Fort Lauderdale disembarkation fiasco again

We left the Eclipse after a good cruise. We were due to leave the ship at 10am -independent arrangements. We didn't actually leave till nearer 10.30 so I suspected problems.

We didn't clear Customs until around 12.30 as Homeland Security had 2 officers to clear 2850 people. There were 3 originally but one fell ill but are 3 people really enough to clear a ship the size of the Eclipse in good time?

I don't know if this is a Celebrity problem of not wanting to pay for enough Border people or if there aren't enough available but it is really putting us off cruising with Celebrity from Fort Lauderdale and from the number of grumbles we heard in the queue, we are not alone.

Even when we got through Customs we had an hours wait for a taxi as the whole place was also gridlocked?

Celebrity need t o sort this out once and for all. If the Oasis can clear its numbers in 2 hours why can't Celebrity.

Perhaps it is time to move back to Princess who while not reflect, we're nothing like as bad as we have experienced leaving via terminal 24

Yes, it is an issue that puts a lot of people offside.:D

I honestly think this has somewhat to do with Celebrity. I did a Eurodam cruise in December, a fully sold out cruise of over 2100 passengers, and it was the smoothest, and quickest, disembarkation I've ever had. We also cruised on Navigator of the Seas and their disembarkation was also less of a hassle than any Celebrity cruise. I don't know what X does wrong, but something isn't right.

Was there 2 weeks ago and it took 45 minutes to get through security after leaving the ship.

But, nowhere near as bad as the near 2 hours we were in the queue at Miami airport 2 weeks previously after getting off the the plane to go through customs!

Totally ridiculous.

This was the first time ever in the states for any reason and 2 hours just to get past customs, after a 10 hour flight has put me off ever going to that country again.

 

This was the first time ever in the states for any reason and 2 hours just to get past customs, after a 10 hour flight has put me off ever going to that country again.

I just put it down as a necessary evil now. Overall it's improved from say six years ago, but every so often it bites you back just to remind you!

Phil

Personally, I don't think you can say Celeb is worse than RCI. We did a TA on the Independence and were supposed to get off around 9am. From 8.30am everyone was held on the ship and the next colour wasn't called until about 1015. Of course, by now people were worried about missing flights etc, so instead of a a nice orderly disembark, 1500 people 'rushed' for the gangway! Chaos ensued in the customs hall and after finding our, my MIL and her friends bags (I put all 3 of them in the queue!), it took over an hour to get to the 2 Homeland Security people (there were 3 for US and Canada pax). I think they are more to blame than the cruise line. On our Infinity trip last year, it all actually went pretty smoothly, but the attitude of Homeland Security in Ft Lauderdale has definitely put me off disembarking there.

Simon

Generally I haven't had any nightmares getting off the ship, most recently in Fort Lauderdale on Silhouette in December. Yes it was busy and yes it could have gone better, but we were out in an hour. A lot of the unpleasantness of getting off the ship is the behaviour of some of the guests. Seems many are very cranky on the morning of disembarkation.

Phil

I doubt that these waits are the fault of Celebrity. We were on a Princess cruise last year and the same thing happened.

Are there not cut backs due to the economic crisis being experienced again by the US government? I was of the impression that government workers where being cut back and overtime hours reduced (forgive me if I have misread or misunderstood - our Canadian news sources)

Hapy

I think the issues at this location have existed long before our current "sequestration". The budget cuts may not help matters at Ft Lauderdal port facility, but there are countless old threads complaining about these issues

Cruiselines do not pay for Customs. They warned everyone to expect delays traveling during sequester...

We just got off the Silhouette last Sunday March 3rd and I had read all the complaints so decided to to self disembark and it worked well. We were a little worried at first since we were at the end of the line that snaked all the way through the dining room and out the other doors, but 10 minutes before the actual meet time of 7:45 we started moving and they had a bank of elevators blocked off there to take people down the one flight or you could carry your luggage down the stairs if you could handle it.

The elevators were going up and down really fast since it's just one flight and we were off the ship through customs and over to the taxi line up, in a taxi in 15 minutes. We were sitting at the airport at 8:05 and they were only letting people check in for flights 2 hours ahead so we had to sit and wait an hour before we could check in and go through security anyway. If I had known that I wouldn't have rushed. lol

So we had a good experience, not sure about those later behind us though. There were 4 customs agents if I recall correctly.

can you turn around, go back onboard and wait it out?

I find that people make this a problem, not customs or X?

try not leaving late, and at peak time

How many stations are set up.

It took me longer to get my luggage then to go through customs:D Do I blame customs for luggage placement, or X?

A lot of the unpleasantness of getting off the ship is the behaviour of some of the guests. Seems many are very cranky on the morning of disembarkation.

 

Phil

Have to agree with you on this one Phil.

We also disembarked from the same cruise as the OP and there were many cranky people trying to gain an extra couple of yards by sneaking up the outside of a very badly organised line - and not helped by being barked at by customs officials. Boy was there some complaining and moaning too.

We were quite amused by it all as we've come to expect nothing less every time we arrive in the USA - whether by plane or by cruise ship. The difference this time is that everyone was in the same line whereas usually those from the US get through quickly leaving non-US citizens with long, long waits.

Having heard some horror stories about disembarking from this cruise we didn't think we did too bad, we were called 25 minutes later than we were due to get off and from getting off the ship and out of the port took an hour and we picked up a taxi straight away.

Maybe a word of caution for those leaving the Eclipse in the coming weeks, the later you leave the worse it gets - one hour later (in the OPs case) meant several hours delay.

Generally I haven't had any nightmares getting off the ship, most recently in Fort Lauderdale on Silhouette in December. Yes it was busy and yes it could have gone better, but we were out in an hour. A lot of the unpleasantness of getting off the ship is the behaviour of some of the guests. Seems many are very cranky on the morning of disembarkation.

 

Phil

Seems like a good point to me. One vivid memory I have of my last cruise 16 years ago, was how bummed I was to have to leave the ship. I didn't want to get off. So why do people get in a hurry to get off?

Sadly this is yet more proof that we live in a society that is all about "me." Everyone thinks that they are more important than the next guy.

For our 2014 med cruise we will have an extra day on both ends so we can make sure that all the important passengers can get on and off first and us common folk have few more hours to enjoy the ship.

These problems existed even before sequestration, and sadly, I think they will get worse before they get better. Not sure what the solution is, unless we just take the mind set of hunkering down on the ship and plan to get off late after all the crowds and lines get through. Booking a later flight will now become necessary.

On our debarkation day, Feb. 23rd, there was a very long line for the folks who did express walk off. They waited for approx. one hour on deck 3 before being allowed to get off, but at least they were off early! So I'm not sure which is the best plan--wait on the front end, or wait on the back end. Either option is a depressing way to end a great cruise.:confused:

We left the Eclipse after a good cruise. We were due to leave the ship at 10am -independent arrangements. We didn't actually leave till nearer 10.30 so I suspected problems.

 

We didn't clear Customs until around 12.30 as Homeland Security had 2 officers to clear 2850 people. There were 3 originally but one fell ill but are 3 people really enough to clear a ship the size of the Eclipse in good time?

 

I don't know if this is a Celebrity problem of not wanting to pay for enough Border people or if there aren't enough available but it is really putting us off cruising with Celebrity from Fort Lauderdale and from the number of grumbles we heard in the queue, we are not alone.

 

Even when we got through Customs we had an hours wait for a taxi as the whole place was also gridlocked?

 

Celebrity need t o sort this out once and for all. If the Oasis can clear its numbers in 2 hours why can't Celebrity.

 

Perhaps it is time to move back to Princess who while not reflect, we're nothing like as bad as we have experienced leaving via terminal 24

My personal opinion is that it the people employed by Homeland Security at FL are the root of the problem. It would appear that the obnoxious, rude and sloth minded people who previously worked (sorry, turned up) at Miami Airport were re-deployed to FL because of complaints, as they are deemed unsackable by the Union.

Well, I am sailing out of FLL 4 weeks from today:D and in all my years

of cruising, I have found FLL has always been a snap. For the first time

in a long time I am actually hoping my noon flight home is late enough:eek:

Sailed on RCI Liberty of the Seas in early December 2012- getting off the ship was a nightmare!

that is life. maybe you like customs to board the ship, and check you out. and push you all in to the theater room, and off you go, at least you get a head start.

it looks good on paper, but never in reality, anything.

:p

Part of the challenge is the location of where Eclipse docks combined with being at the mercy of immigration.

The latest I was ever able to disembark a ship with on Carnival and it was 12 noon! Immigration arrived very late and no one could leave the ship until it was cleared for disembarkation.

Our last Eclipse we had late disembarkation but because our flight wasn't until 2:30 we didn't sweat it.

J

We left the Eclipse after a good cruise. We were due to leave the ship at 10am -independent arrangements. We didn't actually leave till nearer 10.30 so I suspected problems.

 

We didn't clear Customs until around 12.30 as Homeland Security had 2 officers to clear 2850 people. There were 3 originally but one fell ill but are 3 people really enough to clear a ship the size of the Eclipse in good time?

 

I don't know if this is a Celebrity problem of not wanting to pay for enough Border people or if there aren't enough available but it is really putting us off cruising with Celebrity from Fort Lauderdale and from the number of grumbles we heard in the queue, we are not alone.

 

Even when we got through Customs we had an hours wait for a taxi as the whole place was also gridlocked?

 

Celebrity need t o sort this out once and for all. If the Oasis can clear its numbers in 2 hours why can't Celebrity.

 

Perhaps it is time to move back to Princess who while not reflect, we're nothing like as bad as we have experienced leaving via terminal 24

We had the same problem when we disembarked the Silhouette. We have made the decision not to sail Celebrity out of Ft. Lauderdale. We are sailing the Reflection next year out of Miami and we will sail Princess out of Ft. Lauderdale. We have never had the problems disembarking from Princess that Celebrity has.

Are there not cut backs due to the economic crisis being experienced again by the US government? I was of the impression that government workers where being cut back and overtime hours reduced (forgive me if I have misread or misunderstood - our Canadian news sources)

There are cutbacks and the politicians are making the most of putting them where they will hurt the public the most. For example, they just closed the White House to all tours with the Spring coming when a lot of school groups go to DC. However the TSA just spent 50Million dollars for new uniforms for their agents at a $1000 per uniform and to top it all they are being made in Mexico. Just the politicians playing games but expect it in things that will hurt the most. Since these cuts just went into place I doubt this had anything to do with the issue mentioned in this thread but who knows.

These are not new problems. It tooks us more than 3 hours (after our number was called) to get off the Equinox in November 2009 in FLL after a Caribean cruise, also then due to just too few immigration officers being present.

:eek: We just got off in Fort Lauderdale on this past Thursday, we were to exit the ship at 900 and did not get out of customs till 1145, and this was on RCI, Liberty...only were 4 immigration officers checking all of us out, "Really with 3000 passengers"....It is sad that this is what you remember other than how nice the cruise was.... very disappointing!