New Check-in Times

[oldbluefox]

and I have read reports that people have been held back at Service Stations

Perhaps that's to put into operation Onelife's idea of everybody doing a few circuits of the service station before embarking. Just saying........

[towny44]

Why are P&O so keen to make a drama out of embarkation? Or maybe Channel 4 are making a new documentary 24 hrs in O and M (thats Ocean and Mayflower for the educationally challenged), has anyone noticed a cameraman wandering around, or spotted any extra CCTV cameras?

[Mervyn and Trish]

I know many dismiss it but they do seem to have a problem, as we have witnessed. If half the passengers are turning up in the first hour it is going to cause queues. It is simply not possible to board almost 2000 people in an hour and and the departure lounges were never built to hold that many people for any length of time, only as transit areas for rather fewer at a time. That is going to cause complaints, both from us peasants at the back of the queue and from the "goldies" who find all the curly sandwiches have gone by the time they get to them. And then there is the complaint that "I was no board by 12 but my cabin wasn't ready". I just wish they'd come up with a system and then a) enforce it and b) stick to it.

[Peter D]

Following on, the following was posted on Facebook. They, the poster, had an e-mail from P&O, stating they were having problems with the computers and it was not issuing boarding times. So, they sent an attachment saying they were allocating boarding to the following times. The attachment was posted as a picture on Facebook but here is a break down. This is for Britannia B524 from Southampton to Caribbean.

Suite & Ligurian - 12:30
G Deck - 13:00
B & L Deck - 13:30
E Deck - 14:30
A & C Decks - 15:30
D & F Decks - 15:00
Coaches when they arrive take priority.

So, only Suites and Ligurian have early boarding, Caribbean etc wil be given a normal boarding time that they must stick to, this could well be 15:30, lunch finishes at 15:30. Then if you have booked, lets say C Deck and are arriving by car your time is 15:30, but if arriving by coach it could well be 14:00, when the coach arrives. That to me is not right or fair.

Also, you have a 15;00 check in and arrive at 14:45, 15 mins before is OK. Then 3 coaches turn up and yes they have priority so you could well be sitting there until 15:45 or even later.

Then there is the timings. why no 14:00, why only 1 deck at 13:00 and again at 14:30, when there are 4 decks boarding between 15;00 and 15:30.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I guess that maybe 1400 is the target time for coaches to arrive?

[Manoverboard]

" It's not fair " .... sounds like the playground, stop whingeing and go by coach then .... simples

[Gill W]

I know many dismiss it but they do seem to have a problem, as we have witnessed. If half the passengers are turning up in the first hour it is going to cause queues. It is simply not possible to board almost 2000 people in an hour and and the departure lounges were never built to hold that many people for any length of time, only as transit areas for rather fewer at a time. That is going to cause complaints, both from us peasants at the back of the queue and from the "goldies" who find all the curly sandwiches have gone by the time they get to them. And then there is the complaint that "I was no board by 12 but my cabin wasn't ready". I just wish they'd come up with a system and then a) enforce it and b) stick to it.

So now they want half the ship (4 decks worth) to turn up between 3pm and 3.30pm. That seems to be making any problem worse.

[towny44]

I know many dismiss it but they do seem to have a problem, as we have witnessed. If half the passengers are turning up in the first hour it is going to cause queues. It is simply not possible to board almost 2000 people in an hour and and the departure lounges were never built to hold that many people for any length of time, only as transit areas for rather fewer at a time. That is going to cause complaints, both from us peasants at the back of the queue and from the "goldies" who find all the curly sandwiches have gone by the time they get to them. And then there is the complaint that "I was no board by 12 but my cabin wasn't ready". I just wish they'd come up with a system and then a) enforce it and b) stick to it.

Merv, Why is it only P&O that have this particular problem. I don't believe that half their passengers ever turn up in the first hour. Departure lounges may not be capable of holding large numbers, but guess what THE SHIP IS, so they need to board them all ASAP and delaying the start of boarding so that cabins are ready is just stupid.
And as for getting the ship ready for the new passengers, the cabin stewards might have a bigger task than a normal day, but they have been doing this job for years, and doing it quite well; and if they kept the public areas of the ship as clean as Celebrity do, there would be no need for extra work on turnround day. All the luggage is normally off the ship with an hour of docking, and then its the shoreside staff that put it into the luggage area, and the same ones load all the provisions. The really major job on turnround day is storing the new provisions and I doubt any of the hotel staff are involved in this.
So please get real and stop defending the rather pathetic management of P&O.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'm not defending P&Os management John. As I said I wish they would sort out a system and stick to it and enforce it. If that means copying the gods who run Calamity, so be it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Just to add to the above, if Christopher Edgington says on occasions half the passengers turn up in the first hour I'm not going to call him a liar. But as to why only P&O have this problem maybe they are victim of their age and success and passenger loyalty. A high proportion of passengers now seem to have priority boarding rights. That seems to be the source of most of the concerns about any change. It may also be why the new times appear biased towards later in the day, perhaps on the assumption a lot of people will have priority boarded earlier.

[towny44]

Just to add to the above, if Christopher Edgington says on occasions half the passengers turn up in the first hour I'm not going to call him a liar. But as to why only P&O have this problem maybe they are victim of their age and success and passenger loyalty. A high proportion of passengers now seem to have priority boarding rights. That seems to be the source of most of the concerns about any change. It may also be why the new times appear biased towards later in the day, perhaps on the assumption a lot of people will have priority boarded earlier.

Even more Calamity passengers have priority boarding, only first time Celebrity cruisers have to stick to their allocated time, or should do. But the speed and efficiency in which you are whisked on board means very few end up with a long wait.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Which is what I don't understand. The port infrastructure is the main limit on how fast you can board people. Why does it work better for Calamity? If there's a trick to it P&O should nick it. Or is there something about the City Terminal that Calamity normally use that's different? When we last used it I noticed that security came before you started queuing for check in. Is that the trick?

[qbman1]

We once boarded a P&O ship through the City Terminal as all the others were in use and I have to say it was particularly slick so you could be right, Merv, maybe the design/layout is so much better. Mind you, I found the new Mayflower worked well in August so maybe they nicked a few good ideas when that was redesigned. We were Priority though, so maybe that is not a fair comparison

[Whynd1]

Hi All
My ticket and pick up time paperwork arrived this morning from my travel agent Travel and based in South Wales. They operate a door to door pick up service. Our port arrival time is 12.45 pm. On my P and O ticket itvwas 2.30 pm. Home pick up time is 7 am.

I have a pretty stressful few weeks trying to help my father sell his home and move into more suitable accommodation so this cruise couldn't have come at a better time.

Lindsey

[towny44]

Which is what I don't understand. The port infrastructure is the main limit on how fast you can board people. Why does it work better for Calamity? If there's a trick to it P&O should nick it. Or is there something about the City Terminal that Calamity normally use that's different? When we last used it I noticed that security came before you started queuing for check in. Is that the trick?

I too think that the position of security is one of the reasons. The two things creating queues are security and the check in desk, at ocean terminal delays at security result in a slow down at check in but, if security was first, once passengers were through it the only further delay is the speed of check in.
However RCI have gone one step further and check is now done by staff on ipads and they reckon to take 30 seconds per passenger, as a result they load 4000 passengers on Anthem OTS in about a quarter of the time P&O load Arcadia on a good day.
You decide which management team is worthwhile.

[Silver_Shiney]

I think the system used by Cunard at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is the best. You turn up as and when, check in and get given a numbered boarding pass. You then go and sit in a very large waiting room and stay there until your number is called (individually - none of this "numbers 1 - 20" malarky. We got there about 11.00 (the hotel was asked to book a taxi for 11.30 but the driver turned up at 10.30), were given number 68, boarding started at 12.00 and we were on by about 12.20. Anyone trying to jump the queue was told in a very loud voice to go back and find a seat until they were called.

[david63]

I think the system used by Cunard at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is the best. You turn up as and when, check in and get given a numbered boarding pass. You then go and sit in a very large waiting room and stay there until your number is called (individually - none of this "numbers 1 - 20" malarky. We got there about 11.00 (the hotel was asked to book a taxi for 11.30 but the driver turned up at 10.30), were given number 68, boarding started at 12.00 and we were on by about 12.20. Anyone trying to jump the queue was told in a very loud voice to go back and find a seat until they were called.

Erm - that is basically what P&O did 15 years ago!!!!!

[Manoverboard]

.... and it sounds more like a school trip than a cruise

[barney]

Which is what I don't understand. The port infrastructure is the main limit on how fast you can board people. Why does it work better for Calamity? If there's a trick to it P&O should nick it. Or is there something about the City Terminal that Calamity normally use that's different? When we last used it I noticed that security came before you started queuing for check in. Is that the trick?

I too think that the position of security is one of the reasons. The two things creating queues are security and the check in desk, at ocean terminal delays at security result in a slow down at check in but, if security was first, once passengers were through it the only further delay is the speed of check in.
However RCI have gone one step further and check is now done by staff on ipads and they reckon to take 30 seconds per passenger, as a result they load 4000 passengers on Anthem OTS in about a quarter of the time P&O load Arcadia on a good day.
You decide which management team is worthwhile.

I was chatting about this very subject with a mate who regularly cruise Royal Carib and he couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
As you say, they do the security first, then check in and the only slight delay he's ever had is caused by the photographers as you board.
He did say that he thinks P&O are trying to solve a problem that really didn't exist.

I do prefer P&Os car parking set up though.

[qbman1]

I'm still not sure there even is a problem - all a bit mountains and molehills on here and Facecloth if you ask me

[oldbluefox]

Seems simple enough to me. P&O seem to be creating problems where none really exist and the more they tinker with it the more problems they create. It seems simple enough to me to abandon check in times altogether and turn up as and when and if everybody turns up early you'll just have to wait and queue. That may be enough encouragement for those who can more easily turn up later, to do so.
P&O seem to be making matters worse. Do they never have a look at what other lines are doing?

[david63]

turn up as and when and if everybody turns up early you'll just have to wait and queue

You mean just like you do at the airport?

Why do the words - broken, it, fix, ain't, why, if, it keep coming to mind?

[oldbluefox]

Exactly!!!
Could somebody down there nip around the corner and tell P&O?

[Silver_Shiney]

I think the system used by Cunard at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is the best. You turn up as and when, check in and get given a numbered boarding pass. You then go and sit in a very large waiting room and stay there until your number is called (individually - none of this "numbers 1 - 20" malarky. We got there about 11.00 (the hotel was asked to book a taxi for 11.30 but the driver turned up at 10.30), were given number 68, boarding started at 12.00 and we were on by about 12.20. Anyone trying to jump the queue was told in a very loud voice to go back and find a seat until they were called.

Erm - that is basically what P&O did 15 years ago!!!!!

Before my time, boss. ..

[Lynda and David]

Ventura
E Deck
Check-in time 1.30pm