Southampton Embarkation Question

[Fletch1]

Greetings,

 

We are due to board the Queen Victoria in a couple of weeks at Southampton. We have been allotted at time of 3.15pm boarding time. We have to check out of our hotel by midday and we have nowhere else to go, so we will just go to the port.

 

My question is if we get at the check in before our allotted time, we will be able to board early or will they make us wait until our allotted time of 3.15pm?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[Poole Boy]

Boarding times are assigned to ensure a smooth flow of people through the terminal, I'm sure your hotel will hold you bags for a couple of hours and you could go to West Quay for lunch and then go to the port.  The risk is if you go to the port early they may keep you waiting outside until there is space inside the terminal building. In any event boarding does not usually start until 12:30, so the terminal will already be busy.

[exlondoner]

12 minutes ago, Poole Boy said:

Boarding times are assigned to ensure a smooth flow of people through the terminal, I'm sure your hotel will hold you bags for a couple of hours and you could go to West Quay for lunch and then go to the port.  The risk is if you go to the port early they may keep you waiting outside until there is space inside the terminal building. In any event boarding does not usually start until 12:30, so the terminal will already be busy.

Yes, I think it depends very much on when the ship is ready for passengers. If they have started letting people on board, then the terminal gradually empties, and there is room for those who arrive early. But if there is a delay, then the terminal will be too crowded and they will make you wait outside. I think it may well have thinned out by 2 pm, but 12.30 is probably the busiest time.

[esrs]

While you might have to vacate your hotel room, your hotel won't boot you out of the public spaces/lounge/etc. We've happily sat for an hour or so with books and booked a taxi to pick us up  nearer our boarding time. We'd rather sit in a comfortable place than stand around outside in a restless crowd.

[john watson]

It is never possible to be certain how soon you are allowed to board the ship.  I should check out the hotel and sit in their foyer with your luggage and have a coffee etc.  Get a taxi to cruise terminal about 1pm and put your luggage through the hole in the wall.  Just play it by ear in the terminal, they generally check you in then you are asked to wait various lengths of time.  They have some very basic snacks and drinks there plus toilet facilities. They call you whenever and you can be lucky. There is not a specific restriction to wait until the allocated time as such.. They just process the passengers as efficiently as they can with certain types, having priority.

 

Regards John.

[Fletch1]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Appreciate your advice.

[TowandaUK]

Just wondering if we could drop off our luggage with the porters, and go into Southampton for a couple of hours, returning at our allotted time for embarkation?

[Host Hattie]

2 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

Just wondering if we could drop off our luggage with the porters, and go into Southampton for a couple of hours, returning at our allotted time for embarkation?

Yes, that's fine. 

[Fletch1]

14 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Yes, that's fine. 

 

Great. That is what we will do.

Edited April 22 by Fletch1

[PORT ROYAL]

On 4/21/2024 at 12:14 PM, Fletch1 said:

Greetings,

 

We are due to board the Queen Victoria in a couple of weeks at Southampton. We have been allotted at time of 3.15pm boarding time. We have to check out of our hotel by midday and we have nowhere else to go, so we will just go to the port.

 

My question is if we get at the check in before our allotted time, we will be able to board early or will they make us wait until our allotted time of 3.15pm?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

D+ is an error on one’s part.  

(D+ may possibly appear on Cunard in the future)

Should read D, this equates to Diamond level of Cunard World Club.  This attracts the benefit of priority boarding  at embarkation.  Which we don’t use, preferring to arrival later.

Edited April 22 by PORT ROYAL
D

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 4/21/2024 at 7:21 AM, Poole Boy said:

Boarding times are assigned to ensure a smooth flow of people through the terminal, I'm sure your hotel will hold you bags for a couple of hours and you could go to West Quay for lunch and then go to the port.  The risk is if you go to the port early they may keep you waiting outside until there is space inside the terminal building. In any event boarding does not usually start until 12:30, so the terminal will already be busy.

 

They held people outside when I boarded QV in October. The only people allowed to go right in were Grills, Diamond, Platinum. There were plenty of staff at their posts with nothing to do, so I don't know why they held people outside. 

 

7 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

D+ is Diamond Plus level of Cunard World Club.  This attracts the benefit of priority boarding  at embarkation.  Which we don’t use, preferring to arrival later.

 

What's Diamond Plus? The highest level I'm aware of is diamond.

[exlondoner]

21 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

They held people outside when I boarded QV in October. The only people allowed to go right in were Grills, Diamond, Platinum. There were plenty of staff at their posts with nothing to do, so I don't know why they held people outside. 

 

 

What's Diamond Plus? The highest level I'm aware of is diamond.

Mind you, on some cruises, by the time they have let in Grills, Diamond, Plats, and possibly BC, there are only a few people left behind. The only reason I can see for keeping people outside is if the terminal itself was very crowded even though the check ins weren’t busy.

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Mind you, on some cruises, by the time they have let in Grills, Diamond, Plats, and possibly BC, there are only a few people left behind. The only reason I can see for keeping people outside is if the terminal itself was very crowded even though the check ins weren’t busy.

 

There was a lot of seating available that day, which is why I thought it was odd. Staff with nothing to do could have taken care of those passengers easily. Even if early arrivals had to sit, it was better than standing outside. 

[Poole Boy]

7 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Mind you, on some cruises, by the time they have let in Grills, Diamond, Plats, and possibly BC, there are only a few people left behind. The only reason I can see for keeping people outside is if the terminal itself was very crowded even though the check ins weren’t busy.

It could be that the security lanes were busy, security check and searches is usually the bottleneck, rather than checkin.

 

[exlondoner]

11 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

There was a lot of seating available that day, which is why I thought it was odd. Staff with nothing to do could have taken care of those passengers easily. Even if early arrivals had to sit, it was better than standing outside. 

That really does seem daft.

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, Poole Boy said:

It could be that the security lanes were busy, security check and searches is usually the bottleneck, rather than checkin.

 

Yes, it is odd how often people get to the front of the queue and appear astonished to discover they need to remove their outer garments, despite the notices everywhere telling them to do this.

[3rdGenCunarder]

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, it is odd how often people get to the front of the queue and appear astonished to discover they need to remove their outer garments, despite the notices everywhere telling them to do this.

 

I have a knack for getting in the gueue behind that person. 

[Winifred 22]

On 4/22/2024 at 5:55 PM, exlondoner said:

Yes, it is odd how often people get to the front of the queue and appear astonished to discover they need to remove their outer garments, despite the notices everywhere telling them to do this.

That will be the same folk who don’t have their cruise cards ready to show when getting back onboard despite the fact they have just shown them at the port gates. 

[shippmates]

I seem to get behind the person who uses the Cunard app for their boarding pass, and they have to stand and scan through all their downloads to find the boarding pass.  I am old school so I print all my needed papers.  I think if you have to look for your needed documents, persons with the printed documents should be able to go ahead until they find what they need.  

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, shippmates said:

I seem to get behind the person who uses the Cunard app for their boarding pass, and they have to stand and scan through all their downloads to find the boarding pass.  I am old school so I print all my needed papers.  I think if you have to look for your needed documents, persons with the printed documents should be able to go ahead until they find what they need.  

It did indeed seem to be the case, that, when there was a lot of paperwork because of Covid, it was much quicker for people to flip through a few sheets till they got to the right one than fiddle around on their phones. This was unexpected but undoubtedly the case.

[TouchstoneFeste]

On 4/28/2024 at 4:49 AM, shippmates said:

I seem to get behind the person who uses the Cunard app for their boarding pass, and they have to stand and scan through all their downloads to find the boarding pass.  I am old school so I print all my needed papers.  I think if you have to look for your needed documents, persons with the printed documents should be able to go ahead until they find what they need.  

For what it's worth: The US site still says

"Have your printed boarding pass ready to present as soon as you arrive, and we will show you to the nearest check-in desk."

if you dive down into "Before You Sail", "Embarkation & Disembarkation". Obviously this isn't strictly enforced. But ...

 

Cunard app?