How Early Can You Board A Princess Cruise?

When you’re excited about your cruise, one of the questions you’ll want to know is, how soon can you get on the ship? After all, if you can embark before lunch you’ll enjoy an extra meal and half a day of extra cruise time compared to if you embark in the later afternoon.

I love embarking early on a cruise as it makes the first day so much more relaxing. You can take your time to find your muster station, unpack and even have a dip in a whirlpool to get your cruise off to a fun start.

But what time can you actually get on a Princess cruise ship? And how can you be among the first people to board?

You can (sometimes) board from 11!

The earliest that you can board a Princess cruise is typically 11 am, though if you have priority boarding, then you may be able to board as early as 10 am and go straight to the front of the queue in the port.

The boarding time can also vary depending on whether the prior cruise docked on time, and everyone else left the ship when they should.

How to get priority boarding

Certain groups of guests get priority boarding on Princess cruises. These are:

• Platinum or Elite Captain’s Circle Members: Guests who have completed five cruises or 50 cruise days
• Suite Guests: Those staying in a full suite (not a mini-suite)
• Guests With Special Needs: Those with medical issues or using mobility aids

There used to be a Bon Voyage Experience where guests could pay an extra charge to board early and enjoy a four-course lunch, ship tour and photo, but that service has been discontinued.

No more need to select an arrival time!

It used to be that, to board a Princess cruise, you needed to book an arrival time. The earlier slots always went very quickly too, so if you weren’t on it, you could end up being last on the ship!

But Princess decided to get rid of that in 2023 and now it’s essentially a free-for-all, except for those people who get priority boarding and can skip the wait.

It’s not actually chaotic, but if you do show up earlier, you’ll probably find that the lines are longer, though it’ll depend on the port and whether more people are likely to be getting the coach, or flying in – if you’re there at 11, you might beat the bigger crowds!

If you are staying in a hotel near the port on the night before your cruise, you can make sure you’re one of the first people on the ship. Just remember that if you do turn up at 11 am or even sooner to queue, you might still be waiting a while, especially if the ship isn’t ready.

Blue lanes and green lanes explained

When you arrive at the port, there’ll be a couple of different lanes that you can use.

The blue lane is if you still need help with check-in, but you can skip that and have a much faster experience if you use the Princess Cruises app on your phone.

If you do all the check-in admin on the app before you reach the port, you can use the green lane, and you’ll get on the ship faster.

US passengers can only use the green lane if they’ve had the Medallion shipped to their home already. If you’ve done all the admin but need to pick up your Medallion, it’s the blue lane you need.

In the UK, nobody gets their Medallion shipped to them, so the green lane is for picking up the Medallion once the check-in stuff on the app is sorted.

There is a third lane too, which is an accessibility lane for anyone who needs help with mobility or other accessibility needs. If that’s you, you shouldn’t have to worry about being forced into a queue where you need to stand for a long time.

Don’t be late!

It’s really important that you make sure you know the check-in times for your ship. The all-aboard time is around one hour before the ship’s departure time. If you miss this, you won’t be allowed to board the ship, even if it hasn’t yet left port.

This is because the ship’s crew have some admin to do once all the passengers are on board before departure and must submit a manifest detailing the names of everyone on board to the port authority.

The ship will bar you from entering, and also, they won’t refund you because it’ll be your fault. Even if someone else makes you late, the cruise line will tell you that you should’ve planned extra time. So you’ll be watching the ship sail away without you, knowing you’ve lost the money (and insurance might not cover it too).

Don’t be late! It’s always best to travel the day before if you’ve got a long journey to make to get to port.

Related posts:

• Princess Cruises Drink Packages: The Ultimate Guide
• Princess Cruises Luggage Allowance
• Princess Cruises Suite Perks (Compare the 5 Suite Types)
• Things You Must Know About Princess Medallion
• Here’s Everything That Princess Cruises Does Better Than Other Cruise Lines