QE embarkation in Melbourne

[hammo]

Has anyone had any experience embarking at Melbourne ? We have just disembarked at Melb after a short Virgin Voyages cruise Melbourne - Tasmania -  Melbourne and now have a short Cunard cruise Melbourne to Sydney just 3 nights . Our experience at Melbourne previously sailing with Princess has been very smooth embarking and the boarding times not strictly adhered to but smoothly handled .Embarkation around your time . If we had 1:45 we would try entering at 1-1:15 say .

With Virgin we were met outside the port entrance at bag drop and advised the boarding time would be stringently adhered to and told go away and come back 1 minute before the time on your pass and then commence the longest walk and process inside the port by these port wardens who seemed to enjoy displaying their "power" .The first Resilient Lady cruises had lines stretching 200 meters in the rain with no cover in the outside area which meant embarking soaked and cruisers heading to cabins to change hoping luggage was waiting .The Melbourne Port itself is terrible .

We have a 2:15 time slot allocated and will aim to be 30 mins early I guess but not sure how Cunard handle embarkation here in Melbourne Australia . Any experience with this here ? 

And yes I expect the "just stick to the arrival time given " for us its always a nicer start when you can lunch at lunchtime rather than afternoon tea time 😋 😎

[Flickit]

Earlier this month I did a Melbourne-NZ-Melbourne cruise on the QE... 

 

We booked a $20aud airport shuttle bus through Cunard to get from Tullamarine Airport to Station Pier. (That was a bit of a shambles but I wont go into it)...

 

We had an embarkation time of 2:30pm, the Cunard shuttle bus arrived at the port around 2pm, we were directed from the bus up into the terminal and workers unloaded our luggage from the bus and took care of it... (the luggage arrived in our stateroom later)

 

In the terminal we were met by a huge crowd in a snake-like line, many hundreds of people, it took a good hour to get through check-in, Customs, and then onto the ship, it wasn't much fun.... (There was a separate express lane that seemed to be reserved for Grills passengers, (I think it may have been called 'Priority Embarkation'?), they bypassed the huge check-in line, and disabled/wheelchair people were ushered into a sitting areas and processed quickly also, as they should be) 

 

'If' I could pick a time to arrive at the port I think I'd be arriving early, earlier than my allocated time, to try my luck and attempt to beat the huge crowds, lol... 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Flickit

[LittleFish1976]

On 12/24/2023 at 7:58 AM, hammo said:

Has anyone had any experience embarking at Melbourne ?

 

Yes.

 

Take a car to the port - cab or private - and be dropped off where the luggage is being collected. Your driver will remove your cases from the cab so you don't even have to handle them. You show your ticket as you're passing through the entry gate to the pier prior to arriving at the luggage collection point. Then you simply go up in the lift to the check-in desks. I've not had to wait terribly long whenever I've boarded. Security is swift and then you tend to just walk aboard.

 

It could not be easier. Easier than any other port I've travelled from.

[hammo]

On 12/27/2023 at 10:07 AM, LittleFish1976 said:

 

Yes.

 

Take a car to the port - cab or private - and be dropped off where the luggage is being collected. Your driver will remove your cases from the cab so you don't even have to handle them. You show your ticket as you're passing through the entry gate to the pier prior to arriving at the luggage collection point. Then you simply go up in the lift to the check-in desks. I've not had to wait terribly long whenever I've boarded. Security is swift and then you tend to just walk aboard.

 

It could not be easier. Easier than any other port I've travelled from.

Agree - when we have sailed out of Melb with Princess , yes that has been the case - not so with Virgin thats for sure - no just show your ticket if it didnt have the EXACT boarding time on it .  Was wondering about Cunard , hence the question .. if anyone has had Melb embarkation previously with Cunard ?

 

[hammo]

seems not 

[Winifred 22]

On 12/23/2023 at 8:58 PM, hammo said:

We have a 2:15 time slot allocated and will aim to be 30 mins early I guess but not sure how Cunard handle embarkation here in Melbourne Australia . Any experience with this here ? 

And yes I expect the "just stick to the arrival time given " for us its always a nicer start when you can lunch at lunchtime rather than afternoon tea time 😋 😎

Trouble is if everyone turned up early to have lunch onboard at lunch time which I am sure the vast majority would prefer to do, it would be chaos and those with priority boarding may struggle. Staggered boarding times eases congestion and arriving at your allocated time is a fairer way of doing it. 

[hammo]

So long as you have the earlier boarding time 🤣

[intel]

On QE at present ex Melbourne returning Friday We are Diamond members and Grills passengers and have priority with 1pm boarding time. We arrived by cab at 11.45 am having to be out of our hotel by 11.00am. The closest the cab could drop us still entail a walk to the baggage drop.

They started to board just after midday. No check of the times for boarding. We then had a very long walk along the pier to check in (no cars are allowed on the pier) After queuing for a short time we went into a priority queue. In our cabin by 12.45 in time for lunch at 1.00pm

We were facing the long walk with baggage on disembarking as no cars allowed on pier to pick up a cab. Have arranged coach travel to the airport $25 each 

We have enjoyed the trip, the ship really good and the staff fantastic.

We will not join out of Melbourne again too much of a hassle. Can understand why Cunard and Princess have withdrawn home port Melbourne 

Hope the above helps

[daisybel]

We disembarked on 17Dec. We booked a car through the concierge It was $70 to the airport and also had priority disembarkation . Car was waiting very close to the bus Worth every dollar as I knew it would have been a long walk. Porters took our cases.  Thanks Cunard !

[LittleFish1976]

3 hours ago, intel said:

On QE at present ex Melbourne returning Friday We are Diamond members and Grills passengers and have priority with 1pm boarding time. We arrived by cab at 11.45 am having to be out of our hotel by 11.00am. The closest the cab could drop us still entail a walk to the baggage drop.

They started to board just after midday. No check of the times for boarding. We then had a very long walk along the pier to check in (no cars are allowed on the pier) After queuing for a short time we went into a priority queue. In our cabin by 12.45 in time for lunch at 1.00pm

We were facing the long walk with baggage on disembarking as no cars allowed on pier to pick up a cab. Have arranged coach travel to the airport $25 each 

We have enjoyed the trip, the ship really good and the staff fantastic.

We will not join out of Melbourne again too much of a hassle. Can understand why Cunard and Princess have withdrawn home port Melbourne 

Hope the above helps

 

There is no walk required to embark from Melbourne.

 

It's just not correct that a cab cannot drop you immediately at the luggage drop area. If your driver told you that, he was misinformed. Cars are definitely allowed onto the pier when they contain a passenger who has a boarding pass for the ship docked there.

 

There is no walk along the pier when you are dropped at the correct location - immediately at the luggage drop. Your driver should remove the cases from the boot of the car and hand them directly to the port luggage handlers who put them onto trolleys or conveyer belt or whatever. You would then take about eight steps (possibly fewer) and enter the lift to take you up one level to the check in area.

 

Melbourne is one of the easiest ports from which to embark upon a voyage.

 

 

[intel]

I told in my post exactly what happened. Our cab was turned away by the port person in charge. The baggage drop was to the left of the port security barrier. Also saw several cabs and cars turned away.

The information on disembarking came from the Concierge and Tour desk on board. The private car cost was I think was over $100. Both prices quoted were in US Dollars

We have joined a ship in a number of ports none are a breeze but certainly stand by my comment on Melbourne 

[daisybel]

Our cost for the car was $70.00 usd 2 weeks  ago. We did not embark in  Mel as already on the ship, so can ‘t comment. We found the Mel Port staff extremely helpful and were directed to the front of the immigration line - perhaps looked old and feeble???