Has boarding in San Diego improved?

[gregf71]

My family and I are on an upcoming Halloween on the High Seas cruise out of San Diego and wonder if the on-boarding process has improved over the years. A while back my wife and I did a cruise to no where out of San Diego and boarding was horrendous. The reserved arrival times were seemingly not enforced, creating a long line in the sun, adjacent to construction going on and traffic. It was not fun. We have not cruised out of there since. Has it improved? We have an 11am to 1130am arrival time set.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My family and I are on an upcoming Halloween on the High Seas cruise out of San Diego and wonder if the on-boarding process has improved over the years. A while back my wife and I did a cruise to no where out of San Diego and boarding was horrendous. The reserved arrival times were seemingly not enforced, creating a long line in the sun, adjacent to construction going on and traffic. It was not fun. We have not cruised out of there since. Has it improved? We have an 11am to 1130am arrival time set.

Thanks!

We arrived around 12:30 for our Wonder cruise, and it was pretty quick and easy to check in and board.

When the Wonder first cruised out of San Diego, there was a lot of construction in the port area. That's not there now.

And, if the cruise just preceding your cruise was a repositioning cruise, the debarkation can take longer, causing the embarkation process for the next cruise to be delayed. The terminal there doesn't have a whole lot of inside space, so it made the line be outside (in the sun) for a lot of people. San Diego is one of the worst port for the customs/immigration process. Typically the officials board the ship and the non-US citizens must show up onboard somewhere at the crack of dawn to be processed so the ship can be cleared for everyone to get off once actually tied up in port. Inevitably there's someone who either doesn't get that, or sleeps in that has to be tracked down. That also delays the debarkation process.

 

[gregf71]

We arrived around 12:30 for our Wonder cruise, and it was pretty quick and easy to check in and board.

When the Wonder first cruised out of San Diego, there was a lot of construction in the port area. That's not there now.

And, if the cruise just preceding your cruise was a repositioning cruise, the debarkation can take longer, causing the embarkation process for the next cruise to be delayed. The terminal there doesn't have a whole lot of inside space, so it made the line be outside (in the sun) for a lot of people. San Diego is one of the worst port for the customs/immigration process. Typically the officials board the ship and the non-US citizens must show up onboard somewhere at the crack of dawn to be processed so the ship can be cleared for everyone to get off once actually tied up in port. Inevitably there's someone who either doesn't get that, or sleeps in that has to be tracked down. That also delays the debarkation process.

The Wonder has been sailing out of San Diego for a few weeks now after re-positioning from Alaska, so no issue there. Was that 12:30pm arrival time of yours the one you selected during online check-in? Glad to hear that all that construction is done. We will make sure to wear hats and sun screen just to be sure!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The Wonder has been sailing out of San Diego for a few weeks now after re-positioning from Alaska, so no issue there. Was that 12:30pm arrival time of yours the one you selected during online check-in? Glad to hear that all that construction is done. We will make sure to wear hats and sun screen just to be sure!

I can't recall whether we selected that time or not. That's just the time we got there (drove down from Anaheim area).

 

[jrabbit]

check to see if you are the only ship in port that day, if yes, then you should be good to go. We did the repo cruise in May from SD to Vancouver with another ship in port and it was a mad house!!

 

[ludari]

I sailed on the Wonder a few years ago and the boarding process was fine. Please keep in mind that the cruises to no where are usually booked to capacity. I added one to my existing cruise (B2B) and those two days where absolutely crazy! It seemed like people where trying to get everything done in those two days.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I sailed on the Wonder a few years ago and the boarding process was fine. Please keep in mind that the cruises to no where are usually booked to capacity. I added one to my existing cruise (B2B) and those two days where absolutely crazy! It seemed like people where trying to get everything done in those two days.

Well, don't have to worry about those now. Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed.

 

[bcwife76]

We arrived around 12:30 for our Wonder cruise, and it was pretty quick and easy to check in and board.

When the Wonder first cruised out of San Diego, there was a lot of construction in the port area. That's not there now.

And, if the cruise just preceding your cruise was a repositioning cruise, the debarkation can take longer, causing the embarkation process for the next cruise to be delayed. The terminal there doesn't have a whole lot of inside space, so it made the line be outside (in the sun) for a lot of people. San Diego is one of the worst port for the customs/immigration process. Typically the officials board the ship and the non-US citizens must show up onboard somewhere at the crack of dawn to be processed so the ship can be cleared for everyone to get off once actually tied up in port. Inevitably there's someone who either doesn't get that, or sleeps in that has to be tracked down. That also delays the debarkation process.

As a non US citizen (Canadian) I can attest to the cluster that is immigration at the port of San Diego when disembarking. It was HORRID. So bad that we will never consider disembarking on a cruise out of San Diego ever again. We are, however, boarding the Wonder in San Diego in May 2018 for the one way back to Vancouver; hoping things are a lot smoother that direction

 

[jetskigrl]

Well, don't have to worry about those now. Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed.

The two-night cruises still exist and there are a few from San Diego. They are just no longer cruises to nowhere because they stop in Ensenada.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The two-night cruises still exist and there are a few from San Diego. They are just no longer cruises to nowhere because they stop in Ensenada.

That's what I said - Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed.

 

[jetskigrl]

I sailed on the Wonder a few years ago and the boarding process was fine. Please keep in mind that the cruises to no where are usually booked to capacity. I added one to my existing cruise (B2B) and those two days where absolutely crazy! It seemed like people where trying to get everything done in those two days.

That's what I said - Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed.

Ludari was making the point that the two-night cruises are usually booked to capacity and can be crazy. So it could be confusing to say they are no longer allowed. There are still two night cruises that Ludari was referring to and the point it still valid to someone reading this post (two night cruises can be crazy). Your post saying they don't have to worry about that now since there are no more cruises to nowhere makes it sound like there are no more two night cruises (the short length makes then crazy, not the destination).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Ludari was making the point that the two-night cruises are usually booked to capacity and can be crazy. So it could be confusing to say they are no longer allowed. There are still two night cruises that Ludari was referring to and the point it still valid to someone reading this post (two night cruises can be crazy). Your post saying they don't have to worry about that now since there are no more cruises to nowhere makes it sound like there are no more two night cruises (the short length makes then crazy, not the destination).

The quote says "Please keep in mind that the cruises to no where are usually booked to capacity. I added one to my existing cruise (B2B) and those two days where absolutely crazy!"

That's what I was referring to what I then said they were no longer allowed. I didn't say that there were no 2 days cruises (that actually go somewhere).

 

[gilsan]

check to see if you are the only ship in port that day, if yes, then you should be good to go. We did the repo cruise in May from SD to Vancouver with another ship in port and it was a mad house!!

We were on that cruise too and I think we were 2 hours from when we arrived at the port until we were through the lines and boarding the ship. It was poorly set up, even dropping of our luggage was a confusing mess.

 

[jrabbit]

@gilsan - Luggage Handling on our cruise was crazy as well. We hoped and prayed that our luggage made it to OUR ship. It Did

 

[cmwade77]

Well, don't have to worry about those now. Cruises to nowhere are no longer allowed.

Which is really sad, because they are a lot of fun.

 

[vertigo235]

check to see if you are the only ship in port that day, if yes, then you should be good to go. We did the repo cruise in May from SD to Vancouver with another ship in port and it was a mad house!!

We did too it was HORRIBLE, apparently the other cruise ship didn't do staggered arrivals and everyone on that ship showed up at the same time.

The port only has one security queue and that is the problem.

 

[SteveMP]

The new terminal is pretty smooth. However on the rare occurrence of multiple cruis ships in port and you get the old one, that is/was kind of junky. Only had that happen at a stop as part of a West coast cruise.

 

[bcwife76]

We did too it was HORRIBLE, apparently the other cruise ship didn't do staggered arrivals and everyone on that ship showed up at the same time.

The port only has one security queue and that is the problem.

Oh poop....just checked the 2018 schedule for San Diego and there is one other ship (a Crystal cruise ship) leaving the same day as the Wonder when we go San Diego to Vancouver.

*Edit to add it's the Crystal Symphony which holds 922 so that's not exactly a huge ship. Maybe it won't be too terrible then, it's less than half the size of the Wonder, right? lol

 

[Gabe]

We were on the SD to Vancouver Repo in May this year. Because we are platinum, we didn't need a PAT. We arrived at 10:30am, walked right in. Were one of the first at the check in desk and by about 12 we were boarding. It all was so smooth and quick. We didn't notice the mad house. That must have been later in the morning? I guess the trick is to arrive early if you can. There was another ship in port. We will be back on the Wonder on October 15. We are planning to be the port by 10. I don't know at what time they open, but we also did the Vancouver to SD last month, and we got off in SD it was about 9:00am and there was already people going into the terminal.

 

[onlyn2urmoney]

We just came off the Wonder on Sunday and boarding was a breeze! We had someone drop us off and they were able to pull right up. We walked right through security at 11:20 and after check in we waited in the terminal for 15min. We were walking on the ship by 12:20pm.