NAVIGATOR TA Boston customs debacle

We received a list of immigration clearance times depending on Muster Stations the evening before our last sea day giving the impression it would take place on the last sea day. Not a chance! Incredibly RCI always knew that some passengers wouldn't be able to leave the ship until the afternoon and yet did nothing to inform passengers about this beforehand. There were little to no announcements and it took us 2.15 hours from our scheduled time to clear. Green landing cards were needed because the ESTA machines were not being used with passengers not being advised on how to fill these in which was causing delays. RCI staff refused to help and just blamed customs staff.

We finally got off at 1.30 pm, having to return at 4.30 for a 5pm sailing.

Then to our anoyance the ship had been told to check all life boats resulting in us departing after 7pm

I have never heard so many upset cruiser in all the Cruises we have been on,

At some stages the queue for the customs, in the dinning room, was almost double the length of the royal promanade

Sorry RCI but you have been doing this for years and knew full well a full day in Boston would not be possible for all passengers and as this had to be organised and approved. Your lack of concern is appalling. Guest Services staff did not want to listen and refused to note our complaint. A full letter will be winging it's way to head office once home.

We had to hear from other passengers that a letter apologising with two drinks vouchers attached had been issued but we didn't even receive that and had to query this at Guest Services. We already had a basic drinks package which was fine for us, plus the Diamond lounge facility so not really that much of an apology.

I'm sure others will fill in more details as they return

This is our first TA west bound is this always the case, where the first port of arrival in the US is lost to clearing customs

Sorry you had a bad time in Boston but a couple of things. First, Black Falcon pier is terrible, especially for those disembarking. I know you were continuing. Secondly, RCL has no control over what happens with ICE. ICE can put any ship it wants through a longer immigration process than expected. We've had in San Juan, and that was a RT out of San Juan. They also had no control if they were required to put lifeboats down. I hope the rest of your cruise was good.

 

This is our first TA west bound is this always the case, where the first port of arrival in the US is lost to clearing customs

All of your observations are accurate; however, no cruise line has control over the government agencies who must clear the ships prior to coming under US control.

Just suck it up and get on with your life. The ships officers and staff have lots to do besides make up for the government's short comings! Reporting it to RCI is an exercise in futility since it is beyond their control!!!

This is our first TA west bound is this always the case, where the first port of arrival in the US is lost to clearing customs

There are also other agencies that conduct inspections on US arrivals. Among them is USPH that inspects all bar facilities. Duration of all inspections are not within the control of the cruise line.

While waiting in line someone mentioned that another cruise line P&o maybe had paid customs to come on board on one of the sea days to pre clear everyone before they arrived .would something like that happen?

We had the same sort of problems on Indy a couple of weeks ago. Our clearance at St Thomas started at 7 am and went through to around 4/5 pm with only eight officers to clear the whole ship. The best way to get off as early as pos is to book an RCI excursion ,even if you don't go on it, they do try and get you off on time for the tour.

Sorry you had such problems. We were on Brilliance TA in October and had to clear immigration in San Juan and it went very well. We were lucky to be in the first group at 7.30 am, we had to meet in the theatre where we were walked as a group into the terminal to present our papers. The guy did not even look at our printed ESTAs saying it was already in the system. We were back on the ship and ready to go at 7.45.

We had friends in one of the later groups at 9.30 and they also went through quickly.

I know we were lucky as our previous experience a few years ago on AOS took longer. It's probably also down to the number of non US and Canadians onboard, maybe why P and O pays as it would take forever.

Julie

We were also on this cruise. We cleared immigration over 4 hours after our scheduled time. Which was 40 minutes before the last shuttle back to the ship. Therefore we were unable to see Boston at all due to the fact RCI couldn't organise a p*** up in a brewery. Staff just standing around & watching the chaos unfold. If it wasn't so frustrating, it would have been comedic. :mad:

Also, many people, us included, did not receive their meet and mingle invites in their cabin, so did not know when or where it was until too late.

We are doing the same itinerary on Navigator next year and have been following a friend's report/photos on Facebook. The weather looked fab for the time of year.We love Transatlantics and do 2 a year, Spring and Autumn.

Having done several Westbound TAs I am not surprised to hear about this situation at all, I feel your pain. The ship is held to ransom by the working practices of the Immigration/Customs/ Coast guard officers. There is nothing RCI can do other than PA announcements, believe me if they could they would.

We have been in situations where tours were cancelled because the guests on the tours weren't cleared quick enough, lost revenue to the cruise line and we have seen the line of guests doubled back along the Royal Promenade waiting to be seen by immigration.

We are fortunate to have visited Boston before but I do want to see more. I don't see how things can be improved for next year unless computers are installed for the ESTA clearance but with government cutbacks don't see that happening anytime soon.

We left the Freedom of the seas in Port Everglades last week, the terminal had no computers and was using the green landing cards, archaic system and took forever . We got off the Harmony Transatlantic prior to the Freedom, it was photos, finger prints , third degree , yet it was much quicker.

Once again , sorry you guys had to experience this but for us we have come to expect it .

Sorry for that kind of delay. I would have been miffed also.

We did a westbound T/A a couple months ago(September) on Serenade from Copenhagen, arriving in Boston. Yes, the Boston facilities leave a lot to be desired, but it went very well. Seems to be hit and miss.

After our problems we had a note delivered to each cabin and they said that US officials would not take money to provide extra officers and would not send officers to clear the ship on sea days before arrival in the US.

We are doing the same itinerary on Navigator next year and have been following a friend's report/photos on Facebook. The weather looked fab for the time of year.We love Transatlantics and do 2 a year, Spring and Autumn.

Whilst the weather in New York was good for the time of year, the crossing was a different matter. The seas were rough almost every day until the day before we got to Port Canaveral. DH has never suffered any form of motion sickness in his life, but the night we left New York in particular, was horrendous. We were both up all night, absolutely no sleep whatsoever. We have sailed the Bay of Biscay in late Nov & that was a millpond compared with this cruise. We were not naive enough to expect calm seas all the way, but we did expect it to improve once we got across the atlantic & if anything, it got worse.

Customs has been pulling this crap since Congress passed "sequestration." The lesson learned is if Customs has not found a way or tried to be more efficient then hopefully the new administration will light a fire under their butts, or replace the top management with someone who can.

We had similar issues with our TA a few years ago. It was chaotic and the ship stopped calling for people to line-up for customs. We just got tired of waiting and got in line. We were afraid we would miss our flight but fortunately we did not. I hope the other aspects of your cruise were better.

We received a list of immigration clearance times depending on Muster Stations the evening before our last sea day giving the impression it would take place on the last sea day.

Can you explain what this means?

Whilst the weather in New York was good for the time of year, the crossing was a different matter. The seas were rough almost every day until the day before we got to Port Canaveral. DH has never suffered any form of motion sickness in his life, but the night we left New York in particular, was horrendous. We were both up all night, absolutely no sleep whatsoever. We have sailed the Bay of Biscay in late Nov & that was a millpond compared with this cruise. We were not naive enough to expect calm seas all the way, but we did expect it to improve once we got across the atlantic & if anything, it got worse.

Thank you for relaying your experiences.

We are excellent sailors and like you have been through the BOB with both calm seas and force 10 on the Beaufort scale so not too worried about rough seas.

How different is the process for Non-US passport holders? We have always traveled under our US passports, and I remember on our first cruise having to present our passports before getting off on one of the islands, but haven't done that again. Not that she would do it, but what would be the difference if DD were to travel under her Canadian passport?

Customs has been pulling this crap since Congress passed "sequestration." The lesson learned is if Customs has not found a way or tried to be more efficient then hopefully the new administration will light a fire under their butts, or replace the top management with someone who can.

LOL, you're funny.

We were on this TA also, but fortunately for us we did not have any plans to leave the ship in Boston. I felt badly for the folks who did have plans, it had to be terribly frustrating.

We have been on a number of TA's, both East and West, and have never run into this big of a mess before.

To me this particular cruise was just kind of "off" in a number of ways. I have never looked forward to the end of a cruise before, but I was definitely happy to leave the ship this time.

How different is the process for Non-US passport holders? We have always traveled under our US passports, and I remember on our first cruise having to present our passports before getting off on one of the islands, but haven't done that again. Not that she would do it, but what would be the difference if DD were to travel under her Canadian passport?

On Indy Canadians were treated as if they were from the US and a separate room was used for them and US passport holders, after an hour or so they were calling for them to come ASAP as there was no line.

I think they wanted them out of the way to get as many officers as pos to deal with the non US line.-

Can you explain what this means?

Two nights before we arrived in Boston, we had a document stating that we would need to go to the main dining room at a specific time to be cleared by customs

Previously we have only done East bound TA so assumed this would be done on a sea day as was done before by UK customs ( free TA for the UK customs lady )

However this was to happen on the day we arrived in Boston ( 7am arrival)

we were told to go to join the line at a time allocated to our muster station.

The more you paid for your cabin the earlier you got off, as they started with A

we were C ( deck 6) and our time was 10.55

however no calls were made over the tanoy after the very first few, so we joined the line at 11am, finally to get our Stamp at 1.15 pm, 2.15 standing in line

I wish i had taken pictures or video of the chaos, i'm sure someone will have

How different is the process for Non-US passport holders? We have always traveled under our US passports, and I remember on our first cruise having to present our passports before getting off on one of the islands, but haven't done that again. Not that she would do it, but what would be the difference if DD were to travel under her Canadian passport?

US passport holders were in a different line and had a much easier time and cleared much quicker

i believe there was 80% non US on the ship,

by the time we got to the dinning room, snaking around the room we could see the customs lines down in the lower dinning room were clearing the staff, surely they should have redirected the paying passengers down stairs ( after the US clients had finished ) before clearing the staff???

Whilst the weather in New York was good for the time of year, the crossing was a different matter. The seas were rough almost every day until the day before we got to Port Canaveral. DH has never suffered any form of motion sickness in his life, but the night we left New York in particular, was horrendous. We were both up all night, absolutely no sleep whatsoever. We have sailed the Bay of Biscay in late Nov & that was a millpond compared with this cruise. We were not naive enough to expect calm seas all the way, but we did expect it to improve once we got across the atlantic & if anything, it got worse.

We were expecting rougher seas on the crossing there were a couple of very sunny and calm days , one day there was alot of wind and the decks were closed but we did not feel the ships was rocking much.

The only real rough sea was the night we left New York, but that was during the night and we were asleep.

i woke for a comfort break and noticed it was a little bumpy , but soon nodded off to the rocking.

We did select an mid ship low down cabin ( deck 6) we could have had a higher deck for the same price but choose to stay low down just in case

could have got off earlier in Boston if we had a higher cabin and a lower muster station number :rolleyes:

Two nights before we arrived in Boston, we had a document stating that we would need to go to the main dining room at a specific time to be cleared by customs

 

Previously we have only done East bound TA so assumed this would be done on a sea day as was done before by UK customs ( free TA for the UK customs lady )

 

However this was to happen on the day we arrived in Boston ( 7am arrival)

 

we were told to go to join the line at a time allocated to our muster station.

 

The more you paid for your cabin the earlier you got off, as they started with A

 

we were C ( deck 6) and our time was 10.55

 

however no calls were made over the tanoy after the very first few, so we joined the line at 11am, finally to get our Stamp at 1.15 pm, 2.15 standing in line

 

I wish i had taken pictures or video of the chaos, i'm sure someone will have

Thank you.

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We were on this cruise worst cruise we have been on never slept for 5 nights due to creaking walls in the cabin, also never managed to get off in Boston.Disembarkation 3 hours wait for luggage in Maimi meant we missed another trip we had paid for with the ship.Could not wait to get off as well.