Strict arrival times

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I presume the latest P&O check in,  which is  mainly done on-line is similiar or identical to Cunard. Present passports, boarding passes stamped all over in under a minute.  Can't see how it can get faster.  AI and facial recognition ?

Yes, as I said above identical in timing. Once in the terminal building extremely fast, much quicker than my previous boardings with P&O where we were required to sit in the terminal and called in rows to check in. 

 

Incidentally I boarded both a Princess and Celebrity ship last year, one in Barcelona and one in Civitavecchia.  Security checks were first at these ports but once inside the terminal we were asked to sit and wait until they called us to the desk.  On both occasions we had the earliest boarding time - 11.00am - but the process to being onboard was longer than my Arvia and QM2 experiences.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Megabear2

[terrierjohn]

46 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

So it seems the difference

 

A) have the big bottleneck security first. So if people arrive early and there is no queue at security let them through.  Makes sense.

 

I wonder why some terminals have check in first some security first.

 

For P&O to change will ideally need physical layout.

 

Or might just need an electronic board indicating numbers waiting for security.  If a queue early arrivals wait if no queue at security let them through 

 

B) start earlier,  If ships start boarding earlier  does this mean earlier disembarkation,  whether you like it or not

Early boarding will not affect disembarkation, it's just that the other lines also do disembarkation better than P&O as well, sort of an ongoing issue here dont you think????😊😇

[lindylooellalouise]

After seeing the weather forecast for tomorrow in Southampton I really do hope they don’t make any passengers queue outside.

[9265359]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

I presume the latest P&O check in,  which is  mainly done on-line is similiar or identical to Cunard. Present passports, boarding passes stamped all over in under a minute.  Can't see how it can get faster.  AI and facial recognition ?

Quicker - take a look at any airport. 
 

Boarding card scanned yourself to enter the departure area, then a scan of the passport and visual check of the boarding card at the departure gate to ensure the names match. 
 

That’s an awful lot quicker than a minute per party.

 

Now there is no medical questionnaire or insurance check at checkin, then really what is the point of the old fashioned checkin process. 

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, lindylooellalouise said:

After seeing the weather forecast for tomorrow in Southampton I really do hope they don’t make any passengers queue outside.

 

 

The best way is not to arrive early, and the only people who can't  control arrival time are those that arrive by public transport and who don't have a safe slightly later option.Those in cars can wait occupy themselves nearby.

 

If only the few that have no option turn up early should be enough space to them in. If loads turn up early then nothing can be done

 

Never mind what system is proposed it relies on a steady smooth flow of arrivals.

 

After reading all the comments I agree with those who say no one has complained that they arrived on time and had to queue.

 

If only everyone didn't want to be first on.

 

P&O have a very transparent system for allocating arrival times.

 

If you want to be first splash out on a suite, or get Liguirian status, 

If you want to be in second batch  achieve Baltic status,  

Then Carribean ...

 

So just arrive on time

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Windsurfboy

[Windsurfboy]

14 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Quicker - take a look at any airport. 
 

Boarding card scanned yourself to enter the departure area, then a scan of the passport and visual check of the boarding card at the departure gate to ensure the names match. 
 

That’s an awful lot quicker than a minute per party.

 

Now there is no medical questionnaire or insurance check at checkin, then really what is the point of the old fashioned checkin process. 

 

Without the equivalent of E-gates , which by the way are not that quick and would take more than a minute for even just 2 people, someone must check faces against passport.  The new process if everything filled in on-line it's  a very quick process.

 

I don't know of e-gates at any cruise terminal

[kalos]

1 hour ago, lindylooellalouise said:

After seeing the weather forecast for tomorrow in Southampton I really do hope they don’t make any passengers queue outside.

 

It's natural, call it human nature even common sense, to allow more time when the weather

turns nasty, to give yourself more time hence, early arrivals will be there tomorrow.

I think there will be some very unhappy people turning up tomorrow.. 

[Snow Hill]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

I presume the latest P&O check in,  which is  mainly done on-line is similiar or identical to Cunard. Present passports, boarding passes stamped all over in under a minute.  Can't see how it can get faster.  AI and facial recognition ?

You may jest, but the new EU Entry Exit System when deployed does just that, how it will work with cruise ships is still being worked out, but possible scanners may be used at cruise terminals for cruises that call at EU Ports. 

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

You may jest, but the new EU Entry Exit System when deployed does just that, how it will work with cruise ships is still being worked out, but possible scanners may be used at cruise terminals for cruises that call at EU Ports. 

 

E-gates at airports  do that now , but you have to stand on spot for maybe 30 seconds as it thinks and compares picture to face. I was jesting about what you see on films , instant recognition as you walk past camera, perhaps based on photos uploaded during online check in.

[david63]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

perhaps based on photos uploaded during online check in.

That is already happening on Princess with photos taken by the onboard photographers where the photos are scanned using facial recognition to allocate them to the correct passenger.

[SarahHben]

We’ve just been given an arrival time of 3:30pm for our Ventura cruise in 3 weeks.
I guess we’ll be parking up at Mayflower Park with a book & coffee each while we wait 🥴

[lindylooellalouise]

27 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

We’ve just been given an arrival time of 3:30pm for our Ventura cruise in 3 weeks.
I guess we’ll be parking up at Mayflower Park with a book & coffee each while we wait 🥴

Good idea to be prepared, we will be next time we are on Aurora in August We were not expecting to board early in June on Arcadia but very naively thought we would be able to access the terminal to have a coffee and use toilets while waiting for our boarding time and Arcadia is not a mega ship so it’s never been a problem before.

[P&O SUE]

43 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

We’ve just been given an arrival time of 3:30pm for our Ventura cruise in 3 weeks.
I guess we’ll be parking up at Mayflower Park with a book & coffee each while we wait 🥴

Disappointing! If you’re like us you won’t want to leave your luggage in your car while you go exploring. Perhaps try and drop your luggage off early.

[bobstheboy]

We are boarding Arvia on 17th September, Boat Show weekend. Staying at a pub outside Southampton night before. With the heavy traffic I will leave about 10.30 and walk from Triangle car park to West Quays to pass the time away. 

[laslomas]

It seems really pointless for P&O to allocate arrival times that are totally inappropriate for some passengers. If driving a couple of hundred miles and knowing that 3:00 - 3:30 would be a good time, it must be really annoying to be given a 12:15 check in time. Or staying overnight in a local hotel knowing checkout is by 11 am and then finding you have 3:30. Arriving late for your time means you will not hit the 'too early queue' but will impact those that arrived on time and their queue is larger than expected as it has late arrivals in it.  

All the suggestions on how to waste a few hours are useful, but do not suit everyone - especially those without their own transport.

Why, oh why do they not ask? It works perfectly for Celebrity (ok, smaller ships). Choosing the time is on a first come first served basis when completing online check-in, but not everyone wants the earliest times. They don't suit everyone's travel plans.

I pity anyone in the too early queue today as the weather forecast is not looking good, and wasting time walking around will be just as bad!!

[SarahHben]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

Disappointing! If you’re like us you won’t want to leave your luggage in your car while you go exploring. Perhaps try and drop your luggage off early.

Yes I think we’ll drop our luggage off first if they let us do that. My sister and her family are going on Iona the same day and have 2:15 boarding.

We’re all staying at the Holiday Inn express near the Ageas Bowl the night before so will need to check out at 11am.

[SarahHben]

25 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

We are boarding Arvia on 17th September, Boat Show weekend. Staying at a pub outside Southampton night before. With the heavy traffic I will leave about 10.30 and walk from Triangle car park to West Quays to pass the time away. 

My parents are on that cruise and we’re driving them down, staying in Fareham the night before, couldn’t get anywhere closer because of the Boat Show.
We’re hoping to drop them off at Ocean Terminal then go to the Harbour Hotel for lunch before driving home so I hope they don’t get a late boarding time 🥴

[P&O SUE]

8 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Yes I think we’ll drop our luggage off first if they let us do that. My sister and her family are going on Iona the same day and have 2:15 boarding.

We’re all staying at the Holiday Inn express near the Ageas Bowl the night before so will need to check out at 11am.

Ooh I’m looking at the Ageas Bowl for March, I wanted to go before but there was cricket on so it was fully booked! I fancy a room with the view over the pitch ☺️

[purplesea]

We are travelling up and staying at Premeir Inn the day before we are due to board Britannia on the 15th September as it takes at least five hours, if there are no traffic problems. It will possibly take longer than normal then as there are major road works and road closures down here.

It will be interesting to see what boarding times we get as there are six of us in total, with three different loyality tiers, plus we have requested assistance for my mother!

 

[SarahHben]

10 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Ooh I’m looking at the Ageas Bowl for March, I wanted to go before but there was cricket on so it was fully booked! I fancy a room with the view over the pitch ☺️

It’s not the Hilton we’re staying at unfortunately but the Holiday Inn Express is very close to there. I’d like to try the Hilton one day too.

[bobstheboy]

Is it easy to drive into Ocean Terminal, drop off luggage and drive out ? I assume baggage drop off opens about 11.30am ?

[9265359]

18 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Without the equivalent of E-gates , which by the way are not that quick and would take more than a minute for even just 2 people, someone must check faces against passport.  The new process if everything filled in on-line it's  a very quick process.

 

I don't know of e-gates at any cruise terminal

You don’t have e-Gates with facial recognition at airport departures, they are for passport arrivals. 
 

At departures you scan the boarding card with no human intervention to allow access to the departure area - that would be simple to install at a cruise terminal. 
 

Then you pass through security, which is much more efficient than at cruise terminals as up to six people can be loading the belt for the X-ray at the same time. 
 

And finally just a scan of the passport and a human name check of the passport name against the boarding card, which takes 10 seconds, and again could easily be replicated at cruise terminals in the area after security and before boarding the ship. 
 

if they wanted to cut the queue they could easily do it without making people stand outside in the rain. 

[AndyMichelle]

5 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Is it easy to drive into Ocean Terminal, drop off luggage and drive out ? I assume baggage drop off opens about 11.30am ?

Yes, very easy. There is a drop off lane, bags in the hole in the wall, then drive straight out again. 

I think you are right about 11.30. People were trying to drop off luggage when we were disembarking about 9AM..

They were turned away, they just caused havoc. 

Andy 

[bobstheboy]

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Yes, very easy. There is a drop off lane, bags in the hole in the wall, then drive straight out again. 

I think you are right about 11.30. People were trying to drop off luggage when we were disembarking about 9AM..

They were turned away, they just caused havoc. 

Andy 

Thanks Andy.

[Castle25]

We got on Ventura on Sat 1st July at Ocean Terminal - onboard time was 13.15.  We dropped car of with CPS at 12.15, was onboard having first drink from our free deluxe  drinks package at 12.30.  No one queing, no wait at checkin and straight on.

Cabins available at about 14.00ish