Live from the Dawn - the update on boarding issues

From the internet cafe aboard the Dawn, just wanted to pass on the skinny from the hotel director and the ship about the embarcation processes.

Previous threads seem to be all over the place.

First the ship does pick up 70ish British tourists in coz. That changes the cruise from closed loop to open. That then requires everyone else to go through immigration as if returning from a foreign country.

That slows everything down. So for the sake of 70 british passengers, 2000 other passengers are inconvienced. And get this under normal rules all passengers would need birth certificates, infants included. But immigration has waived that requirement.

If you have early flights 1pm etc, good luck you will likely miss them.

If you wish to direct your fury at this it should be at NCL HQ in Miami who set up this cozumel, british travel agency deal, not at the crew of the Dawn who were just as blindsided as anyone apparently.

Now regarding this last embarcation, Dec 1 in this case the issue was that the computers at the check in at the port went down so the wait was further complicated in that the agents had to hand write all the entries. Thus the line snaked all around the building for hours. What will it be like on Dec 8 :confused: but good luck to all.

I will tell you what we did as it worked for us. We ignored the 1PM arrival edict and came at 10:30, dropped off the checked luggage and went to the Aquarium for an hour and 1/2. Wandered back to the port just before 12 and got into the already forming lines. At 1 they let us up and we got into the building and into the security line. Then stopped cold by the computer issue. This is where the lines behind us grew and grew. Once through security we flew on the boat and were in the first 100 to board.

For the next 4 hours from our cabin we could see the never ending line in the sun snaking around the building. People were still boarding after the lifeboat drill and had to attend a makeup drill the next day. Departed while we were sitting at Teppenyaki for a 5:30 meal time, so around 6ish.

Anyway got to go as the butler is bringing us dinner to the suite ;)

PS being in a suite does not get you sooner past security. Plenty of suite holders waited 3 hours to just get through the line.

We were lucky or timely. We are locals and have delt with Tampa port before.

Cheers and otherwise the cruise is going great!!!!!!!!!

Thanks very much for taking the time to update on the issues.

Have a great cruise.

Any idea how long a contract NCL has with the British agency?

Sounds like a nightmare.I will be changing my plane tickets to a much later flight now! GRRR

We fly in a day early, and fly out the day after, so we're good to go there. Thank you so much for the update. You would THINK that customs would have extra folks on hand now that they know this is the issue....

That slows everything down. So for the sake of 70 british passengers, 2000 other passengers are inconvienced. And get this under normal rules all passengers would need birth certificates, infants included. But immigration has waived that requirement.

 

I don't know who told you this, but it certainly isn't accurate. I know of no "normal rules" that require a birth certificate. As long as you have your passport, you should never need to provide anything else.

Any idea how long a contract NCL has with the British agency?

 

Sounds like a nightmare.I will be changing my plane tickets to a much later flight now! GRRR

I would love to know this too but I know we had a couple Brits on our roll call for the Feb 23rd cruise.

I would love to know this too but I know we had a couple Brits on our roll call for the Feb 23rd cruise.

We were on the 11/24 cruise. Spent 3 hours in line to get on and 3.5 hours to get out. Pretty ridiculous.

NCL and the port custom need to work something out.

Crap! I am about to book my flights for March. We are arriving 1 day early, so I am not concerned for that BUT I was planning on an 11:30 am flight home. What to do, what to do.....

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So ncl is blaming picking up 70 Brits. Carnival is blaming stopping in Belize.. The truth is somewhere in the middle.. And why would 70 paxs screw up 2,000 other people ? Makes no sense

My final payment is in January for my April cruise. If this doesn't improve, I'll be booking the 5 night on Brilliance of the Seas, and cancelling the Dawn. I have non refundable flights for April, so I'll just spend the other two nights in Tampa and maybe hit Bush Gardens.

I just did a search online. Looks like the Dawn will be doing these sailings Cozumel to Cozumel until at least the end of April 2014. I found this website.

http://www.playadelcarmen.com/general-info/cruise-from-cozumel-with-norwegian/

From the internet cafe aboard the Dawn, just wanted to pass on the skinny from the hotel director and the ship about the embarcation processes.

 

Previous threads seem to be all over the place.

 

First the ship does pick up 70ish British tourists in coz. That changes the cruise from closed loop to open. That then requires everyone else to go through immigration as if returning from a foreign country.

Thanks for the update, no one seemed to believe me 2 weeks ago when I posted the info, glad to see I was at least correct

But what a bunch of BS, Nice job NCL:roll eyes:

So ncl is blaming picking up 70 Brits. Carnival is blaming stopping in Belize.. The truth is somewhere in the middle.. And why would 70 paxs screw up 2,000 other people ? Makes no sense

Maybe you missed it the 1st time............First the ship does pick up 70ish British tourists in coz. That changes the cruise from closed loop to open. That then requires everyone else to go through immigration as if returning from a foreign country.

Our 2012 trips on the Dawn picked up Canadian passengers In Cozumel . They boarded at Cozumel and left in Cozumel. No problems in Tampa with immigration. One would never have known unless you met them on ship. Wonder what the real problem could be! :confused:

OK, call me stupid but here's my questions to all you smart posters that know about these things. (just because I love to learn new things and am curious).

I no nothing about open and closed loop cruises, with the exception of one starts and stops in the U.S. without picking or dropping anyone off in between. The other does.

What I don't understand is why an open loop would hold up that many passengers. Border/Immigration services (whatever it is called in the U.S.) must know how many passengers got on I'm assuming. So why wouldn't they make them meet at a special border/immigration meeting at some ungodly hour in the morning like they do us Canadians. Clear them, stamp them and then they could just process everyone through like they do normal closed loop cruises. They have to come on the ship anyway to meet with us Canadians.

On a closed loop cruise, the full manifest is submitted to CBP upon embarkation. That actually starts the debarkation process for the next week because everyone is vetted against immigration, terrorist, etc databases. When a load of foreign passengers board in a foreign port, they are not part of that manifest and CBP has to start from scratch when the ship gets to U.S. port. IMO, this Cozumel to Cozumel deal is a really stupid idea on the part of NCL.

Add in the fact the US govt is still under sequestration and weekend CBP work is still limited, and it makes everything worse because there are less agents to clear the others.

On a closed loop cruise, the full manifest is submitted to CBP upon embarkation. That actually starts the debarkation process for the next week because everyone is vetted against immigration, terrorist, etc databases. When a load of foreign passengers board in a foreign port, they are not part of that manifest and CBP has to start from scratch when the ship gets to U.S. port. IMO, this Cozumel to Cozumel deal is a really stupid idea on the part of NCL.

 

Add in the fact the US govt is still under sequestration and weekend CBP work is still limited, and it makes everything worse because there are less agents to clear the others.

There's the person of wisdom, I've been waiting to hear from. I knew you must be lurking somewhere with this topic at hand. Glad to see some of the old regulars (before my 6 month break) have not disappeared.

Thank you for this information. Do you think that would mean us Canadian don't have to go to that silly early morning meeting because they are treating everyone to this strict process? ;) Probably not :(

. . . And get this under normal rules all passengers would need birth certificates, infants included. But immigration has waived that requirement.

 

Cheers and otherwise the cruise is going great!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the most recent info from onboard.

Also . . . very glad to hear you are having a good time.

Two weeks ago, I was having a very enjoyable cruise onboard Norwegian Dawn as well. :)

If you enjoy piano music, I hope you've been able to experience Ariel.

I don't know who told you this, but it certainly isn't accurate. I know of no "normal rules" that require a birth certificate. As long as you have your passport, you should never need to provide anything else.

Len, while I do understand your reply, I personally think had the OP stated "would at least need birth certificates" (which was probably intended) your blood would not have started to boil through the later posts. Those two words could have made a big difference to how the statement would be realized. ;)

.

With the delays at disemabarking, did they allow you to stay in your cabin longer?

For those interested in reading the specifics regarding the modifications that are made for cruise passengers check out custom and border patrol's website. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/closed_loop_faq.xml

A. CBP has a modified processing of cruise passengers given a certain set of conditions mainly regarding travel to contiguous territories and adjacent islands. If your cruise was to ONLY these locations and it was a closed loop cruise the customs clearance process is very simple.

B. The western itinerary includes stops at two ports that are not a part of the modified processing (Roatan, Honduras and Belize City, Belize) these two ports do require that the "standard" processing be done for all passengers even when it is a closed loop cruise. You can not compare the processing times for different itineraries that may include all "adjacent island" ports of call.

C. The boarding of passengers in Cozumel means that the cruise is no longer a closed loop. This means that the modified and standard processing no longer apply for cruise passengers and instead the same processing that occurs when traveling by air from abroad are being conducted by a limited number of agents.

The complaints about the disembarkation and CBP have been bugging me because a cruise IS international travel, most US passengers cruising from US ports have been lucky to be able to process through the modified procedures. The modified procedures are not a guarantee as is being experienced by those sailing the Dawn.

I have traveled extensively and know that when I return from overseas through a major hub airport (La Guardia, Dulles, LAX) it can take HOURS to clear customs and agriculture how is the disembarkation time at Tampa any different than at Dulles?

To say "oh, its not a closed loop cruise but we will go ahead and use the modified procedures for the US citizens" scares me to death. It has been suggested several times on various posts about this topic to process US citizens as if it was a closed loop when it is not. That creates a loop hole that bad people will exploit.

I am booked for the Dawn in January and it has been booked for almost a year. I have been looking forward to this cruise for so long and we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Now I find out this information on CC. NEVER in the past year was I made aware of this stupid open loop plan by NCL or my TA. I am extremely upset that they would willingly subject other passengers to these long lines getting on and off the ship. Why can't those passengers just get on in Tampa like everyone else? I will be contacting NCL and letting them my thoughts on this subject. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

We're cruising on the Dawn in February and honestly, just understanding what the issue/reason is makes it slightly more tolerable. Thanks!

If it's taking so long for customs to clear passengers, why doesn't NCL have a better procedure for disembarking passengers? It seems that they don't really care after the cruise is over, they just want to get everyone off the ship. What happens then isn't their problem. There has to be a better way. Why can't they disembark by deck , waiting for the lines to clear before the next group goes? It would be easy to make sure no one crashes the line. They could have staff at the stairs and elevators. If they wanted to get everyone out of the cabin to clean, they could have you go to a comfortable public room and disembark one group at a time. To have their passengers standing in line for hours is crazy.

. . . Why can't they disembark by deck , waiting for the lines to clear before the next group goes? It would be easy to make sure no one crashes the line. They could have staff at the stairs and elevators. . .

I think you might be forgetting about those doing breakfast. ;)

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I just did a search online. Looks like the Dawn will be doing these sailings Cozumel to Cozumel until at least the end of April 2014. I found this website.

 

http://www.playadelcarmen.com/general-info/cruise-from-cozumel-with-norwegian/

The departure from Cozumel on April 18th is surely the last one because the last 7-nighter from Tampa is on 20th so when that cruise returns to Tampa, there won't be any "outsiders" onboard. On 27th we leave for reposition cruise towards Boston and I'm hoping for smooth(ish) embarkation.