Fort Lauderdale disembarkation fiasco again

[hallsuk2]

Hello,

I can only relate my experience yesterday disembarking Eclipse in Fort L/Dale.

As independent passengers we left the ship at 08.30A.M. and whilst the snaking line to get through customs was not great I could see the potential for problems later.

As it was we were through and in a taxi and arrived at Ft. L/dale airport at 09.45A.M.

At the time we went through customs they did have more officers on duty.

It certainly was not a great disembarkation process and sympathise with others who got caught up later on.

It should be better than it is,

Iain

[wedding96]

I have disembarked from 4 Celebrity Cruises so far (all Solstice Class ships), once in Miami and the rest in Ft.Lauderdale/Port Everglades. A few days before the end of the cruise, you will receive your specified time for disembarkation with a piece of paper which gloats about how amazing Celebrity has become at creating a smooth disembarkation process. Unfortunately, Celebrity has failed MISERABLY in that regard (at least at Port Everglades). If you're lucky enough to dock at the terminal that the Allure or Oasis of Seas uses, you're in luck. That terminal is huge and tends to be more organized. It's the smaller terminals that create a MASSIVE backlog, not to mention the long taxi lines once you exit. It took us about 60 minutes to get through the terminal in December (partly because we needed a porter to help with luggage and we had to wait 30 minutes for the few that were working that day). Our friends got off the ship at the designated time and had to wait 30-45 mins just for their bags to be delivered from the ship to the terminal. Celebrity really needs to get their act together-it is not a great way to end an otherwise amazing cruise experience.

[kristikae]

I don't believe this is due to the sequester. We had horrible disembarkation in January and had groups on sailings that disembarked in February as well who all experienced the same thing.

 

In my case on the Reflection, they made the self-assist people line up at the elevators in the hallway going down to the specialty restaurants. The line went all of the way back to the Tuscan Grill and half way back up. While I was in line my mother called me and informed me that she was down in the luggage area! She had #1 tags. When I complained to the social host that they were calling other groups before the self-assist people were even off he lied and said they didn't. He said my mother must have "snuck off".

[fishycomics]

Its a lost day no matter how you look at it. everyone hates heading home:rolleyes:

[gelo7]

It's just a long standing, hit or miss problem.

[nobog]

Whatever the reason for the slow departures and subsiqent delays, this is a low point for the entire cruise industry. After what - thousands of cruises ? - they should have a system that works by now. I expect delays at the Walmart check-out but not after my multi thousand $ cruise.

 

Jim

[Travelingclerk]

We sailed on the Liberty in November 2012 and debarkation was a nightmare...Vision in January 2013...not so much of a nightmare, but not as smooth as some other trips. Because of these two bad experiences I'm thinking that sailing out of FLL will be our last choice. IMHO I don't think that the nightmare is the cruiselines fault, rather the fault of the port. But having said that, I would think that if the cruiselines put enough pressure on the port (who would put pressure on others) things would change. After all, they spend a great deal of money on port fees...must have some clout somewhere. Hopefully things will change there, but I have my doubts.

 

Happying sailing everyone :)

[MicCanberra]

Whatever the reason for the slow departures and subsiqent delays, this is a low point for the entire cruise industry. After what - thousands of cruises ? - they should have a system that works by now. I expect delays at the Walmart check-out but not after my multi thousand $ cruise.

 

Jim

It sounds to me that it is too few customs officers, so the cruise industry may not be able to do anything about the situation.:D

[Russterus]

We were off the Silhouette this morning. Called us right on time at 820. Found our bags, cleared cuatoms, grabbed a taxi, and were at the airport at 9. Zero issues and painless.

[paulapatti4]

Hi,

 

We just got off the Silhouette today; I had read all the complaints so decided to to self disembark and it worked well. We went to the dining room at 7:40 and were at the taxi stand at 8:05 a.m. We opted for a shuttle as I didn't see any taxis coming. We were checked in and seated at our Jet Blue gate at 8:30 am for an 11:22 flight so plenty of time to spare.

 

This was my first experience with express disembarkation and felt it worked well for us. I was glad I just had 1 suitcase as you do need to be able to handle your own luggage and there is a bit of walking involved with the process.

 

I didn't see how many custom agents were present but can say the lines were moving quickly.

 

Paula

[Lois R]

we were off the silhouette this morning. Called us right on time at 820. Found our bags, cleared cuatoms, grabbed a taxi, and were at the airport at 9. Zero issues and painless.

 

Sweet:D:D:D:D:D

[Cruising89143]

The cruise line is not given a choice as to how many agents are assigned to a terminal. There is a pool of agents and they are split up among the different terminals.

 

I have debarked three times from the same terminal that the Eclipse uses and all three times have been a nightmare. The last time was on the Navigator. Two agents to clear 3300 guests.

[Andy]

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

 

Sorry, but I highly doubt this has little if anything to do with the sequester. This has been going on for several months.... and long before the sequester. We had major embark problems and (to a lesser extent) disembark problems on Eclipse in November 2012.

[Hydrangea Lady]

Disembarked the Eclipse yesterday at 9:30am, not out of the terminal til 11am. Per the customs agent --there are now only 3 agents (used to be 6) and they are to take a break every 2hrs, so then the number is at 2!!!We also did the luggage valet, so only had our carry on. Wonderful cruise with a negative ending. If you have a flight before 1pm get off early!!!

[Russterus]

Sorry, but I highly doubt this has little if anything to do with the sequester. This has been going on for several months.... and long before the sequester. We had major embark problems and (to a lesser extent) disembark problems on Eclipse in November 2012.

 

As we were leaving today off the Silhouette, they did announce that there might be possible delays as there were fewer customs agents available due to US budgetary changes. I don't know how many are normally there, but we had three agents processing at the exit.

[kiwimum]

Sequester does not start until middle of April for Customs and Border Patrol. Unions require 30 days notice. Things can only go down hill from here.

[warmwinds]

If we're not in a hurry to go anywhere - no flight, staying in the area for 3 more days - would you recommend waiting as long as possible to get off or still trying to get off early (they usually give us an early number because of our status).

[jackdiamond]

If we're not in a hurry to go anywhere - no flight, staying in the area for 3 more days - would you recommend waiting as long as possible to get off or still trying to get off early (they usually give us an early number because of our status).

Wait.

[Lady Chew]

We got off the Independence of the Seas in Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 24. No problems getting off the ship.

We just got off the Summit this past Sunday in San Juan. The problems with getting off were on the ship, not with customs. They were horribly disorganized, running late, no announcements, then conflicting announcements. Customs only had two agents at first, then added a third as we were going through, and the line moved pretty well after that.

The fastest/easiest disembarkations we've ever had were off Allure & Oasis. The worst have been with HAL.

[jagoffee]

Disembarked the Eclipse yesterday at 9:30am, not out of the terminal til 11am. Per the customs agent --there are now only 3 agents (used to be 6) and they are to take a break every 2hrs, so then the number is at 2!!!We also did the luggage valet, so only had our carry on. Wonderful cruise with a negative ending. If you have a flight before 1pm get off early!!!

 

It does seem odd that this would be caused by having 2.4% less money this year than last year. Politics at it's worse. It would certainly seem that this has nothing to do with the current budget situation.

[slideshell]

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.

 

my parents just got off a 49 day HAL cruise on Friday and. disembarked in Fort Lauderdale - they stood in line for hours and they were lucky because they got off early due to choosing the luggage valet option even though they had a later flight - people with earlier flights missed planes because it took so long to disembark and I'm not talking super early flights either but flights that most of us would have felt comfortable choosing after a cruise

[RenaeInCA]

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.

 

Tara,

 

Can I ask what time you got into line for the self disembarkation? Did they offer the luggage valet service to the airport (where your luggage goes directly to the airport)?

 

We will be on Silhouette on the 3/24-3/31 sailing and I didn't know about the disembarkation problems until after I booked us on an 11:30 am flight out of Miami.

 

Renae

[Trader Ron]

I came off the Silhouette yesterday. I was suppose to depart at 8:30 AM, but they made

 

an announcement stating that anyone can walk off the Ship. So, I departed at 8:15 AM.

 

The line moved slowly at times, and they had only 3 custom agents on duty. However, I

 

was in my car at Park N Go by 9:20 AM. All-In-All it wasn't a bad departure.

 

I highly recommend Park-N-Go if you are driving to the port. They have eighteen shuttles,

 

and service is very quick.

[CroozinFamily]

I am surprised to be reading all these posts about delays. Our last 4 cruises have been out of FLL and we've had no problems at all. In fact, we have commented how wonderful it's been going through FLL (once on Princess, twice on RCCL and this time on Celebrity). We disembarked Silhouette yesterday and might have been walking out right behind or in front of Russ, as we were called at 8:20 as well. As we were disembarking, they made an announcement that there might be delays and a gazillion numbers could now get off the ship. I imagine that caused quite a backlog of folks trying to rush off. Glad we were ahead of that.

[MicCanberra]

I am surprised to be reading all these posts about delays. Our last 4 cruises have been out of FLL and we've had no problems at all. In fact, we have commented how wonderful it's been going through FLL (once on Princess, twice on RCCL and this time on Celebrity). We disembarked Silhouette yesterday and might have been walking out right behind or in front of Russ, as we were called at 8:20 as well. As we were disembarking, they made an announcement that there might be delays and a gazillion numbers could now get off the ship. I imagine that caused quite a backlog of folks trying to rush off. Glad we were ahead of that.

Sounds like you were lucky then.:D