Cunard Arrival Time For Departure

Hello,

This will be our first Cunard cruise can't wait. We have an arrival time for 14:30. How strict is Cunard for letting you on the ship? Do think we will me able to get onboard sooner?

Thanks

How soon is "sooner"? Almost everybody wants to be on board in time for lunch and unpacked before the muster drill. Staggered boarding times are given in the hope that 2600 people don't all try to show up at once. The last time I was at Redhook people were arriving way too early - while the ship was still disembarking.

To answer your question nobody is turned away at the terminal if they show up early. You will be checked in but may have to wait in a lounge if your stateroom isn't yet ready. You will also encounter long check-in lines because too many passengers are trying to do exactly what you are trying to do. It's a logistical impossibility for everyone to be on the ship by Noon.

How soon is "sooner"? Almost everybody wants to be on board in time for lunch and unpacked before the muster drill. Staggered boarding times are given in the hope that 2600 people don't all try to show up at once. The last time I was at Redhook people were arriving way too early - while the ship was still disembarking.

 

To answer your question nobody is turned away at the terminal if they show up early. You will be checked in but may have to wait in a lounge if your stateroom isn't yet ready. You will also encounter long check-in lines because too many passengers are trying to do exactly what you are trying to do. It's a logistical impossibility for everyone to be on the ship by Noon.

Thanks for the input. We are staying near the cruise terminal so it's not going to be a problem for us to arrive at 14:30.

How soon is "sooner"? Almost everybody wants to be on board in time for lunch and unpacked before the muster drill. Staggered boarding times are given in the hope that 2600 people don't all try to show up at once. The last time I was at Redhook people were arriving way too early - while the ship was still disembarking.

To answer your question nobody is turned away at the terminal if they show up early. You will be checked in but may have to wait in a lounge if your stateroom isn't yet ready. You will also encounter long check-in lines because too many passengers are trying to do exactly what you are trying to do. It's a logistical impossibility for everyone to be on the ship by Noon.

Ditto,

We embarked on 7/1/17 at Redhook and yes got there early due to clear roads but arrived at 10:50...There was a back up in the terminal with those disembarking thru the other entrance and congesting the front of the terminal. WOW, what a back up! Even the security was challenged to handling the traffic.

Slow going thru security and the security frames. We were lucky to be Diamond and easy check in but had quite a wait in the lounge. Lucky we knew someone that help pass the time. But there was congestion at 11:50 when the doors opened to the gangway.

We did get to our cabin to check it out and went to the Kings Court. Well the amount of people the crew had to handle was unbelievable. Not enough tables for all, took time to replace the food especially the hot food. About an hour later the crowds did ease off and all was back to normal.

Yes they do have a system to properly handle everyone and start the cruise off well. Not a good start for many that we noticed.

I don't know what boarding time you were given, but by arriving when you did you and many others exacerbated the problem. It used to be that the entire ship was cleared off somewhere about 10 - 10:30 AM but US immigration and customs has really slowed things down. Only 9 agents, which works out to 4.6 hours if they spend one minute on each passenger.

Last December my scheduled disembarkation time was 9 AM. Didn't get down the gangway until 10:45 and that's in PG. I had to cancel and re-schedule the car and by the time I actually got to the front of the terminal it took at least two phone calls for the driver and I to locate each other. It was a mess from the disembarking passengers trying to meet up with their rides and embarking passengers trying to get on the ship early. Just my observations and experience.

I don't recommend that you arrive in Brooklyn early. Unless you are traveling in Princess or Queens Grill, you may face long lines or just a long wait on a plastic chair in an unattractive shed. You would probably be more comfortable at your hotel or sitting in a cool Brooklyn cafe.

I don't recommend that you arrive in Brooklyn early. Unless you are traveling in Princess or Queens Grill, you may face long lines or just a long wait on a plastic chair in an unattractive shed. You would probably be more comfortable at your hotel or sitting in a cool Brooklyn cafe.

That's as exactly what I was thinking.