Getting your holiday off to a good start….

Check-in can be a little stressful for some people, with sometimes lots of queuing and waiting around, I have to say when we arrived to board the Ventura it was fantastic.  The children couldn’t wait to leave the hotel in Venice and see the ship so we decided to arrive at the port of Venice at around 10.30, thinking we would have to wait around until at least mid-day before we were able to board. As soon as the taxi dropped us off at the port we were met by staff directing us to the area to drop off our suitcase.  It’s always nice to get rid of the suitcases, especially when I decided to pack  most of mine and the children’s wardrobe!!  We were then directed to a small line to start our check-in, within 5 minutes we had our cruise card in our hand and was boarding the ship – hassle free, no stress and most certainly a great way to start the holiday.  With the ship holding more than 3000 passengers it really was smooth. 

I read an article this morning RCCL will be offering a 10 minute check-in process

So how will RCCL be able to offer a 10 minutes check in for their biggest ship the Quantum of the Seas which carries 4180 passengers?

They are to use digital technology which will reduce the check-in process to just 10 minutes.  They are also going to introduce radio-frequency identification (RFID) to track passengers luggage.

The “smart” check-in which will be used on the Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas will allow passenger to generate their boarding documents online, upload a security photograph and receive digital boarding confirmations before leaving home.  This will mean that when they get to the cruise terminal they will not have to check-in and should be able to board within 10 minutes.  Luggage will be tagged at the shore side drop-off point using RFID technology allowing guests to monitor their bags progress to their cabins.

Amazing what advanced technology can do and will be interesting to see what percentage of people check in within 10 minutes.