Online Checkin.... really only 21 days prior?

[wsurrette2424]

Hi All,

 

New to NCL... do you really have to wait until just 21 days prior to sailing to do your online check in?  Maybe I'm just a bit anxious to go!  Leaving on the 25th of November....so it's now 21 days... still can't check in.  Of course it's just after midnight so I should give the App some time to catch up.

 

Cheer!

Gusman

[cruiser2015]

1 hour ago, wsurrette2424 said:

Hi All,

 

New to NCL... do you really have to wait until just 21 days prior to sailing to do your online check in?  Maybe I'm just a bit anxious to go!  Leaving on the 25th of November....so it's now 21 days... still can't check in.  Of course it's just after midnight so I should give the App some time to catch up.

 

Cheer!

Gusman

Yup - 21 days.

Not sure, but that could be tomorrow.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@wsurrette2424

 

Go to "My NCL" and bring up the cruise, it will tell you what day it is.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, wsurrette2424 said:

Hi All,

 

New to NCL... do you really have to wait until just 21 days prior to sailing to do your online check in?  Maybe I'm just a bit anxious to go!  Leaving on the 25th of November....so it's now 21 days... still can't check in.  Of course it's just after midnight so I should give the App some time to catch up.

 

Cheer!

Gusman

21 days on your MyNCL count down clock. 12 midnight eastern time. That will allow you to pick your port arrival time of your choice. Early times will sell out quickly. 

[FredZiffle]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

21 days on your MyNCL count down clock. 12 midnight eastern time. That will allow you to pick your port arrival time of your choice. Early times will sell out quickly. 

And, as we all know, arrival times mean nothing.  No one cares or checks on most sailings.

[graphicguy]

9 hours ago, wsurrette2424 said:

Hi All,

 

New to NCL... do you really have to wait until just 21 days prior to sailing to do your online check in?  Maybe I'm just a bit anxious to go!  Leaving on the 25th of November....so it's now 21 days... still can't check in.  Of course it's just after midnight so I should give the App some time to catch up.

 

Cheer!

Gusman

As others have said, arrival times spread out the bottleneck at the port.  Check in id the same.

 

If you’re new to NCL, unfortunately you will be one the latest allowed to board.  

 

Those who have mobility issues will board first.

Then Haven Guests

Then Latitudes members, beginning with Ambassadors and working down to Bronze

Then they call by group numbers, which you’ll be assigned at check in.

 

 

[Yinster]

37 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

If you’re new to NCL, unfortunately you will be one the latest allowed to board.  

 

 

That is true but only if it's the first lot of check in times when the ship is ready for people to board. Once all the numbered groups have safely boarded, you can just check in and walk on. 

 

Of course that is during the later check in times and closer to when everyone needs to be onboard 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Yinster

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, FredZiffle said:

And, as we all know, arrival times mean nothing.  No one cares or checks on most sailings.

Yes, on our Prima sailing this past summer, they just took everyone from the transfer bus (from London). We were supposed to be in the batch the next half hour as that was when I estimated we would be there, but no one even looked.

[FredZiffle]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

If you’re new to NCL, unfortunately you will be one the latest allowed to board.  

 

Those who have mobility issues will board first.

Then Haven Guests

Then Latitudes members, beginning with Ambassadors and working down to Bronze

Then they call by group numbers, which you’ll be assigned at check in.

 

 

It's not as bad as it sounds.  Assuming you arrive relatively early (say 10:00 or so), you may have a 30 minute wait from when they start boarding.  You will almost always be on board by noon.

[graphicguy]

3 hours ago, Yinster said:

That is true but only if it's the first lot of check in times when the ship is ready for people to board. Once all the numbered groups have safely boarded, you can just check in and walk on. 

 

Of course that is during the later check in times and closer to when everyone needs to be onboard 

That’s what I usually do.  Get to the port around noonish, check in and board.  I hate getting to the check in area early and wait around to have my group called for boarding.

 

By noon, all those people have pretty much cleared out!

[ChiefMateJRK]

I can't wait to get on the ship and generally don't leave until they kick my sorry butt off the ship.  In July, we hung in a bar area until about 9:40 when they actually started naming names.  No lines at all to exit and depart the terminal.  We've sailed from at least five different US ports and I can't remember a single time that anybody asked to see my port arrival time.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 We've sailed from at least five different US ports and I can't remember a single time that anybody asked to see my port arrival time.

And I can add that no one asked for boarding times in Southampton, UK.

[itsnotjustme]

On 11/4/2023 at 9:47 AM, graphicguy said:

If you’re new to NCL, unfortunately you will be one the latest allowed to board.  

 

Those who have mobility issues will board first.

Then Haven Guests

Then Latitudes members, beginning with Ambassadors and working down to Bronze

Then they call by group numbers, which you’ll be assigned at check in.

I agree mobility challenged, Haven and Suite Guests get priority.  After that though. it is more of a crap shoot.  I've seen two check-in lines, one for "Priority" (Platinum and above) and the other not.  They had far fewer agents serving the priority line, so even though the non-priority line was much longer, people got through sooner. 

[graphicguy]

10 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

I agree mobility challenged, Haven and Suite Guests get priority.  After that though. it is more of a crap shoot.  I've seen two check-in lines, one for "Priority" (Platinum and above) and the other not.  They had far fewer agents serving the priority line, so even though the non-priority line was much longer, people got through sooner. 

I agree.  I have seen it where it works the way it’s supposed to work…..Mobility Challenged, Haven, then Latitudes levels, then general boarding by numbers.  Pretty cut and dry.

 

Then again, I’ve seen people crowd the doors for embarkation and try to get on board regardless of their Latitudes status or boarding numbers.  That causes chaos and a few actually trying to push in front of others, which it turn causes some push back by other guests and the agents.

 

I’ve actually seen people claim to be a part of a limited mobility passenger’s family.  Family says they have no idea who they are. Yet, some will do anything to board first.  Crazy!

 

Personally, I won’t allow anyone to cut line.  If they’re successful, they keep trying to do it…embarking, at the bar on board, in the buffet, etc.  I just won’t allow it.

 

I don’t get it.  Is it really all that important to board in front of everyone else?  Boarding rarely takes more than 30-60 minutes.  Just don’t stress yourself out and board when your group or number is called.

 

I ordinarily wait for an hour or so after embarkation begins so it all is cleared out and I just walk on board.

[KeithJenner]

10 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

I agree mobility challenged, Haven and Suite Guests get priority.  After that though. it is more of a crap shoot.  I've seen two check-in lines, one for "Priority" (Platinum and above) and the other not.  They had far fewer agents serving the priority line, so even though the non-priority line was much longer, people got through sooner. 

There is a common confusion between priority check in an priority boarding.

 

Priority check in is not a great perk (although once you reach higher levels the queues can be quite short).

 

Priority boarding is different, and although it is done differently by port, it can be very useful. Often latitudes levels are called just after Haven, or you are given an early boarding group, regardless of when you arrive.

 

We are almost always very early onto the ship, even though lots of people have arrived and checked in before us.

Edited November 7, 2023 by KeithJenner

[RocketMan275]

44 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I don’t get it.  Is it really all that important to board in front of everyone else?  

They might run out of food in the buffet.

[Laszlo]

Unfortunately gone are the days of checking in right after final payment. I miss those days

[D_And_K_gocruising]

So not taking into account mobility, haven, status or prepaid access, are boarding groups basically assigned as you check in?  ie:  first yyy number people are in group 1 (or whatever 1st after special groups) then next yyy are in group 2 etc etc?

[graphicguy]

Admittedly, weird situation as it was the 2nd cruise after the restart, and it was on the Celebrity Edge, but I was actually on board the Edge at 9:30 a.m.  Wasn't planned that way.  Was one of those deals where I flew in the day of (another topic I can discuss ad nauseam) and really had no place to go other than hang at the airport (no thanks) or head straight to the pier.  Went to the pier.

 

I think the previous cruise had a very small number of passengers, being the first cruise after the restart, and my cruise ended up only being 35% capacity.  Arrived at about 9:20.  Checked in, and was on board by 9:30 a.m.  Eery.......no hustle-bustle.  No crowd surging to get on or off.  Capt Kate was right at the door personally welcoming me (us) on board.

 

I think the earliest I've even been on an NCL cruise was about a dozen years ago on the Epic for a Western Caribbean cruise.  My (then) GF and I got to the port early because of flying in early the day of the cruise.  We were in our Balcony Cabin by 10:40 a.m. as I remember her unpacking and asking me what time it was.

 

Latest?

 

Carnival Vista about 3 years ago (right before the shutdown).  Again, Western Caribbean.....3:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. was "all aboard").  Some sort of glitch with the check in computers caused Carnival to do all paperwork by hand, including inputing all pertinent information on paper sheets with pen and paper (pencil would have been better given the mistakes made in doing so).

 

All the FTTF folks were as mad as wet hens.

 

 

[graphicguy]

8 minutes ago, D_And_K_gocruising said:

So not taking into account mobility, haven, status or prepaid access, are boarding groups basically assigned as you check in?  ie:  first yyy number people are in group 1 (or whatever 1st after special groups) then next yyy are in group 2 etc etc?

Kind of a mystery once you get past those with Latitude status.  I don't think they do it based on your check in time.  I don't think they do it alphabetically.  Could be random for all I know.  But, I do think they try to space out the load of passengers boarding.  How they do that is a guess.

 

I wonder what the passenger count is between those who are Haven/Latitude status vs those who just booked with no status?  I'm sure that goes into how and when guests are allowed to board.

 

They always call (in order)...

-those who have mobility issues (wheelchairs, walkers)

-Haven

-Latitudes (Ambassador first...Bronze last)

-a number system assigned randomly

 

The only advantage I can discern by getting to the pier early would be to snag a seat in the waiting area.  The down side is, you may be waiting a while to board if you get there early.

Edited November 7, 2023 by graphicguy

[shof515]

2 hours ago, D_And_K_gocruising said:

So not taking into account mobility, haven, status or prepaid access, are boarding groups basically assigned as you check in?  ie:  first yyy number people are in group 1 (or whatever 1st after special groups) then next yyy are in group 2 etc etc?

 

it seems random. when i was on the escape a few weeks ago i got the terminal at around 1230 and was given a group 32 boarding card which is strange as i had priority boarding due to my status. as i made my way down the terminal to the waiting/boarding area they had made announcement about priority guests and boarding group 28 or some other random group. I joined the line to board the ship and handed in the boarding group card. It seems like they didnt check the card at all

[SoloAlaska]

Looking forward to seeing how it’s done with NCL. So far with Celebrity I’ve never had to wait in line a line of more than a handful of people. Basically just walked from one station to the next to get through check in, security, etc. One cruise the ship was full but we boarded later due to an excursion and the other was September 2022 and I boarded at prime time. 
 

In 27 days I’m cruising out of Civitavechia and should be at the terminal by 1pm. The ship isn’t full and it’s attracting a lot of solo and experienced cruisers  so I don’t expect boarding to be bad.

[hallux]

9 hours ago, graphicguy said:

I don’t get it.  Is it really all that important to board in front of everyone else?

It doesn't now, but back when Vibe passes were only available on board on embarkation day it made a little more sense.  I wonder if some of that mentality remains.  It still may make some sense if people are trying to get prime dinner reservations or book theater shows.

Edited November 7, 2023 by hallux

[UKstages]

for those who want to use OBC to pay for excursions or the vibe, or who got shut out of preferred times for restaurant reservations, or who want to readjust their restaurant reservations to accommodate various performance times that weren't known before boarding... yes, it makes a great deal of sense.

 

i was able to get vibe passes onboard the joy twice last month and may not have been able to if i hadn't boarded early. also, i had booked the second cruise of that B2B just a few weeks before departure, so i missed out on pre-booking of restaurant reservations. i was able to get everything i wanted once onboard.

[ziggyuk]

 

I have never seen them call boarding by level down to bronze, its always been platinum and above in one group right after haven. Anyone below platinum gets a number based on when they checked-in.

In my experience its only been haven and priority check-in that don't get a boarding number as they don't hand out boarding numbers in those lines, regular check-in everyone gets a boarding number.