Boarding time

[Wolverine Mom]

Thank you in advance to all the experienced cruiser for your help. Our May 15th cruise departs from Athens at 6 pm and we would like to board as late as possible to take in as many sights as we can. What is the latest we can arrive at the ship? Many thanks!

[Hambagahle]

Your departure info will tell you but usually it is 3 hours before sailing, so 3pm. You must attend the Muster drill -anyway you will have most of the day to see Athens. Be careful though. Traffic in Athens is fierce and the Port is in Pireaus, which is about 6km from the center of town...I would not leave central Athens any later than 1330 if I were you.

[gnld]

Your departure info will tell you but usually it is 3 hours before sailing, so 3pm. You must attend the Muster drill -anyway you will have most of the day to see Athens. Be careful though. Traffic in Athens is fierce and the Port is in Pireaus, which is about 6km from the center of town...I would not leave central Athens any later than 1330 if I were you.

 

More like 8 miles (13 km) from the Plaka to the Piraeus cruise port, per Yahoo Maps. Still, 1330 is good, conservative advice.

[LEESRE]

From memory I think it says you must be onbord at least 1 hour before schedule departure time. At least it said this on our last cruise contract.

 

I think that is a little late so I would guess try for 2 hours before just in case.

[Mura]

Just to add to the mix of answers, I was positive that it is TWO hours before scheduled departure!

 

Mura

[JimandStan]

Just to add to the mix of answers, I was positive that it is TWO hours before scheduled departure!

 

Mura

 

+1 for Mura's answer (at least two hours), and this is not a matter to be taken lightly, because in this age of ultra Security, the ship has to provide accurate passenger manifests to the Port Authorities in order to get permission to sail.

 

Stiff penalties come into play, if they miss those filing deadlines. This is a direct quote from the Passenger Ticket contract:

 

Should the actions or inactions of any Guest(s) result in the Ship not sailing at its scheduled departure

time, Carrier shall assess Late Departure Fees, beginning at US$1,000.00 per Guest, to said Guest(s)

directly responsible for any departure that is delayed more then 15 minutes beyond the scheduled and

published departure time, to cover the costs levied against Carrier by port authorities, governmental

and quasi-governmental agencies as agreed and liquidated damages

[YoHoHo]

I thought it was in the 'blue book' but I can't see it now. I am surprised it is not - maybe I just missed it and not in the invoice conditions sections.

 

Though as per below O's website states one hour prior I also thought I saw somewhere 90 minutes - but that might have been for USA port embarkation due to home land security extra vetting.

 

O's website in Guest services -> FAQs. oddly under Shipboard Services and not "Before you Go" where I expected this type of info

 

Q: When can I board?

A: Guests are required to be onboard the vessel at least one hour prior to the scheduled departure time. Early boarding is available to guests booked in Concierge and above staterooms. Guests sailing onboard Regatta, Insignia and Nautica: Concierge and above staterooms - 11:00 AM; All other staterooms - 3:00 PM. Guests sailing onboard Marina and Riviera: Oceania, Vista and Owner's Suites - 11:00 AM; Penthouse Suites - 12:00 PM; Concierge Verandas - 1:00 PM; All other staterooms - 3:00 PM. A lunch buffet is served from 11:30AM to 5:00PM.

[yorkiemomjn]

Does anyone know if it is possible to just check your luggage early and not actually board the ship until later in the day? If so, how early can you do that?

 

Judy

[LHT28]

Does anyone know if it is possible to just check your luggage early and not actually board the ship until later in the day? If so, how early can you do that?

 

Judy

It depends on the port

we dropped our bags in Amsterdam about 10 am but did not board until 3 pm

 

Lyn

[YoHoHo]

Does anyone know if it is possible to just check your luggage early and not actually board the ship until later in the day? If so, how early can you do that?

 

Judy

Yes, you can but I cannot say at what time with certainty.

 

For an early morning arrival in Miami the day of the cruise we were told to not show up at the port until after 10:30 as I recall. Perhaps it was 10. They do not want people and luggage arrive as they are dealing with those disembarking, catching taxi, etc.

 

We killed as much time as our patience and lack of sleep would allow and arrived 9:45'ish. Immediately greeted by several porters and our luggage was safely whisked away.

 

Same thing in BCN but arrived even earlier. In my jetlagged state I thought the folks hanging about the terminal were waiting for things to open so they could leave luggage or wait for boarding as early as possible. After milling about a bit I realize they were disembarking passengers and waiting for their transportation. Once again a porter showed and took our luggage to a security area and off we went to enjoy a few ours in Barcelona. 7:20 flight arrival, pick up luggage, etc. taxi to port so would have been before 9 am

 

We thought even if we could not drop off our luggage that early it would be more convenient to wait at the port for a while rather than using a locker service that we would have to return to first when we did want to board late in the day.

 

It has worked out well for us but a definite answer can be hard to get and it depends on the port I believe. That was our experience with two in any case.

[yorkiemomjn]

Thank you, everyone. I was not sure if we could just check our luggage and leave without actually checking-in. We will be in Istanbul and we wanted to check out of our hotel, leave our luggage at the ship, and go do some more sightseeing on our own. We don't want to store the luggage at the hotel and have to go back to get it.