Disembarkation across P & O

[david63]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I could not find a stub on my luggage labels, but was not asked for it and not prevented from disembarking from our July cruise.

But wouldn't you have had assisted disembarkation?

 

There was a small tear off stub on all of the luggage labels.

[terrierjohn]

11 minutes ago, david63 said:

But wouldn't you have had assisted disembarkation?

 

There was a small tear off stub on all of the luggage labels.

Did not request assistance, and yes there were stubs, but no number although they were yellow, but there were about 5 yellow groups if my memory is correct.

[Ardennais]

It seems to me that people need to take a breath, chill and exercise patience when it comes to both embarkation and disembarkation. What’s all the rush about being early on and then early off? We have a long drive home, but I don’t mind in the least if we’re late off. We always find our bags easily (apart from one occasion when somebody had mistakenly taken one of our bags). 

[john watson]

7 hours ago, Bill Y said:

 I thought was to assist people getting on the right coach for airport/hotel transfers.

This is correct, passengers for each airport will get on the correct coach for the appropriate airport. Heathrow and Gatwick would be different colours and in some situations the flight times are also factored in creating even more colour groups. Under the colour groups system passengers have requested various disembarkation times irrespective of which deck they have stayed on. The colour groups e.g. Red 3, will give rise to smaller heaps of suitcases in the baggage hall for the passenger to search through.  Once all luggage in a colour group is laid out in the baggage hall that group can be released by radio quietly in the correct disembarkation assembly  location. Lurking near the gangway is pointless as you do not know which group is disembarking. Under a deck by deck system if passengers want to disembark at different times it cannot happen for example until all E Deck cases have been laid out, This is irrespective of whether E Deck pssenger want to disembark at vastly different times.  Last cruise P&O did not even ask me what time I wanted ti disembark

 

Regards John.

[maz48]

How does disembarkation work for those on coach transfers? It will be our first time with P&O, and having used coaches before with other cruise lines we get a time to be on the coach as they want to be on their way on time, which has been 9am on our precious cruises.

[john watson]

5 minutes ago, maz48 said:

How does disembarkation work for those on coach transfers? It will be our first time with P&O, and having used coaches before with other cruise lines we get a time to be on the coach as they want to be on their way on time, which has been 9am on our previous cruises.

If it were me travelling, I should check with reception to see if there is a special coaches group.  If there is not self disembarkation would be prudent  .

 

Regards John

Edited December 13, 2023 by john watson

[maz48]

5 minutes ago, john watson said:

If it were me travelling, I should check with reception to see if there is a special coaches group.  If there is not self disembarkation would be prudent  .

 

Regards John

I would have thought there would be special coach groups, but it sounds like it is a bit of a free for all disembarking and trying to collect bags. If we were younger we would do self disembarkation. Might have to cut down drastically on bag weight🤣

[majortom10]

The problem is with disembarkation from a P&O cruise is that initially there are no checks by P&O that the correct time are disembarking. But many, including a lot of here, have openly said that they ignore their disembarkation time and get off at a time to suit them and encourage others to do the same. For that reason there is queues on stairs and around disembarkation muster which causes chaos which then carries on into baggage hall.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

The problem is with disembarkation from a P&O cruise is that initially there are no checks by P&O that the correct time are disembarking. But many, including a lot of here, have openly said that they ignore their disembarkation time and get off at a time to suit them and encourage others to do the same. For that reason there is queues on stairs and around disembarkation muster which causes chaos which then carries on into baggage hall.

The last few cruises that we have been on, we have found no queues at all at the gangway, and only the usual crush in the baggage hall.

[david63]

The bottom line is that the ship (no matter what line) wants passengers off as soon as possible and once off the cease to be their problem - so chaos in the baggage hall is somebody else's problem to deal with.

[9265359]

4 hours ago, majortom10 said:

The problem is with disembarkation from a P&O cruise is that initially there are no checks by P&O that the correct time are disembarking. But many, including a lot of here, have openly said that they ignore their disembarkation time and get off at a time to suit them and encourage others to do the same. For that reason there is queues on stairs and around disembarkation muster which causes chaos which then carries on into baggage hall.

I have never seen queues on stairs or around muster stations, or chaos in the baggage hall. 
 

Perhaps it is because I am long gone before that occurs. 

[FangedRose]

9 hours ago, john watson said:

If it were me travelling, I should check with reception to see if there is a special coaches group.  If there is not self disembarkation would be prudent  .

 

Regards John

There is special group disembarkation. But don't fret. If your name is on the coach driver's list they won't leave without you. No point in self disembarkation early as you'll be hanging about waiting for the last passengers.

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, david63 said:

The bottom line is that the ship (no matter what line) wants passengers off as soon as possible and once off the cease to be their problem - so chaos in the baggage hall is somebody else's problem to deal with.

They do seem to take the chaos in the baggage hall into account though David.  I remember in the bad old days, when I religiously waited in the assembly (cell) venue, overhearing a radio conversation between the "prison warden" and the baggage hall guy, advising not to release anymore passengers until the chaos subsided.

[FangedRose]

23 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

They do seem to take the chaos in the baggage hall into account though David.  I remember in the bad old days, when I religiously waited in the assembly (cell) venue, overhearing a radio conversation between the "prison warden" and the baggage hall guy, advising not to release anymore passengers until the chaos subsided.

I agree. Have often overheard conversations via walkie talkies regarding whether or not it was OK to send another cohort of passengers to the baggage hall. Presumably the increasing number of self disembarkers who disregard the instructions to leave before 7.30am and saunter off whenever, can disrupt the system, as the staff cannot judge the numbers as efficiently. 

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

I agree. Have often overheard conversations via walkie talkies regarding whether or not it was OK to send another cohort of passengers to the baggage hall. Presumably the increasing number of self disembarkers who disregard the instructions to leave before 7.30am and saunter off whenever, can disrupt the system, as the staff cannot judge the numbers as efficiently. 

In my experience the P&O staff could not judge whether the baggage hall was full or empty. Which is why I much prefer the more relaxed way that Princess, RC and Celebrity do disembarcation, by announcing over the ships tannoy which colour groups can proceed to the gangway.

In this way there is no need to make the wasteful trip to the disembarcation lounges, and in my experience passengers time their breakfast to finish about the time of their disembarcation slot, and once their colour has been called  they can head straight to the gangway.

That process also takes the pressure off the lifts and  massively reduces your wait time.

[david63]

9 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Have often overheard conversations via walkie talkies regarding whether or not it was OK to send another cohort of passengers to the baggage hall.

I think that has more to do with the number of passengers between the ship and the baggage hall rather than the number actually in the baggage hall.

[FangedRose]

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

I think that has more to do with the number of passengers between the ship and the baggage hall rather than the number actually in the baggage hall.

Yes, and late self disembarkers add an unknown number.

[majortom10]

18 hours ago, FangedRose said:

I agree. Have often overheard conversations via walkie talkies regarding whether or not it was OK to send another cohort of passengers to the baggage hall. Presumably the increasing number of self disembarkers who disregard the instructions to leave before 7.30am and saunter off whenever, can disrupt the system, as the staff cannot judge the numbers as efficiently. 

Yes I agree the idea of self disembarkation was for those that one to leave the ship before 7-30am and before normal disembarkation. Unfortunately many think that self disembarkation means that they can leave whatever time they want which creates problems.

[enjoysailing]

30 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Yes I agree the idea of self disembarkation was for those that one to leave the ship before 7-30am and before normal disembarkation. Unfortunately many think that self disembarkation means that they can leave whatever time they want which creates problems.

 

I have noticed this on different ships. People trying to disembark with full-size cases clog up the lifts making it more difficult for those following the rules to make their way off. It would be an idea to state that after the self-disembarkation time frame they will need to wait to be among the last off. I expect it would make no difference to the entitles people that think the rules do not apply to them. 🤔 

[9265359]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Unfortunately many think that self disembarkation means that they can leave whatever time they want which creates problems.

My observation is the vast vast majority of people keep to the scheduled disembarkation so to place the blame for any problems that occur on the trivial number that do not is rather a stretch. 
 

In fact I would actually suggest that those few actually reduce the issue by getting out of the way before the problems occur. 
 

I would also suggest that the main issues for any problems are that people seem to leave their brains behind when getting on a cruise ship - how long do you need to be onboard before you realise that you need your cruise card at the port gate AND at the bottom of the gangplank AND at the top of the gangplank? And that up arrows mean the lift is going up? And that the even cabins are all on the same side? Etc. Etc.

[majortom10]

4 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

My observation is the vast vast majority of people keep to the scheduled disembarkation so to place the blame for any problems that occur on the trivial number that do not is rather a stretch. 
 

In fact I would actually suggest that those few actually reduce the issue by getting out of the way before the problems occur. 
 

I would also suggest that the main issues for any problems are that people seem to leave their brains behind when getting on a cruise ship - how long do you need to be onboard before you realise that you need your cruise card at the port gate AND at the bottom of the gangplank AND at the top of the gangplank? And that up arrows mean the lift is going up? And that the even cabins are all on the same side? Etc. Etc.

So how do you explain a large number of people disembarking with suitcases well after 8-30 am. The whole idea of self disembarkation is to leave the ship before the main disembarkation begins and not at any time to suit oneself.

[Ardennais]

15 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

So how do you explain a large number of people disembarking with suitcases well after 8-30 am. The whole idea of self disembarkation is to leave the ship before the main disembarkation begins and not at any time to suit oneself.

We don’t self-disembark these days, but we still have a medium sized case each when disembarking. So people will still have suitcases later on. 

[terrierjohn]

12 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

So how do you explain a large number of people disembarking with suitcases well after 8-30 am. The whole idea of self disembarkation is to leave the ship before the main disembarkation begins and not at any time to suit oneself.

Whilst not agreeing with @9265359's view of the intelligence of most of his fellow passengers, I do agree that most self disembarkers seem to have left the ship before normal disembarking starts.

But I am amazed at how much hand luggage some passengers disembark with. I try to send everything I don't need in my large cases, and only have the minimum of hand luggage in one small case.

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Whilst not agreeing with @9265359's view of the intelligence of most of his fellow passengers, I do agree that most self disembarkers seem to have left the ship before normal disembarking starts.

But I am amazed at how much hand luggage some passengers disembark with. I try to send everything I don't need in my large cases, and only have the minimum of hand luggage in one small case.

One small case might work for you,  Makes no different to me whether I stay somewhere one night or one month - I still need the same amount of toiletries and cosmetics and I can easily cope with a medium size case. 

[jeanlyon]

We always self - disembark.  On our October cruise, we should have been off by 0745.  We actually started to move off at 0800.  There were no other people around, nobody in the baggage hall.  It was absolutely fine.   In fact, one of the reasons we like to get off early is coming down from breakfast, seeing everybody packed into places all waiting for their disembark time.  We have one case, and one carry bag each.  Simple.  These days with wheeled cases, makes life very easy.