Strict arrival times

[david63]

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We have never had a problem with the Princess system. 

You won't have because nobody checks the arrival time - be that at Southampton or anywhere else!

[zap99]

49 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't understand this mad rush to get on board.    We usually board around 2pm, go to the cabin dump our hand luggage, go and have a light lunch.  

If its a Gran prix weekend we normally go I to the pub, have lunch,watch the race and drive to the port. Board about 4.00pm

[molecrochip]

52 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It may be well communicated but lots of us have long journeys and can be held up if there are problems such as accidents enroute so build a bit of leeway into our travel plans.

 

58 minutes ago, david63 said:

It is not always a "choice" to not follow the policy. Many (most?) passengers have long distances to travel by any number of means and cannot arrange a precise arrival time.

 

And if that is anything like the Princess system then it will be a total waste of time!

I did acknowledge that some are unable to follow the designated times.

But there are also many who blatantly ignore their 3pm time because they want to be on by noon to get their maximum holiday time. A surprising large number of those people live local to Southampton.

[david63]

This arrival time issue has been a problem for many years and has not been helped by people on cruise related social media sites telling everyone to ignore the times and just turn up when you feel like it.

 

There is also the problem that P&O for whatever reason seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that the majority of passengers have long, and in some cases complex, journeys to get to Southampton.

 

Travelling down on the day is a complete no, no unless you live within an hour of Southampton. My last journey which should have taken around four and a half hours took almost seven! Travelling by train/plane is governed by their respective timetables. Staying overnight has the issue that you have to be out of your room by 11ish. All of this means that passengers are in locations where they don't want to be along with their luggage (in most cases).

 

One way to possibly ease this situation would be to have luggage "pick up points" where passengers could leave their luggage and have it transported to the ship (for a nominal fee) - perhaps some arrangement with the Baggage Handling Company. Combine that with a shuttle bus from the city centre to the terminal and many would be able to spend some time at ease in Southampton (also spending money and helping the local economy).

 

Another problem with the current system is with those who have "priority" boarding as a result of their Peninsular tier as the Peninsular system is getting to be "top heavy"

[cruising.mark.uk]

34 minutes ago, david63 said:

 

One way to possibly ease this situation would be to have luggage "pick up points" where passengers could leave their luggage and have it transported to the ship (for a nominal fee) - perhaps some arrangement with the Baggage Handling Company. Combine that with a shuttle bus from the city centre to the terminal and many would be able to spend some time at ease in Southampton (also spending money and helping the local economy).

 

This is a good idea.  As an alternative, P&O could maybe lay on shuttles from the terminal to the town centre and back.  Other cruise lines where Southampton is a mid-cruise port rather than a start / finish do that, so it shouldn't be difficult.  Then, so long as people don't turn up before the baggage handlers have finished offloading baggage / passengers, individuals could leave their cases for loading and go into town until their boarding time.  That should help a smooth boarding with no chaos in the terminal or queues.

 

I, too, cannot fathom why people think it is their right to board the ship as early as they want and then moan when they have to queue and wait for the time they were allocated.  Getting 5000+ people and their luggage checked in, through security and onto the ship in 5 or 6 hours is quite a logistical challenge.  The common sense approach suggests that spreading that evenly over the time available will make for the smoothest boarding for all.  And yet people continue to turn up at 1130 / 1200 in their thousands and wonder why the terminal is busy!

Edited June 13, 2023 by cruising.mark.uk
typo

[zap99]

38 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

 

I did acknowledge that some are unable to follow the designated times.

But there are also many who blatantly ignore their 3pm time because they want to be on by noon to get their maximum holiday time. A surprising large number of those people live local to Southampton.

On RC, X and NCL I can turn up any time after about 11.00. On Azura I turn up any time after 11.00. For P&O at Southampton I turn up at your Convenience, or I will be banished to a queue until P&O are jolly well ready. Their fault for blatant disobedience.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by zap99

[molecrochip]

What I personally don’t understand….,

 

When you fly, you’re told that there is a window to turn up from… usually 150 to 45 minutes before departure. If you turn up early, you wait as checkin is not open for you’re flight of 400 people.

 

When P&O say board between after 3pm (ie between 3pm and 4.45pm), why does it upset people that they must then wait if they are early?

 

Surely it’s the same? I know what you’re going to say, it’s undercover but that’s not necessarily true. When I last flew back from Greece we were made to stand in the midday heat until our flight was let into the terminal at 90 minutes to go.

 

I’m not trying to create an argument, I just don’t see it’s any different. The whole plane might get the same time but that’s 400 people. If a single plane took 4,000 people plus, you would not see them all being given the same time.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

We have never had a problem with the Princess system. 

Yes David can you please tell us what you consider the problem is with the Princess boarding system.

[Sheep Flavour]

If your on a big ship (especially the two newest ones) it seems that they are super strict on the arrival times.

 

this was the first year we were turned away. We were at the Mayflower entrance I think it was and so we dumped our cases on with the staff at the cases entrance and walked out of the port and across the road for a couple of beers and then back and managed to get on about 30 mins before we were due on.

 

I don’t fancy q’ing I have heard of people being there a long time in the waiting part.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't understand this mad rush to get on board.    We usually board around 2pm, go to the cabin dump our hand luggage, go and have a light lunch.  

We were on board at 12.30pm last week and I booked Epicurean and Sindu for every night.

The worry is Jean @jeanlyon that late arrivals might not be able to book speciality restaurants as all the early embarkers like Suite guests and high loyalty will book the tables.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by grapau27

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

What I personally don’t understand….,

 

When you fly, you’re told that there is a window to turn up from… usually 150 to 45 minutes before departure. If you turn up early, you wait as checkin is not open for you’re flight of 400 people.

 

When P&O say board between after 3pm (ie between 3pm and 4.45pm), why does it upset people that they must then wait if they are early?

 

Surely it’s the same? I know what you’re going to say, it’s undercover but that’s not necessarily true. When I last flew back from Greece we were made to stand in the midday heat until our flight was let into the terminal at 90 minutes to go.

 

I’m not trying to create an argument, I just don’t see it’s any different. The whole plane might get the same time but that’s 400 people. If a single plane took 4,000 people plus, you would not see them all being given the same time.

Comparing wait times for boarding cruise ships and airplanes is a bit pointless, you need to compare boarding between cruise lines. So why is it that the comparison between RCI & Celebrity at City Termiinal and P&O at all Southampton terminals, shows P&O to underperform on so many points. A major point, IMO, that causes passenger unrest is that City terminal has security first while P&O has it last. I know that  the length of time to go through security is about the same, but getting the queuing over first does make the process much less stressful.  Then there is the ship docking times at Southampton for City terminal are around 4-5 am, whereas P&O is around 6:00 am, this enables disemabarcation to be completed sooner and allows boarding to start at 10;00 or 11:00 am, or even earlier.  Rather strangely even when a P&O ship arrives in Southampton early they still stick to the same disembarcation times, and thus the same later boarding times for the following cruise.

[jeanlyon]

5 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We were on board at 12.30pm last week and I booked Epicurean and Sindu for every night.

The worry is Jean @jeanlyon that late arrivals will not be able to book speciality restaurants as all the early embarkers like Suite guests and high loyalty will book the tables.

 

Guess that's why I'm not concerned.  Don't book these restaurants.  to be honest, we haven't cruised since 2019 when the food in the MDR was more than adequate for us.  We used to enjoy the Indian and Italian nights in the buffet but they apparently don't do those any more.  You can keep the Beach Hut, nothing appeals to me on that menu.  Might consider one of the specialty ones if the MDR is no good, but certainly not going to book before we go.  Last time, they were coming round to the bar and almost begging people to come to Sindhu.

Edited June 13, 2023 by jeanlyon

[grapau27]

18 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Guess that's why I'm not concerned.  Don't book these restaurants.  to be honest, we haven't cruised since 2019 when the food in the MDR was more than adequate for us.  We used to enjoy the Indian and Italian nights in the buffet but they apparently don't do those any more.  You can keep the Beach Hut, nothing appeals to me on that menu.  Might consider one of the specialty ones if the MDR is no good, but certainly not going to book before we go.  Last time, they were coming round to the bar and almost begging people to come to Sindhu.

My post 46685 on the daily thread shows many food photos from Epicurean and Sindhu restaurants last week Jean.

The service and food was excellent.

We went into Peninsula restaurant 1 lunchtime and waited 45 minutes for our soup starter which was poor.

I left my main (pictured) and went to the Lido grill instead for Hot dog and chips which were nice.

Edited June 13, 2023 by grapau27

[david63]

43 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

can you please tell us what you consider the problem is with the Princess boarding system.

The problem with Princess is that you can select your arrival time but nobody checks it so everybody arrives when they want - not dissimilar to P&O. However because check-in with Princess takes a fraction of the time it takes with P&O there is little to no congestion.

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, david63 said:

The problem with Princess is that you can select your arrival time but nobody checks it so everybody arrives when they want - not dissimilar to P&O. However because check-in with Princess takes a fraction of the time it takes with P&O there is little to no congestion.

The staff at Ocean terminal were amazing last week.

[Eglesbrech]

56 minutes ago, Sheep Flavour said:

If your on a big ship (especially the two newest ones) it seems that they are super strict on the arrival times.

 

this was the first year we were turned away. We were at the Mayflower entrance I think it was and so we dumped our cases on with the staff at the cases entrance and walked out of the port and across the road for a couple of beers and then back and managed to get on about 30 mins before we were due on.

 

I don’t fancy q’ing I have heard of people being there a long time in the waiting part.

The dancing man is a nice spot for a pint, we have enjoyed a pint and people watching there if we have a later embarkation time. I’d rather sit in a pub than stand in a queue but then I don’t take heavy hand carry and am capable of walking into town which not everyone is.

[Eglesbrech]

35 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

.  to be honest, we haven't cruised since 2019 when the food in the MDR was more than adequate for us

You will find that the MDR food has changed. The menus are completely different from pre pandemic.  They may suite your taste, most people seem to enjoy them perfectly well.

 

Personally I’m not that keen on the MDR food or atmosphere but like Grapau perfectly happy to book speciality restaurants. You will find no one dragging you into Sindhu now, they book up quickly.

[solentsam]

41 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

We used to enjoy the Indian and Italian nights in the buffet but they apparently don't do those any more. 

They did on are last Britainna cruise in April

[Red Ray]

26 minutes ago, solentsam said:

They did on are last Britainna cruise in April

And on Arcadia last month - last night of the cruise was Indian night.

[AndyMichelle]

Why do these threads go round in circles... 

It's simple, if you arrive before your boarding time, drop your luggage off and either be prepared to queue outside, or wander across the road for some lunch or a pint. 

You don't need to go right into town, Oxford Street and Ocean Village are a short, flat walk away... 

Assume traffic in Southampton is going to be horrendous, it often is. 

I live locally, but will be arriving early, but I don't expect to get on board early. 

Andy 

 

[terrierjohn]

59 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

The staff at Ocean terminal were amazing last week.

Problems with boarding are not really the staffs fault, it's more the procedure that P&O use that causes the frustration, see my post #36.

Edited June 13, 2023 by terrierjohn

[Babybooface]

Thanks everyone . So I just leave the early queue and go to normal boarding at my time I don’t wait on my time being called.. I shouldn’t have too long to wait then. 

[Sheep Flavour]

1 minute ago, Babybooface said:

Thanks everyone . So I just leave the early queue and go to normal boarding at my time I don’t wait on my time being called.. I shouldn’t have too long to wait then. 

Personally depending on your party, I would drop your cases off, try your luck, if you get turned away, walk out of the port and go to the centre and choose a nice place in the sun with a newspaper and drink. 
 

Then go back for the time or at least just before.

[cruising.mark.uk]

17 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Problems with boarding are not really the staffs fault, it's more the procedure that P&O use that causes the frustration, see my post #36.

I'm not sure there's much evidence of 'problems'.  From what I read (and what I've experienced on both Arvia and Iona), most of the time, boarding goes pretty much to schedule.  Those who have a 'problem' are primarily those who turn up way in advance of their allotted time and are then made to queue.  It seems to me that the 'problem' in this case is caused by them, not P&O.

 

Yes, other cruise lines do it differently and, possibly with different results.  If individuals think that is so much better than P&O and getting on the ship a couple of hours earlier is so important to them, perhaps they should cruise with those lines instead?  Meanwhile, P&O makes no secret of its procedures - and for those who read boards such as this - there is plenty of information available about how those work in practice for the big ships.  So, I'd recommend a more relaxed approach to life and that people turn up close to the time they've been allotted.  If they do that, there's unlikely to be a problem, although delays caused by late disembarkation, IT problems etc may still occur (as is the case on all lines at all ports).

[Eglesbrech]

13 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

If individuals think that is so much better than P&O and getting on the ship a couple of hours earlier is so important to them, perhaps they should cruise with those lines instead?

Or perhaps P&O could look at industry best practice and steal good ideas from others to facilitate what their customers clearly want.
 

Personally I do travel with many lines and if someone could poach all the best bits from each they would be onto a winner. If I was a cruise executive that’s exactly what I would do. Why lose customers as per your suggestion over something that can be improved?