P&O embarkation (Pacific Encounter)

[Aus Traveller]

Our P&O Cruise Control has the notification that our embarkation time could be selected 60 days prior to the cruise. When we returned on Sunday from our  Coral Princess cruise, the Cruise Control told me it was 56 days until our cruise, but still had the notification about choosing embarkation time 60 days prior. Today, I logged on again and was able to choose a time for our 27th August cruise. The earliest available was 12.30. ☹️ I don't know if the two earlier time slots had been filled since the option became available, or whether they had been blanked out, with 12.30 being the earliest.

 

I will have to see what I have to do prior to the boarding - vaccination certificates etc.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Our P&O Cruise Control has the notification that our embarkation time could be selected 60 days prior to the cruise. When we returned on Sunday from our  Coral Princess cruise, the Cruise Control told me it was 56 days until our cruise, but still had the notification about choosing embarkation time 60 days prior. Today, I logged on again and was able to choose a time for our 27th August cruise. The earliest available was 12.30. ☹️ I don't know if the two earlier time slots had been filled since the option became available, or whether they had been blanked out, with 12.30 being the earliest.

 

I will have to see what I have to do prior to the boarding - vaccination certificates etc.

Unless you have priority boarding, I don't think there is a selectable time before noon. They don't send a notification for boarding times, or didn't in our case. Just a matter of logging in until it became available.

 

Vaxx and test info is very similar to what you had with the medallion. Vaxx certificate uploads with VerFLY app, and covid test & questionaire is also there, but also shows up on cruise control when it is due.

[Aus Traveller]

11 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Unless you have priority boarding, I don't think there is a selectable time before noon. They don't send a notification for boarding times, or didn't in our case. Just a matter of logging in until it became available.

 

Vaxx and test info is very similar to what you had with the medallion. Vaxx certificate uploads with VerFLY app, and covid test & questionaire is also there, but also shows up on cruise control when it is due.

Is priority boarding with P&O limited to suites? If so, that doesn't include us. 🙂

[arxcards]

13 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Is priority boarding with P&O limited to suites? If so, that doesn't include us. 🙂

Apparently, if you book early with their more premium fare, you will also get priority - similar to the early bird packages they did a few years ago. At least that is the case for Explorer with their handful of suites. Encounter has plenty more suites, so that may be the only priority ticket for the ship. No black cards on P&O.

 

The same applies as it always has though. If there are no queues early, it pretty much becomes open boarding.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, arxcards said:

Apparently, if you book early with their more premium fare, you will also get priority - similar to the early bird packages they did a few years ago. At least that is the case for Explorer with their handful of suites. Encounter has plenty more suites, so that may be the only priority ticket for the ship. No black cards on P&O.

 

The same applies as it always has though. If there are no queues early, it pretty much becomes open boarding.

That is what we will do - go a bit ahead of our allotted time. 🙂

[Snoopkat]

On our Explorer cruise a couple of weeks ago, our initial boarding time was 12.30 and we were able to get an 11.30 slot closer to the date. We ended up getting on the ship itself at about 11.15 because there was no queue and VeriFly made the whole boarding process really easy.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Snoopkat said:

On our Explorer cruise a couple of weeks ago, our initial boarding time was 12.30 and we were able to get an 11.30 slot closer to the date. We ended up getting on the ship itself at about 11.15 because there was no queue and VeriFly made the whole boarding process really easy.

I will try to tackle the VeriFly app and see how I go.