First Impression.

[DGas]

First impressions can make or break most anything. I think my cruise on Regal today 4/10/16, is already broken. Princess has a terribly inefficient check in process. Best excuse so far was to blame it on the Coast Guard. Yet the 2 plus hour wait could have been used by clearing the security check point and processing paperwork. Neither of which was done. And 3 security check points seems hardly enough for the thousands of guest coming to check in. Even at this early stage, I will not be sailing with this company again. I'm sure it can only get worse from here. First day of vacation spent waiting in lines, is not my idea of a great time.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Deep breath. I have had bad embarkations on many cruises that turned out to be wonderful cruises, but you have to get over it. To say a cruise is " broken " at this point sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy

Edited April 10, 2016 by sunsetbeachgal

[FritzG]

If you board with that attitude you will indeed have a terrible cruise. Princess has no control over the coast guard, and the people working in the shoreside check in including security agents are not Princess employees either.

 

It sounds like this is your first Princess cruise--why did you get to the port so early? Elite, suite, and platinum passengers have priority boarding, and embarkation rarely starts before 11a.m., and you're complaining about being in line for 2 hours. Did you read your pre-cruise info? It recommends arriving after 1pm if you don't want to wait in line.

Edited April 10, 2016 by FritzG

[antsp]

I think the best thing you can do if you've not already onboard is turn around and go home.

[shredie]

Even at this early stage, I will not be sailing with this company again. I'm sure it can only get worse from here. First day of vacation spent waiting in lines, is not my idea of a great time.

 

I hope things improve.

[CI66774]

First impressions can make or break most anything. I think my cruise on Regal today 4/10/16, is already broken. Princess has a terribly inefficient check in process. Best excuse so far was to blame it on the Coast Guard. Yet the 2 plus hour wait could have been used by clearing the security check point and processing paperwork. Neither of which was done. And 3 security check points seems hardly enough for the thousands of guest coming to check in. Even at this early stage, I will not be sailing with this company again. I'm sure it can only get worse from here. First day of vacation spent waiting in lines, is not my idea of a great time.

 

OP - sorry you're upset. But take a deep breath, lower your blood pressure, and reserve judgment until you're onboard. Princess does not control security check-in points. I understand you're upset. I waited three hours with the Queen Mary II several years back for actual cruise line check-in. Did it tick me off momentarily - yes. Did it in any way taint or ruin my cruise - no. This is your vacation, and the Regal is a lovely ship. Go get a drink, get some goodies to eat, and start decompressing.

[DGas]

Yes, first Princess cruise, and the last. Never ever have I experienced anything near this level of inefficiency on Celebrity, Royal, Carnival or Holland. Even the Navy did a better job taking of Marines.

[Shelly97060]

First impressions can make or break most anything. I think my cruise on Regal today 4/10/16, is already broken. Princess has a terribly inefficient check in process. Best excuse so far was to blame it on the Coast Guard. Yet the 2 plus hour wait could have been used by clearing the security check point and processing paperwork. Neither of which was done. And 3 security check points seems hardly enough for the thousands of guest coming to check in. Even at this early stage, I will not be sailing with this company again. I'm sure it can only get worse from here. First day of vacation spent waiting in lines, is not my idea of a great time.

 

Sorry your trip is off to a bad start. Can you tell us what time you arrived at the pier and what time you actually boarded the ship?

[paul929207]

Sorry your trip is off to a bad start. Can you tell us what time you arrived at the pier and what time you actually boarded the ship?

It would appear the OP was at the cruise terminal by 10:00am. His first post was at 12:04pm and he was complaining about a two hour wait.

[shredie]

It would appear the OP was at the cruise terminal by 10:00am. His first post was at 12:04pm and he was complaining about a two hour wait.

 

 

Maybe he didn't get one of those "board at 1:00" emails. At 10, they probably hadn't cleared the ship of its previous passengers. I'm afraid this poor guy is going to have a lousy time just as he predicts he will. Too bad.

Edited April 10, 2016 by shredie

[Alessandrina]

Yes, agreed...waiting and long lines is not a fun start to a vacation.

 

Hope you will have an enjoyable cruise despite the start - move forward and grab a drink, relax! :)

[Kenswing]

Yes, first Princess cruise, and the last. Never ever have I experienced anything near this level of inefficiency on Celebrity, Royal, Carnival or Holland. Even the Navy did a better job taking of Marines.

 

I'm a former Marine who was often deployed on naval vessels. Princess has ALWAYS treated me better than the Navy..

Edited April 10, 2016 by Kenswing

[Shelly97060]

It would appear the OP was at the cruise terminal by 10:00am. His first post was at 12:04pm and he was complaining about a two hour wait.[

 

That's what it looked like but I wasn't sure where OP was sailing from or if there was some sort of error on the time being shown for his post... If he arrived at 10 Princess would likely still be in the disembarkation process at that time.

[ar1950]

Yes, first Princess cruise, and the last. Never ever have I experienced anything near this level of inefficiency on Celebrity, Royal, Carnival or Holland. Even the Navy did a better job taking of Marines.

 

Our worst embarkation experience was on RCCL a few years ago. We didn't let it ruin our cruise. It also would not be something that would prevent us from sailing with them again. First world problems.......

 

YMMV

Edited April 10, 2016 by ar1950

[DGas]

Yes, I was here early, if you call 1000 such. But not to board the ship until 1230 is unacceptable. Never have had this problem at Celebrity. Wanted to try something new, but I will be returning to my Elite status over there.

[Shelly97060]

Yes, I was here early, if you call 1000 such. But not to board the ship until 1230 is unacceptable. Never have had this problem at Celebrity. Wanted to try something new, but I will be returning to my Elite status over there.

 

Yes 1000 would be early for most Princess voyages ( at least those I have been on). It's unfortunate that you weren't aware of that so you could have avoided or at least expected the extra wait time.

 

Hopefully you can have a cocktail ( or whatever you like best) and have a wonderful vacation from here forward :)

[Luvmyrotti]

Yes, I was here early, if you call 1000 such. But not to board the ship until 1230 is unacceptable. Never have had this problem at Celebrity. Wanted to try something new, but I will be returning to my Elite status over there.

 

Great, frees up a Princess spot for me.

 

You're ridiculous, by the way. You arrived before they had even cleared the ship. Getting on at 12:30 is pretty good, in reality.

 

Go back to Celebrity.

[susancruzs]

I'm a priority boarder with Princess, RCI, no other cruise lines and I would never arrive at a port before 11-11:30. If it is a bigger ship, first time with a cruise line, noon, no earlier.

 

I can understand not liking to wait, but 10:00 a.m. is early, and a rather unreasonable expectation.

 

I have a feeling from here on out, it will be comparing to Celebrity, etc., but being a new cruiser versus having perks from another line, apples to oranges.

 

Relax, try to enjoy your cruise! :D

[dchip]

Oh my goodness. What a way to begin a vacation. Your boarding pass states what time to arrive if you don't want to have crowds at embarkation.

 

Our first HAL cruise we were in line, in the sun for 3 hours waiting for them to find two passengers that didn't disembark. We didn't get on the ship until 2pm. We made the most of our time chatting and getting to know the folks around us. Once we were on the ship, it was one of the most fun cruises ever.

 

If you start off disliking everything about Princess, your week is sure to be awful.

Sad for you.

 

Denise

[RDC1]

Yes, first Princess cruise, and the last. Never ever have I experienced anything near this level of inefficiency on Celebrity, Royal, Carnival or Holland. Even the Navy did a better job taking of Marines.

 

What time did Princess recommend that you show up? What time did you show up?

 

Boarding cannot start until the ship is cleared by immigration. Sometimes that can be delayed, especially in Fort Lauderdale, especially when a large number of ships are in. There are 7 in the harbor there today. Immigration has to spread its resources across all of the ships. Thus not unusual for delays in final clearance. Last time I was there on the Royal doing a back to back the in transit passengers (last to be cleared) did not get processed until 11:40. So boarding did not start until around 11:50. Which is when the intransits were finished. Not unusual for things to be backed up on Sunday. When, like today, lots of ships are turning around.

 

The terminal has fairly limited space inside. So they limit in flow before the ship is available to what can be handled. Once the ship is cleared the process usually goes fairly well

Edited April 10, 2016 by RDC1

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Turning up early is never a good idea.

 

My last cruise boarding was the best ever, reason was we were late arriving by

 

plane as flights etc were all part of package we knew ship would wait,

 

we walked through empty hall, with those of our flight,

 

to the single check in girl left, with a couple of

 

officers waiting straight onto ship,

 

yours Shogun

[Murphey]

Yes, first Princess cruise, and the last. Never ever have I experienced anything near this level of inefficiency on Celebrity, Royal, Carnival or Holland. Even the Navy did a better job taking of Marines.

 

This is very sad. Please come back after your cruise and report on the rest of the week!

[TracieABD]

Yes, I was here early, if you call 1000 such. But not to board the ship until 1230 is unacceptable. Never have had this problem at Celebrity. Wanted to try something new, but I will be returning to my Elite status over there.

 

Deep breath. This too shall pass.

 

I have had amazing and magical boarding experiences, and I have had some hairy ones (Buenos Aires is a total standout for being the worst).

 

Princess does not do really early boarding- typically never before 11:30 even for suites, Elites, and Platinums. That is the bad news.

 

The good news, the cabins are typically ready. Even if they are not ready, you can go to your cabin, drop your bags, and enjoy a lovely lunch in the Main Dining Room.

 

I hope that you are able to get past the wonky boarding and enjoy your cruise. Please, let us know when you are on board!

 

Bon Voyage!

[dforeigner]

Yes, I was here early, if you call 1000 such. But not to board the ship until 1230 is unacceptable. Never have had this problem at Celebrity. Wanted to try something new, but I will be returning to my Elite status over there.

 

When I sailed Celebrity we did not start boarding until noon. Yes we were in line for a while.

 

If the Coasties are doing an inspection, no passengers are allowed on board. That is not Princess' fault. If disembarkation took longer than it should due to low staffing from OFO. It means that it would take longer to have all the passengers go through immigration. That is not Princess' fault.

 

Do yourself a favor, you are probably about to board or already on board. Have some lunch, drink a beer or two (if it is your thing) and enjoy your trip.

 

If you do not want to come back to Princess, so be it. But don't let a speed bump frack up your whole cruise. We have been on several cruises. Not a single one was 100% perfect. One thing I did not like about Celebrity is that you are not allowed to drop off your luggage until the rooms are cleared. Going to lunch with camera bags, back packs, etc. is not fun in my opinion.

 

But we enjoyed all of them (Celebrity, Disney, Princess). And we would sail any of these three companies again without hesitation.

[IECalCruiser]

Princess boarding almost never starts before noon (well, maybe 11:45) and general boarding doesn't begin until after priority boarding (Elite, Platinum and Suite passengers) and passengers requiring boarding assistance is completed. General boarding at 12:30 is within the normal range, especially if there was any delay with the ship being cleared from the last cruise. Hope OP can relax and enjoy their cruise [emoji2]