On line check in

[oskidunker]

Does the early bird get the earlier check in time?

[shepherd really]

1 minute ago, oskidunker said:

Does the early bird get the earlier check in time?

I checked in two weeks ago for a cruise next week and got a 12:00 boarding time, which is what I wanted. 

 

Because you asked, I just went back in to see available boarding times and 12:00 is still available 8 days before embarkation.

 

In this case it would have made no difference if I dawdled. Your results may vary.

[MEFIowa]

One wonders if it makes a difference where you board...

 

When we boarded Riviera 10/30/23 in Trieste we'd taken the train from Venice to Trieste, hailed a cab, and took it the short distance to the pier for embarkation. I neither knew nor cared what "time" our check in was at. We just walked up and go on board. Hardly a line. Early. We were in an A3 cabin but that didn't seem to matter given how few people were in line. We ate lunch and we then left afterwards to spend hours in Trieste before Riviera's departure time. When we've boarded at Terminal J in Miami (Riviera 12/2021 & Sirena 11/2022), there was the large area filled with people. The high-level cabins get the "walk right up" treatment. The PHs and As had their own lines, that went next. And then came the giant slow SNAKE for the G-B cabins, as people shuffled in a huge line.

 

Both embarkation and disembarkation seem to be cluster-foxtrots where the "rules" and "times" aren't enforced and seemingly make no difference.

 

So the only thing I could say for "sure" is that the highest cabin levels can have the earliest and shortest check in times and waits.

[pinotlover]

There are ports and cruise terminals that will not allow entry until the posted time on ones boarding pass. This is controlled by the port authority, not the ship.

 

Meanwhile, for other locations it doesn’t matter. It all depends upon the port in which one is embarking. Those searching for a one size fits all answer will be lead astray. Your question on this issue should be focused on the actual port in which you are embarking, not a blanket question. Details matter.

 

One should say “ I’m embarking in Papette, or in Athens, do our reserved boarding times matter. You will get hugely different answers depending upon which port you queried.

Edited February 7 by pinotlover

[oskidunker]

Moon over Miami.

[Tranquility Base]

3 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

It all depends upon the port in which one is embarking. Those searching for a one size fits all answer will be lead astray. Your question on this issue should be focused on the actual port in which you are embarking, not a blanket question.

Correct.

Plus, just like the "first night speciality restaurant reservation query" it depends on the cruise type.

Are 20 % of total passengers embarking at the port in question or 90 %. ?

 

Big difference between Miami on a standard Caribbean turnaround; and Riviera which was basically one continuous 'Hop On / Hop Off" schedule bouncing around the Mediterranean for months.

[oskidunker]

Got 11:30 am. 2/28

Edited February 7 by oskidunker

[Iamthesea]

So is Miami one of those ports where you will not be allowed in until your assigned time?  Does check-in start at 12:01 am the night before the date listed on my reservation?  Actually, there is no date listed, so I am not sure what the date is that I can check-in.  Where/how do I find that?

Edited February 9 by Iamthesea

[MEFIowa]

17 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

So is Miami one of those ports where you will not be allowed in until your assigned time?...

O has serious problems enforcing its own rules and policies. So both embarkation and disembarkation can be quite the cluster-foxtrots.

 

Never seen anyone "check" your time. When O was doing the COVID testing in the tent next to terminal J in 12/2021 the CF was a mess of people mulling around with little connection to their "assigned time".

 

And at Terminal J, you have to keep in mind that there are SEPARATE lines for the high-level suite classes and PHs and even concierge A. THEN everyone else gets to wait in one giant snake, all the G-B cabins. Shuffling along the rope line until you hit the magic carpet and you see the other "lines" and their magic carpets.

Edited February 9 by MEFIowa
Typo

[WildWanderers]

Hi All,

 

There is a difference between "online check-in" (title of this thread) and boarding at the port (most of the discussion in this thread).  And it can be an important distinction.

 

I raise this only because of an incident in Miami when folk were boarding for Gems of the Leewards on the Insignia on December 17, 2023.  People did not get to board until late afternoon even if they had been waiting since early morning due to a major storm and the Insignia losing its place in the queue for docking.  

 

When we left the ship (as required as we were continuing on a back-to-back), and then went to re-board, we passed through the people waiting to embark.  Many of them were angry that they could not just get onto the ship because weeks ago they had done the online check-in, and they thought that should be enough, that they should be able to "bypass all of these other people", who in fact, unbeknownst to them, had also done the online check-in.

 

It is true that there was not very good communication that day, but the misunderstanding that online check-in meant that no boarding procedures were required was not something I would have foreseen as requiring communication.  What I found unfortunate was that the Insignia never let these boarding people know that the Insignia was not allowed (via local? regulation) to provide food and water to the folk waiting to board, before they boarded, that it was the responsibility of the port authority to care for the boarding folk.  Unfortunate because many of the folk who boarded that day blamed Insignia, and never got over it.

 

The value of communicating, clearly.

 

Cheers from Greg of the WildWanderers.

 

 

[nuevowavo]

50 minutes ago, WildWanderers said:

Hi All,

 

There is a difference between "online check-in" (title of this thread) and boarding at the port (most of the discussion in this thread).  And it can be an important distinction.

 

I raise this only because of an incident in Miami when folk were boarding for Gems of the Leewards on the Insignia on December 17, 2023.  People did not get to board until late afternoon even if they had been waiting since early morning due to a major storm and the Insignia losing its place in the queue for docking.  

 

When we left the ship (as required as we were continuing on a back-to-back), and then went to re-board, we passed through the people waiting to embark.  Many of them were angry that they could not just get onto the ship because weeks ago they had done the online check-in, and they thought that should be enough, that they should be able to "bypass all of these other people", who in fact, unbeknownst to them, had also done the online check-in.

 

It is true that there was not very good communication that day, but the misunderstanding that online check-in meant that no boarding procedures were required was not something I would have foreseen as requiring communication.  What I found unfortunate was that the Insignia never let these boarding people know that the Insignia was not allowed (via local? regulation) to provide food and water to the folk waiting to board, before they boarded, that it was the responsibility of the port authority to care for the boarding folk.  Unfortunate because many of the folk who boarded that day blamed Insignia, and never got over it.

 

The value of communicating, clearly.

 

Cheers from Greg of the WildWanderers.

 

 

We were on that cruise, PH1, with an assigned boarding time of 11:30 am. Received an email from Oceania that morning that asked everyone to wait until 2 pm to arrive at Terminal J, so we took our time, had some lunch, and showed up right at 2. As we walked into the completely full waiting area we were handed a card that put us in "Group 11". I believe it was around 3 that they announced that boarding would begin, with suite passengers to board first, so we got ready to go. But after a bit when they began boarding, they asked "Group 1" to get in line. Never mentioned cabin class again. We finally boarded around 5 pm.

I don't think there was any way to get food and water for all those people, especially since the delay was a last minute thing. There was a vending machine with drinks in the waiting area.

This was our first Oceania cruise, and beyond the minor inconvenience of having to wait to board (and we didn't have a seat) we enjoyed every other aspect of it thoroughly. Should we have been upset that they changed the procedure of suite passengers boarding first to first come, first served? Why let that spoil an otherwise excellent vacation?

 

 

Edited February 9 by nuevowavo

[Jim_Iain]

Can anyone advise when on-line check-in opens?  Do you get an e-mail advising when it opens for selection of check-in times?

 

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Can anyone advise when on-line check-in opens?  Do you get an e-mail advising when it opens for selection of check-in times?

 

They sent out an email around 4 weeks before the cruise advising that you will get a ‘check-in’ email shortly. When you get the email to ‘check-in’ for the cruise which is roughly 21days prior you will get to pick your boarding time from a list during the check-in process. 

[Harters]

Vallesan's description of the process is exactly what happened for our recent Vista cruise. 

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, Harters said:

Vallesan's description of the process is exactly what happened for our recent Vista cruise. 

 I only filled in my ‘check-in’ form last week which is  how I can remember the procedure!

[pinotlover]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:54 AM, WildWanderers said:

Hi All,

 

There is a difference between "online check-in" (title of this thread) and boarding at the port (most of the discussion in this thread).  And it can be an important distinction.

 

I raise this only because of an incident in Miami when folk were boarding for Gems of the Leewards on the Insignia on December 17, 2023.  People did not get to board until late afternoon even if they had been waiting since early morning due to a major storm and the Insignia losing its place in the queue for docking.  

 

When we left the ship (as required as we were continuing on a back-to-back), and then went to re-board, we passed through the people waiting to embark.  Many of them were angry that they could not just get onto the ship because weeks ago they had done the online check-in, and they thought that should be enough, that they should be able to "bypass all of these other people", who in fact, unbeknownst to them, had also done the online check-in.

 

It is true that there was not very good communication that day, but the misunderstanding that online check-in meant that no boarding procedures were required was not something I would have foreseen as requiring communication.  What I found unfortunate was that the Insignia never let these boarding people know that the Insignia was not allowed (via local? regulation) to provide food and water to the folk waiting to board, before they boarded, that it was the responsibility of the port authority to care for the boarding folk.  Unfortunate because many of the folk who boarded that day blamed Insignia, and never got over it.

 

The value of communicating, clearly.

 

Cheers from Greg of the WildWanderers.

 

 

I believe that part of this issue revolves around Oceania maintaining a one size fits all approach vs what happens at the port. We have done Embarkment where the passenger turnaround approached 95%, while on other days it was closer to 25-30%. On an O ship that represents a substantial number of people differential.

 

Some ports run checkin and immigration very smoothly and efficiently. For others, immigration can be a huge bottleneck. Some port authorities won’t let passengers into the port until their assigned boarding times, while others allow one in to wait.  Buenos Aires is one of those ports that does both: you can’t get in until your assigned time, and they are notoriously slow in immigration. Two things happened on our boarding day they where 800 were to board that day. 
 

First, Oceania gave out far more early boarding times than the port could handle. Many of those with assigned early boarding times were given new later boarding times upon arrival by the port personnel. Second, all those fans of Boardamania with later times were turned away. They couldn’t enter, to get a new later boarding time until their original assigned time. If the new assignment was more than one hour out, you couldn’t wait in the waiting area. We arrived at our assigned time of 2:00, they took our baggage, and were then given a 3:30 boarding time. So out into the larger port area we went. Some with 11:00 originally assigned times didn’t board until 2:00.

 

A couple of thoughts. Had only 250-300 new passengers been boarding, it would probably have been a different experience. Only Oceania knows how many new passengers there will be and they have enough experience at some of these ports, they should have severely limited the number of assigned early boarding and stretch them apart further.
Second, there are those that ignore their assigned time that makes Boardamania worse. I believe Oceania mostly has a set procedure and whatever happens at the port happens. Fortunately, BA was a great terminal with lots of shops and restaurants, so plenty to do while you wait to get into the waiting/boarding area.
 

Fwiw, we all made it on the ship. The ship departed maybe an hour late, but we made the relatively close first port on time the next morning. Go with the flow.

 

[MEFIowa]

11 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

... Buenos Aires is one of those ports that does both: you can’t get in until your assigned time, and they are notoriously slow in immigration....

Yes, outside of Miami everything...depends. In Triest on 10/30/23 nothing seemed to matter. I suspect many stayed on board, so fewer new embarkations. It was the start of our B2B so we didn't disembark in Athens on 11/9/23. For us, anyone just pulled up in their taxi and went to the entrance. Which had a tiny number of people. Seemingly more workers than passengers. There was no line at 12:30 pm when we arrived. We'd taken the train from Venice to Trieste. We grabbed a bite of lunch and then walked back off to sightsee for the afternoon before departure. 

[Vallesan]

@pinotlover @MEFIowa

Food for thought!
We are travelling on the first Marina cruise after her refurbishment so obviously the entire cruise contingent will be embarking on the same day. The cruise is ‘waitlisted’ so that will be 1200+! Given that the ship isn’t debarking any passengers I wonder if the cabins will be available earlier than normal? 
You’ve certainly given me food for thought about boarding times.

[pinotlover]

8 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

@pinotlover @MEFIowa

Food for thought!
We are travelling on the first Marina cruise after her refurbishment so obviously the entire cruise contingent will be embarking on the same day. The cruise is ‘waitlisted’ so that will be 1200+! Given that the ship isn’t debarking any passengers I wonder if the cabins will be available earlier than normal? 
You’ve certainly given me food for thought about boarding times.

I would never show up for that level of Boardamania. You know many of the self absorbed will show up early regardless. Plan on arriving at 3ish and avoid the mess. That lunch in the TC isn’t that special to take on that level of Boardamania regardless of how much one might like the TC.

 

You already know that Oceania will dump bus loads of folk around noon of people staying on their hotel plans. 😳

Edited May 8 by pinotlover

[WESTEAST]

On 2/6/2024 at 7:18 PM, pinotlover said:

There are ports and cruise terminals that will not allow entry until the posted time on ones boarding pass. This is controlled by the port authority, not the ship.

 

Meanwhile, for other locations it doesn’t matter. It all depends upon the port in which one is embarking. Those searching for a one size fits all answer will be lead astray. Your question on this issue should be focused on the actual port in which you are embarking, not a blanket question. Details matter.

 

One should say “ I’m embarking in Papette, or in Athens, do our reserved boarding times matter. You will get hugely different answers depending upon which port you queried.

Agree it is the Port Authority that controls entry.  Example in March, our embarkment in Yokohama was chaotic: marched all passengers into an outdoor kiosk to sit where we waited in the cold with no priority to stateroom category nor designated online check-in time. People were angry. Being part of the three day land package at the Tokyo Hilton and hence, there were many buses arriving at the port at the same time which contributed to the problem. However, no Oceania rep was present nor communication provided. Notified our Concierge and he indicated that Oceania should have done a better job in assisting passengers and they are looking at how they can improve (really as this is not the first time embarking from this port)! This was our worst embarkment experience as typically there are queues set up by stateroom category and generally goes smooth per your online check-in time.

[pinotlover]

12 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Agree it is the Port Authority that controls entry.  Example in March, our embarkment in Yokohama was chaotic: marched all passengers into an outdoor kiosk to sit where we waited in the cold with no priority to stateroom category nor designated online check-in time. People were angry. Being part of the three day land package at the Tokyo Hilton and hence, there were many buses arriving at the port at the same time which contributed to the problem. However, no Oceania rep was present nor communication provided. Notified our Concierge and he indicated that Oceania should have done a better job in assisting passengers and they are looking at how they can improve (really as this is not the first time embarking from this port)! This was our worst embarkment experience as typically there are queues set up by stateroom category and generally goes smooth per your online check-in time.

We were on the next cruise out of Yokohama. Same situation. We were unfortunately on one of those Oceania pre cruise bus dumps that turned a poor situation bad. 
 

[pinotlover]

I think the most entertaining Boardamania story came from a couple that are currently on, I believe, their 3rd Oceania ATW. Even though it has been a R ship, Boardamania on the ATW is extreme, and the reason O has supposedly gone to multiple ports to dampen the effect.

 

People that are going to be on a ship for 180 days, with about a third of those sea days, lining up ( or attempting to in Miami) hours early to get that lunch in the TC! 😂 The lady said she couldn’t imagine how bad it will be on the larger Vista! 😳

 

Their new SOP: depending upon itinerary, book one or two cruise segments aboard the ship pre ATW, and go to South Beach until all aboard. Their TA gets them all the same benefits for those early segments as the ATW.

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, Vallesan said:

They sent out an email around 4 weeks before the cruise advising that you will get a ‘check-in’ email shortly. When you get the email to ‘check-in’ for the cruise which is roughly 21days prior you will get to pick your boarding time from a list during the check-in process. 

 

Thanks much.   We have to get our Passports Renewed (out of pages) so will have plenty of time to get out new passports as we don't sail until September.

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks much.   We have to get our Passports Renewed (out of pages) so will have plenty of time to get out new passports as we don't sail until September.

May sure you get the expanded pages version.