Worst boarding in 29 years - complete failure

[EDVM96]

39 minutes ago, Coral said:

Here is the building in 2004 (first year Princess was in Whittier):

And NCL started building a second cruise pier in Whittier just west of this one. A berth for two extra ships.

 

 

[sherryf]

14 hours ago, hpeabody said:

I recently experienced boarding at Seattle Pier 91. It was not fun to stand and inch forward with checked suitcase and carry on for an hour or so. It was mayhem, could not even tell where the end of the line was.  I have never been at a port where there are no porters waiting curbside to take your luggage.  The situation was a looooooooong snaking line to get into the luggage check area which is inside a building.  Then proceed to the security metal detectors and check in lines snaking with the same people.  Not a good experience, oh it was cold and rainy too.

There are porters at Pier 91, but if a lot of people all arrive at once, especially the big buses, then there aren't enough porters to go around.  You must have arrived at a very busy time if there were no porters and you had to wait an hour.  I sailed out of Pier 91 a few weeks ago (on HAL) and did not have this problem at all.  We walked right in and dropped our luggage, and were on the ship within about 15 minutes. 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Sorry about your experience. Blessed to cruise since 1971 and have had disorganized boardings in NY, NJ, Rio, Florida and other ports. Hit or miss. Other times at same locations things were smooth 

[cr8tiv1]

On 6/12/2024 at 7:53 PM, cusematt4 said:

0/10 boarding experience and total failure to start a cruise by Princess.  

I agree with everyone else.  Princess is at the mercy of port personnel.  They have no control over processing passengers (porter/luggage, check in, nor security)..  Princess’ responsibility starts when you step upon the ship.  Anything before that is port authority and/or shoreside vendors (except for staffing priority boarding lounge and wheel chair pushes…after passing through security).

[Coral]

7 hours ago, sherryf said:

There are porters at Pier 91, but if a lot of people all arrive at once, especially the big buses, then there aren't enough porters to go around.  You must have arrived at a very busy time if there were no porters and you had to wait an hour.  I sailed out of Pier 91 a few weeks ago (on HAL) and did not have this problem at all.  We walked right in and dropped our luggage, and were on the ship within about 15 minutes. 

When I went (not this year) - I arrived at a very slow time and could not find any porters. No buses were there at the time.

[Thrak]

We've done 2 Alaska cruisetours, both of which boarded in Whittier after the land portion. Neither of them had any issues with boarding. The OP must have has some sort of extenuating circumstances. Weird stuff can happen. Like I said above, we had an extremely long boarding process in Vancouver one time and, additionally, we had a really long wait one time in San Pedro where there weren't enough people to handle the crowd of passengers waiting to board. On both occasions we just waited it out without getting all hot and bothered about the delay. Stuff happens and it's best to just relax and try to make the best of things.

[kdr69]

On 6/13/2024 at 10:40 AM, reedprincess said:

Which still isn't CBP.

CBP is Customs and Border Patrol. Not scanners and such security - that's TSS, although pretty sure the ones at Whittier and other ports are contracted security..

 

CBP TSS whatever. thanks for the correction.  My point is that they are still not contracted by the Cruise Lines but by the Port. Same as Baggage handlers, bags go missing and people complain to the Cruise line. Don't get upset at the wrong entity is all I'm saying.

[sherryf]

On 6/14/2024 at 4:13 AM, Coral said:

When I went (not this year) - I arrived at a very slow time and could not find any porters. No buses were there at the time.

I was just there a few weeks ago and saw porters.  I never use them myself, since I'm perfectly capable of rolling my own suitcase.

[Coral]

5 hours ago, sherryf said:

I was just there a few weeks ago and saw porters.  I never use them myself, since I'm perfectly capable of rolling my own suitcase.

I am capable also. Though - I have often traveled with a disabled parent so I am handling sometimes 4 bags and 2 carry ons.

[cruisequeen4ever]

This is very surprising. We arrived a few weeks ago right after the train did and had almost no security line. Usually Whittier embarkation is synonymous with easy breezy.

[memoak]

1 minute ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

This is very surprising. We arrived a few weeks ago right after the train did and had almost no security line. Usually Whittier embarkation is synonymous with easy breezy.

And most sailings from Whittier are. In the evening. They have all afternoon to board

[Ombud]

On 6/13/2024 at 6:51 AM, hpeabody said:

I recently experienced boarding at Seattle Pier 91. It was not fun to stand and inch forward with checked suitcase and carry on for an hour or so. It was mayhem, could not even tell where the end of the line was.  I have never been at a port where there are no porters waiting curbside to take your luggage.  The situation was a looooooooong snaking line to get into the luggage check area which is inside a building.  Then proceed to the security metal detectors and check in lines snaking with the same people.  Not a good experience, oh it was cold and rainy too.

Yeah I saw that in Seattle. Unfortunately the shuttle experience was equally bad. At least I was able to avoid the inside line bc I only have carryon. So I only went through 2 of the 3 LONG LONG lines 

[hpeabody]

9 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Yeah I saw that in Seattle. Unfortunately the shuttle experience was equally bad. At least I was able to avoid the inside line bc I only have carryon. So I only went through 2 of the 3 LONG LONG lines 

LOL, yeah! The inside line that snaked for more than an hour OUTSIDE in the cold and wet.