OPT Renovations What do you think?

[cruisin-m]

We did a back to back on Voyager in November. Looked forward to the shiny new terminal, particularly after being on that lucky first Solstice cruise that had to embark at White Bay the previous November, and wait in line in the sun for an hour to get on. That was an understandable debacle, so no worries, move on.

 

Our personal observations are:

 

Getting on first time:- As Suite and Diamond we got the priority boarding at a bit after 11 am. That seemed to go pretty quickly through getting the sea pass, and through the customs people, but then the line-up for getting through the scanners. I don't know how it went later, but I would only imagine the lines got longer at that bottleneck? I know Voyager is a lot of people, but it has been coming for years. What is the story with not having an realistic amount of scanners for boarding?

 

We were surprised to see the long snaking lines when getting off for the first leg of our trip, as we had to this time due to new rules apparently. We waited until about 9.30, as we felt those that had connections deserved to go first. We were a bit bemused that the shiny new terminal was still heavily backed up, and that terrible snaking around, and around, and around through so many bags! That late in the morning. It seemed a very large amount of backward and forward walking.

 

Then we came back later in the afternoon to resume on our second leg, and at about 3 pm we were disappointed to still be in lines for going through customs again, and have our carry on scanned again. We understand the need for it, but didn't expect it still to be busy then.

 

When we eventually finished our cruising, we got off very early and it was quick. We had priority due to our Diamond loyalty and that was quick and easy. There were a lot of bags there, but there was a shorter route through to the escape door!

 

We have been on Voyager before, as well as Rhapsody, Radiance and Solstice. We have done two previous B2B trips (Radiance and Solstice) and we understand the rules for B2B have changed and we don't mind that.

 

But, the flow in the terminal from our personal perspective, for the times we were there, seemed to have been made worse rather than better. Maybe in the past we we luckier with our timings? Radiance will always be better with so many less passengers. But what will happen when Ovation gets here??? Please tell me there will be more scanners brought into operation.

 

I also see that the staggered timings, that have been running for a while with RCI, are being ignored by many people. You see it here, and very much so on other social media. "My boarding time is 3 pm, what time should I try and push in?" All answers are usually "just get there when ever suits you love, we do. Nobody ever turns you away". Am I right Graham? Or is this only a small part of the problem. How about the staggered times be monitored a bit more, and it would soon get around on social media that they are in place to help with the flow. If a few people got told to come back at their scheduled time, then maybe it would improve the situation. Maybe not, it is possible there has been a design flaw, and the expensive upgrade has not been quite as it should have been?

 

We also noticed when we were debarking that many passengers were leaving way before their allotted time. We had our time slot as allocated due to our loyalty level, but many people were getting off with a variety of baggage tag numbers. Nobody was monitoring that end of it either. Does it make a difference? I am not sure.

 

So maybe we expected too much from the millions spent. Maybe there are back office, and/or general layout improvements. Certainly better air conditioning I think. More seating once you have your sea pass, before you get to customs. I will be interested to see later this month how Explorer goes. Has there been fine tuning this season, and have you seen changes that have made things better?

 

I will also be interested in other people's feedback, as experiences are perceived differently.

 

My husband said that he felt the drop off baggage area was better. But is it really, or are we comparing to the temporary tents, which worked ok as long as it was not raining. Wet bags are something we now plan better for, and we are plastic bagging up a lot more stuff so that that experience doesn't happen again.

 

I have to say, the staff was always fantastic, before during and after the reno. They are very pleasant and patient with all of us. :)

 

I agree with most of what you've said :D

 

The only thing I would add is that RCL's staggered check in policy is terrible of telling you when to come, not the other way around! If they adopted something like what Carnival is using where you pick what time works for you and then when that time bracket reaches capacity it is taken away. Carnival actually enforce their check in times because they give everyone a chance to pick their own time that works for them, then make them stick to it.

 

For many people they simply can't conform to RCL's "come at this time" policy with flights, transfers, lifts etc so I don't think it should be enforced until RCL get their act together first. ;)

 

 

In regards to the terminal it looks great, I just think some of the ways they are using space and the layout seems like an odd design choice to me... but hey it serves its purpose. The baggage pick up area is a bit of a mess but kind of expect that when getting off a ship like Explorer of the Seas.

[Blue Wave]

Radiance of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas are both scheduled to be in OPT on January 28, 2017 and February 9, 2017.

 

I called RCI. They say the port/terminal can handle both ships at the same time.

 

Can they? If not what is the new port location?

[OzKiwiJJ]

Embarkation was very smooth for our Golden departure last month. We got to the terminal around 11am, traffic at the drop-off area was moving easily, and check-in was very quick. We were in group 2 to embark. Four priority groups boarded first but we didn't have to wait long. Immigration check was relatively quick but there were the usual minor delays at security while people fished keys, phones, coins and miscellaneous other rubbish out of their pockets at the last minute - despite staff reminding them to do so well before they reached the xray machines. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Point for improvement - perhaps staff could hand out small baskets so that people could empty their pockets into something well before they reach the screening equipment.

Edited May 5, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[The_Big_M]

Radiance of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas are both scheduled to be in OPT on January 28, 2017 and February 9, 2017.

 

I called RCI. They say the port/terminal can handle both ships at the same time.

 

Can they? If not what is the new port location?

 

I heard they're still negotiating some special arrangement there; it's not yet finalised.

[tillydog]

We love the new look OPT. Embarkation was smooth, although the only real thing that went wrong was that the computer system in the terminal (and on the ship!) was down, so that slowed things down a bit (but we dont sweat the small stuff, it cant be helped, and we all know what it's like when technology doesnt want to play nicely when you need it to! Just feel for the check-in staff when they're trying to check-in passengers)

Other than that, it was fantastic, loads of space.

I agree, that there needs to be a direction sign for the Baggage Drop on the front of the undercover area. Not everyone has cruised before or maybe they're not local and dont know.

Cant comment on Debarkation as we do Self Disembark.

We've got an upcoming cruise on Carnival Spirit, so we shall see how Carnival handle their Check-ins!

Edited May 6, 2016 by tillydog

[GUT2407]

Wasn't real impressed last year, but it was also the biggest ship we'd been on, so hard to say.