Royal Princess How early can I board in San Francisco?

[BargainMan]

I am on Royal Princess 10 day Mexico on 6th Jan 2022. How early can I board? Any feedback from SF past guests highly appreciated.

 

[Sea Hag]

4 minutes ago, BargainMan said:

I am on Royal Princess 10 day Mexico on 6th Jan 2022. How early can I board? Any feedback from SF past guests highly appreciated.

 

I seem to recall being on the ship by 11:15 on a recent cruise. That was with an early arrival time and elite status. Not sure which one of those got us on early.

Edited December 23, 2022 by Sea Hag

[justafem]

9 minutes ago, BargainMan said:

I am on Royal Princess 10 day Mexico on 6th Jan 2022. How early can I board? Any feedback from SF past guests highly appreciated.

 

I'm normally on the ship by 11-11;30 in SF.  This is elite status and sometimes suite, with "A" group early access  

[tcdcruiser]

The estimates above are correct IF the Royal Princess is on time. 

 

Check marinetraffic.com the morning of departure

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-122.515/centery:37.814/zoom:12

if the Royal is seen near the GG Bridge about 530am you know she is on time.  An on-time arrival and disembarkation usually means an on-time embarkation.

 

The last 6 Princess cruises out of SF (all in 2022) the medallion green lane and boarding time assignment has been meaningless.  The port authority usually opens the security queue between 1030 and 1100am and begin processing passengers (regardless of PCL assigned boarding time or loyalty status).  Once past security Princess does offer a. dedicated queue of Suite passengers, and those with Elite and Platinum status. 

 

Once boarding commences Suites and Elites board first.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by tcdcruiser

[Cruise Raider]

We normally try to cruise only out if SF and found that, if everything is running smoothly, that we are allowed to board sometime around 11:30 AM.  

[Teeara]

When do boarding times open on the app?  We’re 90 days away and everything shows 0 availability.  This is our first cruise using the app.

[2islandhoppers]

This may be a dumb question, but it's been a long time since we did an ocean cruise. 

 

Sailing on the Royal on 02 March out of San Francisco.  Can we drop our luggage off and check in later to board?

[sfpd3000]

3 hours ago, 2islandhoppers said:

This may be a dumb question, but it's been a long time since we did an ocean cruise. 

 

Sailing on the Royal on 02 March out of San Francisco.  Can we drop our luggage off and check in later to board?

Sure.  Why not?  Give your luggage to the porters, and instead of waiting in line to get into the terminal, go and explore the area and return later.

[sfpd3000]

On 12/23/2022 at 10:06 AM, BargainMan said:

I am on Royal Princess 10 day Mexico on 6th Jan 2022. How early can I board? Any feedback from SF past guests highly appreciated.

 

I worked traffic control for the cruise prior to ours (we're sailing Jan 6th too - I think you mean 2023 not 2022).  I was expecting the worst since they are at near capacity.  It went surprisingly well.  A little before 11am, they were already calling elite and suites to begin boarding.  About 15 minutes later, the next group (platinum maybe? I didn't hear the announcement) was allowed to board.  (Yes, I snuck into the terminal to get warm - it was freezing outside).  Then again, the prior cruise was at around 50% capacity, so probably a quicker turnaround.