Has boarding in San Diego improved?

[pepe3penelope]

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.

Hi! We are on the same cruise too!

 

[jennifermcb]

Where can I find the info re: which ships are in port? The one I found didn't show any Disney ships

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Where can I find the info re: which ships are in port? The one I found didn't show any Disney ships

This is one site:
https://www.cruisetimetables.com/

Be aware not all such sites are 100% correct. It's best to do an actual search for "XXXX (port name) port schedule" to get the scoop direct from the source.

 

[jrabbit]

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.

We arrived at the port around then (maybe a little earier - also platinum. Were told that they were still clearing the building and "go away" - so we drug our luggage down to the midway and looked around over there (from the outside) When we returned the line outside the building was rapidly growing. DCL and Celebrity guests in the same SLOW moving line. They were checking everyone's passports outside which brought the line to a standstill as everyone was digging around looking for them. Finally they gave up on that and just tried to move us into the building. But before the building was the "Hope you luggage Makes it to the Correct Ship - Drop". Then trying to enter the building there were LARGE (150+) groups of Celebrity cruisers that were "released to the security queue" at once and the newly entered Celebrity cruisers were directed to take a seat and those of us on DCL were not given any instruction other than to "get out of the way". Thankfully they opened up another security screening station 10 minutes after we entered the terminal. Once we got through that mess it was pretty easy going - getting into the DCL area and into the correct check in line (where the line monitor employees were pretty useless).

This was by far the worst boarding embarkation that we have had and we have sailed out of: Port Canaveral, Miami, Barcelona, Los Angeles (San Pedro), Dover, San Juan, and Vancouver.

Maybe you arrived after that initial insanity had worked it's way through the "system"

 

[jennifermcb]

This is one site:
https://www.cruisetimetables.com/

Be aware not all such sites are 100% correct. It's best to an actual search for "XXXX (port name) port schedule" to get the scoop direct from the source.

Thank you so much! That information was most helpful. Looks like ours is the only ship on port for embarkation and debarkation day

 

[gilsan]

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.

We arrived for the Vancouver repo around 12 and it was crazy. We booked the cruise late and had a late port arrival time (12:00). We had been just waiting around our hotel room waiting for our time. In retrospect we should have headed over earlier since they weren't checking PAT, and we would have missed the madness.

 

[gilsan]

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

I was worried about our luggage as well. I didn't leave the luggage area until I saw it being loaded onto a cart with lots of other DCL tags.

 

[Gabe]

We arrived at the port around then (maybe a little earier - also platinum. Were told that they were still clearing the building and "go away" - so we drug our luggage down to the midway and looked around over there (from the outside) When we returned the line outside the building was rapidly growing. DCL and Celebrity guests in the same SLOW moving line. They were checking everyone's passports outside which brought the line to a standstill as everyone was digging around looking for them. Finally they gave up on that and just tried to move us into the building. But before the building was the "Hope you luggage Makes it to the Correct Ship - Drop". Then trying to enter the building there were LARGE (150+) groups of Celebrity cruisers that were "released to the security queue" at once and the newly entered Celebrity cruisers were directed to take a seat and those of us on DCL were not given any instruction other than to "get out of the way". Thankfully they opened up another security screening station 10 minutes after we entered the terminal. Once we got through that mess it was pretty easy going - getting into the DCL area and into the correct check in line (where the line monitor employees were pretty useless).

This was by far the worst boarding embarkation that we have had and we have sailed out of: Port Canaveral, Miami, Barcelona, Los Angeles (San Pedro), Dover, San Juan, and Vancouver.

Maybe you arrived after that initial insanity had worked it's way through the "system"

Maybe we arrived just before or after the crowds died down. But if it helps, this was our timeline:

We stayed overnight at the hotel across the street from The Wyndham San Diego Bayside. Very convenient. They also offer port parking. We are using them for our Oct 15 cruise at 11.00 per night. We walked out of the hotel at 10:16am. I know that because I just looked over our Iphone pictures. We arrived at the port entrance at 10:25am. There was about 8 people in line. They were not checking passports or PATs. we walked right in, breezed trough security and were checked in 11:05am. We were assigned boarding group 1. at exactly 11:40am we were being announced as we walked through the Atrium.

I know this is not everyones experience, but it was ours lol. I hope that it is that smooth next week, but who knows. Either way we are looking forward to it.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Maybe we arrived just before or after the crowds died down. But if it helps, this was our timeline:

We stayed overnight at the hotel across the street from The Wyndham San Diego Bayside. Very convenient. They also offer port parking. We are using them for our Oct 15 cruise at 11.00 per night. We walked out of the hotel at 10:16am. I know that because I just looked over our Iphone pictures. We arrived at the port entrance at 10:25am. There was about 8 people in line. They were not checking passports or PATs. we walked right in, breezed trough security and were checked in 11:05am. We were assigned boarding group 1. at exactly 11:40am we were being announced as we walked through the Atrium.

I know this is not everyones experience, but it was ours lol. I hope that it is that smooth next week, but who knows. Either way we are looking forward to it.

We are also on the same cruise!!!

 

[cmwade77]

Hi! We are on the same cruise too!

So are we and luckily it looks like we are the only ship in the port at the time!

 

[sunshine1259]

Maybe we arrived just before or after the crowds died down. But if it helps, this was our timeline:

We stayed overnight at the hotel across the street from The Wyndham San Diego Bayside. Very convenient. They also offer port parking. We are using them for our Oct 15 cruise at 11.00 per night. We walked out of the hotel at 10:16am. I know that because I just looked over our Iphone pictures. We arrived at the port entrance at 10:25am. There was about 8 people in line. They were not checking passports or PATs. we walked right in, breezed trough security and were checked in 11:05am. We were assigned boarding group 1. at exactly 11:40am we were being announced as we walked through the Atrium.

I know this is not everyones experience, but it was ours lol. I hope that it is that smooth next week, but who knows. Either way we are looking forward to it.

We were dropped rather early, so we had a bit of a wait. When we were inside it was another little wait as the ship was coming from Vancouver. Otherwise, our experience was pretty much the same as yours. I was wondering where the Wyndham was, just to notice it was directly behind us. So, it's good to know that it is only an 8 minute walk, because we are staying there before the EBPC later this month.

 

[pepe3penelope]

So are we and luckily it looks like we are the only ship in the port at the time!

I know, right?!?! I had looked at the port schedule several months ago and saw that, too! Unless it's changed, we should be the only ship in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta also. Mazatlan has princess cruises' Ruby princess. My parents are taking a riviera cruise on that ship!!! They're aren't getting off and neither are we at that port. Just relax onboard.

 

[gregf71]

Wow! Looks like I sparked quite a conversation with this thread!

I can confirm that our experience this past Thursday morning was, while not perfect, a MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT on what we experienced previously at the San Diego port. The drop-off area was easy to get into, right next to the terminal building, and a baggage handler met us as we popped out of the car around 10:30am. We immediately walked right into the building and tried to figure out what the protocol was. There was another (non-DCL) ship in the adjoining dock, so the space was split between those cruisers and DCL-ers. The space was not full, as there were plenty of seats available and a lot of folks were standing. The staff, with either DCL or the other ship's lanyards on (though I think they all actually worked for the port), seemed to be trying to orchestrate everyone, but it appeared to be more like herding cats. Finding someone who I felt knew what they were doing and talking about (a couple clearly did not), I got the scoop...everyone in the building needed to go through security lines, which were not open yet; once they were, they (the staff) would identify sections within the room who could then enter the security queue, regardless of cruise line. Hearing this, we sat down and waited for about 10 to 15 minutes (which was already a great improvement over the last time because we were inside, in AC, and seated!). The first group was identified, then the next, and so on. We entered the security queue, which split into two lines, and made it through, including them checking our passports, within another 10 to 15 minutes. Not bad at all.

We then headed into the rear section of the first space as the DCL passengers split off to the right and into the next room. Finding our Silver Castaway Club queue for checking in, we walked right up (no one was in front of us) and checked in. The only annoying part of this was them needing a few bits of additional information from us, for example emergency contacts. Being the one who completed the online check-in well ahead of time (with triple checking after the fact), I was shocked that this and other bits of information were missing. I was 100% certain that I completed everything, but for some reason it didn't get saved or updated into their system. If I'm honest, I did notice this same issue on the website beforehand, re-entered the information, saving it and seeing a confirmation that all was good. Weird.

Anyway, once checked in, we then walked over to a nearby seating area, again still inside in the AC and chatted up a nice family from northern California. Turned out that the husband had the same birthday as my wife (the Friday of the cruise) and that we were both planning overlapping trips to Aulani next summer! Crazy funny! We chilled there for about 20 minutes or so, at which point they welcomed the family of the day on board and then started calling the group numbers. We were in group #4, so we boarded pretty quickly. Overall, a much more pleasant boarding process compared to the last!

Trip report coming!