Boarding times

[bodgerday]

I am sailing to the Canaries in January.  As of yet we have no boarding times ( I know it's a bit early ).  But I have to book transport to the port ( train, taxi ).  The times that suits us, get's us there about 1.30.  Obviously if we are not boarding until say 3.30, we have a two hour+ wait. Does anyone know if we can book to board early please.

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, bodgerday said:

I am sailing to the Canaries in January.  As of yet we have no boarding times ( I know it's a bit early ).  But I have to book transport to the port ( train, taxi ).  The times that suits us, get's us there about 1.30.  Obviously if we are not boarding until say 3.30, we have a two hour+ wait. Does anyone know if we can book to board early please.

There is no facility to request (or pay for) earlier boarding. You only get priority boarding if you are in a suite or Caribbean loyalty tier and above.
 

That being said, all of those who are entitled to priority boarding will have boarded by the time that you are planning to arrive and general boarding will be well underway. As long as you aren’t unlucky and end up with a very late boarding time, I would think that an arrival at around that time shouldn’t result in an inordinate wait, but I think that between 2pm and 3pm they prioritise coaches (which are scheduled to arrive around this time). 

 

 

[john watson]

22 hours ago, bodgerday said:

I am sailing to the Canaries in January.  As of yet we have no boarding times ( I know it's a bit early ).  But I have to book transport to the port ( train, taxi ).  The times that suits us, get's us there about 1.30.  Obviously if we are not boarding until say 3.30, we have a two hour+ wait. Does anyone know if we can book to board early please.

We were checked out of our Southampton hotel at 11.00 with free taxi to quayside. We had a 13.45 boarding time allocation. I booked taxi for 11.30 knowing we can get the luggage through the hole in the wall. Went to join queue at departures and was told we could wait in arrivals area as it is warm and has toilets. We waited there about twenty minutes and a guy came along and said we could now join departures queue.  We went in there and nobody was looking at times on boarding pass. We were ushered into a row of seats and then these rows were sequentially called to go through security after the suites then a couple of loyalty levels which preceded standard passengers.. There was a drinks and chocolate bar machine in the Mayflower.  I should turn up later if you want to get through quick or early and be prepared to wait and see how it goes.

 

Regards John.

Edited December 11, 2023 by john watson

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, john watson said:

We were checked out of our Southampton hotel at 11.00 with free taxi to quayside. We had a 13.45 boarding time allocation. I booked taxi for 11.30 knowing we can get the luggage through the hole in the wall. Went to join queue at departures and was told we could wait in arrivals area as it is warm and has toilets. We waited there about twenty minutes and a guy came along and said we could now join departures queue.  We went in there and nobody was looking at times on boarding pass. We were ushered into a row of seats and then these rows were sequentially called to go through security after the suites then a couple of loyalty levels which preceded standard passengers.. There was a drinks and chocolate bar machine in the Mayflower.  I should turn up later if you want to get through quick or early and be prepared to wait and see how it goes.

 

Regards John.

That’s interesting. When was this John and which ship? We have been on Britannia, Iona and Ventura this year and with all 3 ships the boarding pass times were being checked for everyone at the entrance to the terminal and anyone who was early was directed to an outdoor queue. I dare say that many or most got in ahead of their allocated time, but they were still called in boarding time order and there was no facility to wait inside the terminal, other than for those booked for assistance. 

[john watson]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

That’s interesting. When was this John and which ship? We have been on Britannia, Iona and Ventura this year and with all 3 ships the boarding pass times were being checked for everyone at the entrance to the terminal and anyone who was early was directed to an outdoor queue. I dare say that many or most got in ahead of their allocated time, but they were still called in boarding time order and there was no facility to wait inside the terminal, other than for those booked for assistance. 

 

This was Arcadia 3 December Mayflower Terminal. I think it is possible that fewer passenger numbers for the smaller ship and that the terminal was not congested may well have worked in our favour. I should not routinely turn up early but if you are expelled from hotels at 11am it makes sense to go to terminal and wait in the warm.  Conversely if I wanted a rapid boarding process turn up 2 to 3 pm or later dependent on sailing time.

[Selbourne]

15 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

This was Arcadia 3 December Mayflower Terminal. I think it is possible that fewer passenger numbers for the smaller ship and that the terminal was not congested may well have worked in our favour. I should not routinely turn up early but if you are expelled from hotels at 11am it makes sense to go to terminal and wait in the warm.  Conversely if I wanted a rapid boarding process turn up 2 to 3 pm or later dependent on sailing time.

As you say, it may be that different rules apply for the smaller ships. I’ll check what happens on Aurora in January.

 

The OP hasn’t said which ship they are on, but certainly on the three that we’ve been on there was no facility to wait inside if you turned up early. It was the naughty queue outside only. Of course, P&O may have softened their stance now that it’s the winter. 

[Fionboard]

58 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

As you say, it may be that different rules apply for the smaller ships. I’ll check what happens on Aurora in January.

 

The OP hasn’t said which ship they are on, but certainly on the three that we’ve been on there was no facility to wait inside if you turned up early. It was the naughty queue outside only. Of course, P&O may have softened their stance now that it’s the winter. 

On Arcadia in October and Ventura last month, only priority boarders allowed in. All others had to queue outside. 

[john watson]

4 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

On Arcadia in October and Ventura last month, only priority boarders allowed in. All others had to queue outside. 

 

This was Arcadia at Mayflower but Ventura was at another berth. There might be different protocols at different terminals. Space management in the terminal seemed not crowded.

 

Regards John

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

This was Arcadia at Mayflower but Ventura was at another berth. There might be different protocols at different terminals. Space management in the terminal seemed not crowded.

 

Regards John

Britannia and Ventura were both Mayflower when we boarded John and nobody was allowed inside the terminal until called. Was the weather particularly poor on the day you boarded?

[yorkshirephil]

57 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

On Arcadia in October and Ventura last month, only priority boarders allowed in. All others had to queue outside. 

That is what happened on Aurora in October, I don't know how much the peninsular level affected this, when we got there the boarding hall was full with Caribbean and above members, we are Caribbean so sat down whereas others were queuing outside.

[Winifred 22]

Not P and O but boarded Queen Victoria last week. I had early boarding and priority. They were checking boarding times and those who were early were asked to queue outside. They were then checked again inside and if you had slipped in too early you were directed to wait separately before going to check in. We all had to wait in the priority zone until boarding. Non priority were directed to wait in the seats on the other side of the barrier. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Winifred 22

[john watson]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Britannia and Ventura were both Mayflower when we boarded John and nobody was allowed inside the terminal until called. Was the weather particularly poor on the day you boarded?

Weather was cold but dry. The queue was not long when we arrived.

 

Regards John

[Clodia]

And they sometimes get it wrong at the port. I am Baltic tier and was in a suite on my last cruise, and was still directed into the cold outside queue by a member of staff. Some people just accepted it; I didn't and walked round to the front to show my boarding pass, which said "priority boarding" quite clearly, to another lady, who sent me straight upstairs to the check in desks and then to the suite area; they were just boarding suite guests so I just merged into the queue for security. If I hadn't queried the actions of the first staff member I could have been out there in the freezing cold for hours!

Edited December 12, 2023 by Clodia

[Windsurfboy]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:22 AM, Clodia said:

And they sometimes get it wrong at the port. I am Baltic tier and was in a suite on my last cruise, and was still directed into the cold outside queue by a member of staff. Some people just accepted it; I didn't and walked round to the front to show my boarding pass, which said "priority boarding" quite clearly, to another lady, who sent me straight upstairs to the check in desks and then to the suite area; they were just boarding suite guests so I just merged into the queue for security. If I hadn't queried the actions of the first staff member I could have been out there in the freezing cold for hours!

 

Well done, you must know what you're entitled to. 

 

What is the suite waiting  area like now , have they reinstated tea/coffee etc.