Arrival Group on Medallion seems pointless

[emerald6273]

Trying to board Regal Princess at Civitavecchia today. Turned up at 10.15am to a packed terminal. Have Arrival Group A on my Medallion which seems pointless today. Everyone seems to have turned up at terminal at same time to board. Guy sitting beside me is Arrival Group G on his medallion but is holding a boarding card of Group 9. Despite arriving at 10.15am we were allocated Group 11. It's like a free for all at Civitavecchia Terminal. People climbing over seats etc pushing into queue. This is my 4th Princess cruise since 2021. Sailed from Southampton and LA previously where boarding was better organised.

Edited May 7, 2022 by emerald6273
Error

[mtnesterz]

"Anyone who says getting there is half the fun, hasn't traveled lately."

Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick

Edited May 7, 2022 by mtnesterz

[Bgwest]

Completely pointless. 

[minnesotasisu]

If they have set time they should enforce them. They probably did so more when the pandemic was in full swing to avoid crowds but they must be resorting back to not enforcing the set time. Sad.

[PrincessLuver]

We have never known Princess to enforce boarding times and as you know it is often promoted on CC by posters here that "you can just show up when you want to and ignore your assigned boarding time by Princess."  So it is partly Princess and the passengers who have created the boarding fiascos.  We are our own worst enemies.

[Sea Hag]

1 hour ago, minnesotasisu said:

If they have set time they should enforce them. They probably did so more when the pandemic was in full swing to avoid crowds but they must be resorting back to not enforcing the set time. Sad.

I don't know what they're doing on this - and I also don't know if THEY know what they're doing. I agree with you that it would make sense for them to enforce arrival times more when the pandemic was in full swing, but our experience has been otherwise. We've sailed three times since the restart:

 

August of 2021: nobody checked

Halloween of 2021: nobody checked

April 23, 2022: somebody finally checked

 

I find this odd.

[Ken the cruiser]

I know on our upcoming July cruise on the Regal out of Barcelona, Princess has said they will be issuing complimentary antigen tests at the pier because of the EU 24 hour test rule. Is Princess offering the same testing service today on your cruise out of Civitavecchia?

[skynight]

Totally Agree. Princess has been trying to control arrivals forever. While early times are somewhat crowded Princess has shown that they are able to board passengers very quickly making spread out arrival times pretty much not necessary and a negative in the customer service area.

[Ace_Caliente]

Is it best to just arrive in the afternoon to save waiting around in line a long time? We board Regal in Barcelona in July and will already be in Barcelona a couple days so we can make our way over to the ship whenever during the day.

[Merly]

Sometimes the flight arrival times can influence the time people arrive at port. If your  flight gets in early what are you going to do?

[Steelers36]

On 5/7/2022 at 8:34 AM, minnesotasisu said:

If they have set time they should enforce them. They probably did so more when the pandemic was in full swing to avoid crowds but they must be resorting back to not enforcing the set time. Sad.

Never heard of it being enforced since the re-start.  Possibly some isolated situations, but generally not.  Same as when they had the old show-up times by deck location.  That was certainly arbitrary and unfair.  Also, priority guests can show up anytime and there may be a lot on this voyage.

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, Ace_Caliente said:

Is it best to just arrive in the afternoon to save waiting around in line a long time? We board Regal in Barcelona in July and will already be in Barcelona a couple days so we can make our way over to the ship whenever during the day.

Sure - if you want to board later, you will breeze right through the process.

[Steelers36]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:56 AM, emerald6273 said:

Trying to board Regal Princess at Civitavecchia today. Turned up at 10.15am to a packed terminal. Have Arrival Group A on my Medallion which seems pointless today. Everyone seems to have turned up at terminal at same time to board. Guy sitting beside me is Arrival Group G on his medallion but is holding a boarding card of Group 9. Despite arriving at 10.15am we were allocated Group 11. It's like a free for all at Civitavecchia Terminal. People climbing over seats etc pushing into queue. This is my 4th Princess cruise since 2021. Sailed from Southampton and LA previously where boarding was better organised.

IMO, the disorganization of seating areas and lines and guests climbing over seats or pushing is partly on the cruise line port personnel for not being as organized as PCL is in Port Everglades (for example).  It's early in the season after a long absence of cruising, so maybe they will get better.  

 

ETA:  Sometimes, people act crazy if unsupervised.  I really doubt they were all clamoring for The Sanctuary.  LOL.

 

I have never cruised out of Italy before (going to be doing it in October - twice).  Not sure the size of the terminal for a Royal Class ship, but by 10:15 in Port Everglades, I wouldn't call the terminal "packed". 

 

Hope you get on board okay and can relax.  I also hope they get better organized soon.  We are staying overnight in Civi, so expect to be at the terminal fairly early.  

 

BTW, never heard report of an Arrival Group as high as "G".  They must have setup quite a few extra there with less people in each one.  Right now, MC App only shows three possible groups for our voyage. 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Steelers36

[Astro Flyer]

24 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I have never cruised out of Italy before (going to be doing it in October - twice).  Not sure the size of the terminal for a Royal Class ship, but by 10:15 in Port Everglades, I wouldn't call the terminal "packed". 

 

Hope you get on board okay and can relax.  I also hope they get better organized soon.  We are staying overnight in Civi, so expect to be at the terminal fairly early.

We’ve sailed out of Civitavecchia several times most recently in November 2019 on Sky Princess. For that cruise the ship was at a newer better terminal than the overcrowded older terminal previously used. You enter on the ground level to go through security & take an escalator upstairs to check-in. There was a large lobby where staff with tablets roamed around to check in passengers with their Medallions & short lines at the counter for others. Boarding time was delayed until 1400 due to deep cleaning after the previous cruise had norovirus. That was after hotel checkout time so sat in the lobby with our luggage until the complimentary hotel shuttle departed for the short drive at about 1300.

 

We always stay overnight in Civitavecchia (taken both train & shuttle van from Rome hotel) and picked up our favorite Italian wines from a market within walking distance of our hotel to take onboard. 🍷😊

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Astro Flyer

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

We always stay overnight in Civitavecchia (taken both train & shuttle van from Rome hotel) and picked up our favorite Italian wines from a market within walking distance of our hotel to take onboard. 🍷😊

We've been to Rome on a land trip.  We were originally going to do a 10+ day road trip from Milan, ending in Civi, but we scrapped that extra expense.  we have 5 days between Regal and Island, so we are doing a shorter road trip, or may stay in Sicily.  Anyway, we might be in the older terminal with a smaller ship and I have not looked up how many other ships are scheduled for our dates.

 

 

I am interested to hear the name of the wine store you used.  No doubt there are multiple.  

 

We are staying at Hotel Porto Di Roma, Via Montegrappa 27 which is close to central town and port.

[Kitty Ellas Mom]

What is the earliest you would recommend to be there when it's not crowded?  I'm going on my 1st ever cruise on Majestic to Alaska in mid June, departing from Whittier.  The earliest I can get to Whittier port is around 1 pm.

[skynight]

6 minutes ago, Kitty Ellas Mom said:

What is the earliest you would recommend to be there when it's not crowded?  I'm going on my 1st ever cruise on Majestic to Alaska in mid June, departing from Whittier.  The earliest I can get to Whittier port is around 1 pm.

If you arrive at Whitter around 1pm you should have no issues boarding fairly quickly. Many passengers boarding in Alaska are arriving at the end of a Princess cruise tour and boarding is spread out automatically.

[Astro Flyer]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I am interested to hear the name of the wine store you used.  No doubt there are multiple.  

 

We are staying at Hotel Porto Di Roma, Via Montegrappa 27 which is close to central town and port.

We stayed a couple of times at Hotel San Giorgio near your hotel & both are near the Elite Supermercati (Via C. Calisse, 61 / 61a / 61b / 65a, 00053 Civitavecchia RM, Italy) & less than a 10 minute walk. Went to larger markets on the main street (Corso Centocelle) which had cheap €3-€5 bottles of wine. Elite is a neighborhood market with well priced Italian wines we like such as Brunello & Barolo.

 

We greatly enjoyed visiting Sicily which has some of the best Greek & Roman sites…highly recommend it. That was 20 years ago & still have some famiglia there where my grandparents were born.

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Astro Flyer

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

We stayed a couple of times at Hotel San Giorgio near your hotel & both are near the Elite Supermercati (Via C. Calisse, 61 / 61a / 61b / 65a, 00053 Civitavecchia RM, Italy) & less than a 10 minute walk. Went to larger markets on the main street (Corso Centocelle) which had cheap €3-€5 bottles of wine. Elite is a neighborhood market with well priced Italian wines we like such as Brunello & Barolo.

 

We greatly enjoyed visiting Sicily which has some of the best Greek & Roman sites…highly recommend it. That was 20 years ago & still have some famiglia there where my grandparents were born.

 

Thanks much for your response.  If we do it, I will remember to let you know about it.  It is a recent new idea as we were just going along with ending Regal in Rome, with five days to ourselves and then board Island.  But our last stops are Sicily and Naples.  Have no need to go to Naples again and we will be there another time on these cruises.  We could "jump ship" in Messina, and have a week on the island and make our way back to Civi to catch the Island.  

 

[wowzz]

On 5/7/2022 at 3:37 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

I know on our upcoming July cruise on the Regal out of Barcelona, Princess has said they will be issuing complimentary antigen tests at the pier because of the EU 24 hour test rule. Is Princess offering the same testing service today on your cruise out of Civitavecchia?

That is no longer the case.  Tests at Barcelona and Civitavecchia are now $60 pp. The rules now allow you to be tested three days in advance,  so charges have been implemented to encourage passengers to test in advance.

The Greek government is still insisting on 24 hour testing,  therefore Princess is ofering free tests in Athens.

[Cuedon]

14 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

BTW, never heard report of an Arrival Group as high as "G".  They must have setup quite a few extra there with less people in each one.  Right now, MC App only shows three possible groups for our voyage. 

My upcoming Island goes as far as H-- 2:30PM to 3:00PM.

[vjmatty]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

That is no longer the case.  Tests at Barcelona and Civitavecchia are now $60 pp. The rules now allow you to be tested three days in advance,  so charges have been implemented to encourage passengers to test in advance.

The Greek government is still insisting on 24 hour testing,  therefore Princess is ofering free tests in Athens.

 

Is it strictly 24 hours or just the day before? I am not sure how they would measure 24 hours if no one knows the time you will be boarding.

 

And is Princess offering free tests before disembarking in Athens as well?

[wowzz]

31 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

Is it strictly 24 hours or just the day before? I am not sure how they would measure 24 hours if no one knows the time you will be boarding.

 

And is Princess offering free tests before disembarking in Athens as well?

It is the day before - anytime. 

Sorry,  I have no idea about disembarkation tests, as they are not needed when we return to the UK.