If you are running a Dual Core CPU, you might want to check out this post:
http://www.eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25327
If not, you might want to try another server and see if your problem happens on all servers. I have heard that loading times can increase or decrease depending on the server you are playing on. If you are zoning into a zone that no one else is in, then the server has to boot that zone before you can enter it. That could be the reason why it is taking so long for you. But, I have never seen it take more than a few seconds on my server.