IslandHopperPro Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Hello everyone, We are boarding Serenade of the Seas in Honolulu in September (sailing to Sydney). We have to vacate our condo in Waikiki by 11am (no extension possible) and Serenade of the Seas leaves the pier at 10.00pm. Can anyone tell us whether we can still board roughly, say, 1.00pm considering the rather late departure time? Or are boarding times shifted to later times accordingly. I know we will get more information closer to cruise time, but this is the one last detail I haven't planned for yet. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 I can't say definitively about your specific situation, but for the cruises leaving out of San Juan (depart at 8PM) you can board at the "regular" time, which for us is around 10AM. I would expect that to be true in Honolulu as well but I really do not know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobroo Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Boarding times for Honolulu are "normal". Your 1:00 arrival at Honolulu Harbor will be just fine. The ships depart late because Royal is doing all it can to make sure same day fliers with a delayed flight make it onboard. Because of the distance and the weather of Hawaii, a delayed flight can quickly become really delayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Arriving at the cruise terminal at 11am for example may be too early. When ships have later departures they often don't operate the terminal longer, they shift the terminal hours to minimize overtime expenses. While the terminal employees, dock workers and security are not Royal employees, they still are charged to Royal. Having the terminal staffed over an extended time frame requires two shifts or massive overtime. Keeping it to one shift saves money. Not sure about Honolulu but it isn't unusual for dock workers to be unionized in the U.S. so having a bunch of forklift drivers on hand to deal with a trickle of luggage over a 16 hour window probably doesn't make sense. It's better to have them work a smaller window. 1pm may be fine but I would follow the guidance from Royal as it moves closer or be prepared to stand and wait. Coming off Ovation in Honolulu a few months back I did see some people who looked like they might be boarding and they were all hanging around with their luggage waiting. Contrast that to a typical Florida cruise and those people would have dropped their luggage and be checking in already so it clearly wasn't a normal Florida cruise process. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 On 1/2/2020 at 10:43 AM, twangster said: Keeping it to one shift saves money. Won't it still be multiple shifts as the debarking cruise still needs dock workers and terminal employees? I'm not sure what the case is for this Serenade sailing, but I would imagine it would be coming in the typical morning AM hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said: Won't it still be multiple shifts as the debarking cruise still needs dock workers and terminal employees? I'm not sure what the case is for this Serenade sailing, but I would imagine it would be coming in the typical morning AM hours. There will be some employees required the entire time a ship is at the pier. Security for example. There are others like check in people and forklift drivers that aren't needed the entire time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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