Island Princess Boarding

[las313]

We will be boarding the Island Princess on Sept 25th. Even thought it says no boarding until 1 pm, how early can we arrive? We will be boarding with wheelchair assistance. Can we early board with this?

Louise

[Pam in CA]

Boarding usually starts between 11:30am-Noon. You can get there to drop off your luggage by 10:30am or so. Let the reps know at the entrance that you require wheelchair assistance. If the person is already in a wheelchair, that will be obvious.

 

You will be directed to an elevator rather than an escalator. Once you're upstairs, you'll be directed to a special needs check-in line separate from regular check in. You will probably be boarded before general boarding. Porters will assist you with check-in and to the ship. Just before the gangway, someone from the ship will assist the wheelchair onboard and to your cabin. (The terminal porters are not allowed on the ship and likewise, ship staff are not allowed to assist in the terminal.)

 

You will receive information on wheelchair disembarkation at the end of your cruise a couple of days prior to disembarkation. Usually, you are directed to a public room where ship's staff are available to assist you off the ship. Once over the gangway, porters from the terminal will assist you.

[AndyTheK]

Here's our experience: DW arrives at the port on her own manual chair and our personalizer is marked "requires assistance". We have always been acknowledged immediately and assisted through check-in quickly. As soon as an assitor (word?) is available, we are taken aboard. One way to look at it is that there is in fact a separate line for those needing assistance, and it moves at a good rate independently of other lines. You didn't mention which port, but this has been true for us at FLL, Quebec and Southampton (twice).

 

In short, arrive at the port as early as you like. We've never had to wait more than ten minutes for someone to take care of her.

 

Have a great cruise and shalom from Tel Aviv. Andy.

[xltiny]

I believe Island Princess docks in San Francisco that day at 10 am (instead of the normal 7-9am ) that I have seen in the past, (I checked both my itinerary and the dock schedule) as I am disembarking that day from the Island, so it might be pretty crowded around 11am around the port facilities.

[las313]

thanks for the help. It sounds easy.

Shalom to you too Andy...

Louise

[las313]

Thanks again for all the help. Hope it works out for us.