Carnival Valor Long Lines and Long Waits

To My Fellow Carnival Passengers,

I just returned from the May 22 Sailing of the Valor and thought I should warn you about several unpleasant items:

1. Embarkation at Miami Pier - DISASTER - Be prepared to wait in at least two different long and snaking lines to check in with thousands of other passengers in an old building that has air conditioning that does not work properly! It took me approximately 1.5 hours to process from start to finish and was sweating the entire time. Carnival advises passengers to pre-register online and use the Fun Pass to save time in Embarkation...there was no Fun Pass Line.

2. St Thomas - Valor will dock before 9AM but you will not be allowed off of the ship until after 11AM. Since Valor arrives in USVI from the Bahamas which is a foreign country, US law requires all passengers to meet with US Customs/Immigration personnel prior to being allowed to Disembark...at least this process takes place in the cool comfort of lounges onboard Valor. Maybe Carnival should sail directly from Miami to St. Thomas to avoid this hassle

3. Disembarkation at Miami Pier - DISASTER - well, one week later, Carnival still had no air conditioning in their facility at the port of Miami. The Cruise Director advises that everyone should be off the ship and on their way by 10AM on Sunday. Well, yes we were all off of the Valor by 10AM (I was off by 930) but we were not on our way. Almost 3,000 of us merely relocated from sitting around on Valor to standing in never ending lines in the hot Carnival Terminal. You see, all passengers were waiting to be interviewed by US Customs/Immigration prior to going to the baggage claim area. And for some reason, the Federal Government had provided approximately 6 uniformed agents to interview approximately 2,800 passengers in a building with air conditioning that does not work!

Let me go on record by saying that the Valor is a fine ship and the captain and his crew all work very hard to keep the passengers happy and the ship in good working order. However, Carnival Corp. should be ashamed to put the passengers through these horrible lines in conditions that I describe as horrible. I have sailed with Carnival, Royal Carribean and Norwegian on large vessels and have never had such an unpleasant experience. I think the president of Carnival should try embarkation and disembarkation with his paying passengers and see if he thinks it is a "fun experience" like the cruise!

Thanks for the heads up, but I am really not all that concerned about the long lines. Heck, I am looking forward to the long lines! :p COME ON OCT!!!!

Happy sailing,

T.

The long lines almost seem to be the norm for Carnival in Miami. :mad:

The stop in St. Thomas is the same for all ships that have sailed to a foreign country before St. Thomas not just Carnival

Thanks for your post.

But really does anyone look forward to long lines without air conditioning ? :confused:

Not me!

:)

Sorry you had such a problem. When I went on the Conquest it was fine except right at the end trying to get a taxi. As a matter of fact to New Orleans we thought it was a joke going through customs. They just took everyones papers & never even looked at them.

Mark

Maybe once Carnival has the terminals in place, it will make embarking and disembarking easier.

:)

Well I can relate about long lines.

I was on the Carnival Spirit May 11-18, 2005 and if you read on the boards it was just crazy the amount of time people where in line. Some people where in line for up to 3 hours, granted we had to go through customs.

Personally, I live in Miami and the port terminal is 15 mins away from my home and I have never experienced long lines, usually they would have the Fun Pass line, but if they dont i've never had to wait more than 15 mins.

On our last trip thru Carnival's Miami embarcation we arrived early and had no problem. Short wait to check in and then up stairs to take a seat and wait for boarding. Found the lines in NOLA longer. Actually everyone was happy and laughing and chatting while we waited. Could be worse, at least you're heading for vacation! Bring it on!

The embarkation and debarkation is not limited to Carnival in Miami. While the A/C problem should have been handled the immigration is what's holding up the ships. I was on RCI's Navigator of the Seas this past December and the ship did not clear until 12:30 due to immigration and customs. This made our boarding start later. Coming off of the ship it took twenty minutes to get through immigrations/customs once off of the ship and I was near the front. The cruise lines are at the mercy of the federal agencies and have no control over how many customs agents are on hand. I spoke with a lady from RCI and she told me that RCI had been trying to get more agents to help clear the ship faster. Had not happened at that time and we had a total of six agents also. This all started back in October of last year according to the RCI agent.

I completely agree with you on embarkation and debarkation. And technically, the drama re: too few Customs Agents, Carnival has no control over. BUT I think they could have either made us more comfortable while we waited, assisted those who were inevitably missing flights and/or announced to those still onboard what the situation was and to sit tight, rather than adding them to the angry masses in the heat. But in St. Thomas, I was in line at 8:30 and off the boat by 9:15.

Other than the embarkation/debarkation nightmare, I can say that I remarked on quite a few occasions that I could not believe there were 2900+ people on the ship...I didn't stand in any other lines at any other time.

For the amount of people on board, it was never that bad. We had excellent service in the dining room, buffet moved right along and Fish and Chips moved pretty well. Room service came in less than 10 minutes, I could hardly believe it. Cruising is not like staying at the Ritz but what you make of it. Just avoid peak times at the Buffet and it's not that crowded, always got a seat in the Theatre even when showing up right at showtime. Bars were not overly crowded, actually the people moved around quite well. The Valor was an Enjoyable Cruise with the EXCEPTION of DEBARKATION that was a NIGHTMARE,

better off back to the old way a deck at a time. :cool:

ElC,

I agree with your assessment of being on the Valor...with the number of people on the ship, Carnival does a great job of making you feel that there are far less people with you and deserve credit for a job well done.

However, there is no excuse at all for the lack of air conditioning and inaccurate communications to the passengers by the cruise director...I think we agree on this. With regards to the Federal Government and the amount of inspectors provided to each ship, I think we disagree. Carnival and Royal Carribean are both Miami based companies that employ many Floridians, other Americans and bring many dollars into the economies of south Florida. As such, these companies should be using this leverage to get the City, State and yes Federal elected representatives to correct these problems...elected officials depend upon the health of local economies for re-election...maybe Carnival and Royal Carribean are not burning the ears of the righ politicians in South Florida?

Mark, did they not do the debarcation by colors like they used to? This didn't solve the problem, but allowed people to feed into that inferno where the luggage ends up in smaller groups. We did still have to wait in a long line to pass thru customs, almost forgot about that. :eek:

Bunkie,

In answer to your question, no, the passengers were not allowed to disembark by color tags. Once, the "self service" folks were allowed off of the ship, the remaining passengers all left. With the set-up of the building and the lack of uniformed Customs Agents, I seriously doubt if the color system would have made the embarkation process any shorter...maybe a bit more comfortable. There were just too many passengers being interviewed by far too few agents.

I suggest that the presidents of Carnival and Royal Carribean participate in a random embarkation and disembarkation on a weekly basis to experience what the paying passengers have to go through!

Re the color tag system....exactly, Mark, it didn't make it any shorter, same number of people, same few agents, but it was a little less crowded in that luggage "oven" warehouse. Looks like we'll be on a late afternoon flight, so, we'll just hang back and let the throng decend. :eek:

It also took us an hour and a half to embark, no one got off in St. Thomas until after 11, and disembarkation was also a nightmare. This was on the Glory.

I think it's an excellent idea to have the execs. experience cruising exactly as the customers do, it might give them a much needed wake up call. You can call me a snob if you want, but I don't do hour plus lines, I just won't spend my time or money that way. That is one reason I won't be cruising Carnival again...or returning to Disneyworld, not on my vacation.

It also took us an hour and a half to embark, no one got off in St. Thomas until after 11, and disembarkation was also a nightmare. This was on the Glory.

 

I think it's an excellent idea to have the execs. experience cruising exactly as the customers do, it might give them a much needed wake up call. You can call me a snob if you want, but I don't do hour plus lines, I just won't spend my time or money that way. That is one reason I won't be cruising Carnival again...or returning to Disneyworld, not on my vacation.

Embarkation and debarkation is changing for ALL cruise lines. Miami was a test for the immigration with the new system. It is now being rolled out to all ports and all cruise lines. In Pt. Canaveral three weeks ago there were only six agents to clear the Sovereign of the Seas. It's going to take as long as it takes to clear a ship.

CruisinG,

Well I am real sorry to hear that and am sure that it will make some cruise passengers think twice about cruising again. Don't forget that many of us gon from the lines in the cruise ship terminal to the lines at the airport...too much time and too many lines. I took the opportunity to write a detailed and factual letter to Bob Dickinson who is the presiden of Carnival with the hope that he will read it and do something...there is always hope...as it is now the lines are unacceptable to me and an incentive not to cruise!

CruisinG,

 

Well I am real sorry to hear that and am sure that it will make some cruise passengers think twice about cruising again. Don't forget that many of us gon from the lines in the cruise ship terminal to the lines at the airport...too much time and too many lines. I took the opportunity to write a detailed and factual letter to Bob Dickinson who is the presiden of Carnival with the hope that he will read it and do something...there is always hope...as it is now the lines are unacceptable to me and an incentive not to cruise!

Hmmmm, it seems to be hit or miss......sometimes are better than others. It's the price we pay for letting "Big Brother" keep us in fear.

Just think it's "United States" law that is slowing down the process in St. Thomas.

I do think if the lines like in St. Thomas become the "norm" a lot of poeple will re-think cruising.

Maybe they can spend more time in individual ports...(who want's to go through that for a 4 or 5 hour stay) maybe overnight and have more sea days....

x

Hmmmm, it seems to be hit or miss......sometimes are better than others. It's the price we pay for letting "Big Brother" keep us in fear.

Just think it's "United States" law that is slowing down the process in St. Thomas.

 

I do think if the lines like in St. Thomas become the "norm" a lot of poeple will re-think cruising.

Maybe they can spend more time in individual ports...(who want's to go through that for a 4 or 5 hour stay) maybe overnight and have more sea days....

 

x

we were on valor 5/15 and breezed thru both embarkation and debarcation... in fact, we were in our car by like 8 am, via self debarc... we couldn't believe it!! It seems it's completely random, and hearing these stories i feel really lucky.

i did note on valor it took forever to get off the ship in grand cayman i think it was... ugh!

I think the OPs suggestion about stopping in St. Thomas first is a great idea. I experienced the "fun" of going through immigration at St. Thomas in January on RCCI's Voyager of the Seas, but in my case it was at 6 o'clock in the morning because I had an early excursion. If enough people show their displeasure at having to be up that early on their vacation, then maybe the cruise lines will start to plan their itineraries accordingly. We could've just as easily stopped at Nassau last instead of first, which would have eliminated the need to do immigration in St. Thomas.

Also, the federal government is not providing enough agents for disembarkation in Miami, it doesn't matter which cruiseline you sail. I spoke with a crew member on my cruise that told me that 2 weeks before customs had only provided 4 agents for a full ship, which happened to be 2/3rds full with non-americans. It was 3 o'clock before they finally cleared the ship of debarking passengers.

What every one has said is mostly true but let's look at this another way. When you fly, they want you at the airport 2 hours early. When you drive across the coutry, you had better not travel during the rush hour or you will need an extra 2 hours. I won't even get into trains because they hardly exist. So the time to get on board may not be so bad after all and once that ship is moving, .................. Need I go further?

I think the OPs suggestion about stopping in St. Thomas first is a great idea. I experienced the "fun" of going through immigration at St. Thomas in January on RCCI's Voyager of the Seas, but in my case it was at 6 o'clock in the morning because I had an early excursion. If enough people show their displeasure at having to be up that early on their vacation, then maybe the cruise lines will start to plan their itineraries accordingly. We could've just as easily stopped at Nassau last instead of first, which would have eliminated the need to do immigration in St. Thomas.

 

Also, the federal government is not providing enough agents for disembarkation in Miami, it doesn't matter which cruiseline you sail. I spoke with a crew member on my cruise that told me that 2 weeks before customs had only provided 4 agents for a full ship, which happened to be 2/3rds full with non-americans. It was 3 o'clock before they finally cleared the ship of debarking passengers.

The reason that Carnival had to put Nassau stop on first is due to the fact that there are no berths in Nassau on Friday's as other ships had the space. I look for Carnival to drop Nassau soon and add Turks and Caicos as a new stop since the pier that they are building is almost complete.

NEVER, EVER did we have problems in MIAMI, nor Galveston, nor New Orleans....

IF you arrived after 12:30 pm, OR / and did not do FUN PASS...too sad, too bad.

Hey..8 of 9 cruises, I was sipping the umbrella drink of the day at 11:30 am. And down the slide by 2pm...

My suggestion....fly the day before. Set off to terminal to arrive by 11:30 MAX...do not go later than 12:30...lines from HELL { yeah, Grand Cayman, LOL} DO ASK for FUN Pass Line, DO stop at bar on the way in to get your party pants on, and have FUN !!!

BTW to poster...

When the cruise is over...it is over....very rude but snaps reality back when they{CREW} practically snap the tablecloth out from under 8 people at breakfast....they got their tips, screw us,now an attitude. Not pleased with that...:confused:

Try self disembark next time...a real P. I.T. A but in the long run, you're outta there....Just did it on Conquest,,,we were at the hotel { p/u car} and on our way back to Houston @ 9:33am.:D The new bonus guests only got off 15 mins b4 us...big deal....missed them at hotel by exacty 5 minutes.

Its always a witch embarking/disembarking...make your life easier by leaning the tricks.

The Capers say nothing anymore about self disembark....they used to. Just do not put baggage out...carry it yourself.... We got off, handed our declaration in, and poof !!! We were outtie.........Ahead of 3000 people looking for their bags.:rolleyes: