Highly unusual incident on the Anthem of the Seas.

[mo&fran]

1 minute ago, StarAFire said:

They said no. There were those that wanted to stay on board ship and didn’t read their instructions and went out with the wit assigned ticket time instead of last call. They had to wait from like 8-9am. Literally they started making announcements several times for this and even warned others that this already happened to a few and they can’t get back on until everyone clears, even to get something. 

Sounds like getting a zero count on turn around day.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, gumshoe958 said:

The only reason I can think of is CBP staff shortages at Bayonne. If they haven’t got enough people to staff the border at the end of the cruise, they’d have to do immigration and customs checks at Miami instead.

 

No nothing to do with staff shortage, federal law dictates customs must be performed at the first US port upon return from a foreign destination.

[njkruzer]

I don't Royal controls how this is done.  In Boston immigration was done on the ship.  US citizens to Chic, non -US citizens to the casino. A black marker check was placed on our seapass cards.  At some point we were told we could leave.  Our cards were checked for the marking when we got off.  I also remember clearing immigration on the ship in Boston when it was the end of the cruise.   Sounds like what went on in Miami was probably cbp controlled. 

[cyntil8ing]

Cruise passengers always go through Customs and Immigration at the first US port after visiting a foreign port. We learned the hard way to look at itineraries carefully after taking a cruise where Key West was a stop at the end of the cruise instead of at the beginning. In the handful of times we've had to do it, the customs officers were onboard and we had to wait in a huge line that wrapped the length of the ship.

 

One would think in Miami, they'd have the process down to a science. Sorry it was such a mess.

Edited November 3, 2022 by cyntil8ing

[StarAFire]

Ironically the custom parts was the quick part. We got off the ship in the 10-10:30am time frame as expected. They separate you vs if u have passport vs birth certificates, etc. I had passport. I walked up to some biometric face thing and less than 5 seconds was done. The whole waiting fiasco was after that. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

It was my understanding that Customs has to clear the ship in the first US port, so they’re just being in compliance if that’s the case. I had thought that those sailings used to have the US stop first and then carry on to the Bahamas/Caribbean. That would have been better planning, so pax don’t have to waste their precious port time clearing Customs.

[newcruzer2]

2 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

I don't think this qualifies as an "incident".  

noun

1. an event or occurrence

[deliver42]

This is policy, not an incident.

[hancock]

Years ago, we had to go through Immigration in Key West on the ship.  No one could get off the ship until everyone had done it.  It was hours before the ship was cleared to go ashore.  We lost almost half our time in KW.

[Another_Critic]

Had to do this at our stop in Port Canaveral in Nov 2019 and Feb 2020.  I rented a car and left the port, but people that wanted to get back on the ship had to wait for hours.

[Merion_Mom]

@StarAFire

 

Thank you.

[AltarEgo]

The 'incident' had to do with the fact that passengers were herded outdoors in 90 degree heat with no shade, food, water, or even a place to sit from 8am to 1:30 pm. Ambulances were called because some passengers weren’t able to physically tolerate the deplorable conditions.

 

An official notice was made by RCCL regarding the issue. The passengers were offered 

$100 onboard credit for interior/ocean view cabins, $125 onboard credit for balcony cabins, $200 onboard credit for suites, plus $25 onboard credit for any 3rd or 4th guest booked. 

 

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

Since this was a planned port stop were people allowed to leave the cruise area after they went through customs? 

If yes, I would have gone somewhere other than hanging out for unknown amount of time.

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, njkruzer said:

On the TA we did immigration in Boston and for US citizens went smoothly but only half capacity and mostly non US citizens.   Agents came onboard.  Assigned a time to go to inspection.  Once you completed you could get off.  

 

 That takes me back to the way things use to be when we first started cruising.. 

 

 My wife is a foreign national.  We use to have to get up very early and go down to the theater for her to clear customs and immigration before we were allowed to leave the ship at the end of the cruise. 

 

[c-leg5]

9 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

The only reason I can think of is CBP staff shortages at Bayonne. If they haven’t got enough people to staff the border at the end of the cruise, they’d have to do immigration and customs checks at Miami instead.

 

This is nothing new we have done this at Key West before now.

[artvlay]

When these things happen you ask yourself, is this the first time that they did this?

[StarAFire]

On 11/3/2022 at 9:25 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Since this was a planned port stop were people allowed to leave the cruise area after they went through customs? 

If yes, I would have gone somewhere other than hanging out for unknown amount of time.

Yes, some folks left.  However, the expectation set was that it would be 30 min to 1 hour outside and everyone should be cleared by 10:30AM.  We were last call group, so went out at 10AM.  So we only took our passports/birth certificates out with us and I had a kids activity set for my toddler niece & nephew.  If we knew it would be 3-4x that expected time, we would have probably not planned to stay onboard vs going out and prepared accordingly.

[smokeybandit]

It's not often an RC cruise has a US port stop after a foreign port stop. 

But when they do, this happens 100% of the time by law and border patrol.

[Sunshine3601]

19 minutes ago, StarAFire said:

Yes, some folks left.  However, the expectation set was that it would be 30 min to 1 hour outside and everyone should be cleared by 10:30AM.  We were last call group, so went out at 10AM.  So we only took our passports/birth certificates out with us and I had a kids activity set for my toddler niece & nephew.  If we knew it would be 3-4x that expected time, we would have probably not planned to stay onboard vs going out and prepared accordingly.

That timeline stinks.  From what I read somewhere else the big part of the delay was tracking down 30 +/- people that didn't leave the ship to go thru immigration. 

[swanee4]

We just returned from a cruise on the Anthem of the Seas. We had to go through customs in Miami because it was our first port back in the US. All passengers were required to leave the ship. Thirty three passengers felt they didn’t have to follow this rule. Because of this small group over 4,000 people had to stand on the pier for up to five hours. Royal Caribbean paid out over $200,000 as compensation for having to stand hours in the heat without even water. I’d like to know if anything was done to these few people who showed so little regard for all the passengers on this ship.  We’re they removed from the ship?  Banned from further sailing? To me it seems they should be punished in some way.

[Sunshine3601]

I agree they should be reprimanded but doubt anything happened to them other than harsh words from those looking for them.

[gumshoe958]

Already being discussed here: 

 

[Montanagirlalways]

Interesting. I sailed out of port canaveral a couple months ago and the line to embark was very long which made people stand for a long time in the sun. I know this doesn't happen at the main terminal at port canaveral. So I went to the loyalty ambassador on the ship and voiced my concern and also wrote sent an email to guest services when I arrived home. Its really unacceptable and dangerous for people to be standing like that in the heat of florida. 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

I'm guessing at least they are banned from RCCL and if the lines has any guts they will sue them for the $200k.  

[travelwide]

44 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

That timeline stinks.  From what I read somewhere else the big part of the delay was tracking down 30 +/- people that didn't leave the ship to go thru immigration. 

You are spot on. The issue is the 30+ that would not go through immigration check. They need to be thrown off at the next port stop, if there is one, and banned from all royal /  X ships. It is disgusting the lack of regard they have for others.