Royal Newbie asks when cabins are ready on embarkation day?

[kevingastreich]

Hi, our boarding time is 11:30.  Any idea when we can expect the cabin to be ready?  Can we drop off hand held luggage in the cabin before that time?  Thanks,

[joepeka]

1PM is the normal time that cabins are available to guests; prior to that, you will likely find the doors to the cabin hallways closed and locked. An announcement will be made when they are officially available.

[not-enough-cruising]

Rooms are generally ready between 1300-1400. There is no access to drop off carry ons in your room prior to this time. 

[firefly333]

19 minutes ago, joepeka said:

1PM is the normal time that cabins are available to guests; prior to that, you will likely find the doors to the cabin hallways closed and locked. An announcement will be made when they are officially available.

Actually the doors are closed but not locked. Anyone can go by and open them. If you are doing a b2b I've opened them and gone to my cabin. Its allowed. They just dont want everyone dropping off luggage early so it says when the doors are open. 

 

Just saying doors are not locked.

[cruiselvr04]

Lately the typical time has been 1:30.  No early drop off. If you purchase the key they will hold your items for you.  We just choose to drag ours around for a couple of hours. 

[Sea Dog]

We have always been able to access cabins by 1pm. By the time we board, make specialty restaurant reservations and then have lunch it’s 1pm. It goes by quickly.

[kellyco]

I wish Royal would do what Celebrity does, you can drop your bags off in your room as soon as you board, your room may not be fully ready but at least you don't have to lug your bag around.

 

[Jasukkie]

I check everything through but my sling bag for ID, money and meds. Boarding light makes it easier to take the stairs which is key on embarkation day. You will see many folks already in swimsuits and in the pools so carry swimwear on if that's your thing.

[RobInMN]

24 minutes ago, kellyco said:

I wish Royal would do what Celebrity does, you can drop your bags off in your room as soon as you board, your room may not be fully ready but at least you don't have to lug your bag around.

 

The reason is that that halls are a disaster. We did Star class once. 2 BR AquaTheater suite. One of the perks is that the Genie will escort you directly to your cabin. This involved walking the entire rear hall way from the aft elevators. There were different colored laundry bags filled & unfilled and towels and sheets, all piled in the hallway. Not to mention garbage sacks and the cleaning carts. Even though were were being escorted, I still felt bad/guilty for being in the hall. Everyone we saw stopped what they were doing and greeted us with a smile, but still. I felt like a disruption to them.

 

I can't even imagine the liability hay day a lawyer would have if someone were to trip over one of these sacks or piles. And on the other end of the spectrum, I can't believe that they could do this nearly as efficiently if they kept the hallways traversable for passengers while they attempted to turn them over.

 

If you don't want to have your bag with you, throw a tag on it and check it. My wife I I both have carryon backpacks we use for flights. When we get on the ship, I keep mine, my wife checks hers.

[joepeka]

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Actually the doors are closed but not locked. Anyone can go by and open them. If you are doing a b2b I've opened them and gone to my cabin. Its allowed. They just dont want everyone dropping off luggage early so it says when the doors are open. 

 

Just saying doors are not locked.

The door from the stairway area leading to our cabin hallway was definitely locked on Harmony a few weeks ago. Maybe it's just not consistent from ship to ship, floor to floor.

[TheInnocentAge]

21 hours ago, kevingastreich said:

Hi, our boarding time is 11:30.  Any idea when we can expect the cabin to be ready?  Can we drop off hand held luggage in the cabin before that time?  Thanks,

We were able to board Jewel just after 10:30 on a recent cruise and go straight to our cabin, but that was only because she had just been in dry dock so there were no prior cruisers to disembark that morning, so the cabins were already prepared.

 

Other than that the earliest I can recall was around 12:45 on Symphony once, but the 'average' has probably been 1pm for us.

 

Enjoy your cruise! 

[cruisegirl1]

Don't  know if it is true----- but ----- I read a post that  a passenger opened the closed fire  doors  on RCCL to drop off a carry on, and  the crew cleaning the cabin thought it was accidently left by the previous guest and taken off the ship. 

 

M

Edited July 8 by cruisegirl1

[firefly333]

15 hours ago, joepeka said:

The door from the stairway area leading to our cabin hallway was definitely locked on Harmony a few weeks ago. Maybe it's just not consistent from ship to ship, floor to floor.

I've been able to find a unlocked door twice on harmony b2b to get back to my cabin. 

 

I got a b4b on harmony this oct. I bet I can find a unlocked door. Never couldnt so far, if one is locked I go to the other end of the hall. I always thought b2b was allowed to go back to ther cabins after we went thru the turnaround stuff. 

[firefly333]

8 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Don't  know if it is true----- but ----- I read a post that  a passenger opened the closed fire  doors  on RCCL to drop off a carry on, and  the crew cleaning the cabin thought it was accidently left by the previous guest and taken off the ship. 

 

M

Grandeur one of the b2b ladies went back to her cabin and her bathroom stuff was gone. Some favorite kind of stuff she got $50 finally to replace. You would think the cleaning crew would know if stuff isnt packed and have it on a b2b list. Someone took her favorite shower stuff, not the rest just her favorite shower stuff walked off. I was there and she was really fussing.

[loman]

20 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

I check everything through but my sling bag for ID, money and meds. Boarding light makes it easier to take the stairs which is key on embarkation day. You will see many folks already in swimsuits and in the pools so carry swimwear on if that's your thing.

We do this also , we check a 26 inch luggage each and have a small tote bag much like a purse

that we keep with us. Im not into shlepping around heavy baggage on boarding day.

[cruisegirl1]

57 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Grandeur one of the b2b ladies went back to her cabin and her bathroom stuff was gone. Some favorite kind of stuff she got $50 finally to replace. You would think the cleaning crew would know if stuff isnt packed and have it on a b2b list. Someone took her favorite shower stuff, not the rest just her favorite shower stuff walked off. I was there and she was really fussing.

Thx -

 

Are you saying a person in the same cabin for B2B had items removed.   Yikes - we do most all B2B and never that that happen.  Seems the cabin attendant messed up, as they know if one of their cabins is a B2B passenger.   

 

I do worry when  we move our suitcases to the new cabin on B2B (we do that often if the new room is vacated/cleaned early and to free up the cabin attendant), but always try to find the new  attendant to be sure they know it is B2B items and not something left behind.    

 

M

Edited July 8 by cruisegirl1

[wdwkings]

45 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Thx -

 

Are you saying a person in the same cabin for B2B had items removed.   Yikes - we do most all B2B and never that that happen.  Seems the cabin attendant messed up, as they know if one of their cabins is a B2B passenger.   

 

I do worry when  we move our suitcases to the new cabin on B2B (we do that often if the new room is vacated/cleaned early and to free up the cabin attendant), but always try to find the new  attendant to be sure they know it is B2B items and not something left behind.    

 

M

I would bet that the cabin attendant was being assisted by someone.  It is likely that someone doing a b2b is known to that attendant.  If someone else comes in to give a hand or a supervisor comes in to look things over and noticed something they might not realize and remove the item(s) since their perception is it was left behind.  

[silentbob007]

If doors are propped open while the cabins are being worked on in batches, the steward or anyone else who goes past the shut door have the same access to your bags. As others have said, for me it is more about how stressful the turn around day is already for these folks. 

[fpcruiser]

23 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Lately the typical time has been 1:30.  No early drop off. If you purchase the key they will hold your items for you.  We just choose to drag ours around for a couple of hours. 

Our last few cruises on different ships the cabins weren't ready until 1:30.

[twangster]

18 hours ago, joepeka said:

The door from the stairway area leading to our cabin hallway was definitely locked on Harmony a few weeks ago. Maybe it's just not consistent from ship to ship, floor to floor.

 

That's interesting.  It's unusual for fire doors to be locked.  

[cruiselvr04]

2 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Thx -

 

Are you saying a person in the same cabin for B2B had items removed.   Yikes - we do most all B2B and never that that happen.  Seems the cabin attendant messed up, as they know if one of their cabins is a B2B passenger.   

 

I do worry when  we move our suitcases to the new cabin on B2B (we do that often if the new room is vacated/cleaned early and to free up the cabin attendant), but always try to find the new  attendant to be sure they know it is B2B items and not something left behind.    

 

M

When we have moved we’ve always gone and met the new steward. We then let them know if we’ll come and drop off things before the room is cleaned ( put in the closet out of the way) or we also have put things in the safe. 
 

I’d be fussing too if my bathroom was cleared out on a back to back.  Stewards have a lot of help from others on turnaround day.  Not sure who they are but they descend in mass in the halls to strip beds etc.  I would assume it was a mistake not theft and hopefully someone was educated. If you’re a back to back you should be able to leave your cabin as any other day and not have things disturbed.  Since this happened I’ll be sure my steward knows we are a B2B, please clean my cabin last or even skip it that day. And please keep the door closed!

[joepeka]

11 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I've been able to find a unlocked door twice on harmony b2b to get back to my cabin. 

 

I got a b4b on harmony this oct. I bet I can find a unlocked door. Never couldnt so far, if one is locked I go to the other end of the hall. I always thought b2b was allowed to go back to ther cabins after we went thru the turnaround stuff. 

Likely true. We only tried the two doors on our deck level at the aft stairway and they were definitely locked. Over the past nearly 30 years it's been a mixed bag for us - sometimes the doors are open, sometimes they are closed but unlocked, sometimes they are locked. This past cruise on Harmony, it wasn't important enough to justify not waiting an additional 30-45 minutes for the official opening.

Edited July 9 by joepeka

[joepeka]

8 hours ago, twangster said:

 

That's interesting.  It's unusual for fire doors to be locked.  

If by fire doors you mean the ones at various locations in the cabin hallways, that's not the ones I referred to - we have never seen those doors closed. In the passenger stair and elevator areas outside the hallways, there are doors that open to the cabin hallways. Those were locked.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, joepeka said:

If by fire doors you mean the ones at various locations in the cabin hallways, that's not the ones I referred to - we have never seen those doors closed. In the passenger stair and elevator areas outside the hallways, there are doors that open to the cabin hallways. Those were locked.

 

Those are fire doors.  

[little britain]

The doors are shut for a reason, to enable the crew to turn and prepare the cabins.
Board at 1:30 and you’ll be able to go straight to your cabin. 
Problem solved.