early boarding

[jbmwistex]

Can you go with your cruise traveling friends on early boarding . If they have a jr suite cabin and we have a balcony. We are diamond crown and anchor 

[taglovestocruise]

7 minutes ago, jbmwistex said:

Can you go with your cruise traveling friends on early boarding . If they have a jr suite cabin and we have a balcony. We are diamond crown and anchor 

I would think so, last three cruises there has not been any checking as to what our checkin time is. I would also think you could all checkin together in the Suite line. 

[jbmwistex]

3 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

I would think so, last three cruises there has not been any checking as to what our checkin time is. I would also think you could all checkin together in the Suite line. 

Thank you. This is their first cruise and would like to go with them as they check in . 

[Sunshine3601]

The line for Suites only check in is hardly ever long so you should be okay to all go together.   Technically, it is not to be done this way but it would be nice only if no line or hardly any line for this check in area.    

[slyster]

There was a long thread about this a few months ago.  Only suite guests should use the suite line.  There was a debate if the RC rep has no problem with it or says its ok, and some folks here said it doesn't matter.  Just wanted to share that.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

On 1/31/2023 at 5:23 PM, jbmwistex said:

Can you go with your cruise traveling friends on early boarding . If they have a jr suite cabin and we have a balcony. We are diamond crown and anchor 

That will depend on a wide variety of factors, from the port in question to who happens to be working that day. 😉  Since it's technically against policy, you might get away with it or you might not. 

 

If you want to play it safe, you can always have them board with you rather than vice versa.

[coaster]

Port of Tampa checks based on our past sailings. I commend them for that.  Stick to your boarding time and don't be rude. Diamond here and that does not entitle us to board before our assigned time. Friends or no friends in a suite. You can easily meet them later.

Edited February 3, 2023 by coaster

[matj2000]

I have been on 3 cruises in the last 8 months at 3 different ports.

 

Not one time have I had anyone ask or care about my boarding time

 

The only people who care are the "busy-bodies"on these forums.

[coaster]

4 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

I have been on 3 cruises in the last 8 months at 3 different ports.

 

Not one time have I had anyone ask or care about my boarding time

 

The only people who care are the "busy-bodies"on these forums.

Why have boarding times if they are not enforced?  Not a busy-body, but I respect rules and don't look for an excuse to jump the line. Royal should get rid of times if they are not enforced at every port and many have an excuse that the current rules do not apply to them.

Edited February 3, 2023 by coaster

[matj2000]

10 minutes ago, coaster said:

Why have boarding times if they are not enforced? Get rid of them if they are not important. 

 

Nobody at the port enforces them.   

[coaster]

 

4 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

 

Nobody at the port enforces them.   

They do in Tampa. Doesn't make it right that you cheat and go before your assigned time in other ports either. Glad you think you are a VIP and rules do not apply to you.

Edited February 3, 2023 by coaster

[Broken07]

I was on Oasis in the summer and the Suite/priority boarding security line was longer than the regular. Jumped in the regular security line made it through well before the other. Then bounced over to the suite checkin which was shorter than the regular.  

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, matj2000 said:

I have been on 3 cruises in the last 8 months at 3 different ports.

 

Not one time have I had anyone ask or care about my boarding time

 

The only people who care are the "busy-bodies"on these forums.

I have been on over a dozen cruises over the last year. Approximately half of the time they strictly enforced check-in times while the other times no one paid attention to check-in times. I have only cruised out of Port Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral, so the ports aren’t very consistent. In general Miami seems to enforce check-in times the most while Canaveral seems to be the least strict. 

[1interpreter]

The scheduled boarding time is a joke!  We are Diamond and always get a suite when we cruise. We last cruised in November out of Port Canaveral and it was total chaos! We got there late because our transfers from the airport took forever due to traffic (not their fault). Once we got to the port, there was a huge line (about 1,500 - 2,000 people in front of us) with basically zero organization. Thankfully it wasn't raining or to hot because we were all outside. There weren't any signs posted anywhere that we could see for priority boarding, so after waiting in line for about 30 minutes my husband finally went in search of it and found out where we were supposed to go. After finding where we were supposed to go we were in the building and checking in within 10 minutes. We were never asked about our scheduled boarding time. By the time we got on the ship our cabins were ready. We are normally on the ship by around 11:00 so that tells you how backed up and late things we're running. Our suite was port side so we were able to peek out at the line often if we wanted. We were supposed to set sail at 4:30. At that time there was still a significant line of people waiting to board. We also had two emergencies on board before we even left port. Both of these individuals were removed from the ship and taken to the hospital via ambulance. We didn't set sail until 6:30. As for your non suite friends boarding with you, I would say to just meet them on the ship. We had family (balcony cabin) once try to disembark with us because they wanted the priority service that we had, and Royal shut them down and wouldn't allow it. I've seen the same turned away at embarkation as well. It would suck to have them be sent to the end of the line after being turned away from the priority embarkation line.

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, 1interpreter said:

The scheduled boarding time is a joke!  We are Diamond and always get a suite when we cruise. We last cruised in November out of Port Canaveral and it was total chaos! We got there late because our transfers from the airport took forever due to traffic (not their fault). Once we got to the port, there was a huge line (about 1,500 - 2,000 people in front of us) with basically zero organization. Thankfully it wasn't raining or to hot because we were all outside. There weren't any signs posted anywhere that we could see for priority boarding, so after waiting in line for about 30 minutes my husband finally went in search of it and found out where we were supposed to go. After finding where we were supposed to go we were in the building and checking in within 10 minutes. We were never asked about our scheduled boarding time. By the time we got on the ship our cabins were ready. We are normally on the ship by around 11:00 so that tells you how backed up and late things we're running. Our suite was port side so we were able to peek out at the line often if we wanted. We were supposed to set sail at 4:30. At that time there was still a significant line of people waiting to board. We also had two emergencies on board before we even left port. Both of these individuals were removed from the ship and taken to the hospital via ambulance. We didn't set sail until 6:30. As for your non suite friends boarding with you, I would say to just meet them on the ship. We had family (balcony cabin) once try to disembark with us because they wanted the priority service that we had, and Royal shut them down and wouldn't allow it. I've seen the same turned away at embarkation as well. It would suck to have them be sent to the end of the line after being turned away from the priority embarkation line.

Why didn’t you use the suite entrance? I know you said you didn’t notice it, but every cruise I have been on post COVID has had a separate line for suites, pinnacles and the key. 

[1interpreter]

18 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Why didn’t you use the suite entrance? I know you said you didn’t notice it, but every cruise I have been on post COVID has had a separate line for suites, pinnacles and the key. 

Same as I mentioned above. There were no signs posted anywhere for priority boarding (for suites/C&A etc) so with that being said, how could we have used that if there were no signs posted, this was our first time at this port and we didn't know where to go??? There should have been signs posted to make it easier for those with priority boarding (yes that includes suites) to know where to go so they could get in the proper line.  Guests should not have had to wander around until they found someone to ask where they were supposed to go. Just a fail on their part. Ya live and ya learn.

[Morecruisesplz]

On 1/31/2023 at 5:23 PM, jbmwistex said:

Can you go with your cruise traveling friends on early boarding . If they have a jr suite cabin and we have a balcony. We are diamond crown and anchor 

No is the official answer.

[Spurschick]

13 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Why didn’t you use the suite entrance? I know you said you didn’t notice it, but every cruise I have been on post COVID has had a separate line for suites, pinnacles and the key. 

The last time we were in Miami they didn’t set the lines up until long after the queues started forming and had been set up with signage.it was disorganized chaos at best. No one had any idea where to go.

and yes we were in a suite and there were lots of people in our line that were not in suites because of the lack of signage. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Spurschick

[slyster]

Maybe two separate lines.  One for those with boarding times which is prioritized and the other for others who prefer to ignore the boarding times and try to get on board sooner.  Maybe boarding times have 10 agents while those not following boarding times get 1 or 2 agents.  That might be fair enough.  Regardless you will have people who just choose to do whatever they think they can get away with. 

 

It really comes down to no one enforcing the rules.  That's what it is that causes the chaos

Edited February 4, 2023 by slyster

[VernRDH]

We had 10 am boarding time for Anthem yesterday. No one checked times at all. Everyone allowed in upon arrival. Might have been due to the fact it was about 10 degrees outside. We did wait about 10 more minutes after check in to board. Still on ship by 10:45am. 

There was no way they were going to have people waiting outside in that cold. 

[BND]

On 2/2/2023 at 9:40 PM, matj2000 said:

 

Nobody at the port enforces them.   

Baltimore does.  They also have a separate entrance for Key, Pinn and suites.  Since we always stay in a JS, we go in that entrance, but we pass by the regular line to get to the door and they have signs for times and they do check.

Edited February 5, 2023 by BND

[JeffT237]

On 2/2/2023 at 6:28 PM, coaster said:

Why have boarding times if they are not enforced?  Not a busy-body, but I respect rules and don't look for an excuse to jump the line

I just checked in for our March cruise on the Wonder out of PC.  I got on right when the times became available and got the 10:30 arrival time and in a couple of places it says to honor your arrival time or arrival outside your time slot will delay your boarding.  I'm sure a lot of this is asked of arriving passengers because it makes it easier for shore staff to manage the 6000+ arriving passengers shortly after disembarking the previous cruise.  I would also guess if it's not as big of a crowd at any given time they allow later times to board to make the process as efficient as possible.  Should we consider their operation or is it all about us?

 

On 2/2/2023 at 6:40 PM, matj2000 said:

Nobody at the port enforces them.

 

By that logic should we "chair hog"? Maybe you do. The pool staff often doesn't enforce that rule so it must be OK and really only the busy bodies on CC care. How many times when boarding a plane does a passenger come on with an extra carry-on or personal item that is supposed to be under their seat but they take extra space in the overheads and your stuck checking your bag.  Rules for that that often go unenforced. I think Royal makes the mistake in thinking passengers will do what is asked of them. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, JeffT237 said:

I just checked in for our March cruise on the Wonder out of PC.  I got on right when the times became available and got the 10:30 arrival time and in a couple of places it says to honor your arrival time or arrival outside your time slot will delay your boarding.  I'm sure a lot of this is asked of arriving passengers because it makes it easier for shore staff to manage the 6000+ arriving passengers shortly after disembarking the previous cruise.  I would also guess if it's not as big of a crowd at any given time they allow later times to board to make the process as efficient as possible.  Should we consider their operation or is it all about us?

 

By that logic should we "chair hog"? Maybe you do. The pool staff often doesn't enforce that rule so it must be OK and really only the busy bodies on CC care. How many times when boarding a plane does a passenger come on with an extra carry-on or personal item that is supposed to be under their seat but they take extra space in the overheads and your stuck checking your bag.  Rules for that that often go unenforced. I think Royal makes the mistake in thinking passengers will do what is asked of them. 

I don't understand what point you are trying to make. 

 

There are assigned times to arrive at the terminal. The cruise line asks that you abide by your arrival time to manage 6000+ passengers arriving. 

 

That being said, most people arrive at the airport and head to the cruise terminal. They arrive when they arrive, either on their own or on RCCL transfers. The shore personnel can not have people stacking up outside, so they are let in.

 

There are those who can control their arrival time and they should try to abide by their assigned arrival time. Many don't.  

[SailyaCruise]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:49 AM, Spurschick said:

The last time we were in Miami they didn’t set the lines up until long after the queues started forming and had been set up with signage.it was disorganized chaos at best. No one had any idea where to go.

and yes we were in a suite and there were lots of people in our line that were not in suites because of the lack of signage. 

Oh no.  We're on Oasis out of Port of Miami in December.  I'm nervous.  Most of us are in suites and are D+, but a few who are going with us and don't cruise will be clueless.  I'll probably stay behind with them and board with the non-suites then.  Err!  😬

[SailyaCruise]

On 2/5/2023 at 7:04 AM, VernRDH said:

We had 10 am boarding time for Anthem yesterday. No one checked times at all. Everyone allowed in upon arrival. Might have been due to the fact it was about 10 degrees outside. We did wait about 10 more minutes after check in to board. Still on ship by 10:45am. 

There was no way they were going to have people waiting outside in that cold. 

Hope you all have a wonderful time.  So nice.