Boarding Times

[Tallante]

Our boarding times have now changed 3 times getting progressively later each change. It appears that if our times are getting later Seabourn are inserting other cruisers into our timing slot.  Any other cruisers experiencing these changes?  

[dalliowner]

I would not worry , they do not seem to keep stickley to these times .

[Tallante]

14 minutes ago, dalliowner said:

I would not worry , they do not seem to keep stickley to these times .

 

14 minutes ago, dalliowner said:

I would not worry , they do not seem to keep stickley to these times .

I’m not worried  although I’ve read if you arrive early they will send you away.  I just cannot understand their logic to keep changing times. It’s annoying.

[2SailingNomads]

Our times changed 3 times also, each time moving 20 minutes later.  We decided to show up near the original time.  As it turned out the ship was not ready for boarding until the last time we were given so we had to sit in the terminal with several hundred other people.

[cruiseej]

Since the resumption of cruising last summer, this has been standard operating procedure for Seabourn. It's not clear why they need to assign a time and then change it two or three times prior to embarkation; I haven't read anyone who's received a good explanation about how the home office is managing this process. (And the local crew members often seem to not know what the home office communicated to passengers prior to embarkation.)

 

We've had times shift later and times shift earlier. We've traveled with two other couples, and had different  times assigned despite being on the same flights, and despite arriving a day early and staying at the same hotel. It doesn't seem based on Seabourn Club status, either, as first-time friends of ours were originally assigned an earlier time than we were.

 

In the end, you can skim these boards and see all types of results: people who arrived early and had to wait in a large line, people who arrived early and were promptly whisked aboard, people who arrived on time and still hit a line, and people who arrived at their assigned time and had no delay. It depends on various factors, including whether the ship's arrival and customs clearance was on time, whether there were any delays in disembarking passengers and preparing the ship for boarding, and most importantly, the staffing and organization of the local port personnel, which can vary from port to port as well as cruise to cruise.

 

While most people would prefer to arrive early, get aboard, and have lunch aboard, it's just not worth stressing about… or killing your afternoon over. If you're assigned a later time, figure out a plan to have a late breakfast or lunch before going to the pier; book a tour/taxi or visit a local attraction to get something out of your day before you go to the pier. And while it's possible that if you ignore the time you're assigned and show up early, you might be lucky and get aboard quickly — but you might end up sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs in a dreary cruise hanger waiting until they can process everyone.

 

Perhaps if/as pierside Covid testing becomes the exception rather than the rule, more people will be able to be assigned early boarding times and things will become more like pre-Covid times… but we're not there yet.

[frantic36]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

While most people would prefer to arrive early, get aboard, and have lunch aboard, it's just not worth stressing about… or killing your afternoon over. If you're assigned a later time, figure out a plan to have a late breakfast or lunch before going to the pier; book a tour/taxi or visit a local attraction to get something out of your day before you go to the pier. And while it's possible that if you ignore the time you're assigned and show up early, you might be lucky and get aboard quickly — but you might end up sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs in a dreary cruise hanger waiting until they can process everyone.

 

Very sensible advice.

 

Even pre-Covid we found it better to leave our bags with the hotel have a last wander and lunch at our pre-cruise port and arrive after 2pm when the crowds were likely to be less. I remember doing this once when we were leaving from Civitavecchia and when we arrived they were only just starting to process people because the heat had caused a problem with the electrics and computers. I was so glad we had turned up later.

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

16 hours ago, cruiseej said:

Since the resumption of cruising last summer, this has been standard operating procedure for Seabourn. It's not clear why they need to assign a time and then change it two or three times prior to embarkation; I haven't read anyone who's received a good explanation about how the home office is managing this process. (And the local crew members often seem to not know what the home office communicated to passengers prior to embarkation.)

 

We've had times shift later and times shift earlier. We've traveled with two other couples, and had different  times assigned despite being on the same flights, and despite arriving a day early and staying at the same hotel. It doesn't seem based on Seabourn Club status, either, as first-time friends of ours were originally assigned an earlier time than we were.

 

In the end, you can skim these boards and see all types of results: people who arrived early and had to wait in a large line, people who arrived early and were promptly whisked aboard, people who arrived on time and still hit a line, and people who arrived at their assigned time and had no delay. It depends on various factors, including whether the ship's arrival and customs clearance was on time, whether there were any delays in disembarking passengers and preparing the ship for boarding, and most importantly, the staffing and organization of the local port personnel, which can vary from port to port as well as cruise to cruise.

 

While most people would prefer to arrive early, get aboard, and have lunch aboard, it's just not worth stressing about… or killing your afternoon over. If you're assigned a later time, figure out a plan to have a late breakfast or lunch before going to the pier; book a tour/taxi or visit a local attraction to get something out of your day before you go to the pier. And while it's possible that if you ignore the time you're assigned and show up early, you might be lucky and get aboard quickly — but you might end up sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs in a dreary cruise hanger waiting until they can process everyone.

 

Perhaps if/as pierside Covid testing becomes the exception rather than the rule, more people will be able to be assigned early boarding times and things will become more like pre-Covid times… but we're not there yet.

There you go being the voice of reason again. 😉

[Tallante]

I only wondered why,🤣

[ciaoYacht]

Traveling soon on ovation out of Barcelona and I was assigned a 1pm boarding time. Not sure if this is early or late in the grand scheme of things, but I was hoping to spend much of the day in Barcelona itself and not on the ship (although I am VERY excited for my first Seabourn cruise and the ship)!  Is it possible to show up late? I believe the ship departs at 5pm. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by ciaoYacht

[shyla100]

Hello cioYacht

You can ring Seabourn and request a later boarding if you wish.

[ciaoYacht]

1 minute ago, shyla100 said:

Hello cioYacht

You can ring Seabourn and request a later boarding if you wish.

Can I just stroll up late at my leisure?

[frantic36]

7 hours ago, ciaoYacht said:

Can I just stroll up late at my leisure?

Well I hope so as I am likely not to be boarding in Civitavecchia until around 3pm. Though I might tell my TA to notify Seabourn we will be boarding later, so if we got an early boarding they can give it to someone else.

[cruiseej]

14 hours ago, ciaoYacht said:

Can I just stroll up late at my leisure?

 

I would check with Seabourn about how late you can board. Cruises have never been like planes, where you just need to make it before they close the door; my recollection was that you had to be aboard at least one hour — maybe 90 minutes? — before the scheduled sailing time. But with many rules and protocols having changed over the past year, I'd just go to the source and find out how late you can board without running into a problem.

[ciaoYacht]

Just called Seabourn to clarify,  they informed me I had to arrive no later than 4pm for the 5pm embarcation.  She did not seem concerned about changing my boarding time otherwise. 

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, ciaoYacht said:

Just called Seabourn to clarify,  they informed me I had to arrive no later than 4pm for the 5pm embarcation.  She did not seem concerned about changing my boarding time otherwise. 

Very good advice from SB.  We were once on a Silversea cruise and a couple were left behind who assumed that they could show up shortly before time for the ship to leave the port.  By the time they arrived, the ship had already set in motion all that needs to be done to leave port, and there was no way for the couple to board.  If it were me, I would arrive no later than 3pm!  

[ciaoYacht]

17 hours ago, SLSD said:

Very good advice from SB.  We were once on a Silversea cruise and a couple were left behind who assumed that they could show up shortly before time for the ship to leave the port.  By the time they arrived, the ship had already set in motion all that needs to be done to leave port, and there was no way for the couple to board.  If it were me, I would arrive no later than 3pm!  

Agree, and I was personally planning to arrive no later than 3… but glad they were able to confirm. 

[wesport]

I have had my boarding changed several times for departure out of Juneau at 9pm. First was 2:20. Then changed to 4pm. Seems late, but it says not to arrive before your time.  Checkout is at noon, so  he comes 4 hours wandering Juneau , Alaska!

[SusieQft]

Our boarding time in Vancouver wad originally 4, and changed to 2:20.  We arrived at ~12, and there were no lines.  We had numerous stations spaced out with lots of walking between.  So it took a while, but no waiting.