I should know about boarding..but

[mountainmare]

Ok so I'm not a cruise newbie, but we usually take our time getting to the ship so never paid attention to the boarding time, just knew we didn't want to miss the ship. Our docs say boarding is at 1pm (Jan 13 Noordam). Is this what they always say but you can board around 11-11:30 anyway. I was planning to go a bit earlier to get lunch in the MDR.

[Sir PMP]

Ok so I'm not a cruise newbie, but we usually take our time getting to the ship so never paid attention to the boarding time, just knew we didn't want to miss the ship. Our docs say boarding is at 1pm (Jan 13 Noordam). Is this what they always say but you can board around 11-11:30 anyway. I was planning to go a bit earlier to get lunch in the MDR.

 

If you're there at 11:30 with all your docs done, you will be on board by 12:30 at the latest ..

[sail7seas]

Except for rare occasions such as if they need to do a deep cleaning or there might be an inspection, boarding for HAL ships in Port Everglades is usually underway by about 11:15 A.M.

 

In almost all cases, the cabins are ready for us to go right to them.

Enjoy Noordam; she's BEAUTIFUL with a wonderful crew.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

You can be at the cruise terminal at 11 when they open the doors. Boarding usually begins around 11:30.

 

Usually the cabins will be ready by 11:30 and you can go directly there and drop off your carry-on luggage.

 

Lunch in the dining room is from Noon until 1:30 on embarkation day.

[kazu]

A word of warning - learned the hard way - if the ship needs deep cleaning (NORO), you will not board until much later - on the good note - on our cruise - lunch was still being offered in the MDR & the lido. :D

[jtl513]

Yes the docs always say 1:00 for a 5:00 sailing.

[Typhoon1]

11:30 boarding. Remember, cabins are now ready when you board.

[excruisestaff]

You can be at the cruise terminal at 11 when they open the doors. Boarding usually begins around 11:30.

 

Usually the cabins will be ready by 11:30 and you can go directly there and drop off your carry-on luggage.

 

Lunch in the dining room is from Noon until 1:30 on embarkation day.

 

True, but lunch on Lido Deck also stays open later than 1:30PM. We try and get there later on and we've missed the lines, boarded right away, dropped off our things in our cabin and went up to Lido to eat. Easy peasy! Oh-oh....maybe I shouldn't have bragged about how nice it was doing it this way or everyone will start doing it :p ENJOY!

 

Maxine

[DiploTraveler]

You can be at the cruise terminal at 11 when they open the doors. Boarding usually begins around 11:30.

 

Usually the cabins will be ready by 11:30 and you can go directly there and drop off your carry-on luggage.

 

Lunch in the dining room is from Noon until 1:30 on embarkation day.

 

Last weeks NA cruise only had lunch 12-1:00 and promptly closed the doors, I might add.

[terrydtx]

We just got off our NA cruise from FLL. We got to the Pier at 11:30am and were in our cabin by noon. My sister and BIL were late on arriving so we waited for them to go have our Mariners embarkation lunch in the MDR. We did not get the MDR until 1:05pm and were told the Mariners lunch ended at 1pm even though HAL advertises it to 1:30pm. I was not too happy about this, but we had a very good non crowded lunch in the lido. It made no sense to me why the Mariners embarkation lunch only lasted from noon to 1pm?:confused:

[mountainmare]

Thanks everyone.

I'll be bummed of we don't have a MDR lunch. We are "just shoot me if I have to go to the lido" people. I HATE the lido.

Not a big deal, I'll just make sure we have snacks to hold us over in case of a MDR emergency. Or we could just take our time and board in the afternoon.

Oh my--life is tough to have such problems.

[Typhoon1]

Last weeks NA cruise only had lunch 12-1:00 and promptly closed the doors, I might add.

 

You're better off going to the Lido. The MDR lunch menu is quite limited on embarkation day.

[mountainmare]

Just shoot me if I have to go to the lido--especially on embarkation day. I HATE the lido.

I don't care if there is only bread and water in the MDR. I don't care if I have to suffer with wine cheese and crackers that I bring on myself on my balcony.

I HATE the lido!!!!

I hate it on HAL, I hate it on any cruiseline.

It is not an option, because I HATE it.

[Sea42]

Is there somewhere on the HAL website that we can check for any type of delayed boarding before heading to the pier in Fort Lauderdale? A phone number to call? I plan on checking here for reports of any code red situation for the cruise before ours but I'm wondering if there is a HAL contact to check with. I'd hate to have to hang out at the pier for a couple hours waiting to board when I could be enjoying myself elsewhere.

Thanks!

[kyriecat]

When I was on Zuiderdam last April, we were told when we checked-in that they were limiting the Mariners' lunch in the MDR to 2-star and up Mariners because there were so many. They were giving out cards at check-in to the eligible Mariners and telling them that they needed to show the card to get into the dining room. My husband and I were only 1-star Mariners then so we didn't get the lunch card. However, we didn't want to fight through the Lido folks so we went to the dining room and politely inquired about seating. The host looked at our room cards, which showed 1-star, but allowed us into the dining room anyway. We were staying in a suite that cruise so I don't know whether our cabin choice got us in or the fact that we asked nicely and were not demanding.

[jkrislc]

When I was on Zuiderdam last April, we were told when we checked-in that they were limiting the Mariners' lunch in the MDR to 2-star and up Mariners because there were so many. They were giving out cards at check-in to the eligible Mariners and telling them that they needed to show the card to get into the dining room. My husband and I were only 1-star Mariners then so we didn't get the lunch card. However, we didn't want to fight through the Lido folks so we went to the dining room and politely inquired about seating. The host looked at our room cards, which showed 1-star, but allowed us into the dining room anyway. We were staying in a suite that cruise so I don't know whether our cabin choice got us in or the fact that we asked nicely and were not demanding.

 

This really bothers me as the embarkation lunch is a benefit that is listed for all Mariner levels. To decide to limit to 2 star and above is fraudulent in my opinion.

[terrydtx]

This really bothers me as the embarkation lunch is a benefit that is listed for all Mariner levels. To decide to limit to 2 star and above is fraudulent in my opinion.

 

I agree 100% as this is clearly printed as a Mariner benefit, however it was not the case on our NA cruise last week. My complaint was the MDR is now only open from noon to 1pm and we were denied access at 1:05pm. The manager told me the published noon to 1:30pm MDR lunch was only for European cruises and was changed on the NA once they started the winter Carib. season, again another bunch of hooey and contradictions to HAL established policy. :eek:

[mountainmare]

This is why I asked about the time on my docs.

The only other time we got to the ship early was before they had the embarkation lunch, we were directed to the lido, but passed the MDR which was open---and empty and had a nice relaxing lunch.

Now I was believing the published Mariner perks that said the lunch was from 12-1:30, which didn't make sense if embarkation was 1.

It also doesn't make sense if they open the doors at 11, start boarding at 11:30 to only have lunch for one hour from 12-1. On a Vista and larger this sort of skews the lunch in favor of those with priority embarkation.

It is starting to make more sense to me to wait and enjoy our ocean front room, have either a large breakfast and pack a snack for the balcony and wait until early afternoon to board.

[terrydtx]

This is why I asked about the time on my docs.

The only other time we got to the ship early was before they had the embarkation lunch, we were directed to the lido, but passed the MDR which was open---and empty and had a nice relaxing lunch.

Now I was believing the published Mariner perks that said the lunch was feom 12-1:30, which didn't make sense if embarkation was 1.

It also doesn't make sense if they open the doors at 11, start boarding at 11:30 to only have lunch for one hour from 12-1. On a Vista and larger this sort of skews the lunch in favor of those with priority embarkation.It is starting to make more sense to me to wait and enjoy our ocean front room, have either a large breakfast and pack a snack for the balcony and wait until early afternoon to board.

 

I am not sure what you mean by priority embarkation? On the NA last week all general embarkation began at 11:30am even though our cruise docs said 1pm.

[kyriecat]

I think she means suite guests have priority boarding. When we got to the Port Everglades terminal to board Zuiderdam in April, actual boarding hadn't started yet. The suite guests were checked in and each given a tag with an "S" on it. Passengers in other cabin types were given tags with numbers based on when they checked in. I'm not sure how many passengers were in each number group. Once we were checked in, we were directed to a big room with lots of chairs where other people were waiting to board.

 

When boarding started at 11:30, passengers with the "S" tag were allowed to board first. Once the suite passengers were onboard, they called for those passengers with tag #1. Once they were onboard, passengers wtih #2 tags were allowed to board, and so on. I assume once the room had cleared, later passengers could just walk on instead of waiting.

[kazu]

I think she means suite guests have priority boarding. When we got to the Port Everglades terminal to board Zuiderdam in April, actual boarding hadn't started yet. The suite guests were checked in and each given a tag with an "S" on it. Passengers in other cabin types were given tags with numbers based on when they checked in. I'm not sure how many passengers were in each number group. Once we were checked in, we were directed to a big room with lots of chairs where other people were waiting to board.

 

When boarding started at 11:30, passengers with the "S" tag were allowed to board first. Once the suite passengers were onboard, they called for those passengers with tag #1. Once they were onboard, passengers wtih #2 tags were allowed to board, and so on. I assume once the room had cleared, later passengers could just walk on instead of waiting.

 

Interesting - on our Transatlantic (out of Civi) last month boarding was delayed because of deep cleaning (NORO). We were just given numbers (no S tags for us). They had a special line up for the 4* mariners & suites - but that was it - we had to go with the number that we had.