Southampton Embarkation Time

[cruisegirl999]

Here we go again; another case of 'us and them'

 

The difference in fare pricing is nothing to do with us and them. Everyone (mainly)has a choice which fare they choose to book. If you pay more you should expect to get more for your money.

[babs135]

The difference in fare pricing is nothing to do with us and them. Everyone (mainly)has a choice which fare they choose to book. If you pay more you should expect to get more for your money.

 

We booked early with a cruise on Celebrity (already a fantastic price); one week before we were due to pay the balance the price dropped £100pp, 2 weeks later it dropped a further £200 pp. We didn't expect to be treated any different to those people who had booked late. It's life, and yes, I do realise the pricing policy on P&O is different with its two tiers, so maybe they need to rethink?

 

Please believe me when I'm not here to cause anyone offence, it's just how this and other threads seem to develop. Maybe as a 'newbie' to P&O I don't understand how things work and this 'mentality of us and them' does seem to rear its head an awful lot of times.

 

Perhaps the best thing for me is to 'shut up and just listen' :)

 

PS: DH agrees wholeheartedly with my last statement.

[Presto2]

Didn't mean any offence. QUOTE]

 

Thanks and sorry that I automatically read it the wrong way. I just think that if you pay more then you should expect to get more - like a Select Fare perk. We can't afford a suite and would expect people who had paid those prices to be allowed on the ship before us if P&O change the system and to get the added extras they've paid for. (If that makes sense)

 

Re booking early, I suppose we are lucky and can book early, knowing our holidays well in advance. Not everyone has that luxury - had not thought about that before to be honest.

 

Happy cruising :)

Edited May 25, 2014 by Presto2

[Presto2]

Maybe as a 'newbie' to P&O I don't understand how things work and this 'mentality of us and them' does seem to rear its head an awful lot of times.

.

 

We're pretty new to P&O as well, having spent most of our time on the Celebrity forum. From what we've experienced there is a great bunch of people on here who will give you loads of helpful advice.

 

There will be a little bit of 'us and them' on every cruise line - just let it go over your head and think 'Mrs Bucket' (if you know who I mean!)

[richleeds]

The check in and cruise staff think we all look like meercats just perched upright waiting to to charge as soon as boarding is available and some passengers feel the need to get on the ship on boarding day ASAP - as if their life depended on it!

 

Relax people, let the poor staff have a breather and get the ship ready for the next voyage!

[the english lady]

The check in and cruise staff think we all look like meercats just perched upright waiting to to charge as soon as boarding is available and some passengers feel the need to get on the ship on boarding day ASAP - as if their life depended on it!

 

Relax people, let the poor staff have a breather and get the ship ready for the next voyage!

 

This reminded me of the bestest captain in the whole wide world-Neil Turnbull,who likened passengers getting of in ports as with the speed of a 1000 gazelles. I assume his view from the flying bridge.

I kind of agree with what is being said. Having done 2 B2B now, it is amazing how short the gap is between last ones off from this cruise, and first ones on for the next one.

[Presto2]

The check in and cruise staff think we all look like meercats just perched upright waiting to to charge as soon as boarding is available and some passengers feel the need to get on the ship on boarding day ASAP - as if their life depended on it!

 

Relax people, let the poor staff have a breather and get the ship ready for the next voyage!

 

I can understand the point, but I have to admit that we are those meerkats ------- just can not wait to get on the ship. :D We are happy to wait around though for cabins etc --- just get us on there!

 

After a year or more waiting for a cruise we really have been waiting to get on for a very loooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg time.

 

I hope we are patient with staff getting things ready. :)

[kersh]

Totally agree Presto. We have a long drive to Southampton and even if we book in a hotel the night before we are desperate to get on the ship. Not worried about getting into the cabin but who wants to be sat in the departure lounge watching everone else get on board. But better the departure lounge than wandering around Southampton with hand luggage.

[David Owl]

A quick look through the responses seems to suggest that there are some who want to be on the ship as soon as possible, and those who aren't bothered.

 

The answer therefore is simple. Those who don't care can board later and those who want be be on and get their holiday started, like me, can get on at 11.00

[majortom10]

I;ll try this one more time. You don't have to hang around Southampton. You check in and wait to embark. That's how it works on Fred. You are then called by deck. It's hasn't happened for P&O yet, but I'm sure it will. Don't you think they need some time to clean the ship and get the cabins ready? Arriving at 11.30 is just plain daft.

 

P&O you used to check in and were given a coloured card and you waited in departure lounge for you deck to be called and you started embarking at 2pm. That is how it was when we first cruised with P&O in 2000 it has only these last few years where you embarked straight away from midday and then either went to buffet restaurant for lunch or to specified lounge for buffet and champagne for higher tiers of Peninsular Club. Perhaps Fred Olsen stick to the way P&O used to do it because they have smaller ships and also dont have to provide lunch when embarking. As another thought Princess when we have sailed from Southampton you board from midday and go straight to your cabin drop off all your belongings and then you can either go to buffet restaurant for lunch or to MDR for waiter service 3 course lunch.

Edited May 25, 2014 by majortom10

[richleeds]

A quick look through the responses seems to suggest that there are some who want to be on the ship as soon as possible, and those who aren't bothered.

 

The answer therefore is simple. Those who don't care can board later and those who want be be on and get their holiday started, like me, can get on at 11.00

 

Simple or you could look at it from others points of view?

 

Lots of other cruise lines have later disembarkation on the final day of the cruise. We would much rather have a later check in and subsequent later check out rather than having to vacate our cabin at the crack of dawn just so some eager beavers can board at 11:00.

[Presto2]

Totally agree Presto. We have a long drive to Southampton and even if we book in a hotel the night before we are desperate to get on the ship. Not worried about getting into the cabin but who wants to be sat in the departure lounge watching everone else get on board. But better the departure lounge than wandering around Southampton with hand luggage.

 

Hi. we've done both --- we even spent half a day wandering around Rome once before we embarked the Celebrity Silhouette. Now Rome is more than special, but we just wanted to get on to the ship :)

 

Looking at this thread it is just 'horses for courses' ----- I just hope that P&O get it right this time if they change their system and hope that it isn't just another PR disaster.

 

We are on the Britannia next year deck 8 -- I really worry that we may have to wait until 3pm to embark. :(

[shallwe]

We had a 3.00pm embark time back in February. It meant that we had a leisurely morning, then an hour and a half drive drive to our Parkatmyhouse drive, get a taxi and board at about 2.45pm.

 

The leisure time at home was well worth it for us.

[richleeds]

We had a 3.00pm embark time back in February. It meant that we had a leisurely morning, then an hour and a half drive drive to our Parkatmyhouse drive, get a taxi and board at about 2.45pm.

 

The leisure time at home was well worth it for us.

 

 

Much more sensible way of doing things!

[kevinyork]

It turns into a debate because the other big companies have changed in the past few weeks and there was talk of P&O and Cunard following suit. Remember to be forewarned is to be forearmed. It is not good practice to give out information which could change within the next few weeks or months. Unless you add what could happen.

 

 

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Our Celebrity cruise ending last Saturday showed set boarding times by deck. However we arrived at 11.00 and were straight onboard. The set boarding times were not being enforced at all. They said it was due to refurbishment of the terminal.

 

Our P&O cruises have always shown boarding times but weve always ignored them amd never had a problem.

 

 

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[majortom10]

Much more sensible way of doing things!

 

It is if you live near to Southampton but if you have a very long drive so have to factor in the chance of getting stuck in traffic on a motorway and start very early in the day or you stay in Southampton the night prior your cruise you dont want to be wandering around Southampton from early in morning until mid afternoon.

[Presto2]

It is if you live near to Southampton but if you have a very long drive so have to factor in the chance of getting stuck in traffic on a motorway and start very early in the day or you stay in Southampton the night prior your cruise you dont want to be wandering around Southampton from early in morning until mid afternoon.

 

We always travel down a day or so before. We once travelled down on a Friday the day before we sailed and it took us 6 and a half hours. A nightmare!

We now avoid Fridays and stay at the HolidayInn before we sail. Love to spend a day in Southampton, so really just want to get on the ship on embarkation day.

 

Each to their own I suppose.

[daiB]

Our Celebrity cruise ending last Saturday showed set boarding times by deck. However we arrived at 11.00 and were straight onboard. The set boarding times were not being enforced at all. They said it was due to refurbishment of the terminal.

 

Our P&O cruises have always shown boarding times but weve always ignored them amd never had a problem.

 

 

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The information comes from a briefing of check in staff after consultation with the port authorities, police and companies. So they must be wrong then.

 

 

Dai

[davecttr]

Its all about traffic management, not people arriving by train or by taxi from their hotels. After the check-in desks open at 11.30 any backlog in the terminal clears pretty quickly (Ocean).

 

the solution is to rebuild the old terminals to modern standards.

[Britboys]

I guess the key to this is whether the cruise lines are asking people to only arrive at a time close to their check-in time. That really will not work as most pax want to build in possible delays and may therefore arrive early. The system has not changed that much over the years apart from starting to board earlier. At the Ocean Terminal, you get a coloured card on arrival and wait to check-in whilst, at the Mayflower, you check-in first and then get a coloured card to dictate your boarding time. That was the case when I first started cruising in 1997. Of course, then all 800 of us on the ship probably embarked easily within an hour. Oh - and we got escorted to our cabins by a member of the ship's crew! :)

[CCFC]

The information comes from a briefing of check in staff after consultation with the port authorities, police and companies. So they must be wrong then.

 

 

Dai

 

Someone on a B2B who boarded last Saturday is on our cruise roll for our cruise this coming Saturday and apparently Princess ignored the embarkation times which lead to 2 hour wait times and mayhem. Maybe they are still thinking about it.

[daiB]

Someone on a B2B who boarded last Saturday is on our cruise roll for our cruise this coming Saturday and apparently Princess ignored the embarkation times which lead to 2 hour wait times and mayhem. Maybe they are still thinking about it.

 

 

Yes I am hearing the same from my contacts. I wonder how long they are going to think?

 

 

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[davecttr]

If you have all those passengers told to turn up at 11.30 or noon and they are arriving late you will have all those check-in desks standing idle. so what do they do? People in the departure hall have eyes, they see the empty desks, simple push people through as fast as they can - doh!, back where we started.

 

the concept is good but the practical implementation :rolleyes:

[babs135]

Looking at this from a different angle; what is the latest time I would be allowed to board? Definitely wouldn't want to be as late as last thing, but it happens, no matter how much you plan.

[BrianI]

3.45pm is the cutoff time.

Brian