Optimal time to board - Southampton

[ched999uk]

Just reading our documentation and it says boarding from 10:30 till 2:30, sail at 4pm.

What would everyone guess is best time to avoid queues?

Cheers.

[Enforcer]

Hi,

 

The best advice I can give is arrive as early as you can.

 

It can depend of which ship you are sailing on, if you are on a ship that uses the new iPad type of check-in it can be as long as 15 minutes to get onto the ship :)

 

Pete

[Marisawrite]

I'd say the earlier the better.

 

Many passengers will no doubt be staying over in London and travelling down to Southampton that morning. Unless they get up very early, that means they'll be boarding later. If there are traffic jams on the way down (which there usually are) or the trains are delayed (not unusual either!), there could be a real log-jam of people wanting to board towards 12.30.

[Arachnid]

Just reading our documentation and it says boarding from 10:30 till 2:30, sail at 4pm.

What would everyone guess is best time to avoid queues?

Cheers.

 

Someone posted this about a month ago on one of these threads, sorry can't remember which one, but I think it was for boarding the Independence of the Seas. I don't know if they are still doing it.

 

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on Independence of the Seas on May 28, 2016.

 

We, at Royal Caribbean International, want your vacation to get off on a wonderful start and in order to facilitate your check-in process, ask that you arrive at the cruise terminal according to the following designated times. This will help ensure a smooth embarkation experience so that you can begin your vacation as soon as possible:

 

Deck 10 - 11:00 AM

Deck 9 - 11:30 AM

Deck 8 - 12:15 PM

Deck 7 - 1:15 PM

Deck 6 - 2:15 PM

Deck 2 & 3 - 3:15 PM

 

 

Our Suites and loyal Crown and Anchor guests at the Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald, and Platinum levels, as well as guests with previously arranged transportation, can check-in at their convenience between the hours of 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM. May we also suggest to use our online check-in facility on http://www.royalcaribbean.com/onlinecheckin if you have not done so already. Guests traveling with minor children are requested to verify the Family legal Documents section under the Travel Documentation page on the Royal Caribbean website prior to departure.

 

 

We appreciate your assistance and cooperation and look forward to welcoming you onboard for an incredible vacation experience!

 

 

 

I notice your times are slightly different, so cannot say for sure if they are still using this approach. If they are not, I agree with previous posters and you should try to get there as early as possible. Cabins are usually ready by about 1 o'clock but you can always get something toeat and a drink before hand.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Arachnid

[ched999uk]

Someone posted this about a month ago on one of these threads, sorry can't remember which one, but I think it was for boarding the Independence of the Seas. I don't know if they are still doing it.

 

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on Independence of the Seas on May 28, 2016.

 

We, at Royal Caribbean International, want your vacation to get off on a wonderful start and in order to facilitate your check-in process, ask that you arrive at the cruise terminal according to the following designated times. This will help ensure a smooth embarkation experience so that you can begin your vacation as soon as possible:

 

Deck 10 - 11:00 AM

Deck 9 - 11:30 AM

Deck 8 - 12:15 PM

Deck 7 - 1:15 PM

Deck 6 - 2:15 PM

Deck 2 & 3 - 3:15 PM

 

Our Suites and loyal Crown and Anchor guests at the Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald, and Platinum levels, as well as guests with previously arranged transportation, can check-in at their convenience between the hours of 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM. May we also suggest to use our online check-in facility on www.royalcaribbean.com/onlinecheckin if you have not done so already. Guests traveling with minor children are requested to verify the Family legal Documents section under the Travel Documentation page on the Royal Caribbean website prior to departure.

 

We appreciate your assistance and cooperation and look forward to welcoming you onboard for an incredible vacation experience!

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers. Just had a look and found the 'Guest Check in Booklet' is says a similar thing to above (mind you it says due to making enhancements to terminal these are check in times) but other docs we have says you must check in at least 90 mins before scheduled departure and from 10:30 and deck 2+3 is only 60 min! So a bit of conflicting info.

Think we will try and get there earlyish, if we can check in great if not happy to wait.

Cheers

[ched999uk]

Thanks everyone. Think we will try and check in earlyish. Only have 1:30 min drive the morning of cruise so nice easy drive.

Cheers

[masonpips]

We are on Indy now. We were in London and did a bus tour of Stonehenge on the way to the ship. We arrived just before 2 pm. It was pretty busy, much busier than I expected. We are Diamond so were escorted to a separate line for security screening and check in and that helped tons. I would estimate about 25 minutes from drop off until walking on ship

 

Had we not had the tour, we would have arrived as early as possible. Others from our roll call did and were through very quickly. You have paid for that Day 1 so get on the ship! [emoji2]

 

 

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