Princess Cruise Line Introduced New Embarkation Experience! Time To Panic 😱 ?? Let’s Found Out 

Thank you for reaching back and reporting your experience with the embarkation process hope you had a wonderful cruise

On my cruise, nearly all the passengers will be Australians or New Zealanders, so for that cruise, the Green Lane will be nearly empty as we will all be in the Blue Lane, which will make it slower.

We shall see on August 1st what we hear I’m sure to report back that week with upgrades but I don’t personally see any issues happening

Would love to go back on the Discovery but during that time I will be on the Sapphire Princess

You will all be in the blue lane if you need to pick up your medallion I expect that come august 1st or closer to that date you will turn into blue lane on the app but we shall see

It’s the same system that has been in place from before. I hear you on that you should have a opportunity to have them sent to you but it’s not an option at the moment hopefully that comes in the near future. But I’m with you in the blue lane as I just pick up my medallion at the port every cruise anyhow I don’t see any big difference and until august 1 st no one can say it’s going to be a big issue let’s see what happens

So I’m leaving on a cruise from Australia in January ‘24. I’m a recent retiree planning on being a very frequent cruiser, and selected Princess for my first cruise as I thought it seemed a good fit for me. I’ve done my paperwork and been placed in the Green Lane. However, apparently I won’t have a medallion so will have to go to the slow Blue Lane despite this allocation. If that happens, it will be my first and last cruise with Princess. Two reasons for this: One, you are blatantly giving preferential treatment to your American customers, even over Australians departing from an Australian port. Two you are demonstrating an inability to foresee and deal with the potential downsides of a new system. Yes, new systems need to be played in, but this is a fault that can be foreseen from a mile off. Has princess not worked out that Postal systems are world-wide, and it’s not any more trouble to post a medallion to the rest of the world than it is to post locally? And, if that’s too complicated for them to manage, why not ship a crate of them to their Sydney office, and let their staff there send the medallions out in local post?

@@lap8329 first off where do you the idea that the blue lane is the slower lane I have to pick up my medallion at the port as well every time I cruise and have never had to wait longer in the blue lane. Princess has two lanes and the check in counter is half and half for the blue lane and green lane. People just make it seem like it’s harder than it really is

@@lap8329 I do hope you enjoy your cruise because Princess is one of the best out there happy cruising

@@exploringwitheric About Blue Lane being slower - I am going on the feedback of friends who cruise regularly and have commented that having all their dox in order ahead of time and dodging that line with all the people who haven’t completed their stuff ahead of time makes a difference in their opinion. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong and that it won’t make any difference, as I say I am going on the advice of more experienced friends who advised me to make sure all my stuff is complete and pre-checked, as it can be very slow otherwise.

You would want to print your luggage tags beforehand getting to the port. If you don’t bring the tags don’t worry there will be plenty of people to help you get paper tags to put on the bags

If late Princess will either have the ship wait or they will provide you the way to the ship on their dime to the next port of call!! You should be fine if the plane is on time

Could also call and ask for an earlier flight because you will go thru customs in Los Angeles i believe

@@exploringwitheric no, believe it or not, we've always done the US customs thing at an airport in Canada. One time we went from Calgary to Hawaii and the plane stopped in Vancouver and they made us all go through US customs in Vancouver. That was quite funny as we'd entered to Canada via Vancouver, then flew up to Anchorage a few days later to do an Alaskan cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver, then drove from Vancouver to Calgary via the Rockies. We ended up with the same customs officer in Vancouver that we'd had somewhere along the line and he got terribly confused because his signature was on the visa entry in our passports and he couldn't work out why. The other time was on the way back to Australia from Toronto. We went through US customs in Toronto on the way through to the departure area. Stupid because we were only in the USA for an hour, to change planes in San Fransisco airport. We weren't even leaving the airport! Thankfully we'd got to the airport in Toronto very early as we'd had to check out of our hotel. Something to keep in mind, don't turn up at the airport at the last minute in case you have to do US customs at the departure airport.

He mentioned San Pedro Los Angeles because that’s where his next cruise is at :)

And Alaska was his last cruise so we have videos from there :)

I personally always have both options available just be sure that I have everything in order so just in case in the phone goes out or no service but usually the phone is just fine

@@exploringwitheric Thanks Eric

@@alvaroboschet1231 have a wonderful cruise

@@exploringwitheric Thanks a lot Eric.

I’m pretty sure there will be a lane for complaining at guest services lol jk

Hi there thanks for stopping on by

Good news for you starting Monday you can :)

🙁🙁Not for me and my wife… just phoned them, and they said: No, because there are only 8 days between September 25 and October 3… they need 14 days. I will let you know our embarkation experience on October 4… Hopefully it will not be too bad, but I am prepared for the worst.

@@gzxi3036 that’s correct but at least for future cruises you will be able too .. it’s might not work now for you but at least in the future you will be able too. Enjoy your cruise everything will go smoothly cheers 🍻

let us know how you get on with Elite status priority boarding. We have a cruise booked for December and have elite status. I'm wondering if it will be any quicker than blue lane, because as Aussies, we can't get the medallion mailed to us either.

@@warpedweft9004 Embarking yesterday was smooth, because we deliberately arrived late (1 hour 15 minutes before sail time). However, I noticed that Princess no longer gives “priority embarkation” to elite or suite passengers, as they have promoted in the past. Everyone is being treated the same… as there are no lines for elite or suite. I wonder if Princess would still honour its “priority disembarkation” for us. 😄😅

Thank you 🙏

It’s better than having a key card for your room and having to give it to the bar staff for each drink

It is great that there are multiple cruise lines and you can pick one that matches your preferences.

@@charms87 so true there is a cruise line for each person

I love the medallion. Wear it on my wrist, cabin door opens when I get there, bartenders can get me a drink by scanning it while on my wrist instead of taking a card, used for the casino as well. This is the reason I stay with Princess.

@@cheribushman2106 agree 100%