Boarding Time

[mj_holiday]

As mentioned quite a bit, the port authority seems to set up the structure of the check in process.  We boarded Onward this last spring at the Canary Islands.  We had a transfer that picked us up at noon and right to the port.  We got our baggage taken care of quickly and we were ask to sit in a staging area.  Before I even got a cookie, we were called to board.

The cookies and water refreshments in the staging area is a nice thing that Azamara does.

[Traveling Fools]

On 11/30/2023 at 5:14 AM, LoveChops said:

Thank you.

That's a late embarkation time! We cruise mainly with Celebrity and are usually onboard bt 11.30am at the latest.

 

Azamara begins boarding much later than X, NCL, and Oceania.

 

On 11/30/2023 at 5:34 AM, combine said:

 

 

These boarding times correlate with ours on the Nov 18th boarding of the Onward out of Lisbon.

 

We arrived at the dock at 11:30 and were permitted to proceed to check-in at 12:00, but not allowed to board until 1:30.

[read2learn]

Did they allow priority boarding for the loyalty members? 

[Scots Caz]

4 hours ago, read2learn said:

Did they allow priority boarding for the loyalty members? 

as per post #4, Discoverer Platinum and Discoverer Plus can board from 1:30pm as can suites.

In Lisbon last month, priority passengers were given a green sticker and others a white one. They rounded up the green stickers for boarding first...pretty sure it started at 1:30pm

[blag]

10 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

We arrived at the dock at 11:30 and were permitted to proceed to check-in at 12:00, but not allowed to board until 1:30.

What time were you pre-allocated by Azamara, or, if no time was pre-allocated, what was your loyalty status/ accommodation?

[Traveling Fools]

16 hours ago, read2learn said:

Did they allow priority boarding for the loyalty members? 

 When you check in they give you a sticker with a number on it designating what group you board with.  We were in the first group to board and I believe there were loyalty members in that group.

 

8 hours ago, blag said:

What time were you pre-allocated by Azamara, or, if no time was pre-allocated, what was your loyalty status/ accommodation?

 

There was no pre-allocated time.  No preference is given when checking in, only for boarding.  We were in a suite.  Check-in and boarding, at least for us, was a non-stress activity.  The only post boarding issue we encountered was booking restaurant reservations.  If you aren't one of the first four or five people to get to the reservation desk, expect to wait in line for approximately 15-20 minutes for every person in front of you....that is if they only have one reservation desk open, as was the case with us.  

[hamrag]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:35 PM, Solent Richard said:

I don't hold out much hope for you.

 

We have recently taken our first Azamara cruise (of 75 others) and it was probably the worst experience yet. Most passengers ignore the times and just turn up....

 

On 11/30/2023 at 5:22 PM, Solent Richard said:

....As I said earlier, 175 cruises and that was the poorest start.

 

 

On 11/30/2023 at 9:03 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I have read several complaints about embarkation in Istanbul – on other cruise lines.  IMO this was not an Azamara problem, but a port problem.

 

Richard

Admittedly our 58 cruises, across 18 cruiselines is a few less than your 75 (or is it really 175)?? We recently cruised Azamara for the 4th time, and never had any issue such as you described your experience to have been!

 

I think Host Jazzbeau has nailed where the issue truly lay.