Port Everglades - Long Debark Notice

[PACrew]

Just an FYI - I know the Caribbean season is winding down so this may be a moot issue in a couple weeks. We were recently on the Silhouette and because of the Gov. sequestration, there were only 4 customs agents at debark ... i.e. it took a really long time.

 

If you have an early flight, be prepared to get off early. People were waiting two hours in line to get through customs.

 

Hopefully this gets cleared up soon.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Keith

[Happy2cruise]

Just an FYI - I know the Caribbean season is winding down so this may be a moot issue in a couple weeks. We were recently on the Silhouette and because of the Gov. sequestration, there were only 4 customs agents at debark ... i.e. it took a really long time.

 

If you have an early flight, be prepared to get off early. People were waiting two hours in line to get through customs.

 

Hopefully this gets cleared up soon.

 

Agree with you. Experience this a week ago getting off the Silhouette. Not a nice way to end a great cruise!!

[cruising teacher]

Just an FYI - I know the Caribbean season is winding down so this may be a moot issue in a couple weeks. We were recently on the Silhouette and because of the Gov. sequestration, there were only 4 customs agents at debark ... i.e. it took a really long time.

 

If you have an early flight, be prepared to get off early. People were waiting two hours in line to get through customs.

 

Hopefully this gets cleared up soon.

 

This was also the case on December 1 and February 9-----long before the Sequestration. I really hope there is improvement next year.

[kelmac]

We disembarked the Silhouette in Jan and March; both times there were only four agents. The real slow down is the taxi line with six to eight ships in port on the weekends. We had number 4 in Jan and made it to the airport by 9:30am. In March, we were spending an extra day in Ft Lauderdale, so we had number 24; from the time we walked off the ship and went through customs was about 30 minutes total; then it took 45 minutes to get a taxi.

We also got that "sequester notice" on our cabin door; I think it used to deflect the blame away from Celebrity. Four agents are adequate, but not ideal.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[dmk]

We disembarked the Eclipse on March 23rd.

There were also 4 Customs officials.

We cruise every year and I can't remember there ever being more than 4.

[tmlove17]

John-- Tim and I left around 9:30 after we saw you guys and did not get to a taxi until 11:15. It was crazy! This morning, flying out of FLL, it took us over an hour to get through security.

[cruisestitch]

Email just received:

 

 

The following is a message from Royal Caribbean International Emergency Notification System:

 

 

We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on the Celebrity Eclipse on April 6th. Due to recent government budget reductions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has been affected, creating a longer immigration processing time for departing guests, and the ship has experienced a later clearance time for arriving guests. Therefore, your check-in window is now between 12:00pm to 3:15pm, which is later than the times published in your cruise documents. Please do not arrive at the terminal prior to 12:00pm. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming you onboard

[Ex-Airbalancer]

What was the line up like on the non- us resident side for customs?

[smoosh21]

This was also the case on December 1 and February 9-----long before the Sequestration. I really hope there is improvement next year.

 

I agree. Coming off of the Allure in December, before any Sequestration, they started off with only 3 (three) agents. We were in a Suite, and didn't ask for early departure, but we were still a relatively low number at 18 (out of 82, I think). Anyway, we were over 30 minutes late leaving from our scheduled time. Right after we got off the ship they had a 45 minute hold on any additional passengers leaving because the backup was so big.

 

Then, when we got to the airport, it took us over 45 minutes to get through security there (FLL). Again, all of this was before sequestration. I still have yet to fly out of FLL where there isn't a major backup at security.

[harz99]

What was the line up like on the non- us resident side for customs?

 

You may well ask!!

 

I left Infinity yesterday; US and Canadian citizens were pulled out of the lines and sent through dedicated desks a lot faster than the rest of us non American passengers. Took two and a half hours from leaving ship to leaving in a bus for Miami. Heaven knows what will happen to the bigger ships.

[Nanatravel]

What was the line up like on the non- us resident side for customs?

 

It did not matter at the terminal for the Eclipse: Non and US citizens were all herded into one snaking line through the terminal. It took 2 hours to get through customs. This has been a major complaint since Eclipse moved to FLL. Yes 4 customs agents but only about 4 Porters seemed to be a major traffic movement issue.

 

Celebrity is just verbalizing this event and blaming it on politics. They need to get to another terminal and arrange with the Port Authority for more assistance.

[PACrew]

Megan - we walked off at 10:30 and didn't get to the cab line until close to 12. The only saving grace was there was little cab line.

 

To everyone else, All I can say is once we were off the ship, it was 90 minutes to get through. Last year on Eclipse out of Miami, same Easter week, we walked off and were through in 30 minutes.(5 ships in port) All I can say is that in 20 cruises, I have never waited as long. I have even used the same terminal before (RCCL NOS in 2010) and didn't wait as long.

 

My only reason for the post was to give people the heads up in case they decide to get off the ships later and have a flight before 12.

 

Here is an article, not good new if true for us cruisers:

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/04/cruise_officials_say_sequestra.html

[Ex-Airbalancer]

You may well ask!!

 

I left Infinity yesterday; US and Canadian citizens were pulled out of the lines and sent through dedicated desks a lot faster than the rest of us non American passengers. Took two and a half hours from leaving ship to leaving in a bus for Miami. Heaven knows what will happen to the bigger ships.

 

In December in Port Everglades , once you got your bag, US people went in one line and everyone else went in another line

[Lois R]

Email just received:

 

 

The following is a message from Royal Caribbean International Emergency Notification System:

 

 

We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on the Celebrity Eclipse on April 6th. Due to recent government budget reductions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has been affected, creating a longer immigration processing time for departing guests, and the ship has experienced a later clearance time for arriving guests. Therefore, your check-in window is now between 12:00pm to 3:15pm, which is later than the times published in your cruise documents. Please do not arrive at the terminal prior to 12:00pm. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming you onboard

 

Hi Cruisestich, I got the same email today.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Hi Cruisestich, I got the same email today.

Just make sure you are off in time for me to get on for lunch :D

[Lois R]

Just make sure you are off in time for me to get on for lunch :D

 

LOL:D then you need to make sure the people who are getting off

THIS Sunday are off in time for ME to board:D

[sabookkeeper]

What was the line up like on the non- us resident side for customs?

Non-US resident line up? I'm Canadian and we were in the same line up as everyone else.

[Jenna109]

Perhaps Celebrity need to try and negotiate with the authorities.:rolleyes: travelling can be tiring enough without long queues to get on or off the ships. We have to fly to the US and dreading the airport - LONG wait last February. Then we have to do it all again to get on the ship the following day:eek: with such a short time slot for boarding everyone will arrive at noon and check in will be manic:(

[cruisinelsewhere]

Upon my return to the US following my March 9 Reflection cruise I swore I would never go through Miami again because it was the worst disembarkation I have ever endured. I said to myself, Ft. Lauderdale never had this problem! So I figured I would change the next Reflection cruise to a ship sailing out of Ft.Lauderdale. I guess I should just expect to end a great cruise with frustration no matter which port. Now, if Celebrity could just sail one out of Pt Canaveral.........

[kitty9]

What I don't understand is why HAL doesn't have these problems with their ships in their terminal? We cruised Eurodam in December and it was the best disembarkation ever. Yes, I know their ships are a bit smaller than Celebrity, by about 300 passengers, but everything about their disembarkation was so much better. My friends just returned from a HAL cruise about 10 days ago and said the same thing. They had no problems, no lines for luggage and they were in line for Customs and Immigration for less than 10 minutes.

[phoenix_dream]

On our recent Equinox cruise, it took me 45 min to get through Customs, leaving the ship around 9:15. I think the people doing self-disembarkation took much longer. It is a vicious cycle - people are freaked out about the times, so they want to do self-disembarkation even if they don't really need to. So therefore there are huge crowds first thing and the plan blows up in their face. The moral of the story is to follow the same advice savvy cruisers always give - never book a flight before noon if you don't have an acceptable back-up plan.

 

I get frustrated when this is blamed on sequestration alone. Up until this week, the only cutbacks due to sequestration were for overtime. And yet, reports of long disembarkation have been fairly prevalent on these boards for certain ships on certain days. I have to think the real issue is more the fact that ships are getting larger and larger and larger, there are alot of new ones, and the Customs budget (prior to all the recent happenings) has not changed. Do the math. Many more passengers; same number of Customs agents. Problems are inevitable.

 

I do think, however, that now that April 1st has passed, sequestration will make it worse as the politicians are determined to make the government cutbacks in areas which will cause the most pain without truly harming anyone. This is what gets all the attention and heats up the debate. The American public is being played - it happens all the time in these things, regardless of who is in charge. Don't expect it to change for the better anytime soon.

 

So what can we do about it as respects cruising?

- Do as they tell you and don't get to the port super early. Frankly, in recent years we have been spoiled as the boarding times get earlier and earlier.

- Don't take chances and book flights before noon (and if you are smart, for the forseeable future later than that is better)

- Be respectful of your fellow passengers. If you don't really need early disembarkation (local residents, people staying an extra day, people with late flights), please please don't clog up the lines by doing it anyway.

- Express your concerns to Celebrity as respects what they can control - IMHO they are doing a pretty bad job of handling the delays

[chamima]

I've been reading about all of these debarkation horrors with interest since we currently have a cruise booked on the Eclipse for next February.

 

We've sailed Princess out of Fort Lauderdale many times (Princess no longer does 14 day cruises so this seemed perfect but now I don't know ) and never had a problem but I do know that a long, miserable disembarkation can leave an awful memory of even the best trip.

Since a lot of the problem seems to be (if I'm reading these threads correctly) that you have to go to Terminal 24 to get your luggage and then back to 25 for Customs,

I was curious if having the Luggage Valet service (the $20/pp one where Celebrity takes your luggage to the airport) would help?

Anyone out there that has used the Luggage Valet service out of Fort Lauderdale?

What was your experience like?

[jaspersmommy]

Email just received:

 

 

The following is a message from Royal Caribbean International Emergency Notification System:

 

 

We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on the Celebrity Eclipse on April 6th. Due to recent government budget reductions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has been affected, creating a longer immigration processing time for departing guests, and the ship has experienced a later clearance time for arriving guests. Therefore, your check-in window is now between 12:00pm to 3:15pm, which is later than the times published in your cruise documents. Please do not arrive at the terminal prior to 12:00pm. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming you onboard

 

 

Thank you Cruisestitch for posting that. I am also on the Eclipse on April 6 and did not receive the email you did. Why can't X get its act together and alert ALL passengers on the cruise instead of a select few???? They certainly don't seem to have a problem ensuring that their marketing emails reach me!

[Cruzinram]

What happened to the days when the customs agents came on board and cleared you. I remember lining up the stage and answering all the same questions on board as I do in the terminal. It seemed to work well.