What happens if we are early?

[Chicago Boy]

If someone can explain guest ticket as opposed to xpress pass I would be grateful. Apparently the boarding time for our deck is only 4 pm which rather puts paid to my plans for lunch. What would happen if we did arrive with the first group (11 am ). Would we have to sit and twiddle our thumbs for 5 hours?

 

 

If you board early and your cabin is not ready usually a general announcement will be made telling the guest what time the cabins will be ready. In the meantime just go to lunch or acquaint yourself with the ship.

[mutare]

A new level of Captain's Club where you can enroll in Captain's Club before taking your first Celebrity cruise. The information is on Celebrity's website.

 

Thank you I am now a member! It's amazing what you learn on CC:)

[phoenix_dream]

I would be very surprised if staggered boarding times became the norm. It would create considerable hardship on travelers, as most experienced cruisers know to get to port at least a day ahead of time. Check-out time for hotels is around noon, so what in the world would people be doing for the few hours in-between? I suspect this is just port-specific and not a trial of a new process.

[Pobman]

The details of Oz and NZ staggered boarding times are on the Celebrity Australia site:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com.au/content/en_AU/staggered_checkin_times.html

[K.T.B.]

Regardless of what time I would be allowed to board, I would still arrive early at about 10:30. :D I'd rather be there waiting to board instead of anywhere else at that time!

[Lsimon]

If someone can explain guest ticket as opposed to xpress pass I would be grateful....

 

There are no longer any cruise tickets as, like the airlines, everything is electronic. They still issue what they call a Guest Ticket Booklet, which is also frequently just called "Docs" or E-Docs on these boards . But this no longer has tickets in it (hasn't since I've been cruising) and is mostly just an information booklet.

 

The Xpress pass is issued once you have have entered your pre-boarding information online. It has several purposes none of which is absolutely essential. Having one speeds up pier check-in once you reach the counter since having one in hand assures you that your online check-in was complete and the bar code on it helps the pier check-in clerk quickly locate your record.

 

Also, you generally need some sort of evidence you are on the cruise to get through port security and into the cruise terminal. The Xpress pass has become the preferred document for this although other types of confirmations should be OK as well.

[mutare]

There are no longer any cruise tickets as, like the airlines, everything is electronic. They still issue what they call a Guest Ticket Booklet, which is also frequently just called "Docs" or E-Docs on these boards . But this no longer has tickets in it (hasn't since I've been cruising) and is mostly just an information booklet.

 

The Xpress pass is issued once you have have entered your pre-boarding information online. It has several purposes none of which is absolutely essential. Having one speeds up pier check-in once you reach the counter since having one in hand assures you that your online check-in was complete and the bar code on it helps the pier check-in clerk quickly locate your record.

 

Also, you generally need some sort of evidence you are on the cruise to get through port security and into the cruise terminal. The Xpress pass has become the preferred document for this although other types of confirmations should be OK as well.

 

Thank you, your answer makes perfect sense. I'm so glad there are people out there who know all this stuff.

[pris993]

Monkey see, monkey do... seems X is taking a page out of Princess boarding process. Similar process have been used by Princess, especially in San Francisco.

 

My experiences is the old process worked better for Princess... so not a smart change.

[Ron_L]

A new level of Captain's Club where you can enroll in Captain's Club before taking your first Celebrity cruise. The information is on Celebrity's website.

 

I went through the process to sign up for this, which included logging in to my Celebrity account, and now I can no longer see my December cruise, and when I try to add it I get a message that they are having technical difficulties :rolleyes: Hopefully that will get resolved soon!

[Ron_L]

Therefore it affects only a small percentage of passengers, namely, first time X passengers who are not staying in a suite, who did not book the air through ChoiceAir, and who did not purchase transfer from X.

 

As one of that small percentage of passengers (first time on Celeb, can't afford a suite, using miles for air and arriving a couple of days early so Celeb transfer not possible), I sure hope that this procedure isn't in place in San Juan in December. We'll be in San Juan for 2 1/2 days before the cruise so we don't need extra time to explore. We'll be ready to board and explore the new ship instead.

 

Sounds like a good reason to join the Captain's Club, even the precruise level as that would give you priority boarding in this case.

 

I hope that is the case!

[KiwiFunCruiser]

The details of Oz and NZ staggered boarding times are on the Celebrity Australia site:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com.au/content/en_AU/staggered_checkin_times.html

 

Thanks for the info as we are on the Solstice from Auckland Jan 3. The suggested boarding time is 3.30 pm so we thought we might drop off the bags at 1.00 pm and try and see if we can board from 2.00 pm onward's and hopefully still be able to get a byte of lunch on board. Does anyone thing that would be OK?.

[pattyj 1204]

There are a number of Auckland natives on the board, maybe they can advise us if there is a luggage storage space somewhere near the terminal. I think I'm going to check on our roll call. We are on deck 9 and my sister is on deck 7 on the Solstice, so it sounds like we won't be able to get our boarding picture that I really want. We'll see what happens.

[fleckle]

There are a number of Auckland natives on the board, maybe they can advise us if there is a luggage storage space somewhere near the terminal. I think I'm going to check on our roll call. We are on deck 9 and my sister is on deck 7 on the Solstice, so it sounds like we won't be able to get our boarding picture that I really want. We'll see what happens.

If you board early and are traveling with others who arrive later, all you need to do is walk back down and join them when they arrive to have a group boarding picture taken of all of you together.

 

For that matter, even after all of you have boarded you can still go back down to get a boarding picture taken, as long as the photographers are still there with their "boarding photo" backdrop set up.

When you show your boarding picture to your friends and family, nobody will know that you didn't all board together, unless you tell them. :D

 

 

[boingy300]

Wow a delayed boarding in Sydney? No worries! Drop off your bags and climb the Harbor Bridge! Tour the Rocks. Hop on a double decker and tour. Walk through the botanical gardens. Have the best slice of garlic bread ever (I can't explain why) in front of the Opera House. Ferry over to Luna Park for a fun picture. The zoo maybe? Oh Sydney how I love you. You have plenty of time to explore the ship. Play, play, play while in port. I'm totaling looking forward to New Zealand in 2016. I am Captain club, but will board as late as possible.

Karen

[teecee60]

The details of Oz and NZ staggered boarding times are on the Celebrity Australia site:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com.au/content/en_AU/staggered_checkin_times.html

 

The referenced announcement uses the word "RECOMMENDATIONS"

 

The times are not mandatory. You won't be denied boarding. JEEZ!

 

It's just a way to try and stagger the workload to reduce wait times.

Edited October 27, 2013 by teecee60

[Waihekean]

There is no terminal in Auckland, so it seems that X is recommending/testing a staggered system.

Have never noticed before that boarding is a huge problem, (i.e. complaints from Pax etc.) but it is only since the last couple of years that the really large ships are docking.

 

There are always Pax that will be arriving early (myself included if at all possible). Sometimes you can just walk through, at other times if many are early then there is a longer queue and therefore a longer boarding time.

[suncrab]

There is no terminal in Auckland, so it seems that X is recommending/testing a staggered system.

Have never noticed before that boarding is a huge problem, (i.e. complaints from Pax etc.) but it is only since the last couple of years that the really large ships are docking.

 

There are always Pax that will be arriving early (myself included if at all possible). Sometimes you can just walk through, at other times if many are early then there is a longer queue and therefore a longer boarding time.

 

Celebrity Solstice will be at Princess Wharf, it does have an overseas terminal there. But because it is a bigger ship it will mean that there will be longer queues.

Edited October 27, 2013 by suncrab
spelling

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Princess wharf is the smaller terminal, Shed 10 is the newly renovated larger terminal on Queens wharf but Solstice is too big to dock there. Yes queues will be long at the start, so we are hoping that they will be smaller after 2.00 pm or so.

[Waihekean]

To be honest do not know the name of the wharf, but recently saw the Solstice (20th of Oct'13) at the wharf just outside of the Hilton Hotel and opposite of the Waiheke ferry dock. There is definitely no terminal there.

[KiwiFunCruiser]

To be honest do not know the name of the wharf, but recently saw the Solstice (20th of Oct'13) at the wharf just outside of the Hilton Hotel and opposite of the Waiheke ferry dock. There is definitely no terminal there.

 

The terminal is next to the Hilton on Princess wharf, but it is only a tiny couple of customs and immigration rooms for embarking and disembarking. It really has been a joke for them to call it a terminal all this time. The newly renovated Shed 10 is much bigger but cannot take long ships, so now we have two terminals one small and one larger lol!!

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10906232

[Waihekean]

Hay! at least I know now that the so called Hilton wharf is the Princess wharf;)