trying to balance PAT with boarding group number

[Dznypal]

Yesterday I was able to on line check in which actually surprised me that once I got in things were pretty easy

we are going to Southampton which I read its like a 2 hr drive from London
we have a driver to pick us up at the hotel in London for the ride to the port
I picked a PAT of 1230 to 1245 there are earlier times open yet and got BG of 14
my thinking was we wont have to get up super early able to have breakfast before we leave
and hopefully wont have to wait to long before we can board the ship and get into our room
does BG 14 sound reasonable for what Id like to do
any thought

 

[lanejudy]

I can't speak directly to boarding in Southampton, but based on other ports I would expect a PAT of 12:30-12:45pm to be a great time to arrive and have limited waiting in the terminal since "open boarding" is often called around 12:45/1:00pm. By the time you go through security and check-in, you'll be ready to board.

Just to note that staterooms are not ready until around 1:30 or 2:00pm. If boarding earlier than that you will need to lug around your carry-ons. If you want to get into your staterooms as soon as you board, I wouldn't board until at least 1:30 or so.

Boarding group is directly tied to PAT. A later PAT will have a higher BG.

 

[RedHead0186]

Yesterday I was able to on line check in which actually surprised me that once I got in things were pretty easy

we are going to Southampton which I read its like a 2 hr drive from London
we have a driver to pick us up at the hotel in London for the ride to the port
I picked a PAT of 1230 to 1245 there are earlier times open yet and got BG of 14
my thinking was we wont have to get up super early able to have breakfast before we leave
and hopefully wont have to wait to long before we can board the ship and get into our room
does BG 14 sound reasonable for what Id like to do
any thought

Keep in mind you can always arrive after your PAT, just not before. If you're outside your PAT window and there's a line, you might be asked to wait a bit until there's a gap (so that other can still enter during their PAT window). Aside from that, there's no issue with coming in after your PAT. So if you're worried about breakfast/getting to port, etc. know that as long as you show up by the last posted time (not sure what it is for Southampton), you'll get on the ship.

As PP noted, 12:30 is usually around when open boarding is called, so your BG might not matter anyway.

 

[Dznypal]

great advice thanks so much
sure glad the on line is done