Navigator Disembarkation...A Bit Hairy

[cjdixon4]

Let me first say that my Navigator cruise the week of 5/18 was one of the best my hubby and I have EVER had. We sailed with 4 cousins who were new to cruising, and a great time was had by all. Thinking about doing a review with pics...:)

 

Now that I've gotten the good stuff out of the way...

I thought that people were exaggerating about the lack of organization in the Port of Galveston. My apologies; you were right. The arrival was pretty crazy, but DISEMBARKATION into the terminal? Wow. I'm not whining, because we did manage to survive it. But it took us 1-1/2 to 2 hours of snaking through the line to get to customs. :(

I was told that the Port had challenges back in February after the Navigator's retro-fit, and that certainly made sense. They still, however, seem to be struggling a bit with disorganization.

 

Once you get off the ship and follow the line to pick up your luggage, it's every man for himself. No direction signs anyplace, terminal employees were seemingly clueless about where to send you. We initially got in the snaky "do-it-yourself" U.S. citizens line for customs (as opposed to the non-U.S. citizens line). It was SOOOO slow, and some of the more senior folks had to sit down on the ground to rest and wait for the line to move. Rumor was that if you got a porter to take your luggage, you'd get out of there much more quickly. Soooo...we naively step out of the line that we had stood in for almost an hour, only to get in another snaky line to be assigned a porter. After we were assigned a porter, he leads us and our luggage to the end of yet another line to go through customs. YIKKKES!!! LOL!

 

Thankfully, our flight didn't leave Houston Hobby until 4:00 p.m., and we had time to go to Olympia Grill for lunch on the wharf in Galveston. I just feel bad for those who were really pressed time-wise, 'cause it was not a great experience. Granted, it wasn't enough to ruin our vacation of course, but my hubby says that he doesn't EVER want to sail out of Galveston again. He'll take any port in Florida, New Orleans, or San Juan over Texas. I'd be willing to try it again if they devise an improved system to move people, train their employees better, maybe even modernize the Port of Galveston (fat chance, huh?). I'm sure others had better/different experiences than we, and I'd love to hear about them. Again, it wasn't the worst thing that could happen, but I just thought that I'd share. Happy future sailing to everybody! :cool:

[TiggerTwo]

Sorry you had such a long wait. On 5/25 we went through everything and was on our shuttle to pick up our car in 30 to 45 minutes and that included waiting on the shuttle after we called for it. I think customs is the big snag in Galveston and everything was working well on 5/25.

[Desert Cruizers]

Our worst disembarkation was after our 2011 LOS TA in FT Laud. Due to customs, and the backup into the ship, passengers were riding the elevator up & down because there was no place to get out. We came down 3 flights to get to our waiting area and never got CALLED until after 10, from there it was another hour just getting off the ship. Passengers were still trying to get off at Noon. The luggage was right in the middle of the customs line & adjacent areas of the terminal with closed garage like doors so people couldn't get to their luggage so passengers were finding their luggage then trying to get into the line for customs. What a mess.

 

On the opposite side in Vancouver coming off ourTranspacific then Hawaii to Vancouver this May, all 2500 were off the ship by 9:30 and going thru customs.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Desert Cruizers

[wolfganghowell]

Hope you do a review.

Sorry about your disembarkation experience. We have cruised Galveston quite a few times - we can drive - no flying! We have seen some bad snafus boarding and departing BUT we have had more easy and smooth experiences than rough ones. Our worst was on an Easter Sunday - and someone working there told us that over half the employees called in "sick". Not cool but considering these are part time employees, not completely surprising. And over half the passengers were Mexican citizens - Easter is a giant vacation week - so customs was a nightmare.

 

Everyone hopes Galveston will come up with a better port system. Every time we go, they do things differently. And oddly, they get worse each time. Practice makes perfect and now that we have a year round ship again, the employees should get more experienced and they should come up with a better system. They'd better - because when Liberty gets here, there will be even MORE passengers.

[cjdixon4]

Sorry you had such a long wait. On 5/25 we went through everything and was on our shuttle to pick up our car in 30 to 45 minutes and that included waiting on the shuttle after we called for it. I think customs is the big snag in Galveston and everything was working well on 5/25.

 

Tigger, glad the check-out process was a lot smoother for the 5/25 cruisers. I guess it varies from week to week!

[knittinggirl]

We've cruised out of Galveston six times, and Galveston is by far the worst port. I don't think we've ever had a cruise there where either embarkation or disembarkation wasn't messed up.

 

Porters are usually the way to go. Because they want to get done, collect their tip then move to the next passenger. And they usually know the best lines.

 

We had multiple horrid snaky lines a few cruises back when they found drugs.

 

DH says that Galveston is Murphy's home port.

[truffles2]

I agree with OP. It is definitely the absolute worst port we have ever experienced. We have already agreed that no matter what is sailing from there --or when--we will not be on it.

[cjdixon4]

Hope you do a review.

Sorry about your disembarkation experience. We have cruised Galveston quite a few times - we can drive - no flying! We have seen some bad snafus boarding and departing BUT we have had more easy and smooth experiences than rough ones. Our worst was on an Easter Sunday - and someone working there told us that over half the employees called in "sick". Not cool but considering these are part time employees, not completely surprising. And over half the passengers were Mexican citizens - Easter is a giant vacation week - so customs was a nightmare.

 

Everyone hopes Galveston will come up with a better port system. Every time we go, they do things differently. And oddly, they get worse each time. Practice makes perfect and now that we have a year round ship again, the employees should get more experienced and they should come up with a better system. They'd better - because when Liberty gets here, there will be even MORE passengers.

 

I guess I haven't been keeping up with the latest RC fleet news...

didn't know about Liberty porting out of Galveston. When is that due to happen? OMG...that could complicate the flow at the terminal, unless the port makes some serious changes.

[Susie51]

In March we are using RCI transfers back to Bush airport in Houston. Will this make the embarkation and disembarkation easier?

[m32446]

Are the issues specific to RCI? We've cruised out of Galveston twice on Carnival and had no particular issues. A little bit of waiting in line, but the lines moved quickly and steadily the whole time.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We were on the 5/25 cruise, it was the best embarkation/disembarkation ever of all our cruises!

 

Despite one missing suitcase that we eventually found in the missing luggage area our disembarkation was the best ever!!

 

***

[cjdixon4]

Are the issues specific to RCI? We've cruised out of Galveston twice on Carnival and had no particular issues. A little bit of waiting in line, but the lines moved quickly and steadily the whole time.

 

Hey m32446-

That's a good question, because Carnival and RCCI port at different terminals. Not sure what the answer is to that one, maybe someone who has been through both terminals can give some insight.

[cjdixon4]

We were on the 5/25 cruise, it was the best embarkation/disembarkation ever of all our cruises!

 

Despite one missing suitcase that we eventually found in the missing luggage area our disembarkation was the best ever!!

 

 

Arizona, glad that all went well for you and yours! A number of folks in my 5/18 Meet&Mingle were doing the B2B on your sailing.

[George C]

We did the 4/27 and it took longer to board then to get off and we were diamond and in suite. But I agree there is room for improvement, wonder what will happend with the bigger Liberity which will be here Nov 2015

[molsonschooner]

We were on the 5/25. We had a short wait in then theater until our number was called. Made our way up to deck 4 where we quickly walked off the ship. Workers told us where to find our bags(they were all there). Got in the long, snaky line. It looked like we would never see the end of the line but in fact the line moved really fast. As we got to the end of the line this is where the fun started for us. We are non US citizens so we were directed to a special line. There was only 1 counter open for all non Us citizens. So for all the other people in the world , one line. From here , it took longer than the entire process, from having breakfast in the jammer to snaking through the line. I did hear that they normally have 3 counters being used which would have sped things up greatly.

[big_schots]

I've sailed five times from Galveston, through both terminals. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS go right to the line to get a porter. Do this even before you find your luggage. Do this even if you are doing self debarkation, and you hand them the luggage that you have dragged around the ship. It is worth the $5 to $10 tip money to save a huge amount of time going through customs. They get special preference, cut the huge line, and get to go straight to the custom inspection lines. You still have to wait maybe 10 deep there, but it is bearable. It could save anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour in line. Trust me, it is the only way to go.

Edited June 5, 2014 by big_schots

[SRV FAN]

The Royal Caribbean terminal is much smaller than the Carnival one.

 

Royal Caribbean & Galveston are investing a huge sum of $$ (around $10,000,000) to improve the terminal by 2015 (in time for Liberty to arrive). Hopefully this will make disembarkation easier. Time will tell.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cjdixon4]

I've sailed five times from Galveston, through both terminals. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS go right to the line to get a porter. Do this even before you find your luggage. Do this even if you are doing self debarkation, and you hand them the luggage that you have dragged around the ship. It is worth the $5 to $10 tip money to save a huge amount of time going through customs. They get special preference, cut the huge line, and get to go straight to the custom inspection lines. You still have to wait maybe 10 deep there, but it is bearable. It could save anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour in line. Trust me, it is the only way to go.

 

Hey big schots- thanks. At least you've given me a heads-up for the next time that I go out of Galveston. Now to convince my hubby to try it one more time...LOL :rolleyes:

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Arizona, glad that all went well for you and yours! A number of folks in my 5/18 Meet&Mingle were doing the B2B on your sailing.

 

 

TY, hope your friends also had a good experience! :)

 

***

[cjdixon4]

TY, hope your friends also had a good experience! :)

 

 

Arizona, my cousins were the first-time cruisers with us. They had a ball, and they were un-fazed (is that a word?) by the confusion in the Galveston terminal. They thought it was part of the cruising experience....too funny! :D

[jemsjens]

Rumor was that if you got a porter to take your luggage, you'd get out of there much more quickly. Soooo...we naively step out of the line that we had stood in for almost an hour, only to get in another snaky line to be assigned a porter. After we were assigned a porter, he leads us and our luggage to the end of yet another line to go through customs. YIKKKES!!! LOL!:

 

We always use the Porters; It is worth every penny and less stress....

[dudaze11]

Let me first say that my Navigator cruise the week of 5/18 was one of the best my hubby and I have EVER had. We sailed with 4 cousins who were new to cruising, and a great time was had by all. Thinking about doing a review with pics...:)

 

Now that I've gotten the good stuff out of the way...

I thought that people were exaggerating about the lack of organization in the Port of Galveston. My apologies; you were right. The arrival was pretty crazy, but DISEMBARKATION into the terminal? Wow. I'm not whining, because we did manage to survive it. But it took us 1-1/2 to 2 hours of snaking through the line to get to customs. :(

I was told that the Port had challenges back in February after the Navigator's retro-fit, and that certainly made sense. They still, however, seem to be struggling a bit with disorganization.

 

Once you get off the ship and follow the line to pick up your luggage, it's every man for himself. No direction signs anyplace, terminal employees were seemingly clueless about where to send you. We initially got in the snaky "do-it-yourself" U.S. citizens line for customs (as opposed to the non-U.S. citizens line). It was SOOOO slow, and some of the more senior folks had to sit down on the ground to rest and wait for the line to move. Rumor was that if you got a porter to take your luggage, you'd get out of there much more quickly. Soooo...we naively step out of the line that we had stood in for almost an hour, only to get in another snaky line to be assigned a porter. After we were assigned a porter, he leads us and our luggage to the end of yet another line to go through customs. YIKKKES!!! LOL!

 

Thankfully, our flight didn't leave Houston Hobby until 4:00 p.m., and we had time to go to Olympia Grill for lunch on the wharf in Galveston. I just feel bad for those who were really pressed time-wise, 'cause it was not a great experience. Granted, it wasn't enough to ruin our vacation of course, but my hubby says that he doesn't EVER want to sail out of Galveston again. He'll take any port in Florida, New Orleans, or San Juan over Texas. I'd be willing to try it again if they devise an improved system to move people, train their employees better, maybe even modernize the Port of Galveston (fat chance, huh?). I'm sure others had better/different experiences than we, and I'd love to hear about them. Again, it wasn't the worst thing that could happen, but I just thought that I'd share. Happy future sailing to everybody! :cool:

 

I've had it both ways at Galveston. I have done the two hour drill and the 15 minute one as well. I am not sure why they are inconsistent but it's only a little pain to go through to be able to drive to port. The best advice I can give is to be one of the first off the ship. We always do self assist debarkation and have only gotten stuck once and that was on Carnival. The poor debarkation in that instance had more to do with poor coordination on Carnival's part as the backup was in the ship.

[ssb]

We were on 5/25 navigator last week !!

Disembarkation was great for us. :)

Everything improved !!!

We were home by 8:00 am.

Our home is 20 blocks from terminal.

Our disembarkation had nothing to do with our earned status.

 

And I've been very critical in the past of

Galveston terminal # 2 disembarkations,

Including a very time consuming report prepared and given by me

to port, customs, and RCL (goldstein) about temporary measures

needed now long before new terminal renovations are completed for Liberty.

There were responses from them to me.

And obviously some actions were taken with or without my input.

 

Disembarkation in Galveston can only be BETTER IN FUTURE

with present changes

and with new 12 million improved terminal by November 2015.

 

ALSO See below a good review off our

cruise critic roll

call 5/25 navigator:

 

Navigator of the Seas 5/25/14 - Wonderful Cruise!

BACKGROUND

Me and my college aged son on our 7th cruise, 4th on Royal Caribbean. Looking to relax after the harsh Ohio winter and do some scuba diving.

 

PRE CRUISE

We flew into Hobby airport around 1:30. We pre-booked Cool Tours for our transportation from Hobby to hotel. As soon as we landed I turned my phone on and they called with instructions to find them. Very smooth operation. Our driver was friendly and shared with us a lot of Galveston history. It was interesting and enjoyable.

 

Since we wanted to visit NASA we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott across the street from it which was a good choice. Nice hotel with several restaurants and a CVS pharmacy within walking distance.

 

EMBARKATION

We again booked Cool Tours to get us from hotel to Port Galveston. We scheduled our ride for 9:30. They called at 9:20 and were waiting outside. Since we didn't get to see Galveston, our driver took us the scenic route showing us some highlights of the island. He shared a lot of history and facts making the ride again interesting and pleasurable.

 

This has to be the smoothest embarkation ever. We arrived at the port by 10:15. Someone immediately took our bags and we got in line. By 10:30 they were letting us inside to proceed with our paperwork. In full disclosure, having a JS allowed us priority boarding but both lines were moving equally fast. After getting 'signed in' we sat for a short time and by 11:00 were in the Windjammer enjoying lunch.

 

FOOD

We mostly ate in the main dining room. I am not a 'foodie' but there were many choices and the food was good. We are not buffet people so only ate twice at the Windjammer. Food was fine and tables were plenty.

 

We used room service a couple of times and enjoyed what we ordered. I absolutely love the bistro burgers on the menu.

 

For the first time we decided to try Johnny Rockets. We ended up going there three times for lunch. The burgers were good but I was mainly going for the apple pie they offer for dessert. It's tasty!

 

SERVICE

Our room steward was Stephanie from Jamaica and she was awesome. She kept our cabin spotless and did a good job of getting in and out around our crazy schedule.

 

Our main dining room waiters were excellent. Our head waiter asked us to call him Sing as we couldn't pronounce his name. He and his assistant Deandra worked their tails off and we never wanted for anything.

 

The only service complaint I have is Johnny Rockets. Each of the 3 times we ate there the service was not good. And the workers there seemed to be genuinely miserable. The first visit we witnessed 2 servers arguing over whether a specific table was theirs or not. Definitely a downer and not the experience you expect.

 

PORTS

Since we scheduled private scuba dives in Cozumel and Grand Cayman I wont spend much time on ports. We had some of the best dives ever. If anyone wants info on who we booked with just ask. In Jamaica we did a little shopping and got back on the ship.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

We attended the parade which was very enjoyable, even for adults. And we also attended my favorite, the 70's Street Party. We went to the Love and Marriage game show which was hilarious. Also made it to the ice show, titled Ice Dancing. This show is awesome! Went to Quest which is always a good time. We didn't make it to any of the other shows.

 

DEBARKATION

We pre booked our transfer back to Hobby through RCI. We were told to be in the Metropolis Theater by 8:30. We went at 7:15 and around 8:00 they were leading us off the ship. I have read complaints about lengthy waits to get through customs at this port but we had no problems. By 8:45 we were on the transfer bus headed back to Hobby.

 

GALVESTON

We really enjoyed cruising out of Galveston. I mean no insult to other home ports, but I have to say that hands down the people on this cruise were the friendliest and most polite I have cruised with. It just stood out.

I would have to guess that a large percentage of them are from Texas.

 

While I enjoyed touring NASA, I regret that I didn't get to see much of Galveston. For those of you who avoid this port because of possible fog and transportation challenges, all I can say is it's your loss. This is a great port! Due to our schedules, and the fact that my son and lots of my money go to Ohio State University, I dont get to cruise as often as I would like. Therefore I choose my cruises carefully. With this in mind, a future cruise out out of Galveston will definitely be at the top of my list.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have enjoyed all of my cruises but this one is my favorite thus far. Everything went smooth. Fellow cruisers as well as most of the ship staff were pleasant and fun.

 

Because I need to keep in touch back home, I purchased the unlimited internet package for 1 device. Cost was $189.95 and was totally worth it. Used my Nook tablet most of the time and was able to logon all over the ship.

Unlimited for 2 devices cost $229.95, Daily Plan for a 24 hour span is $59.90, 3 Day Special Plan is $140.95, 1 hour is $29.95 and for 30 minutes it cost $10.00.

 

The ship played Country & Western music the majority of the time. Not a big fan of it. On a Caribbean cruise it would have been nice to hear a better mix of music styles. Didn't make or break my cruise, just sayin.

 

Not sure what happened in Grand Cayman. This was our 4th time there and it never took as long to tender off the ship as it did on this cruise. We pre-booked and put deposits on scuba dives which we nearly missed.

 

In prior JS cabins we had a coffee table which we made full use of. For whatever reason this JS did not which was kind of inconvenient.

__________________

Edited June 5, 2014 by ssb

[MarilynTX]

We had the same problem on the last cruise prior to the retro fit in January. The cruise was great but it took 3 1/2 hours to get through customs. It was exactly as you described. We couldn't find the end of the line. One poor lady was having a panic attack. I was glad it wasn't me. There was one line that was moving quickly for passengers with early flights. I begged the woman to let me in the line but she would not budge.

 

When we got to the front of the line we discovered why it was taking so long. The customs agents appeared to be moving slowly on purpose. I've been through customs many times in many different countries and I've never seen agents move that slowly. They were manually entering our passport information instead of scanning the passports and they were taking their time typing. We timed it and it took 4 minutes for them to clear our family of four. It normally takes less than a minute. It's called a "slow down strike". Workers deliberately reduce output without going on a full blown strike.

 

The carnival terminal in Galveston is pretty slow as well but this was by far the slowest I have experienced after 12 cruises and many airports.

[cjdixon4]

ssb- nice review. Even nicer that you reside so close to the Port. I'm in Chicago, so there's a LOT more involved in my travel planning than yours, LOL! I really loved Galveston, just not the terminal experience. Hope to return there real soon, maybe after the $12MM improvements are made. By that time, my hubby's memory of the delays may have subsided....

One can only hope. :(