Staggered Embarkation times

[sverigecruiser]

9 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I really don't care whether they assign me 9 am or 9 pm, we'll be in Italy and that's all that matters. 😊 Personally I kind of like it when the cruise lines all have their own way of doing things.

 

So you might be one of thoose who should choose a later time if they ask you when you prefer to embark. Someone else might really prefer to have lunch onshore before boarding and will be very disappointed if they get an early  time for check in.

 

We will probably arrive to the port early even if we get a late check in time, if the Spanish authorities allows it. (Our next cruise is from Barcelona next summer.)

 

I will then go to the white tent and tell them what time we have and where we will wait until they let us check in. Hopefully some other passengers are late and they will let us check in early. To be at the port and see the ship will be the best way for us to wait for check in.

[ConnieTact]

On 7/15/2021 at 4:05 AM, misand said:

How far in advance do they tell you your time?

When your ticket comes through. Our first tickets came through 8 weeks before sailing and said our boarding time. We had filled our all our Check-in details online. Hope that helps,

[Fighterone]

4 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

It seems like I have to apologize for my poor English, I apologize. I have never meant to say that everyone shall get the time they want. All I tried to say was that they could ask, like other lines does. What did I wrote that meant that everyone should get the time they want? (It's a serious question because I want to improve my English.)

 

What I meant what that they can do something similar to what RCI does. They ask when people want to board.

Please don't apologize! Your English is better than most people's Swedish who subscribe to this forum. 

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, Fighterone said:

Please don't apologize! Your English is better than most people's Swedish who subscribe to this forum. 

 

But obviously it wasn't good enough.

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But obviously it wasn't good enough.

I don't think it had anything to do with being good enough or not. It was just confusing. To say "people should be able to specify the time they want to board" could be interpreted in at least 2 different ways:

1. People can just tell the cruise line they want to board at 11 am and that's that. (i.e. they're going to show up at 11 am, period)

2. People can select from a dropdown box of available times, and presumably show up at the time they've selected.

 

Based on the number of threads I've read on here over the years, there will be a lot of people who will want to be first on board so they can eat/drink/go their cabins, etc., and then a lot of people who will want to board last minute (due to arrivals from the airport, sightseeing in the embarkation city, etc.)

During the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am quite sure the cruise lines are trying to manage the crowds, and MSC's policy is to assign specific embarkation times in order to avoid a mad rush of people who want to board at the same time.

@sverigecruiser, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your command of English. It's just that what you suggested could be interpreted in a number of ways.

As I mentioned to someone else, I support the idea of passengers being able to select the time they want to board ahead of time. What I don't support is people getting an assigned time, showing up early "just in case" and then clogging the lines and afterwards blaming the cruise line for the resulting chaos.

Edited July 20, 2021 by DCGuy64

[sverigecruiser]

21 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I don't think it had anything to do with being good enough or not. It was just confusing. To say "people should be able to specify the time they want to board" could be interpreted in at least 2 different ways:

1. People can just tell the cruise line they want to board at 11 am and that's that. (i.e. they're going to show up at 11 am, period)

2. People can select from a dropdown box of available times, and presumably show up at the time they've selected.

 

Based on the number of threads I've read on here over the years, there will be a lot of people who will want to be first on board so they can eat/drink/go their cabins, etc., and then a lot of people who will want to board last minute (due to arrivals from the airport, sightseeing in the embarkation city, etc.)

During the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am quite sure the cruise lines are trying to manage the crowds, and MSC's policy is to assign specific embarkation times in order to avoid a mad rush of people who want to board at the same time.

@sverigecruiser, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your command of English. It's just that what you suggested could be interpreted in a number of ways.

 

But obviously it wasn't good enough when it was confusing. I only meant that they should ask when people should prefer to board and for me that only means that they should ask, not that the wish from the customers always should be granted.  

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But obviously it wasn't good enough when it was confusing. I only meant that they should ask when people should prefer to board and for me that only means that they should ask, not that the wish from the customers always should be granted.  

Ah, but we're talking about cruisers, we always get what we want, don't we? 🤣 Doesn't Swedish have an equivalent of "the customer is always right?" LOL

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Ah, but we're talking about cruisers, we always get what we want, don't we? 🤣 Doesn't Swedish have an equivalent of "the customer is always right?" LOL

 

Yes we does but I don't agree with that! 🙂

 

[DCGuy64]

12 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Yes we does but I don't agree with that! 🙂

 

I work in financial services so all I can say is "no comment." 😁

[EllesBelles4]

Hello, 

 

I wonder if anyone can advise- we are travelling as a family with two cabins. One cabin (3 people) has an embarkation time of 3pm, the other cabin (1 person) has an embarkation time of 11am. 
 

The bookings are linked but we added on the additional cabin a couple of months after we booked the first one. We are doing one of the UK Virtuosa sailings for 3 nights only so if we could would love to be allowed to start the boarding process earlier…. Any ideas as to whether we can go in at 11am with our close relative who has this embarkation time whereas the rest of us have 3pm? 

[kavpri]

We are embarking in Greenock on 18th and given 11am as embarkation time. However, we can't reach the terminal before 2pm. Wonder whether there will be any issue with late boarding? Thank you

[ziggyuk]

3 hours ago, kavpri said:

We are embarking in Greenock on 18th and given 11am as embarkation time. However, we can't reach the terminal before 2pm. Wonder whether there will be any issue with late boarding? Thank you

 

If you read the TripAdvisor Virtuosa reviews MSC are ignoring the boarding times, the reviews I'm reading of 2-3 hour queues from 11am and staff saying boarding times don't matter are not great.

 

Back on 3rd July with and 11am boarding time, I was on is 20 minutes with no queue, it sound like everyone is turning up early now. 

 

Based on this I don't think it will matter but I would advise them by email (bookingmanagement@msccruises.co.uk) just so you have a paper trail.

[mscdivina2016]

On 7/21/2021 at 12:34 PM, EllesBelles4 said:

Hello, 

 

I wonder if anyone can advise- we are travelling as a family with two cabins. One cabin (3 people) has an embarkation time of 3pm, the other cabin (1 person) has an embarkation time of 11am. 
 

The bookings are linked but we added on the additional cabin a couple of months after we booked the first one. We are doing one of the UK Virtuosa sailings for 3 nights only so if we could would love to be allowed to start the boarding process earlier…. Any ideas as to whether we can go in at 11am with our close relative who has this embarkation time whereas the rest of us have 3pm? 

You probably can get away with it but if they do enforce it that day, then enjoy your 4 hour wait.

 Doesn't that defeat the purpose of staggered boarding times? I bet 3000 people would also love to board at 11am.

Steve

[jules815]

On 7/19/2021 at 4:27 PM, Brum84 said:

Can someone please let me know how far in advance we are likely to be given our boarding time? Does checking in early do anything to get you an earlier time?

We're sailing in mid-October on Meraviglia from Miami. We noticed yesterday we've been assigned a boarding time of 11am, which we're happy with.

 

[Cruiseforever11]

40 minutes ago, jules815 said:

We're sailing in mid-October on Meraviglia from Miami. We noticed yesterday we've been assigned a boarding time of 11am, which we're happy with.

 

I have 3 cruises booked for 2022 and I have got my embarkation times for all 3 cruises already.

Magnifica cruise May 1pm

Seaside cruise September 2pm

Divina cruise October 2pm

so i'm taking these times with a massive pinch of salt till I get my paperwork with it on in black and white 1/2 weeks before.

[mscdivina2016]

31 minutes ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

 

so i'm taking these times with a massive pinch of salt till I get my paperwork with it on in black and white 1/2 weeks before.

Smart.

Do you really think they are going to give Yacht club a 3pm boarding time?

That's what I have listed for a March 2022 cruise.

Steve

[lovemycruisetoo]

6 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Smart.

Do you really think they are going to give Yacht club a 3pm boarding time?

That's what I have listed for a March 2022 cruise.

Steve

We are on Divina in YC March 2022 also and have a 3 pm boarding time. Hope it changes by then. 

[Cruiseforever11]

16 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Smart.

Do you really think they are going to give Yacht club a 3pm boarding time?

That's what I have listed for a March 2022 cruise.

Steve

Who knows. Everything keeps changing regarding covid. God knows what will happen through the winter and how it affects travel. If they are still having to test people etc before boarding then I guess yes they will still be doing time slots regardless of which grade you booked but you will be at the front of the queue of that time and then taken to the yc area I guess. I don't know. This is why I'm not going to stress about the times right now as so much could change. I should have priority boarding on my Magnifica cruise as I have an Aurea suite booked the nearest thing to yc on that ship as no yc. I've got a 1pm embarkation and ship it says is leaving Southampton at 4pm. Sorry I can't be much help on times.

 

 

[motter]

We are sailing on Meraviglia on August 9 and were given an 11am - 12pm boarding time when they first emailed our documents.  We were sent new documents yesterday that had an 11:30am - 12:30pm boarding time. Today we received a text that said that boarding time was now from 3:30pm - 4:00pm and that the text overrode all correspondence we had previously received.

Looks like they are trying to move things around to help with the reported 3 hour waits for boarding. 

Or their computers are going nuts.  I'd believe either one of those at this point.

[seapad]

Our cruise is April 2022 YC Seashore. We've completed the online check in. Where do you folks see the assigned boarding time? Is this on the boarding document? I thought these documents don't come out until closer to the cruise date...am I wrong? 

I'd love to be able to find out our boarding time too. Hope someone can point me to the right place to look. Thanks. 

[mscdivina2016]

12 minutes ago, seapad said:

Our cruise is April 2022 YC Seashore. We've completed the online check in. Where do you folks see the assigned boarding time? Is this on the boarding document? I thought these documents don't come out until closer to the cruise date...am I wrong? 

I'd love to be able to find out our boarding time too. Hope someone can point me to the right place to look. Thanks. 

Log into MSC. Choose the cruise you are on if more than 1 booked.  

On the left side you will see itinerary and date info on top of a nautical island wallpaper screen. Its under the date details

steve

[seapad]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Log into MSC. Choose the cruise you are on if more than 1 booked.  

On the left side you will see itinerary and date info on top of a nautical island wallpaper screen. Its under the date details

steve

Got it, thanks! I'm 12 noon. 

[miataman19]

[kilkoyne]

35 minutes ago, miataman19 said:

 

Thanks for the post. I do believe this is just some type of place holder time for now given how many people have gotten the 11:00 AM time. I still haven't received a hard copy of my paper boarding documents. Have you gotten yours yet?

[miataman19]

23 hours ago, kilkoyne said:

 

Thanks for the post. I do believe this is just some type of place holder time for now given how many people have gotten the 11:00 AM time. I still haven't received a hard copy of my paper boarding documents. Have you gotten yours yet?

Have not. Those are available 20 days prior to sailing. So we have about a month before we can access those.