Live from Iona Norwegian Fjords 20th May 7 Nights

[Megabear2]

Just now, CarlaMarie said:

Yes she is megabear (by the way, it is lovely to see you posting) 

Thanks.  Miserable day on here (less said) so thought I'd cheer myself up with ICF's enthusiastic posts!  

[Cathygh]

36 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Can anyone post the photo? I'd like to compare it with ours on 14th.

 

[Megabear2]

4 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

 

Okay thank you.  I'm pretty sure that will be the two lines we had.  One to the left on time (if it was running late it will look longer,). The one on the right will be those waiting for their time to be called forward.  That looks longer than we had, presumably again because of delays if there were any.  As the ship appears to have left at 6.00pm that would seem to be a pretty normal queue these days.

[AndyMichelle]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Okay thank you.  I'm pretty sure that will be the two lines we had.  One to the left on time (if it was running late it will look longer,). The one on the right will be those waiting for their time to be called forward.  That looks longer than we had, presumably again because of delays if there were any.  As the ship appears to have left at 6.00pm that would seem to be a pretty normal queue these days.

Apparently (it was on fb, so must be true!!😂) people who had a 2pm boarding time were still not on board at 4!!!

If that is the norm, the new system is just not working... 

Andy 

[Cathygh]

7 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Okay thank you.  I'm pretty sure that will be the two lines we had.  One to the left on time (if it was running late it will look longer,). The one on the right will be those waiting for their time to be called forward.  That looks longer than we had, presumably again because of delays if there were any.  As the ship appears to have left at 6.00pm that would seem to be a pretty normal queue these days.

I have never experienced queuing like it but I board Iona myself next week so I'll have a better idea. 

[Megabear2]

I think it depends on your boarding time.  Couple of cruises back my BIL sailed on at 12.30, his son and DIL had later time 4.00pm and had huge queues. They still got on and sailed.on time.

 

A lot on here being Caribbean and above won't experience these queues.  They might getting off though ...  I've had a letter advising me as a "hidden disabilities" person to get off at the very last as it may cause me anxiety!

[Cathygh]

1 minute ago, AndyMichelle said:

Apparently (it was on fb, so must be true!!😂) people who had a 2pm boarding time were still not on board at 4!!!

If that is the norm, the new system is just not working... 

Andy 

That if it's true does not surprise me. If boarding open at 12 and all aboard is 4 pm.they can not get 5000 plus people on board in 4 hours. That's 20 people per minute. 

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Apparently (it was on fb, so must be true!!😂) people who had a 2pm boarding time were still not on board at 4!!!

If that is the norm, the new system is just not working... 

Andy 

Not good, but others seem to have it cracked. We were already in Malta and had a boarding time for Azura as anytime after 11.00am. We arrived about 20 past and had a choice of check in desks. On the ship in about 15 minutes, after a visit to the onshore duty free.

[Megabear2]

Well no doubt the star of the show will be along shortly and he can fill us in! I'm sure his boundless enthusiasm will have won the day!

[CarlaMarie]

25 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Okay thank you.  I'm pretty sure that will be the two lines we had.  One to the left on time (if it was running late it will look longer,). The one on the right will be those waiting for their time to be called forward.  That looks longer than we had, presumably again because of delays if there were any.  As the ship appears to have left at 6.00pm that would seem to be a pretty normal queue these days.

 

Yes the two queue system seems to be operated by the terminal staff for each ship now, it was that way for Britannia last week. There were about 200 people in the 'early arrival' queue already at about 1130am. My Mum and Dad were on time, so at 12 o clock they went straight on. 

[alpha whiskey]

29 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

I have never experienced queuing like it but I board Iona myself next week so I'll have a better idea. 

I don't know if we were just lucky but we boarded Iona bang on time in January, (12.30)   and dare I say little early on Arvia in April. Boarding time 1.45pm and were onboard at 1.30pm

Didn't experience any real queues, and were just seated for a short while before going through security.

Let's hope this past week has just been a blip and things will settle down again 🤞

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by alpha whiskey

[Dermotsgirl]

I’ve just seen Iona go past our hotel.  A lovely evening for it

 

 

[CarlaMarie]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Thanks.  Miserable day on here (less said) so thought I'd cheer myself up with ICF's enthusiastic posts!  

 

Sorry to hear you have had a miserable day onboard. Please do share it with us on your other thread when you feel that you can. I hope tomorrow is much better for you.

[Megabear2]

16 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Sorry to hear you have had a miserable day onboard. Please do share it with us on your other thread when you feel that you can. I hope tomorrow is much better for you.

Tomorrow will be great!!  I'm going to be in Italy (only place on the itinerary I really want to go,) and the sun's going to shine, predicting 20  degrees on arrival tomorrow rising to 27 in the afternoon.  Good food and wine and lots of culture. I'm packed ready to go at the crack of the offloading signal. No transfer hassle for me tomorrow, nothing is spoiling this one...

[daiB]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Not good, but others seem to have it cracked. We were already in Malta and had a boarding time for Azura as anytime after 11.00am. We arrived about 20 past and had a choice of check in desks. On the ship in about 15 minutes, after a visit to the onshore duty free.

Passengers in Malta are spread out by the time their plane lands whch is totally different from Southampton.

[Yorkypete]

Going on Iona in March we also had a queue...about 1hr before reaching the desks . Before that our coach was sent to another terminal and held in a large hanger with about 15 other coaches. We had no information and were there about 45 mins before allowed to the terminal. Only explanation we were given was that it was'busy' with over 25 coaches due!

[happy v]

2 hours ago, Cathygh said:

That if it's true does not surprise me. If boarding open at 12 and all aboard is 4 pm.they can not get 5000 plus people on board in 4 hours. That's 20 people per minute. 

When we went that was easily being achieved. There are loads of check in desks in the new terminal. You walk up show your passport and boarding document. She ticks you off on the computer. That's it. Go to security

 

 

 

[Megabear2]

27 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Going on Iona in March we also had a queue...about 1hr before reaching the desks . Before that our coach was sent to another terminal and held in a large hanger with about 15 other coaches. We had no information and were there about 45 mins before allowed to the terminal. Only explanation we were given was that it was'busy' with over 25 coaches due!

That's pretty standard practice though with the coaches.  I've spoken to a lot here who went to the Mayflower to wait as their coaches had staggered timed. With the two big ships the

1 1/2 hour window to check the coach passengers in is tight according the guy who assisted me last week.  Ours was a good day, every coach and person were on time and we finished boarding 20 minutes early apparently. He told me a bad day is when traffic problems break up the staggering and then everything is impacted which is why the coaches aim for 60-90 minutes before their time.

[Yorkypete]

17 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's pretty standard practice though with the coaches.  I've spoken to a lot here who went to the Mayflower to wait as their coaches had staggered timed. With the two big ships the

1 1/2 hour window to check the coach passengers in is tight according the guy who assisted me last week.  Ours was a good day, every coach and person were on time and we finished boarding 20 minutes early apparently. He told me a bad day is when traffic problems break up the staggering and then everything is impacted which is why the coaches aim for 60-90 minutes before their time.

Things must be changing as before(last year) we arrived by coach and went straight  into the terminal.  We had one stop on the way and the driver said we were on time each of the three trips we made. We were unaware of any set timing window. It must be getting busier or the system is breaking down

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Apparently (it was on fb, so must be true!!😂) people who had a 2pm boarding time were still not on board at 4!!!

If that is the norm, the new system is just not working... 

Andy 

I just dont understand how P&O can be so inept in the way they handle a  simple thing like boarding, all they have to do is pop down to City terminal and see how RCI  operate the Royal caribbean and Celebrity  boarding.

Of course they do need to dock earlier than 6:30 on turnround day, so they can unload all the luggage in time to commence standard disembarcation no later than 7:30. In that way they dont need to bother with having passengers assemble  in specific lounges, they just open up the gangway and let passengers turn up at their designated time, or earlier or later as they see fit. That way there is little queuing and a speedy throughput of passengers, and the same policy then applies to boarding, you open it up at 10:30 - 11:00, and you get a steady throughput of passengers without any long queues.

[zap99]

2 hours ago, daiB said:

Passengers in Malta are spread out by the time their plane lands whch is totally different from Southampton.

I appreciate that, but on some cruise lines an 11.00am check in isn't unheard of. Having thousands if passengers arriving in a short space of time is asking for trouble. It may work with a couple of thousand, but obviously isn't on the big ships. The folk boarding last can't get the bookings they want, so it's unfair on them. It needs sorting. In Malta the planes aren't that spread out.

[zap99]

58 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I just dont understand how P&O can be so inept in the way they handle a  simple thing like boarding, all they have to do is pop down to City terminal and see how RCI  operate the Royal caribbean and Celebrity  boarding.

Of course they do need to dock earlier than 6:30 on turnround day, so they can unload all the luggage in time to commence standard disembarcation no later than 7:30. In that way they dont need to bother with having passengers assemble  in specific lounges, they just open up the gangway and let passengers turn up at their designated time, or earlier or later as they see fit. That way there is little queuing and a speedy throughput of passengers, and the same policy then applies to boarding, you open it up at 10:30 - 11:00, and you get a steady throughput of passengers without any long queues.

Seems obvious to us, but apparently.not to P&O.....start boarding earlier.

[Ardennais]

Strange, because we had late embarkation on our Feb half term Iona cruise and there was no waiting at all. That cruise was full + 800 children. We also disembarked efficiently, collected our luggage quickly and were back in the car and off by 10:00 am. So it can be done. 
 

The inconsistency is puzzling. 

[Megabear2]

7 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

Things must be changing as before(last year) we arrived by coach and went straight  into the terminal.  We had one stop on the way and the driver said we were on time each of the three trips we made. We were unaware of any set timing window. It must be getting busier or the system is breaking down

Very big roadworks in and around Southampton since the start of the year apparently meaning delays have to be built in to timetables.  I only live 27 miles away but journey times are much longer than they were previously even when no ships are in.  Often sit on the bus for an age approaching Southampton.

[Selbourne]

54 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Very big roadworks in and around Southampton since the start of the year apparently meaning delays have to be built in to timetables.  I only live 27 miles away but journey times are much longer than they were previously even when no ships are in.  Often sit on the bus for an age approaching Southampton.

We travel to Southampton quite regularly, for various reasons. The ‘bad’ bit, if there’s going to be one, is the short stretch of the M3 between Winchester and Eastleigh, which I’m guessing that the majority of people travelling to a cruise use. It’s been worse over the last 6-9 months due to major roadworks, narrow lanes and reduced speed limits. However, if anything, the traffic is worse northbound, so should have no meaningful impact on cruise ship operations. 
 

I’m inclined to agree with several others that the boarding problems are of P&Os making and nothing to do with roadworks or traffic. On the rare occasion that there’s a major traffic problem (as there was recently), this results in people being very late which, if anything, takes pressure off the embarkation process, as less people are arriving well ahead of their scheduled time. 
 

I have no personal experience of the cruise lines that others have mentioned never have the issues that P&O experience regularly, however they could even learn from other companies within the carnival brand. We were struck with how much better the embarkation and disembarkation process was on QM2 a few weeks back. Admittedly, she’s not the size of Iona or Arvia, but isn’t a tiddler and, as you know, was full.