Priority Boarding times

[blizzardboy]

It's been a couple of years since we've sailed with HAL. I just got an email with boarding times listed. It shows 4 & 5 Star and NS and PS anytime after 1:00. I thought we used to be able to board after 11:30, but I may be delusional. It's been rumored for years.

Edited November 18, 2019 by blizzardboy

[Crew News]

It was tried on the Koningsdam last year and I received the same notice for my Dec 8 NS cruise.  I will be sitting on a bench outside the terminal doors at 11:00 AM just in case.

[3rdGenCunarder]

20 minutes ago, blizzardboy said:

It's been a couple of years since we've sailed with HAL. I just got an email with boarding times listed. It shows 4 & 5 Star and NS and PS anytime after 1:00. I thought we used to be able to board after 11:30, but I may be delusional. It's been rumored for years.

 

Unless the email specifies a reason, like a Coast Guard inspection because the ship is returning to US after a season abroad, it should be earlier than 1:00. On my recent cruises, priority boarding has started somewhere between 11:30 and noon. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

It seems that HAL has been trying this on the 2 new ships.

 

But many people have been ignoring it and arriving at the terminal when they feel like it.

 

I know if we got a notice like that, we would still arrive by 10:30 -- get on the ship as soon as possible -- and have lunch in the dining room -- which closes by 1 PM.

[mommyz]

2 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

It seems that HAL has been trying this on the 2 new ships.

 

But many people have been ignoring it and arriving at the terminal when they feel like it.

 

I know if we got a notice like that, we would still arrive by 10:30 -- get on the ship as soon as possible -- and have lunch in the dining room -- which closes by 1 PM.

I love having lunch in the dining room...didn't realize it closes at 1pm.   We are usually on the ship before noon .... will head straight there with the family 🙂

I think it's really a "suggestion" so everyone doesn't come at the same time.  

[DaveOKC]

15 minutes ago, mommyz said:

I love having lunch in the dining room...didn't realize it closes at 1pm.   We are usually on the ship before noon .... will head straight there with the family 🙂

I think it's really a "suggestion" so everyone doesn't come at the same time.  

What is interesting is that HAL has been telling us for years that boarding starts at 1 PM, yet they normally start at 11:30 AM and have lunch ready for us.  Hard to get too excited about this new email about boarding times.

Edited November 18, 2019 by DaveOKC

[mommyz]

We usually stay the night before at a nearby hotel, check out soon after breakfast and head to the port.  I kind of feel like we are paying for that day might as well get use out of it!  It's nice when luggage comes in early as well.  I can usually unpack and get everything organized and enjoy "set sail" and dinner.

 

[DAllenTCY]

The newer cruise ships are larger. 

 

Instead of 1,200 guests......now nearly double 2,100 or so.

 

It takes time to board, so how would you suggest alternate embarkation?

 

David

[blizzardboy]

9 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

The newer cruise ships are larger. 

 

Instead of 1,200 guests......now nearly double 2,100 or so.

 

It takes time to board, so how would you suggest alternate embarkation?

 

David

I get your point, but the original question posed pertained to those that are very first slated to board anyway.

[WScruiser]

We received the email giving us a boarding time of 1PM (decks 7 & 8), but we will give it a try earlier. If we need to wait awhile, we're fine with that, but we do enjoy having lunch in the MDR on embarkation day, and I know it closes fairly early.

[Crew News]

5 hours ago, blizzardboy said:

I get your point, but the original question posed pertained to those that are very first slated to board anyway.

 

Just a note that the majority of the HAL fleet are ships of passenger capacity exceeding 1800 passengers and boarding times beginning at 11:30 AM have been successful even for the larger ships with passenger capacity of 2600.

 

Chopping 2.5 hours from the time available for boarding ensures a steady flow of passenger walking from the terminal to the gangway and ensures that the MDR will not need to open.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

 

Just a note that the majority of the HAL fleet are ships of passenger capacity exceeding 1800 passengers and boarding times beginning at 11:30 AM have been successful even for the larger ships with passenger capacity of 2600.

 

Chopping 2.5 hours from the time available for boarding ensures a steady flow of passenger walking from the terminal to the gangway and ensures that the MDR will not need to open.

 

Do you think they're looking for a way to stop the embarkation day lunch in the MDR? They certainly don't promote it. It would be nice if the MDR would stay open longer so those of us who enjoy that first quiet lunch wouldn't have to rush to the ship. 

[Crew News]

2 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Do you think they're looking for a way to stop the embarkation day lunch in the MDR? They certainly don't promote it. It would be nice if the MDR would stay open longer so those of us who enjoy that first quiet lunch wouldn't have to rush to the ship. 

 

Since Caribbean cruises have a large number of B2B passengers, closing the MDR to them would not be a good idea.

 

 

[Crew News]

Another consideration with the compressed boarding times is delayed boarding/check-in time is compressing the normal time window allowed for luggage to be dropped off at the curbside and loaded onto the ship from six hours to three.  Luggage sorting and delivery to staterooms normally starts around 1:00 PM with most luggage delivered by 5:00 PM.  The afortmentioned compressed window means some luggage will be delayed past 7:00 PM. 

[DAllenTCY]

Luggage delivery has absolutely nothing to do with embarkation times.

 

Local union workers handle bags until they are onboard, sorted according to your deck number, and then delivered.

 

As a 5 Star Mariner, you enjoy benefits that the majority of us do not.   You can board the ship with priority at any time once embarkation has started ....well before most other guests can.  You've earned the privilege due to your loyalty.  

 

Your bags don't get any special short cuts; however.

 

David

 

 

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 minutes ago, DAllenTCY said:

Luggage delivery has absolutely nothing to do with embarkation times.

 

Local union workers handle bags until they are onboard, sorted according to your deck number, and then delivered.

 

As a 5 Star Mariner, you enjoy benefits that the majority of us do not.   You can board the ship with priority at any time once embarkation has started ....well before most other guests can.  You've earned the privilege due to your loyalty.  

 

Your bags don't get any special short cuts; however.

 

David

 

 

 

 

But luggage delivery does have something to do with arrival times. If people respected HAL's request to check in later, luggage would start arriving at 1 PM instead if 10:30 or 11:00 AM.

 

I don't think local workers deliver luggage on board. That's a crew job. 

Edited November 21, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Crew News]

1 hour ago, DAllenTCY said:

Luggage delivery has absolutely nothing to do with embarkation times.

 

Local union workers handle bags until they are onboard, sorted according to your deck number, and then delivered.

 

As a 5 Star Mariner, you enjoy benefits that the majority of us do not.   You can board the ship with priority at any time once embarkation has started ....well before most other guests can.  You've earned the privilege due to your loyalty.  

 

Your bags don't get any special short cuts; however.

 

David

 

Union workers receive and deliver luggage to the ship where it is delivered by the Room Stewards (it appears to me that they are the assistants).

 

It has been my experience as both a 4* and 5* Mariner that I have earned an approximate 20 minute headstart over general boarding under normal procedures. 

 

It appears that in the new format, I will be boarding at 1:00 PM with the Pinnacle/Neptune suites passengers.  At 1:30 PM, those with mobility/medical challenges will begin boarding first followed by those on the first assigned boarding group.  The 1:30 PM boarding process will be repeated every 30 minutes until the last group boards at 3:00 PM.  Those with mobility/medical challenges will be boarded at their assigned boarding times with no option of arriving early and being onboard ASAP.  

 

If I was responsible for the this boarding policy, I would allow those with mobility/medical challenges, and their families, to board in the first group, irregardless of which deck their staterooms were located.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Crew News

[DAllenTCY]

After President's Club, 4&5 Star Mariners, Neptune Suites.......I say go alphabetically!

 

David 

 

 

 

 

[rwcorne]

I am going on my first cruise with HAL next month on the Noordam. The HAL documents say that boarding time is 1:00pm and the departure is 5:00pm. I was hoping to drop my luggage off at the Port at 10:30am and then do a 2-hour America's Cup Sail in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour from 11:00am - 1:00pm. After that I would walk back to Port and board around 1:30pm.  (The sailboat is less than a 15 minute walk from Queens Wharf.)

 

Does anyone know if this will work, can I drop the luggage off at the Port at 10:30am and come back later in the afternoon? 

 

Thanks in advance,

Bob

[sail7seas]

This whole priority boarding   conversation  is a joke.  SO many have been granted priority status  that there can  be   NO PriIORITY,    i F 40% of the guests have 'pri ority; there is  no priority.....  Club Orange,  Five Stars,  Pesident's Club, Neptune Suites,  Pinnacle Suites ( guests requiring wheelchairs are, of course,  an entirely different  group and many Need  the priority).

 

 

 

 

.   

Edited November 22, 2019 by sail7seas

[erewhon]

9 hours ago, rwcorne said:

I am going on my first cruise with HAL next month on the Noordam. The HAL documents say that boarding time is 1:00pm and the departure is 5:00pm. I was hoping to drop my luggage off at the Port at 10:30am and then do a 2-hour America's Cup Sail in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour from 11:00am - 1:00pm. After that I would walk back to Port and board around 1:30pm.  (The sailboat is less than a 15 minute walk from Queens Wharf.)

 

Does anyone know if this will work, can I drop the luggage off at the Port at 10:30am and come back later in the afternoon? 

 

Thanks in advance,

Bob

 

Yes, you should be able to do that, but keep any valuables with you.

 

Previously, after checking out of the hotel, we have dropped  our luggage, returned later.to check in.

Hope you have a super time on the Americas Cup Harbour Sail.

Edited November 22, 2019 by erewhon

[rwcorne]

5 hours ago, erewhon said:

 

Yes, you should be able to do that, but keep any valuables with you.

 

Previously, after checking out of the hotel, we have dropped  our luggage, returned later.to check in.

Hope you have a super time on the Americas Cup Harbour Sail.

That great, many thanks erewon! Hoping to see  Te Aihe on the water.

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 11/20/2019 at 11:04 PM, Crew News said:

Union workers receive and deliver luggage to the ship where it is delivered by the Room Stewards (it appears to me that they are the assistants).

 

It has been my experience as both a 4* and 5* Mariner that I have earned an approximate 20 minute headstart over general boarding under normal procedures. 

 

It appears that in the new format, I will be boarding at 1:00 PM with the Pinnacle/Neptune suites passengers.  At 1:30 PM, those with mobility/medical challenges will begin boarding first followed by those on the first assigned boarding group.  The 1:30 PM boarding process will be repeated every 30 minutes until the last group boards at 3:00 PM.  Those with mobility/medical challenges will be boarded at their assigned boarding times with no option of arriving early and being onboard ASAP.  

 

If I was responsible for the this boarding policy, I would allow those with mobility/medical challenges, and their families, to board in the first group, irregardless of which deck their staterooms were located.

 

I agree, let the passengers with mobility issues board first. I think that's been the policy in the past. I remember in Seattle, they called wheelchair assistance passengers first and then suites very soon after. There were two different gangway entrances, and wheelchairs went through one and suites through the other. However, the two routes merged into one. The wheelchairs were still working their way down the slope to the ship when the suites got to the merge. Naturally, we all waited until the wheelchairs were safely past. But it would have made more sense to hold the suite passengers in the terminal rather than on the actual gangway. 

 

[lar1ry]

Taking our first Holland America cruise and we were surprised to receive the email about their progressive check-in schedule. Our plans for Dec 1st were to be at the terminal about 11:30 and have lunch on the ship. Does Holland America enforce their check-in times? This is only my second cruise. We went on a Royal Carribbean cruise last year and don't remember any similar policy. Quite a disappointment if this is how they do it.

[DaveOKC]

Someone on the NA today reported that they were able to check in at 10:30 am at board at 11:30 (it was in Fort Lauderdale).  So I guess its not being enforced 100%.