to arrive after my allotted embarkation time for cruise?

[CallieCruiser]

Shamelessly posting for traffic!
I'm going on my first ever cruise in a few weeks. I had thought from the info I had that boarding would be any time after 11am and best to be onboard at least 2 hours prior to departure. Just had updated info and I have been given an embarkation time of 11am-midday. All aboard is 5.30pm for departure at 6pm. The thing is we fly in to the departure city on that day and we wont make it to the port until 1-2pm. Have tried to contact cruise operator but they cant change my slot.

Does anyone have experience of how strict they are with the embarkation slots? I will be there 4.5 hours before 'all aboard' but 1-2 hours after my slot - will they let me on ok?

YABU - You need to be there between 11-12
YANBU - the slot is a guide, as long as you are well before all aboard it will be fine.

In my experience it really doesn’t matter. They are more bothered about people getting there early, and causing chaos first thing.

You are brave to fly down on the day of departure. What’s the plan of there is an issue with the flight ?

Yes it’s fine, they are often a bit stricter with people trying to to get on earlier than their slot but afterwards will be ok.

Due to other constraints I had to fly on the day and this flight was the only option. Trying not to worry about flight issues! its a short flight and not out of london so hopefully less chance of an issue.

I have gone on cruises from Southampton and they run their boarding procedures like a tight ship (pun not intended 😂). It’s very well organised; I can see why they do it.

Getting off the ship is another matter entirely and they really don’t care about you by then and you’ll find your luggage in a massive heap with everyone else’s 😂.

I would have flown down the day before.

i;m going with MSC is that's relevant.

....if they get arsey with you, or there's any sort of problem, they will definitely roll over and apologise - and probably offer complimentary champagne - when you say "But 54% of respondents on MumsNet said I could turn up late!"

I’ve flown on the day for about half of my cruises (I’ve been on over 25) and it’s been fine. I hope you have a lovely trip.

😂I've never cruised before so I was after knowledge/experience from people who have done - it may be well known among cruise travellers that slots are just a guide or it may be well known that if you're outside your slot you're out! that's all i was looking to determine.

Sounds risky

You'll be fine in my experience OP- they give out time slots to stagger arrivals so they don't have the entire ship trying to board at once, but they won't turn you away for being late. Plenty of people will be delayed by traffic etc and will still be able to board.

Just head straight from the airport, it will be ok to be later. For future reference, all aboard isn’t the same as arrival, Arrival includes checking in which can be 30-60 minutes it’s self whereas all aboard refers to those who boarded earlier then went off for a walk/go to a shop before departure

It will be no problem at all. While they prefer people not to arrive before their slot, and may occasionally make them wait, arriving after your slot will be absolutely fine.

But arriving so close to sail away would worry me. I appreciate you may not have much choice, and most likely it will all be fine, but I would certainly have a plan of how to get to the next port if your plane is delayed.

Thank you, that is useful to know. i have a taxi to the port from the airport which is only 20 mins so barring flight disasters I should be there by 1pm unless delays at passport/baggage claim/traffic. so still plenty of time for check in procedure.

Thank you, thanks reassuring.

I'm a frequent flier and have allowed generous time to include 1-2 hour delays to the flights in my timings listed above so unless the flight is cancelled I will be there by 2pm at the absolute latest.

@CallieCruiser So long as your luggage arrives, you'll be fine!
They tend to board by deck.
If you turn up after your deck has boarded you'll be fine. It's turning up early that causes problems.

People with past crusing history and in the posher cabins get to board when they like so it's clearly not critical that everything is done in deck order.

AIBU to arrive after my embarkation slot for a cruise.

There, does that make you feel better?

You’ll be fine, as long as you’re there by all aboard. You’ll be cancelled out by all the people with 4pm boarding times who seem to think there’s going to be something amazing about sitting on a ship docked in Southampton docks for hours , and who will turn up mega early.

I cruised with MSC last year and was given a late check in. As we’d stayed in Southampton the night before we chanced our luck and turned up quite early. We were fully prepared to have to return later if they insisted, but they let us on with no issues. I’ve also arrived later than scheduled for other cruises and no issues whatsoever. Enjoy!

"lovely" 🤮.

Whatever credibility you had dissipated instantly after that. If there was patronising misogyny board you would fit right in.

Thank you, that's exactly the type of experience I was hoping for. Thanks!

How awful and weird ! Why on earth do you feel so strongly about a stranger asking what time to get on a cruise ship? So strongly that you are nasty about it?

even if it is risky, it seems you're pretty much locked in to plans now anyhow. You can't leave early, you can't get another flight, you booked the cruise...

OP has a 3 1/2 hr window to get aboard.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to allow a day 'just in case' because where do you draw the line. Don't people tend to give themselves a few hours wiggle room when needing to catch flights or get a connecting one, or transfer from train to airport etc.

Or is it because it's a cruise and if you miss it you're fucked, whereas e.g missing a connecting train might just make you late.