boarding delay royal princess

[jkhabc]

Anyone enlighten me on why boarding has been put back and how do we manage the huge queues?I dont have the medallion

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, jkhabc said:

Anyone enlighten me on why boarding has been put back and how do we manage the huge queues?I dont have the medallion

Are you at the port? Did you receive an email from Princess advising you of late boarding? We usually do when there's going to be a delay. 

[jkhabc]

Yes,cruise begins in 2 days and got text saying boarding delayed,so now starts at 3pm,so I wondered if this meant they need to do a deep clean due gastro or covid?

And since no one has a medallion,will this mean huge queues at the pier/at check in?

Any advice please as to how to board without waiting in the sun for hours

[capriccio]

Welcome to cruise critic!

 

Are you heading straight to the port from the airport?  If so, i would still head to the ship upon arrival, drop off your luggage with the porters, and then head off for a nice long lunch.  You can do the same if staying at a hotel or just leave it in the hotel's baggage area and return after lunch and head off to the port.  There will be long lines just to get into the terminal filled with people who didn't get the message or thought it didn't pertain to them.

 

What port is Royal departing from?  We might be able to give you more specific alternatives of how to spend the extra hours before boarding.

[partybarbie]

We received a similar notice for our February 18th cruise. The notice is saying the delay is due to immigration delays. As we are boarding on February 14th, I hope we can get off the ship on time for our private tour. 

[azbirdmom]

24 minutes ago, partybarbie said:

We received a similar notice for our February 18th cruise. The notice is saying the delay is due to immigration delays. As we are boarding on February 14th, I hope we can get off the ship on time for our private tour. 

 

Interesting that they already know about immigration delays.  Maybe they are being proactive since other cruises have been delayed or perhaps there's a large group from a country whose citizens require a longer time to process?.  Our notice from our December cruise is below and yes, it is quite descriptive of the reasons why we would be delayed.  We ended up getting an extra hour of late check out from the Marriott (two blocks from the ship).  We were hanging out in their Executive Lounge with our luggage when I read something online (around 12:15) that boarding started early.  We headed for the ship and got on quickly (although those who waited until 2 didn't have much of a wait either from what we heard).  The only thing was that they initially said that we couldn't get into the rooms until 2:30, then it was 3, and finally 4.  The large doors on each floor were closed and alarms were set to keep people from trying to get in earlier.  No worries, we had a nice lunch and relaxed around the ship.  The only residual issue was that it took them forever to deliver luggage due to the deep clean so I didn't get to unpack until after dinner but it wasn't that huge of an inconvenience.

 

[jkhabc]

Thankyou everyone.😊

 

I'm boarding in Sydney but am travelling a long way to get there on the day,no hotel

 

So I guess I'll just wait,its not a great start to a holiday I booked a year ago.

 

 

 

[Cruise ship fan]

We are currently on the Royal princess. We haven't had any major cases of illness onboard (cruise before us did) I've seen a few other upcoming cruises have similar delayed boarding. For.our delayed boarding we dropped out luggage off at 10 then went and spent the day walking through the botanical gardens. Then they started boarding earlier than announced. 

 

When boarding started it was efficient, barely waited around. 

 

We just got all our disembarkation information this morning. We are one of the final groups off in Sydney and our meeting time is 9:15. If I hear anything around the ship I'll come back and post it. But from what I know it's all smooth sailing from our cruise. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21 by Cruise ship fan

[capriccio]

Check and see if you can give your luggage to the porters when you arrive and then walk around the harbor and The Rocks (surrounding area).  There are lots of cafes and restaurants to wile away some of the day.  
 

Please realize if it is an immigration issue causing the delay that is outside the control of the cruise line.

 

Hope you have a great cruise.  Our Round Australia cruise last April was one of our best and just tonight my brother (we traveled with 2 of my siblings and their spouses) volunteered that he’s ready to go back to Australia and New Zealand.

[jkhabc]

OK,thanks for the update cruise ship fan and capriccio,Im hoping once Im onboard enjoyment will take over and I wont care about times/days etc

[Steelers36]

12 hours ago, jkhabc said:

OK,thanks for the update cruise ship fan and capriccio,Im hoping once Im onboard enjoyment will take over and I wont care about times/days etc

They will be checking in well before 3pm and most likely boarding before 3pm.  They are always overly conservative on these times.  They begin the process well before the normal announced time.

[Firefly74]

On 1/20/2024 at 5:52 PM, jkhabc said:

Thankyou everyone.😊

 

I'm boarding in Sydney but am travelling a long way to get there on the day,no hotel

 

So I guess I'll just wait,its not a great start to a holiday I booked a year ago.

 

 

 

We were on the Dec. 2 cruise out of Sydney that was delayed.  Here are some suggestions: (1) there is a luggage storage right at Circular Quay that is not hard to use if the terminal will not store your luggage. It is easy walking distance away. You sign up online. Stow your luggage there.  (2) if you have some time and want a nice and inexpensive tour of the harbor, go to the wharf right there and take the ferry to Manley Beach. You then can either sit at the beach for a little bit or turn around and come right back. The trip is lovely and not very expensive. You can use your credit card to pay at the "tap on." You don't tap off, but you will need to tap on at both entries.

[Cruise ship fan]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:47 PM, jkhabc said:

Anyone enlighten me on why boarding has been put back and how do we manage the huge queues?I dont have the medallion

How did you end up going with boarding? Disembarkation went fairly smoothly. We were on one of the later colour groups to get off and were off at 9:30. 

[jkhabc]

Hi,yes good thanks.I got to the ship exactly on 3 but it looked like they’d already started boarding though we still left late.

So I m still none the wiser but I think I’ll ignore their text if this cruise goes well and there is another time 

[capriccio]

@jkhabc - I'm glad you are on board and hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[milolii]

@arizonabird

On 1/20/2024 at 6:48 AM, azbirdmom said:

 

 We ended up getting an extra hour of late check out from the Marriott (two blocks from the ship).  We were hanging out in their Executive Lounge with our luggage when I read something online (around 12:15) that boarding started early.

Hi, a bit off topic, did you use a transfer service with a meet & greet at SYD?  How is the executive lounge at the Marriott?  Ty 
 

@jkhabc hope you are having a great time. 

Edited January 23 by milolii

[azbirdmom]

24 minutes ago, milolii said:

Hi, a bit off topic, did you use a transfer service with a meet & greet at SYD?  How is the executive lounge at the Marriott?  Ty 

 

We did not.  We took the train from the airport to Circular Quay and walked the short distance to the Marriott.  We had stayed there before so we knew exactly where we were going.

 

We like the executive lounge there.  They have a full breakfast laid out and enough food to make a dinner out of on the buffet during the two hour happy hour (which also included helping yourself to wine, beer, and some hard liquor).  Coffee and soft drinks were there for the taking during the day.  No water bottles but there was a filtered water spout to use.  And of course we love the easy flat walk to the ship on embarkation day.

Edited January 23 by azbirdmom