New England from Boston- Embarkation

[Bilyeu5]

We are thinking of the 5 day cruise in September on the Jewel. Most reviews I have read about Boston sailings diss the embarkation process.

We'll be coming from the west coast and have never been to Boston.

Will do a 1-2 night pre-cruise hotel. Not sure if we should do cruise line package, or just arrange something on our own. Now, here's the question, (finally):

If we use RCCL's transfers and hotel option, will it include transfer from airport to hotel, and then from hotel to dock?? Does the embarkation tend to go smoother if we use the cruise line services? (as opposed to taxi from indepenent hotel). We cruised Alaska last year with Princess, but we drove and parked at the dock. Our other cruises were many years ago when we were younger and schlepping luggage around wasn't quite such a chore.

I'm not as worried about disembarkation as our flight would not leave Boston until late afternoon.

[max227]

We are doing Sept. 14 out of Boston. It sounds like most problems are with the Terminal itself. It only does cruise ships a couple months out of the year. I don't see much difference in using RCCL transfers or just grabbing a cab. Sounds like cabs are very plentiful in and around Boston. We are just going to get a cab and go early.

[emilygrace]

We are doing the 7 night cruise on the Jewel in October. My plan is to Priceline an airport hotel (use the highest star rating and you will get the Hyatt or Hilton), in which case you can walk to the hotel or use their shuttle. We are also going a few days early and plan to just shuttle back to the airport and take the T into downtown Boston from there to do our sightseeing.

 

The Black Falcon Terminal is basically a huge warehouse, meaning no amenities. But we did this cruise before and we arrived at the pier at 11 am and were on the ship before noon. The check in process is very organized, with separate lines for each deck of cabins (and of course a priority line) and everything goes very smoothly.

[negc]

Our experience in boarding and disembarking in Boston has been uniformly good and when we sail from there on an RCI ship, we arrive around 11:30 am and are usually onboard before noon. RCI has a generous number of personnel to handle the check in quickly and efficiently. We have sailed out of Boston for several years now and while the terminal offers little in the way of amenities, we are rarely in the building long enough to miss them.:)

If you book your air and hotel through RCI they will transfer you from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to Black Falcon terminal. Once you are at the pier, I don't believe you will see any difference in the check-in process from that being offered to independent travelers. Compare your alternatives (Booking everything through the cruiseline or booking everything independently and decide which works best for you):) Enjoy your cruise. Despite the "dissing" you have read about Black Falcon pier, I think you will come to a different conclusion once you have experienced it.

[Oville]

We're also on the Sept 14th cruise. Did our only Boston departure this past Oct. and everything went smoothly for us. It is a bit chaotic checking bags but that's the only snag.

[phoenix1181]

First............. DO NOT attempt to walk to one of the airport hotels! They do have shuttles and walking really should not even be considered.

If you book everything with RCCL, all your transfers will be included.