Restricting Who Gets Off The Ship First

 

Their ship, their rules.

 

If the cruise line has a policy that those who booked the ship's tours, and in a tendered port, get first priority for tenders, that is the way it is. Likewise if those in full suites get first priority, that is the way it is also.

 

The few minutes that it takes is not going to ruin anyone's day.

It's their cruise line and they will do as they seem fit from both a financial and practical stand point. I really think this only applies to tender ports where getting on and off the ship is rather complex due to the limited number of passengers that the tender boats can handle. .

Ahh, but some of you are missing the point.

I do wish folk would read a thread before commenting.

The complaints quoted in the OP weren't about a tender port, where it's a given that ship's excursionists get priority. As Comboy might correctly observe, "their tenders, their rules".

It was about one cruise line (just Princess, not others), which held back those on private tours in order to get their own excursionists ashore at the berthed port of St Petersburg & into the Russian immigration line ahead of the privateers.

Their immigration line ?

I don't think so.:(

And nor did Russian immigration staff.

Russian immigration officers were aggrieved that Princess had chosen to manipulate their immigration line and even more aggrieved by Princess' lying that they'd done so under immigration officers' instructions.

Trying to pass the buck for the decision demonstrates that Princess weren't as confident about their rights as some on this thread. :rolleyes:

Other cruise lines don't have the same policy at St Petersburg..

Folk on private tours on that cruise weren't delayed by a few minutes. By being manipulated to the back of the immigration line some were delayed by two hours. :eek:

That's what started off this thread.

JB :)

On the big ships, yes. When there are only 500 passengers, no. Again, please be more specific, because not all cruise ships are the same.

Small ships though would usually not have an issue at all so this is a moot point

I appreciate where you are coming from though

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ahh, but some of you are missing the point.

I do wish folk would read a thread before commenting.

 

The complaints quoted in the OP weren't about a tender port, where it's a given that ship's excursionists get priority. As Comboy might correctly observe, "their tenders, their rules".

 

It was about one cruise line (just Princess, not others), which held back those on private tours in order to get their own excursionists ashore at the berthed port of St Petersburg & into the Russian immigration line ahead of the privateers.

Their immigration line ?

I don't think so.:(

And nor did Russian immigration staff.

 

Russian immigration officers were aggrieved that Princess had chosen to manipulate their immigration line and even more aggrieved by Princess' lying that they'd done so under immigration officers' instructions.

Trying to pass the buck for the decision demonstrates that Princess weren't as confident about their rights as some on this thread. :rolleyes:

Other cruise lines don't have the same policy at St Petersburg..

Folk on private tours on that cruise weren't delayed by a few minutes. By being manipulated to the back of the immigration line some were delayed by two hours. :eek:

 

That's what started off this thread.

 

JB :)

Really? I guess I haven't followed this thread closely enough but I'm just not seeing how the Russian immigration officials and Princess started off this thread.

The OP, Renee started THIS thread asking about people who had booked cruise line excursions, getting off the ship first and how others felt about it. Somehow the thread morphed into Princess, immigration and St. Petersburg.:confused:

If I'm misunderstanding what you posted in the above, please correct my confusion.

Really? I guess I haven't followed this thread closely enough but I'm just not seeing how the Russian immigration officials and Princess started off this thread.

 

The OP, Renee started THIS thread asking about people who had booked cruise line excursions, getting off the ship first and how others felt about it. Somehow the thread morphed into Princess, immigration and St. Petersburg.:confused:

 

If I'm misunderstanding what you posted in the above, please correct my confusion.

Among the examples quoted by the OP.

But threads do have a habit of meandering ;)

JB :)

Really? I guess I haven't followed this thread closely enough but I'm just not seeing how the Russian immigration officials and Princess started off this thread.

 

The OP, Renee started THIS thread asking about people who had booked cruise line excursions, getting off the ship first and how others felt about it. Somehow the thread morphed into Princess, immigration and St. Petersburg.:confused:

 

If I'm misunderstanding what you posted in the above, please correct my confusion.

I was confused by John Bull's insistence that this thread was about other matters too. So I went back to the original post:

"I read a recent post about RCI not letting passengers off until the passengers that had booked tours thru the ship were off first. I think this is crazy and it would make me mad.

I made a couple of posts in response to what others had said about it. I am starting a new thread because the original post was not about this. I didn't want to turn their post into something different."

There was more to her post, but didn't see anything about immigration or Russia, so to me it seems to be more about tender ports.

My "eye roll" was for this:

 

Originally Posted by ReneeFLL

I agree that people in suites, frequent cruisers, etc should have extra benefits such as full menus for their room service menus, best location on the ship, etc because they are paying for them. When it comes to getting OFF the ship, that's where I draw the line.

A Navy Captain Wife

 

Their ship, their rules.

 

If the cruise line has a policy that those who booked the ship's tours, and in a tendered port, get first priority for tenders, that is the way it is. Likewise if those in full suites get first priority, that is the way it is also.

 

The few minutes that it takes is not going to ruin anyone's day.

I took the phrase "that's where I draw the line" to refer to it's okay for cruiselines to give benefits such as room service full menus (myself I disagree about the best location on the ship -- shouldn't it be first booked gets the location they want), but she doesn't believe that anyone should be able to get priority getting off the ship (but maybe she's referring to people booking ship's tours).

As some others here, I really don't understand why those on ship's excursions shouldn't get first chance at getting off the ship. Especially when it comes to tender ports.

Cruisin' Chick. I think you and I are pretty much in agreement.:)

The Op can post and fuss all she wants here. She can even tell the crew she's getting off at the same time as excursions. Neither of which is going to get what she wants or thinks is fair. On my most recent cruise with Royal Caribbean, if you did not have an excursion ticket, there were crew stationed at all the stair wells, pax were not even permitted on the stairs but had to wait out in the hallway before the stairs. And, as I said, this was not for tendered ports, they were walk offs.

It's really much ado about basically nothing.;)

My experience has been the same as everyone else's ...until we were on the Liberty of the Seas in the Med in June. There we just walked down the stairs and onto a tender with no numbered ticket and no wait ....and the tender was not even full when we took off. We just looked down from our balcony and saw people straggling on to a tender and thought we'd go check it out and ... poof! We were on and in Villefranche just like that. We were really (pleasantly) surprised.

At the non-tender ports we were off well before the ship tours everyday ...we saw a few of the ship tour groups following their "paddles" off the ship as we pulled out of the ports with our driver. Maybe it was because we got off so early? Maybe the ship wasn't full? I have no idea why it was so easy .....

We were highly impressed with how embarkation/debarkation/ports/tenders were handled on the Liberty. I've had more hassle and lines at the grocery store. It's going to be a downer to get back to reality on our next cruise!

Much ado about nothing.

Thank you!! If I have to wait an extra 30-45 minutes to get off on a tender it won't ruin my day.

Recently on the Dream with a Tender in Belize and even though I had FTTF it really didn't matter as I was next to board, and we got there only 15 minutes after they started disembarkation to Belize.

And NO I didn't feel like FTTF was a waste because I didn't get to cut in any line.

Nope, did you see my previous post?

 

Yes, the OP arguments are moot and just about everyone is telling her so.

No...I don't care about any previous post....all I'm expressing is my personal experiences and what I've experience over my 30+ cruises. Take it for what it's worth.

No...I don't care about any previous post....all I'm expressing is my personal experiences and what I've experience over my 30+ cruises. Take it for what it's worth.

WOW, no reason to get so snarky. So you have no regard for someone else's personal experiences and only yours, as in this subject, are the way they are For what it's worth? I guess 30+ cruises makes something written in stone.:D

On my most recent cruise with Royal Caribbean, if you did not have an excursion ticket, there were crew stationed at all the stair wells, pax were not even permitted on the stairs but had to wait out in the hallway before the stairs. And, as I said, this was not for tendered ports, they were walk offs.

 

It's really much ado about basically nothing.;)

If they are doing this for walk-off ports, I'm sorry but I do not agree that it is fair to hold non "ship tour" passengers and keep them from getting off the ship. I have not experienced this on any line I've been on (including Princess, HAL, Celebrity and two smaller lines within the last few years). There are ways to accommodate both, and if the cruise line isn't doing that then IMO it's a money grab -- e.g., they're making you pay more for a privilege that shouldn't be a privilege.

I certainly would not continue to cruise on a line that refused to let non-tour passengers off the ship, especially since many ship tours do not depart until an hour or more after the ship docks...!

If they are doing this for walk-off ports, I'm sorry but I do not agree that it is fair to hold non "ship tour" passengers and keep them from getting off the ship. I have not experienced this on any line I've been on (including Princess, HAL, Celebrity and two smaller lines within the last few years). There are ways to accommodate both, and if the cruise line isn't doing that then IMO it's a money grab -- e.g., they're making you pay more for a privilege that shouldn't be a privilege.

 

I certainly would not continue to cruise on a line that refused to let non-tour passengers off the ship, especially since many ship tours do not depart until an hour or more after the ship docks...!

It seemed to be more for crowd control than anything. Too many times impatient people, as well as rude ones who push and shove, jam the stairs and hallways. Not to worry, no way were they were making walk offs wait an hour or more after the ship docks. The excursion people who were being let off first were only ones who had an early excursion. All in all, the wait was not long by any means.