Embarkation Southampton

[ann141]

We are sailing on Crown Princess from Southampton soon.We have priority embarkation and understand that embarkation starts at 12 30. Is it worth arriving a bit early e.g 12 noon or will we have to wait until 12 30 before we embark?

[Micahs Grandad]

We would get there a bit early and hope to get on quickly but lots of factors will influence when boarding actually starts

[geoherb]

I would get there early if you want to be among the first ones to board. We got to the terminal around 11:30 for our cruise last fall and were on board a little after noon. The cabins weren't ready, so we went directly to the dining room for lunch. It took about 10 minutes to check in, 10 minutes to go through security, and then another 10 minutes of waiting with other priority folks until they started boarding at noon.

[skynight]

It's been a few years, but I remember arriving at the pier around 11am, and being on board fairly quickly after that. We also have priority boarding. My memories of Southampton are that it was a smooth boarding process. We were at the Mayflower pier.

[long cruiser]

It's not an exciting terminal

long cruiser

 

[ann141]

Thank you for your replies.As we are from the UK we are used to boarding at Southampton, but usually with other companies so we will risk arriving at 12 noon and hopefully won t have long to wait

[jasbo49]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

We are sailing on Crown Princess from Southampton soon.We have priority embarkation and understand that embarkation starts at 12 30. Is it worth arriving a bit early e.g 12 noon or will we have to wait until 12 30 before we embark?

 

When you say you "understand that embarkation starts at 12:30," I assume you're referring to one of those deck-by-deck boarding schedules they send out. Those are an effort to spread out the arrival times and, for better or worse, are roundly ignored by most passengers who know the drill. The actual boarding is likely to start before noon. If I were you I'd arrive about 11.

 

We board on June 6 and in reality will be dependent on when our Princess transfer from London gets us there, but if it were up to me, I'd arrive about 11.

 

Jim

[satxdiver]

We will be boarding the Sapphire Saturday and plan to arrive at the terminal around 11 or so.  We have sailed out of Southampton twice before and we were onboard just after noon.  It will be interesting to see how it works out on Saturday but I hope the wait is not too long and in time for lunch in the MDR.

[Diver2014]

We boarded Crown Princess May 25 and from the time the taxi picked us up at the Holiday Inn to the time we got to our stateroom was 25 minutes. We were assigned 12:30 embarkation and there was no line and no waiting. We checked in and got directly on the ship in 10 minutes.  Excellent!

[CCFC]

If you are Elite then yes it is worth while getting there about 11:30 and be onboard by 12, customs permitting. If Platinum I would wait to noon.

 

Ocean terminal has been through an upgrade and is far better than it was.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Southampton is the only port I've had to wait at for my assigned time.  I think it was due to too many people arriving at once.  I sat out for about 20 mins. and then they let my group board.  This was about 2:30pm.  I'd still get there early and hope you can get on earlier as long as you don't mind waiting.  We like to get there early and talk with others.  It's a fun way to meet people and everyone is excited about going, so there's usually a lot to talk about and the wait (if any) goes by quickly.