P&O new check in procedures

[Mervyn and Trish]

Airports also have priority check-in.
Why would you abolish it? Wait until you get it and then see how you feel.

I have no issue with priority boarding and as far as I can see P&O have no plans to abolish, merely to operate it in a slightly different way. My problem is with those who do not have priority boarding but jump the queue by turning up early and making others wait. I commend P&O trying to address that. I agree with the post above that people should be called for boarding according to their allocated arrival time. If those who arrived early had to sit and wait in the terminal, instead of being rewarded by being allowed to board ahead of those behaving as requested, the problem would soon go away. Children are not taught good behaviour and manners by rewarding bad behaviour. Nor should adults be.

[david63]

We all know the myriad of legitimate reasons why some passengers will not arrive at their allotted time (be that early or late) so here is a solution.

At the terminal there are a number of "pens" - one for each time slot. Upon arrival you go to your pen and wait your turn. If all ,pens prior to your time are empty then they start taking a few at a time from the next pen. If someone arrives late (coach traveller, for example) then they go to their original pen and go straight to check in.

This would be an easy way to manage the queue and would also have a deterrent effect on those who had to go in the 15:30 pen at 11:00 (a sort of "name & shame")

It would not be too out of place as some liken the terminals to "cattle sheds"

[Stephen]

Do we get a bell to put round our necks as well David in case someone decides to make a run for it to the front of the queue. And I fully expect some fresh hay to nibble on while waiting

[Quizzical Bob]

Airports also have priority check-in.
Why would you abolish it? Wait until you get it and then see how you feel.

I have no issue with priority boarding and as far as I can see P&O have no plans to abolish, merely to operate it in a slightly different way. My problem is with those who do not have priority boarding but jump the queue by turning up early and making others wait. I commend P&O trying to address that. I agree with the post above that people should be called for boarding according to their allocated arrival time. If those who arrived early had to sit and wait in the terminal, instead of being rewarded by being allowed to board ahead of those behaving as requested, the problem would soon go away. Children are not taught good behaviour and manners by rewarding bad behaviour. Nor should adults be.

These are paying customers you're talking about. If you want them to come back then you have to treat them well and not like naughty children.

[oldbluefox]

The honest truth is there is no system which can apply to everybody and P&O may just as well say 'turn up when you can'. If I have a 3.00 check in what am I to do between 12.00 when I vacate my overnight hotel and my check in time. I would not be happy to leave the car unattended so naturally, rather than hang around I will make my way to the terminal where, if need be, I am happy to wait. However that could lead to congestion in the terminal so naturally, P&O want to move people through as quickly as possible.
In all honesty I don't really see it as an issue. Even if everybody turned up at their allotted time it would still be busy and if people do turn up early, surely it means it is quieter later on. Request a late check -in time and you could be walking on by yourself.

[Princess]

Unfortunately people have been advised, by other passengers on numerous forums, to arrive early. There have been so many posts over the last couple of years saying/boasting such things as " arrived at port 11.30am on board by noon", "I always get to the port early to go straight on board" , "Take no notice of the check-in time, you will be able to board early". So of course many (too many) people now do this. Previously, embarkation did not begin until much later in the afternoon (as I said kids when to school) and even then you could sit for hours in the terminal. At that time no one questioned it and it was just accepted.

[barney]

I'm with you Foxy.

I can't really see how so many are get hot under the collar.

The comparison to airports is an unusual one because to the best of my knowledge, when flying from Gatwick, I can turn up anytime I blooming well like.
24 hours in advance if I feel like it.
They would love that as they attempt to lighten my wallet.

I'm not asking to be boarded any earlier than my alloted time, just reserve the right to get there when I want to avoid the stress of the journey.
Now, should I arrive a bit early and P&O choose to board me early, that is their decision, not mine.

I'm happy to quietly sit there twiddling my thumbs

[RB1961]

What Barney just said...

[Stephen]

I'm with you Foxy.

I can't really see how so many are get hot under the collar.

The comparison to airports is an unusual one because to the best of my knowledge, when flying from Gatwick, I can turn up anytime I blooming well like.
24 hours in advance if I feel like it.
They would love that as they attempt to lighten my wallet.

I'm not asking to be boarded any earlier than my alloted time, just reserve the right to get there when I want to avoid the stress of the journey.
Now, should I arrive a bit early and P&O choose to board me early, that is their decision, not mine.

I'm happy to quietly sit there twiddling my thumbs

Yep, got it in one barney.

[Dark Knight]

totally agree Barney, you are far too sensible and considerate to be on this forum

having seen every single permutation of how to board a ship discussed in the most minute detail on FB and other sites, I have 2 conclusions, firstly some people need to get out more and worry about the big stuff and secondly , I couldn't care less about the whole pantomime, it is total and utter BS

but it does keep people on FB/Forums/Chat rooms etc which is great, coz god help us if those idiots ever got into the real world

[Gill W]

Absolutely what Barney said

I don't want to be the first one on board.

All I want to do is to be allowed to arrive at a time that is convenient to me (which is generally between 12 and 1).

Be allowed to board in my turn, and I'm not worried if I have to wait for a while.

What I'm not keen on is being given a 3.30pm check in time, and having to hang around the Southampton area before I present myself at the terminal at 3.30pm

[allatc]

All I want to do is to be allowed to arrive at a time that is convenient to me (which is generally between 12 and 1).

Be allowed to board in my turn, and I'm not worried if I have to wait for a while.

What I'm not keen on is being given a 3.30pm check in time, and having to hang around the Southampton area before I present myself at the terminal at 3.30pm

Absolutely spot on

[oldbluefox]

That seems to be the general concensus and that is what I anticipate will continue to happen.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I and others are clearly not going to agree. However, to take your point QB I too am a paying customer and when I arrive at the time reqested resent having to queue behind others who've ignored the request. Good children should not be punished while bad children get away with it. And to take Foxy's point if the deal was turn up when you like and take your chance I wouldn't have an issue. And finally I don't suggest punishing anyone and making them wait unecessarily. Just to give priority to those who have turned up as asked and only then, if there is capacity, let others who are early board. It is unacceptable, as has happened to us, that we wait over an hour while queue jumpers are welcomed aboard.

But since that probably isn't going to happen I suppose we'll just have to join the naughty children and arrive at 11.30 ignoring our boarding time

[qbman1]

But since that probably isn't going to happen I suppose we'll just have to join the naughty children and arrive at 11.30 ignoring our boarding time

That's the crux of it - many do behave like children and should be treated accordingly !

[Stephen]

I and others are clearly not going to agree. However, to take your point QB I too am a paying customer and when I arrive at the time reqested resent having to queue behind others who've ignored the request. Good children should not be punished while bad children get away with it. And to take Foxy's point if the deal was turn up when you like and take your chance I wouldn't have an issue. And finally I don't suggest punishing anyone and making them wait unecessarily. Just to give priority to those who have turned up as asked and only then, if there is capacity, let others who are early board. It is unacceptable, as has happened to us, that we wait over an hour while queue jumpers are welcomed aboard.

But since that probably isn't going to happen I suppose we'll just have to join the naughty children and arrive at 11.30 ignoring our boarding time

11.30 Merv ......that's late

[allatc]

I don't think it's necessarily willful disobedience.
If you're driving to Southampton on the morning of the cruise then you have to allow time for unforeseen problems which almost inevitably means arriving at least an hour before the allotted time if not more.
I can understand not wanting to leave a car full of luggage unattended in a car park somewhere and I guess most travelers are not particularly clued up about eating places within a few miles of the terminals. (suggestions please)

[barney]

Junction 4 M25 had a 90 minute tail back this morning so anyone going to Southampton today from Kent will face a four & half hour journey instead of three hours.

So say check in time is allocate 3.30 pm, then to leave home at half twelve is theoretically fine.
But today, you'd arrive at 5.00 and that's cutting it mighty fine in my opinion.

Can you imagine the tension in the car

[Boris+]

We now adopt a rolling sort of buffer zone. We head for Southampton, leaving plenty of time if we are going down on the actual departure day, and then our first place to waste time is the last services before the turn off we use for Southampton.

If we are heading down to the dock gates area and we're still way too early, then we go into Mayflower Park carpark, and 'enjoy' the view. We know then that we are literally minutes away from the dock gates; and we can just relax and watch all the activity.

[Quizzical Bob]

I and others are clearly not going to agree. However, to take your point QB I too am a paying customer and when I arrive at the time reqested resent having to queue behind others who've ignored the request. Good children should not be punished while bad children get away with it. And to take Foxy's point if the deal was turn up when you like and take your chance I wouldn't have an issue. And finally I don't suggest punishing anyone and making them wait unecessarily. Just to give priority to those who have turned up as asked and only then, if there is capacity, let others who are early board. It is unacceptable, as has happened to us, that we wait over an hour while queue jumpers are welcomed aboard.

But since that probably isn't going to happen I suppose we'll just have to join the naughty children and arrive at 11.30 ignoring our boarding time

I can understand your sentiments but whilst you are waiting an hour the only people that you call queue-jumpers will be those in the higher loyalty grades or in suites. Traditionally these have had their own check-in desks and I thinlk the point made earlier by Foxy is very valid, if someone from the main queue is invited across to a priority desk that would be seen as a positive thing whereas combining the priorities with the main mass would be negative. There may be people ahead of you who have arrived before their suggested times but there will also be those who have arrived after. Please bear in mind that those with the priority check-in have also done their time standing in line in many previous cruises.

There is only one sensible algorithm for all this and that is to get eveybody there as soon as possible and get them on board as soon as possible with the minimum wait and inconvenience. This is best doen by streamlining every aspect of the whole business including especially the security screening procedures.

[david63]

We now adopt a rolling sort of buffer zone. We head for Southampton, leaving plenty of time if we are going down on the actual departure day, and then our first place to waste time is the last services before the turn off we use for Southampton.

If we are heading down to the dock gates area and we're still way too early, then we go into Mayflower Park carpark, and 'enjoy' the view. We know then that we are literally minutes away from the dock gates; and we can just relax and watch all the activity.

Just hope that you do not have to queue for over an hour to get into the terminal like we had to do once as CPS were running late.

[Onelife]

Well here's my tuppence worth....l absolutely agree with Sir Merv in that you should near as dam it stick to your allotted embarkation times....for gawd sake they are trying to make embarkation run as efficiently as possible for everyone. The majority of passengers have no excuse for disregarding their alloted embarkation times. Ok you have to allow enough time for unforseen cercomstances but what's wrong with pulling into a service station to kill an hour or two thus allowing you to coincide you arrival to that which is printed on your tickets. If your not displaying the right boarding time when arriving at the dock gates then you should be told to bugger off until it's your alloted time. P&O need to grow some balls and stop pandering to all you selfish cruisers and start enforcing boarding times...you'll soon get the message after a few laps around Southampton.

Happy cruising

[Quizzical Bob]

Well here's my tuppence worth....l absolutely agree with Sir Merv in that you should near as dam it stick to your allotted embarkation times....for gawd sake they are trying to make embarkation run as efficiently as possible for everyone. The majority of passengers have no excuse for disregarding their alloted embarkation times. Ok you have to allow enough time for unforseen cercomstances but what's wrong with pulling into a service station to kill an hour or two thus allowing you to coincide you arrival to that which is printed on your tickets. If your not displaying the right boarding time when arriving at the dock gates then you should be told to bug*er off until it's your alloted time. P&O need to grow some balls and stop pandering to all you selfish cruisers and start enforcing boarding times...you'll soon get the message after a few laps around Southampton.

Happy cruising

That's all very well but these requests are to cover up the shortcomings of P&O and ther's no need for any of it. If other cruise lines can manage it more efficiently with the same facilities then there's something wrong with their system.

Asking people to hold back and turn up later than they can is only going to lead to more late departures and can never be a wise strategy.

[Stephen]

Who gives a t*ss, as long as I'm on first.

And where have you been hiding Onezy, in that Welsh shed again interfering with the livestock.

11350918_10153140057897997_7065288965317265952_n.jpg

[Quizzical Bob]

I've just had a look over our cruise tickets in the last few years and most of them advise that check-in closes at 15:45. That would seem to be cutting things a bit close for many.

For our next cruise on Adonia on 23rd of this month we have not actually been allocated a particular time for the Mayflower Terminal, possibly on account of the priority check in. Who knows?