensible or whether we should allow longer. Those who do not feel that this is a legitimate question are free to ignore this thread. 

Not directed at you at all, just a general feeling that people are getting stressed about things well before their actual holiday. 
 

We had no boarding delays before our February half term holiday on Iona which had over 6,000 passengers. We had a fairly late boarding time, and as per usual, we arrived within 30 minutes of our allocated time. 

[AndyMichelle]

23 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

 just a general feeling that people are getting stressed about things well before their actual holiday. 
 

 

You are right, we were worrying about lots of things before we went on our recent cruise. 

None of it was that bad, but I think a lot was due to our expectations being realistic thanks to honest reports from our fellow posters. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

17 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Not directed at you at all, just a general feeling that people are getting stressed about things well before their actual holiday. 
 

We had no boarding delays before our February half term holiday on Iona which had over 6,000 passengers. We had a fairly late boarding time, and as per usual, we arrived within 30 minutes of our allocated time. 

Thanks for clarifying. I was just asking a question about how long to allow for the CPS aspect on a ship the size of Iona as I have no experience of it. I don’t feel stressed about it as we all have early times, but was just curious to know if it’s much different to the other ships, in particular so that I can advise our daughters who are travelling to the cruise independently for the first time. I’m pleased to hear that you had a good boarding experience.

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks for clarifying. I was just asking a question about how long to allow for the CPS aspect on a ship the size of Iona as I have no experience of it. I don’t feel stressed about it as we all have early times, but was just curious to know if it’s much different to the other ships, in particular so that I can advise our daughters who are travelling to the cruise independently for the first time. I’m pleased to hear that you had a good boarding experience.

I quite understand, but I honestly don’t think anyone can predict what will actually happen! Lots of people here have reported long waits with CPS over the years, but I can honestly say that we’ve never been in a queue in over 20 cruises from Southampton. I just take the view that it is what it is! 

[molecrochip]

For Iona, 'check-in' never used to commence until 12.30 (unlike Princess who go for 11.15!). Therefore security opening at 12.45 was not unreasonable.

 

Over the past six months, I'm told that both 12.15 and 12.00 check-in opening times have been used more frequently. Therefore you should hope to see security open a little early as the ship crew is pushed to allow passengers onboard earlier.

 

The biggest delay factor on the day, other than arriving late is finalising disembarkation. P&O won't start embarkation until they have disembarked all who are due to leave & processed any back to back passengers at reception.

 

Princess have a higher proportion of coach passengers and back-to-back cruisers which appears to help them finalise disembarkation earlier.

 

There is also lunchbreaks for the non-P&O Intercruise staff who man the luggage hall then check-in which need to be factored in between disembarkation and embarkation. It's also not unknown that certain short nice 'quick' works need to take place in public areas such as the atrium between disembarkation and embarkation. This might require that area to be closed for say 60-90 minutes and that can delay matters also.

 

Finally, coming back to CPS. They don't typically start taking cars until disembarkation and the previous cars are clear. This should be by 11am however, thats not always the case.

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Ardennais said:

Not directed at you at all, just a general feeling that people are getting stressed about things well before their actual holiday. 
 

We had no boarding delays before our February half term holiday on Iona which had over 6,000 passengers. We had a fairly late boarding time, and as per usual, we arrived within 30 minutes of our allocated time. 

The problem is possibly because P&O seem to be the only cruise line that cannot embark their passengers without causing them stress.  If every other cruise line using Southampton can offer a painless boarding procedure, even Princess which also uses Mayflower, then surely P&O passengers deserve to be offered a similar service.

Moley, having just cruised on Sky Princess I can tell you that they have equally as many car passengers as do P&O,.  In fact we saw very few coaches either offloading or loading on return. Although there were 1000 US passengers on our cruise, there were only a few using Princess transfers, and even fewer UK passengers, presumably because Princess do not offer any free coach transfers.However they were managing to board everyone with only minimum delay while they sourced our medallions.

Edited July 30, 2023 by terrierjohn

[Windsurfboy]

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

For Iona, 'check-in' never used to commence until 12.30 (unlike Princess who go for 11.15!). Therefore security opening at 12.45 was not unreasonable.

 

Over the past six months, I'm told that both 12.15 and 12.00 check-in opening times have been used more frequently. Therefore you should hope to see security open a little early as the ship crew is pushed to allow passengers onboard earlier.

 

The biggest delay factor on the day, other than arriving late is finalising disembarkation. P&O won't start embarkation until they have disembarked all who are due to leave & processed any back to back passengers at reception.

 

Princess have a higher proportion of coach passengers and back-to-back cruisers which appears to help them finalise disembarkation earlier.

 

There is also lunchbreaks for the non-P&O Intercruise staff who man the luggage hall then check-in which need to be factored in between disembarkation and embarkation. It's also not unknown that certain short nice 'quick' works need to take place in public areas such as the atrium between disembarkation and embarkation. This might require that area to be closed for say 60-90 minutes and that can delay matters also.

 

Finally, coming back to CPS. They don't typically start taking cars until disembarkation and the previous cars are clear. This should be by 11am however, thats not always the case.

 

One would have thought if you are told to turn up at 12.00, you should be able to check in and security should be open .

[Ardennais]

44 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The problem is possibly because P&O seem to be the only cruise line that cannot embark their passengers without causing them stress.  If every other cruise line using Southampton can offer a painless boarding procedure, even Princess which also uses Mayflower, then surely P&O passengers deserve to be offered a similar service.

Moley, having just cruised on Sky Princess I can tell you that they have equally as many car passengers as do P&O,.  In fact we saw very few coaches either offloading or loading on return. Although there were 1000 US passengers on our cruise, there were only a few using Princess transfers, and even fewer UK passengers, presumably because Princess do not offer any free coach transfers.However they were managing to board everyone with only minimum delay while they sourced our medallions.

P&O have never caused me stress on boarding! Neither have Princess, Cunard, RCI, Carnival, FO, NCL or CMV. 

[Cloudyrain]

11 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The problem is possibly because P&O seem to be the only cruise line that cannot embark their passengers without causing them stress.  If every other cruise line using Southampton can offer a painless boarding procedure, even Princess which also uses Mayflower, then surely P&O passengers deserve to be offered a similar service.

Moley, having just cruised on Sky Princess I can tell you that they have equally as many car passengers as do P&O,.  In fact we saw very few coaches either offloading or loading on return. Although there were 1000 US passengers on our cruise, there were only a few using Princess transfers, and even fewer UK passengers, presumably because Princess do not offer any free coach transfers.However they were managing to board everyone with only minimum delay while they sourced our medallions.

Have you seen MSC 😬

 

I like MSC and am not really the sort to complain about things being busy, and we do have assistance so are somewhat ‘fortunate’ but still… They love a queue getting on, love one getting off, love one getting luggage 😂 In fact the saving grace is the fact you can self park your car in the Horizon terminal and that makes up for it - until the queue getting out… 😂

[Selbourne]

49 minutes ago, Cloudyrain said:

Have you seen MSC 😬

 

I like MSC and am not really the sort to complain about things being busy, and we do have assistance so are somewhat ‘fortunate’ but still… They love a queue getting on, love one getting off, love one getting luggage 😂 In fact the saving grace is the fact you can self park your car in the Horizon terminal and that makes up for it - until the queue getting out… 😂

Interesting. I’ve not cruised with MSC, but dropped one of my daughters off at Horizon Terminal for an MSC cruise and it seemed deserted. She texted me 15 minutes later to say that she was on the ship, and by the time they got to their cabin their luggage was already there - and that wasn’t priority boarding either. I wondered if it might be because passengers board at numerous stops, not just Southampton? Picking them up was a breeze as well. 
 

However, she said that the shuttle arrangement in Hamburg was dreadful and they had to wait 90 minutes for one to go into the city. We were there 2 weeks ago with P&O and it was exceptionally well organised and I was on a shuttle within minutes. I was glad that my wife stayed on the ship though, as I couldn’t see a single accessible shuttle, which was odd as there were quite a few in Copenhagen. 

[Cloudyrain]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Interesting. I’ve not cruised with MSC, but dropped one of my daughters off at Horizon Terminal for an MSC cruise and it seemed deserted. She texted me 15 minutes later to say that she was on the ship, and by the time they got to their cabin their luggage was already there - and that wasn’t priority boarding either. I wondered if it might be because passengers board at numerous stops, not just Southampton? Picking them up was a breeze as well. 
 

However, she said that the shuttle arrangement in Hamburg was dreadful and they had to wait 90 minutes for one to go into the city. We were there 2 weeks ago with P&O and it was exceptionally well organised and I was on a shuttle within minutes. I was glad that my wife stayed on the ship though, as I couldn’t see a single accessible shuttle, which was odd as there were quite a few in Copenhagen. 

Both our MSC cruises were awful in terms of embarkation and disembarkation: both Southampton cruises where people were not picked up at other ports. We went in the Yacht Club the second time so whizzed passed the queues, but it took our friends 2 hours to get on, and 1.5 hours to get off (standing in queues the whole time). 

[AndyLovesCruises]

I have booked some parking through holiday extras and unable to find any online reviews which is now making me a little nervous. 

 

Am I allowed to share Z company that I have booked with there for feedback ?  

[Gettingwarmer]

1 minute ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

I have booked some parking through holiday extras and unable to find any online reviews which is now making me a little nervous. 

 

Am I allowed to share Z company that I have booked with there for feedback ?  

Yes 

[AndyLovesCruises]

Portside Meet & Greet – Portside Southampton (portsidemeetandgreet.co.uk)

[kalos]

When you look on the site at Q&A   What happens when I  arrive ?

 

Their answer is ..." easy as 123"  

 

Where the car is kept  "Somewhere on our land in Southampton "

 

I am wary of meet and greets at the best of times but look forward to your review

 

if your using them Andy .

[daiB]

1 hour ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

Portside Meet & Greet – Portside Southampton (portsidemeetandgreet.co.uk)

Sorry but from what I have read the words ‘Barge Pole’ and ‘would not touch with’ come to mind.

[Cloudyrain]

We use them all the time, they have always been great. 
 

There is a dodgy company with a similar name, but not sold through Holiday Extras, and they had loads of problems. However, these people are great and no waiting or queuing and works loads better for us than CPS actually.

[AndyLovesCruises]

16 minutes ago, Cloudyrain said:

We use them all the time, they have always been great. 
 

There is a dodgy company with a similar name, but not sold through Holiday Extras, and they had loads of problems. However, these people are great and no waiting or queuing and works loads better for us than CPS actually.

 

There is a company called port side Southampton that's been forced to closed for using short stay NCP car parks and people where getting fines.  

 

I cant imagine Holiday Extras allowing scammers to use there platform ?  Its just odd there is no reviews of them. 

24 minutes ago, daiB said:

Sorry but from what I have read the words ‘Barge Pole’ and ‘would not touch with’ come to mind.

 

 

What have you read ?  

[daiB]

14 minutes ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

 

There is a company called port side Southampton that's been forced to closed for using short stay NCP car parks and people where getting fines.  

 

I cant imagine Holiday Extras allowing scammers to use there platform ?  Its just odd there is no reviews of them. 

 

 

What have you read ?  

Possibly I* am juicing up with the company you describe but I am not 100% sure

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

I have booked some parking through holiday extras and unable to find any online reviews which is now making me a little nervous. 

 

Am I allowed to share Z company that I have booked with there for feedback ?  

I have never heard of them, but their website looks professional and if @Cloudyrain has used them multiple times and says that they are fine then I wouldn’t worry. The default option tends to be CPS and I have had damage to cars on two occasions with them, so no option is without some risk!

[Cloudyrain]

I tend to leave reviews for holidays, but not for something like this though as I book it through HX, and I wouldn’t know where to leave a review.

Personally I pay little attention to reviews, especially given the vast amounts of effort put in by dodgy companies now “selling” good review services via BOTs and AI etc.

 

For me the fact they are through HX gives me reassurance, and I tend to book most things holiday related through them these days because all the info is in one place and there is a level of “cover” with them. 
 

I do/have user CPS if it’s a better cost, but much prefer the meet and great because I find it quicker.

[9265359]

3 hours ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

Portside Meet & Greet – Portside Southampton (portsidemeetandgreet.co.uk)

 

The website appears to list no physical address to contact them - not a cat in hell's chance I would use them.