Port Everglades Cruise Terminal Upgrades (Where's Celebrity ?)

[rkacruiser]

Host Anne,

 

I for one will be looking forward to your comments about the disembarkation situation at Pier 25. As precise details as possible that you could provide will be of great help. Particularly, to this new to Celebrity cruiser. Thanks!

[nikel]

Got off the Silhouette TA on Sunday, pier 25. Left the lounge at 9:00 and was out the door waiting for my lift by 9:25. It could not have been better. Bags were just where they should be, no long line at customs.

[OBX-Cruisers]

Got off the Silhouette TA on Sunday, pier 25. Left the lounge at 9:00 and was out the door waiting for my lift by 9:25. It could not have been better. Bags were just where they should be, no long line at customs.

 

Your experience casts a ray of hope on the debarkation process for X.

 

We had a horrible experience on debarkation from the Silhouette on Dec. 24th in 2011 when she was still sailing out of Bayonne. There you must board a bus after getting off the ship and the buses take you to the terminal only a few hundred yards away but no walking on the pier is allowed in Bayonne. We got off the ship about 1.5 hrs later than scheduled and then boarded a bus and waited and waited etc. etc. When we got near the terminal we saw a line of 10+ buses in front of us and they would only let people off the bus one at a time:(.

Problem in that case was that so close to Christmas several of the Customs agents did not show up and there were long waits for the porters, cabs and various transports that people were counting on being there and were not. Can't blame Celebrity for that experience but we swore never to cruise from Bayonne again:)...........HOWEVER, a recent experience in October 2012 on the Explorer was not nearly as bad although you still wait for buses longer than you might want

[lizard14]

Celebrity needs to take a look at how HAL handles disembarkation. When we left Eurodam Dec 8th, it was the most amazing process and we were off the ship, through Customs and at the taxi wait in less than 15 minutes. There was no insanity in the terminal, the luggage was nicely set out for easy finding and no lines whatsoever for Customs. They know how to handle things. Celebrity needs to wake up.

 

Based on our recent disembarkation experience in Port Everglades 3 weeks ago on HAL, we really don't think the slow disembarkation problems are totally a cruiseline issue (whether you're talking X or HAL), but more of a Port Everglades or US Customs issue. We were disembarking the Nieuw Amsterdam & it was probably the longest wait we've ever had. We were only 15 min. late actually disembarking the ship & the luggage was nicely organized and easy to find. However, I'd say we probably waited in line for an hour to clear customs after picking up our luggage. I'd say there were only 6 officers processing people & they were having problems with equipment (computer?) at one of the booths so I think it went down to 5 officers. Also, all the non-Americans (except Canadians) had to have finger prints taken & their picture taken so that was making the process longer. When we finally got up to the kiosk (we're Canadians) he kept us there maybe 30 seconds if that. But we have heard other complaints on past cruises from crew & Pax about the difficulty of US Customs at Port Everglades.

[Hlitner]

Re: embarkation thought I would post our recent HA Westerdam experience (Dec 2). We arrived at the port at 11:00 and after clearing security (about 10 min) we were directed to the 4 Star Mariner check-in area (this saves some time waiting in line) where we waited about 5 min before being checked-in. We were given a "priorty" badge and directed to a waiting room where cruise line staff came around with water and ice tea. At 11:30 we were guided (by a staff member) to the gangway and immedately boarded ths ship. Unlike Celebrity, HA allowed us to immedately go to our cabins. One big issue we have with X (and also RCI) is that usually do not allow anyone to go to their cabins until after 1pm!

 

Disembarkation (on Dec 16) was very fast. We could have left the ship anytime after 7:40 but chose to relax and just walked off at 9.

 

Hank

[lizard14]

Another point I forgot to mention in my first post - this recent HAL cruise we took was our first HAL cruise and we were generally quite pleased with our experience. However, I thought we would take advantage of being able to wait in our stateroom for disembarkation as per their directives. I was was in our stateroom just before 7:30 am waiting while my husband was upstairs in the buffet when our stateroom steward and his assistant knocked on the door and wanted to come in and start changing the bed and clean up a bit in the bathroom. They didn't seem quite as friendly as normal and I felt like they would have preferred we were not still there. We are on the same ship this coming march and I made a mental note not to linger too long in the stateroom next time even though they say otherwise.

[artvlay]

I read that Celebrity has decided that they were going to put off building new ships and concentrating on customer service and the quality of their product.

 

Based on our recent cruise on Eclipse, the disembarkation process in Port Everglades and numerous negative issues on Cruise Critic, I think they have their hands full. I have read reviews and comments as well as listened to people vent on the ship and it is noticeable that the quality of their product has diminished.

 

I know there are people who read negative comments and say that people have to complain about things or they aren't happy. In some cases that is correct, however Cruise Critic has been a forum for effective criticism from very experienced people.

 

We are Elite and Diamond Plus members, and see that Celebrity is not what it was just a couple of years ago. Some people attribute it to cutting corners, which may be true. There is also a lack in the efforts of the crew with little things that don't cost anything.

[City_Woman]

Could part of the problem be that we have been spoiled by pier 18?

 

I was part of the late debarkation group on December 15 and I know it wasn't perfect, but we didn't find it all that bad.

 

Took us 45 minutes from leaving the ship to the airport.

 

And, hubby is 75, so not we're not spring chickens.

 

Just asking?

 

Judy

[Host Anne]

I'm back from our Silhouette cruise that ended yesterday. While the cruise itself was great, I am sorry to say that disembarkation was as bad as you've been reading. The only thing I can think of for the person who disembarked on Dec. 22 and had no lines is that the ship wasn't sailing very full.

 

We noted that we were "independent travelers" (meaning we were driving ourselves) and were assigned a disembarkation time of 9:15. We headed down when called and immediately found a LONG line winding from the building back along the ship (you disembark on deck two and walk outside between the ship and the building), and it's a fairly long walk. I'd say it took about 20 - 25 minutes to get "into" the building. Once inside, my husband waited at the door to flag a porter (we had four people traveling and needed a porter to help with luggage). This was a smart move as we would have never gotten a porter once we got to our luggage had he not done this.

 

Finding luggage was quick and easy but then you got into a MASSIVE (and I mean massive) line to go through customs. There was little organization and the lines were so long that they spilled well beyond the roped lines that were set up so you had a lot of people with a lot of luggage trying to funnel into lines.

 

There was no differentiation in US versus Non-US citizen lines (made a big difference in getting off Oasis last month).

 

In all, it took more than an hour from the time we stepped off the ship until the time we were outside waiting for the Hertz shuttle to pick up our car.

 

To top it all off, the port side cruise staff was less than pleasant. I'm surprised that Celebrity wants the last impression passengers have after spending a week on a beautiful ship is a dingy, old terminal. I'll think twice before sailing on a Celebrity ship from Ft. Lauderdale on a weekend.

 

My recommendation to those out of this terminal is to be among the FIRST to disembark the ship.

[Host Anne]

To respond to City Woman since I've just experienced both piers within a month, YES, we are probably spoiled by 18 but there is no way the situation at 25 should be as bad as it is. A little love and care is badly needed here if they plan to use this terminal long term.

[WpgCruise]

I strongly urge everyone who has problems with the disembarkation process at Fort Lauderdale to write a letter of complaint to Celebrity documenting your concerns.

 

While it is nice to vent in Forums such as Cruise Critic unless we as consumers draw our concerns to Celebrity through their documentation process, the issues probably won't be documented in their statistical base, and no changes will be made.

 

Having worked for a long time in the service industry my experience has been that if the complaints are not documented the Company does not know about them. The only way the complaints will be documented is if they are drawn to Celebrities attention through their established process.

[Andy]

I'm back from our Silhouette cruise that ended yesterday. While the cruise itself was great, I am sorry to say that disembarkation was as bad as you've been reading. The only thing I can think of for the person who disembarked on Dec. 22 and had no lines is that the ship wasn't sailing very full.

 

We noted that we were "independent travelers" (meaning we were driving ourselves) and were assigned a disembarkation time of 9:15. We headed down when called and immediately found a LONG line winding from the building back along the ship (you disembark on deck two and walk outside between the ship and the building), and it's a fairly long walk. I'd say it took about 20 - 25 minutes to get "into" the building. Once inside, my husband waited at the door to flag a porter (we had four people traveling and needed a porter to help with luggage). This was a smart move as we would have never gotten a porter once we got to our luggage had he not done this.

 

Finding luggage was quick and easy but then you got into a MASSIVE (and I mean massive) line to go through customs. There was little organization and the lines were so long that they spilled well beyond the roped lines that were set up so you had a lot of people with a lot of luggage trying to funnel into lines.

 

There was no differentiation in US versus Non-US citizen lines (made a big difference in getting off Oasis last month).

 

In all, it took more than an hour from the time we stepped off the ship until the time we were outside waiting for the Hertz shuttle to pick up our car.

 

To top it all off, the port side cruise staff was less than pleasant. I'm surprised that Celebrity wants the last impression passengers have after spending a week on a beautiful ship is a dingy, old terminal. I'll think twice before sailing on a Celebrity ship from Ft. Lauderdale on a weekend.

 

My recommendation to those out of this terminal is to be among the FIRST to disembark the ship.

 

 

Hi Host Anne,

 

Thanks very much for sharing your observations with us. I'm disappointed to learn the problems continue. For our Eclipse sailing in November, the Embarkation was far worse than the disembark. At one point, My Mom was crying, and was a very upsetting experience. While we were lucky with the disembark, I noticed many unhappy guests as well. I strongly feel the entire process and experience needs major improvement. For the life of me, I cannot understand why Celebrity is unable to take immediate action. There's plenty of Caribbean season remaining, and they should be able to (at the very least) make short-term improvements.

 

It's said that first & last impressions are extremely important, and that's why I continue to believe this should be a top priority for Celebrity's Management team. Let's hope Celebrity is paying attention to this thread, and will take the appropriate action.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We sailed on the Eclipse on 12/29 & disembarked on 1/12. We arrived at the port around 11:30 & were on the ship by noon or so. The only delay was the shuttle trying to get through the traffic.

 

We used luggage valet for disembarkation and walked off the ship around 9:30 - 10:00. There were no lines to the terminal and we did not observe confusion among passengers looking for luggage. Customs was quick, about 15 minutes. I don't think they had separate lines because no one asked us where we were from.

 

The delay began while trying to get a taxi. For about 15 minutes there were none in sight. Then a very long line of them showed up and things started to move. Once the 1st group of taxis loaded up there was another lull. We the noticed that they were feeding the que from Celebrity and Princess into the one taxi pick up area.

 

We grabbed a shuttle and for $11 per person were quickly on our way to the airport. We had plenty of time to wait for a taxi but did not want to stand in the heat in our "northern" clothes. :D

 

 

Mary Lou

[HopefulCruiser123]

Host Ann said she waited until "last call" before heading off the ship. We would be inclined to do that since we are not flying out and will be in no particular hurry, but definitely would like to avoid the chaos. Where can we wait for last call and roughly what time is that? Would we want to let our butler know our intentions (in other words, would the luggage be staged differently the night before with that knowledge) or would that make no difference?

[60andhappy]

:mad:

I strongly urge everyone who has problems with the disembarkation process at Fort Lauderdale to write a letter of complaint to Celebrity documenting your concerns.

 

While it is nice to vent in Forums such as Cruise Critic unless we as consumers draw our concerns to Celebrity through their documentation process, the issues probably won't be documented in their statistical base, and no changes will be made.

 

Having worked for a long time in the service industry my experience has been that if the complaints are not documented the Company does not know about them. The only way the complaints will be documented is if they are drawn to Celebrities attention through their established process.

 

 

I e-mailed them on Monday and have yet to receive a reply

[A Sixth?]

We sailed on the Eclipse on 12/29 & disembarked on 1/12. We arrived at the port around 11:30 & were on the ship by noon or so. The only delay was the shuttle trying to get through the traffic.

 

We used luggage valet for disembarkation and walked off the ship around 9:30 - 10:00. There were no lines to the terminal and we did not observe confusion among passengers looking for luggage. Customs was quick, about 15 minutes. I don't think they had separate lines because no one asked us where we were from.

 

The delay began while trying to get a taxi. For about 15 minutes there were none in sight. Then a very long line of them showed up and things started to move. Once the 1st group of taxis loaded up there was another lull. We the noticed that they were feeding the que from Celebrity and Princess into the one taxi pick up area.

 

We grabbed a shuttle and for $11 per person were quickly on our way to the airport. We had plenty of time to wait for a taxi but did not want to stand in the heat in our "northern" clothes. :D

 

 

Mary Lou

 

Hi Mary Lou

 

We were on the same cruise and Having read the boards we were a bit worried about how the disembark would go as our flight had been moved forward by 1 1/2 hours.

 

For day one boarding We arrived at the ship by Taxi at about 11:30 and were aboard sipping a drink at noon.

 

At cruise end we did self disembark (as we have only carry-on) joined the line leaving the ship at about 8:30 and were at the taxi area at 8:50. We got a cab instantly and $ 16.00 later were at the airport. In fact it was just under one hour from closing our cabin door for the last time to sitting at our gate at FLL (Security went super fast, we had no luggeage to check and had printed our boarding passes on the ship the night before)

 

One of the easiest fastest disembarks we ever had.

[60andhappy]

:mad:

 

 

I e-mailed them on Monday and have yet to receive a reply

 

I received a call from Celebrity. They realize there is a problem at Port Everglades and are trying to address concerns. The main issue according to them is the lack of sufficent customs agents. I told her who-ever is to blame we won't be sailing from FLL again until we hear the disembarkation process has improved.

[lizard14]

I received a call from Celebrity. They realize there is a problem at Port Everglades and are trying to address concerns. The main issue according to them is the lack of sufficent customs agents. I told her who-ever is to blame we won't be sailing from FLL again until we hear the disembarkation process has improved.

 

This makes sense to me as we had the longest wait ever getting through customs after a HAL cruise 2 months ago. I still maintain it may not be a cruise line issue but a US customs issue.

[Host Anne]

Hi Andy ~ I'm still sorry you and your mom had such a lousy experience in November. We did have a member of our group this time who was in a wheel chair. I must say they were provided with excellent service getting on the ship. Upon checking in they were immediately taken upstairs close to where suite guests waited and were among the first on the ship. I haven't chatted with them about disembarkation yet but I'll find out.

 

Hopeful ~ we were close to last call, but not quite this time. There were several numbers assigned after us. Typically, we would have waited it out even once our number was called to let the crowds clear but one of our guests had been ill and was anxious to get home. In this terminal, I think disembarking early is a far better option.

 

I do think a little bit of the challenge is customs. They barely have cardboard boxes set up for the custom agents to sit in. I think the old building was never designed to handle thousands of disembarking passengers. There is no flow to the entire area and since Celebrity just wants to get people off the ship so they can turn it (understandably), the massive backups are created because more people are being called than the terminal and customs can handle. Also, as I mentioned, there is no differentiation between US and Non-US residents. That also slows the process considerably.

 

I agree everyone should write. And if you are sailing out of there soon, elect early disembarkation to save you time and frustration.

[rkacruiser]

Host Anne,

 

From your description of going from the ship to where the luggage is, it sounds as if the luggage is in Terminal 24, North of Terminal 25. Am I correct in thinking this? If so, why are they not using Terminal 25 and it's jetway for disembarking passengers?

 

This is not the first cruise season that Celebrity has used Terminal 25 and I do not recall reading about issues that past cruise season passengers have had at this Terminal. What is different in 2013 as compared to past years?

[Host Anne]

rka ~ Now that I think about it I have to say that I can't honestly tell you if it is 24 or 25. It was definitely a different building than check in. The reason I couldn't tell easily is because you disembark the ship on deck two onto the pavement like you would in a port of call. You walk along a LONG covered walkway into the building where the luggage is. There is nothing marked on this side of the building to tell you if you are 24 or 25. But in thinking back, when we exited the building, the terminal we checked into was on our left and was separate.

 

Sorry that I can't be more clear. I'll have to see if i can google Port Everglades and determine it for certain.

[sdbart]

rka ~ Now that I think about it I have to say that I can't honestly tell you if it is 24 or 25. It was definitely a different building than check in. The reason I couldn't tell easily is because you disembark the ship on deck two onto the pavement like you would in a port of call. You walk along a LONG covered walkway into the building where the luggage is. There is nothing marked on this side of the building to tell you if you are 24 or 25. But in thinking back, when we exited the building, the terminal we checked into was on our left and was separate.

 

Sorry that I can't be more clear. I'll have to see if i can google Port Everglades and determine it for certain.

 

We went through the same process in the same terminal when we disembarked the Solstice in December 2011. I believe that long covered walkway takes you to terminal 24. The agents told me that the former cargo shed had minimal air conditioning and wasn't designed to hold that many people at one time (it was like a steam bath in there). And there were only three customs agents for 2800 pax. A supervisor said they were suffering from major budget cutbacks and the staff had been reduced. It sounds as though nothing has changed...

[Host Anne]

sdbart ~ I think your analysis is correct ~ nothing has changed!

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

FYI - While the ship berths at Pier 25, I'm pretty sure the termimal used for the disembark is Pier 24. That would account for the extremely long walk after you debark the ship. I've also wondered why Pier 25 cannot be used for baggage / customs, but I do not have an answer.

 

I truly hope that Celebrity will work with the Pier authorities to create an improved experience. Whatever they are doing now, is not working.

[rkacruiser]

Many thanks Hosts Anne and Andy for your responses. I am also 99.99% certain that Pier 24 is the terminal where the disembarkation luggage is stored from what has been said. Don't usually do this, but I will put my "critic" hat on prior to embarkation at Pier 25 and try to "scout" around the inside of the terminal---if I can---to see why that terminal is not being used for disembarkation. I will post whatever I find out, if anything.