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Princess boarding

Jburrows

By Jburrows,
in Princess Cruises

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Jburrows

Jburrows

Posted
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has anyone had any experience with Princess boarding by what deck you're on? They say it expedites boarding. It doesn't make sense to me . So a person who arrives on an early flight might arrive at the pier at 1 o'clock but because of he deck they're on, may not be able to board unti 4. But someone arriving on a later flight might not get to the pier until 3o'clock and their deck boarded at 1 so now they're boarding with the people who have been waiting around. Doesn't make sense to me.

We are sailing on Princess Regal in August and we're on Caribe deck. We're told we're boarding at 4. The ship leaves at 6. Hardly enough time to make the muster drill, let Alice be get any lunch!!

Jan

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stinsonm

stinsonm

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We were given the same instructions you're describing when we cruised Princess out of Fort Lauderdale last year. We arrived well before our scheduled boarding time and asked the local staff. They reacted like they'd never heard of staggered boarding, told us that we'd need to wait for Platinum/Elite, then we could board. We were aboard in under an hour (and about 2 hours earlier than our scheduled boarding time). I'd recommend you just try to board as soon as you arrive.

 

 

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skynight

skynight

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Agree, it's a passenger unfriendly statement that Princess makes. It is never ever followed. When you arrive at the pier check in and you will be placed in a group according to your arrival time. Boarding begins around noon and once it begins it goes fairly quickly.

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towhee

towhee

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Princess started staggered boarding several years ago in an attempt to spread out the boarding process. However, as most of us have found out, it isn't enforced, so go ahead and check in when you arrive at the port.

Having said that, when we sailed in May we didn't get to the port until 1:30 (150 mile drive with bad traffic). We checked in and then just walked on.

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Cruise Raider Great Review Rare

Cruise Raider

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I've never read on cruise critic of Princess ever enforcing staggered boarding nor have we ever experienced it in our 17 cruises on Princess.

 

They did enforce it a few years back for us in San Francisco. We were elite at the time and they still made us wait for our deck to be called. What a disaster and not just for us. Standing in line and boarding took 6 hours .... I think they dropped the enforcement of it shortly after that. I am sure there were many complaints about the Port Authority in SF that led up to them dropping it. We had gone a few months later and while still crowded, they honored our priority boarding and let us move right along .... a definite improvement to say the least.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
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has anyone had any experience with Princess boarding by what deck you're on? They say it expedites boarding. It doesn't make sense to me . So a person who arrives on an early flight might arrive at the pier at 1 o'clock but because of he deck they're on, may not be able to board unti 4. But someone arriving on a later flight might not get to the pier until 3o'clock and their deck boarded at 1 so now they're boarding with the people who have been waiting around. Doesn't make sense to me.

We are sailing on Princess Regal in August and we're on Caribe deck. We're told we're boarding at 4. The ship leaves at 6. Hardly enough time to make the muster drill, let Alice be get any lunch!!

Jan

 

It's a suggestion.

We always arrive around 10:30, boarding starts around Noon.

When you get there early you can get in one of the first boarding groups.

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jagsfan

jagsfan

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Every Princess cruise I've been on, we've checked in on arrival (early), gone to the seating area we qualified for (now Platinum), and when boarding starts, it's based on your loyalty level.

I've never seen check in or boarding by deck. We ignore the suggested times. I'm sure Princess thinks enough people will take them as gospel thereby staggering arrivals.

Arrive at your convenience.

 

 

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Coffeeluvr05

Coffeeluvr05

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We boarded immediately upon arriving at the terminal. There was no obvious reason not to. We were in a suite and had priority boarding according to suite benefits. But the person at the counter directed us to sit in a section of seats and wait to be called. I think we were misdirected. Regardless, there was no line and no reason to wait and no one said anything at any stage as we moved through security, etc.

 

Not sure what "VIP Prioirity Embarkation" means to princess. To me it meant no wait.

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  • 9 months later...
Cruise Raider Great Review Rare

Cruise Raider

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Posted
I've never read on cruise critic of Princess ever enforcing staggered boarding nor have we ever experienced it in our 17 cruises on Princess.

 

 

They definitely have enforced this in the past ... it was an all out disaster and so many people complained, I think they finally dropped it several years ago. Thank goodness!!

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Thrak

Thrak

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Greetings fellow cruisers from New Zealand. Not long now until the adventures begin. we are looking forward to meeting many of you from 21st July on!

 

This needs to be posted in your roll call thread. If you need assistance locating that thread let us know what ship you are sailing, when you are sailing, and where you are sailing. The roll call is where to meet others who will be on your cruise. Welcome to Cruise Critic!

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NSWP

NSWP

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These days there are many, many Elites and Platinums who qualify for priority embarkation, thus the terminals/check in are always very busy from 10am.

 

Personally, for a 4pm sailing we get to the port about 2.30pm, not too bad at that time, irrespective of the port location.:halo: Before 2.30pm it is a Zoo, even with Priority Check in.

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Haboob

Haboob

Posted
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I had a vague recollection of seeing something about "staterooms on deck xxxx will not

be ready until" rather than "you may not board until".

 

Went to look at my "Travel Summary" for a Dec '18 cruise and, lo, where it used to say

whatever it used to say about Progressive Boarding? Just "Your ship begins boarding

at 01:00PM on Dec 04 and sails at 04:00PM on Dec 04".

 

Could be just too far away. Could be a real change.

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted

 

Went to look at my "Travel Summary" for a Dec '18 cruise and, lo, where it used to say

whatever it used to say about Progressive Boarding? Just "Your ship begins boarding

at 01:00PM on Dec 04 and sails at 04:00PM on Dec 04".

 

 

And as we all know, boarding will really usually start by noon. Princess gives the 1 PM time in hopes of reducing the early crush of passengers.

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caribill

caribill

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We'll be taking our first cruise on Princess so no status. Does anyone know how long it takes to board in Barcelona?

 

Boarding should start by noon. By 12:30 anybody who had already checked in should be on board, even first time Princess cruisers.

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