P&O new check in procedures

[The Tinker]

Makes you wonder if this is a cost cutting exercise so they don't have to pay the same amount of staff on port days and can save money!

[Gill W]

Standard passengers drop off their luggage then drive their car to their car park which can be up to a 10 minute walk away, never seen any major delays with the drop off, the cars seem to move through this process fairly promptly.

Do you know how the passengers get back from the car park to the terminal?

A ten minute walk could be challenging for some, particularly with hand luggage to carry

[The Tinker]

Standard passengers drop off their luggage then drive their car to their car park which can be up to a 10 minute walk away, never seen any major delays with the drop off, the cars seem to move through this process fairly promptly.

Do you know how the passengers get back from the car park to the terminal?

A ten minute walk could be challenging for some, particularly with hand luggage to carry

Must be different with celebrity as p and o take the car from you when you arrive and park it for you.

[Quizzical Bob]

I have said this before - the whole problem is that P&O are trying to control embarkation with check-in and the two are incompatible.

The airlines/airports have been doing this for years without any problems (other than delays which will always happen). You arrive at the terminal, you check in, you go through security, you wait to board - simples.

Whilst the problem at some of the terminals can be laid at the door of ABP, Ocean terminal was, I believe, designed and built by Carnival so there really should be no excuse for getting it wrong - apart from the fact that somebody overlooked the fact that ships were going to get bigger and as a consequence they would have to handle more passengers.

I'm fairly certain that Ocean Terminal was built and paid for by ABP at a cost of £19m. It is supposed to be designed for 4000 passengers and 2000 crew but the security checking area is woefully inadequate.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4355993 ... irst_time/

[barney]

Royal Carib do this Gill

A van come round and picks up your hold luggage as you park the car and you walk across with your hand luggage
(wasn't ten minutes by the way, more like a few hundred yards)

Worked very well when we did it but then I'm fit as a butchers dog !

[qbman1]

Personally, I like the CPS valet parking - worth a few minutes wait in the car, especially if it's lashing down. I wouldn't be happy at a few hundred yards walk then !!

[Mervyn and Trish]

I was perhaps being over cynical when I suggested arriving at 1100. However the problems we have had have been when we have been told to arrive at say 1300 and have then waited over an hour to be called to check in. I notice most of those reporting no delays are those with priority check in, and that is how it should be. My concern is for us peasants!

If Christopher Edgington is saying that on occasions half the total ship's passengers arrive within an hour of check in opening I doubt he is lying. But therein lies the problem surely? If they have, say four hours to board everyone (12-4 ish) they will staff accordingly. We can't expect them to staff to get half the passengers aboard in one hour.

I suppose I should just hope they don't move the Gold/Caribbean goalposts before we complete our next two cruises, when we will have joined the elite and can join those moving swiftly aboard for our warm fizz and curly sandwiches while the riff raff are left to sweat in the departure lounge!

[qbman1]

That's the spirit, Merv - join the club and bu99er the rest !

[david63]

I'm fairly certain that Ocean Terminal was built and paid for by ABP at a cost of £19m. It is supposed to be designed for 4000 passengers and 2000 crew but the security checking area is woefully inadequate.

You are right - but so am I. It was in fact built and paid for by ABP but it is part of a contract with Carnival for 20 years (https://www.gleeds.com/en-hk/Projects/Ocean-Terminal/) so Carnival will have had major input at the time.

[Quizzical Bob]

I was perhaps being over cynical when I suggested arriving at 1100. However the problems we have had have been when we have been told to arrive at say 1300 and have then waited over an hour to be called to check in. I notice most of those reporting no delays are those with priority check in, and that is how it should be. My concern is for us peasants!

If Christopher Edgington is saying that on occasions half the total ship's passengers arrive within an hour of check in opening I doubt he is lying. But therein lies the problem surely? If they have, say four hours to board everyone (12-4 ish) they will staff accordingly. We can't expect them to staff to get half the passengers aboard in one hour.

I suppose I should just hope they don't move the Gold/Caribbean goalposts before we complete our next two cruises, when we will have joined the elite and can join those moving swiftly aboard for our warm fizz and curly sandwiches while the riff raff are left to sweat in the departure lounge!

Not even curly sandwiches according to the reports on Facebook, just a can of peas. Anyway, by the time you get to that level the likes of us will have already eaten all the sandwiches.

[qbman1]

Not even curly sandwiches according to the reports on Facebook, just a can of peas. Anyway, by the time you get to that level the likes of us will have already eaten all the sandwiches.

You may have misread that one QBob !!

[Quizzical Bob]

Not even curly sandwiches according to the reports on Facebook, just a can of peas. Anyway, by the time you get to that level the likes of us will have already eaten all the sandwiches.

You may have misread that one QBob !!

You think so? Just wait and see...


We're off at the end of next week on Adonia so let's see what we get fed.

[qbman1]

Probably rice and beans - they'll be getting ready for their Cuba trips !!

[towny44]

Personally, I like the CPS valet parking - worth a few minutes wait in the car, especially if it's lashing down. I wouldn't be happy at a few hundred yards walk then !!

Agree its convenient Cubie but its speed of operation depends on an adequate number of drivers and a fast turnround so they can keep pace with the unloading and emptying speed. Which in my experience never happens and there are lots of empty cars waiting to be driven away, resulting in longer and longer queues of cars waiting to be called forward.
The operation at city terminal is much slicker, and I was giving the furthest overflow carpark when I said a maximum 10 minute walk.

[Quizzical Bob]

Personally, I like the CPS valet parking - worth a few minutes wait in the car, especially if it's lashing down. I wouldn't be happy at a few hundred yards walk then !!

I haven't used them since they scratched grooves into my leather steering wheel and it hasn't been the same since. That was also about the same time that I stopped getting parking included in the price.

[qbman1]

Personally, I like the CPS valet parking - worth a few minutes wait in the car, especially if it's lashing down. I wouldn't be happy at a few hundred yards walk then !!

Agree its convenient Cubie but its speed of operation depends on an adequate number of drivers and a fast turnround so they can keep pace with the unloading and emptying speed. Which in my experience never happens and there are lots of empty cars waiting to be driven away, resulting in longer and longer queues of cars waiting to be called forward.
The operation at city terminal is much slicker, and I was giving the furthest overflow carpark when I said a maximum 10 minute walk.

Never found there to be a shortage of drivers and a backlog of empty cars but then maybe we have just been lucky. Not keen on the Ocean Terminal parking arrangements - always seems to be a right jumble in that dingy "underground" car park !! No one ever seems to know what they are doing and there is often no instruction for the newbies who mill around aimlessly.

[qbman1]

It's probably quicker for you to walk from home anyway !!

[towny44]

Cubie, my only P&O experiences have been at Ocean Terminal, but don't recall an underground car park, dingy or not, no experience of Mayflower yet and very unlikely to book any of the venerable old ladies that embark from here, so unless there is a clash of biggies we probably won't find out.

[qbman1]

Cubie, my only P&O experiences have been at Ocean Terminal, but don't recall an underground car park, dingy or not, no experience of Mayflower yet and very unlikely to book any of the venerable old ladies that embark from here, so unless there is a clash of biggies we probably won't find out.

Sorry, I'm Terminally confused !! I was thinking of QEII terminal with the "underground" bit. Ocean is good.

[CaroleF]

QE II terminal is diabolical. You have to go sort of undercover, stop your car and take out your luggage to give to a porter. You then get back in the car and drive it round for the CPS people. On our last cruise from there the driver of the car in front of us didn't seem to realise that he had to move the car, he unloaded the luggage and then strolled towards the terminal leaving his car, which then blocked the way as the road was only one car's width. John had to go running after him to point out he needed to move the car on to the CPS people as he was blocking the entire entrance! To be fair to him there is nothing to tell you that is what you have to do. On our last cruise in July it was from the new Mayflower Terminal. We only had to wait a few minutes for the CPS operative to take our details. They now take a photo of the car and already have your car details on their computer so it's all very quick to hand over.

We had priority boarding as we were in a suite. We were shown straight to a check in desk, then whisked straight off to Security and were on this ship less than 15 minutes after arriving at the Terminal. It was all so fast we didn't have a chance to examine the new Mayflower Terminal - there did seem to be quite a lot of people sitting down - we arrived at the Terminal around 12ish.

[Dancing Queen]

Just to add a little more re 'priority boarding' or if you prefer 'queue jumping' which I would add is only my own interpretation of how it will work based on what I have been told by a Caribbean tier member who has experienced it.

Apologies if this has already been said by someone else as I don't want to scroll back through all the posts to check.

From the beginning of October P&O will be enforcing boarding times, Caribbean tier and above will still get priority boarding however this will be at the time printed on the eticket so in theory someone could have priority but it could be for the last boarding time, the only advantage would be that you wouldn't queue as you will be fast tracked at your allocated time, of course the exception to the rule will be if you are already there and there is a lull in which case they will probably board those waiting .. I don't think I'd be holding my breath though

Hardly what I would deem priority but I suppose it fulfils the promise P&O make to their members.

[Mervyn and Trish]

From the beginning of October P&O will be enforcing boarding times.......

They've said that so many times and then not done it, so will this be the one? That's why so many people ignore the time they're given. They know it means nothing.

So it is now 15th October. Is anyone back yet from an October cruise who can tell us if this time is any different or are they still crying wolf?

[qbman1]

Probably won't affect my next one much as there tend to be more Goldies than "normal" people at Christmas so they usually suspend priority embarkation

[Quizzical Bob]

We are off on Adonia next Friday through the Mayflower Terminal but we have not been assigned a time. This may be because of our Baltic status or may just be an oversight. When we boarded Aurora through there last May there were no special check-in desks but we were just directed straight to the fron of the queue. Actually it is a smaller queue right next to the end of the main one. From there through security you are the same status as everybody else.

[Quizzical Bob]

Probably won't affect my next one much as there tend to be more Goldies than "normal" people at Christmas so they usually suspend priority embarkation

This is often the case. On one occasion the priority queue was longer than that for the plebs.