Disembarkation in Terminal V - facial recognition cameras?

[Janthere]

Our last cruise on Virgin was in early October. We elected to stay on as late as possible on disembarkation day along with a ton of other people who had the same idea. As such, there were really long lines to get through customs/immigration in Virgin's terminal V (almost an hour wait). I was surprised that in a brand new terminal they didn't have the new facial recognition systems for clearance. Does anyone know if this has changed and they do have them now? I am wondering if we should leave earlier if that would make any difference in the line/processing time. Waiting in line for an hour after a great cruise was a crappy "back to reality" moment thats for sure! 

[jon81uk]

This is why Virgin encourages people to book a time slot to spread the crowds out. But the system used and the staffing is up to border control, it’s not something Virgin would have much say over.

[_tacocat_]

leaving earlier does seem to make a difference - we usually stay till 10:30 and book that disembark slot accordingly because we either have late flights or fly out the next day.  the previous couple voyages before my last, it took over 90 mins to get off the ship thru customs.  a couple before then, the captain came on the PA at about 10 and told everyone to chill wherever they were because the gangway was backed up.

 

my last voyage, i got off around 9:30 and breezed through in under 15 minutes.  felt like the wait for the elevator with all the bags we schlepped off was longer than the actual customs line.  the bigger pain was waiting for an uber because we were then in the end crunch of every other ship completing their disembark.

[cantgetin]

Hmmm....We had selected a 10:45 disembarkation time on line for our October 30 return.  About 10:15 and announcement came that everyone had to be off the ship by 10:30....no explanation of the discrepency.  So we hurried to finish breakfast, grabbed carry ons from the cabin and exited.  We had the usual elevator wait and after several cycles did the "ride up to go down.  There was a brief wait at the gangway.

Customs DID have facial recognition; in fact, it was the first time I'd seen that system.  If went quite quickly.  The wait for an Uber was about 7-8 minutes. I'm guessing that maybe we were some of the last off and therefore missed most of the crowds.  

[drewdawg199]

52 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Hmmm....We had selected a 10:45 disembarkation time on line for our October 30 return.  About 10:15 and announcement came that everyone had to be off the ship by 10:30....no explanation of the discrepency.  So we hurried to finish breakfast, grabbed carry ons from the cabin and exited.  We had the usual elevator wait and after several cycles did the "ride up to go down.  There was a brief wait at the gangway.

Customs DID have facial recognition; in fact, it was the first time I'd seen that system.  If went quite quickly.  The wait for an Uber was about 7-8 minutes. I'm guessing that maybe we were some of the last off and therefore missed most of the crowds.  

Pretty sure they don't have facial recognition, they have cameras, but not the system where you just walk by without handing over your passport and answering any questions that the border patrol may have for you. 

[raphael360]

Did anyone see an immigration line marked “Global Entry” ?

[Fogcityca13]

4 hours ago, raphael360 said:

Did anyone see an immigration line marked “Global Entry” ?

Sadly no, considering the efficacy of the boarding process I was surprised at the low tech disembarkation. We left around 9:15 so hardly anyone was at customs. 

[cantgetin]

8 hours ago, drewdawg199 said:

Pretty sure they don't have facial recognition, they have cameras, but not the system where you just walk by without handing over your passport and answering any questions that the border patrol may have for you. 

OK, I guess I didn't understand exactly what was happening.  Yes, we did have to hand over our passports and agree that we didn't have anything to declare.  THe agent used what appeared to be a camera to take a photo of each of our passports and then our face.  I thought that was facial recognition.  I don't believe I've every had a passport and then a face photo before--I've had to either hand over the passport of put it in some sort of a "reader," and I've been photographed at the various kiosks, not by an agent.  Bottom line, we were either the second or third family from the front when we got in line, and it took under 5 minutes to process the two of us with different home addresses.

Edited December 22, 2022 by cantgetin

[Janthere]

19 hours ago, jon81uk said:

This is why Virgin encourages people to book a time slot to spread the crowds out. But the system used and the staffing is up to border control, it’s not something Virgin would have much say over.

All that is true - I am just surprised that a brand new terminal would not have the latest technology for immigration clearance

[Janthere]

12 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

leaving earlier does seem to make a difference - we usually stay till 10:30 and book that disembark slot accordingly because we either have late flights or fly out the next day.  the previous couple voyages before my last, it took over 90 mins to get off the ship thru customs.  a couple before then, the captain came on the PA at about 10 and told everyone to chill wherever they were because the gangway was backed up.

 

my last voyage, i got off around 9:30 and breezed through in under 15 minutes.  felt like the wait for the elevator with all the bags we schlepped off was longer than the actual customs line.  the bigger pain was waiting for an uber because we were then in the end crunch of every other ship completing their disembark.

Yes my husband actually left with the very first walk offs the ship on that sailing and there was no wait at all. Me and our friends sailing with us got off the latest you could but I will definitely rethink that for next time. Its too bad as I really do love not having to be out of your room super early. Travel day is such a downer day to begin with and Virgin's offer to let u stay on to enjoy the ship for a little longer was very enticing. 

[jon81uk]

18 hours ago, Fogcityca13 said:

Sadly no, considering the efficacy of the boarding process I was surprised at the low tech disembarkation. We left around 9:15 so hardly anyone was at customs. 

But it’s up to the Government to decide how to manage the border, not Virgin so it doesn’t matter how they manage embarkation, they’ve got almost no control over passport control.

[eroller]

Just disembarked VL about a week ago.  No facial recognition cameras.  It was the best disembarkation process I've had in over 100 cruises.  We wanted to get off early as we had a lot to do that day, and turns out this was the way to go.  We booked 8am and carried off our own luggage.  We started heading out of the cabin around 7:40am.  The ship was a complete ghost town.  No wait for an elevator.  No one in the elevator.  We saw one person from the walk on Deck 7 from the forward elevators to the gangway.  We kept thinking "where is everyone"?  Zero announcements and almost eerie quiet.  On any other ship this would be a very different scene.  We literally walked off the ship, into the terminal and downstairs, and through CBP where there wasn't a single person waiting.  In fact the agent was a little bored so he wanted to chat a bit.  Got through that and across the street and into the parking garage and to our car.  The parking garage was getting a little busy, not from VL passengers but from the other ships well under way with their disembarkation process.  So maybe 10-12 minutes max from leaving the cabin to getting in our car.  No joke or exaggeration.  It was utterly fantastic.  Was home maybe 35 minutes later.  Best ever!

Edited December 24, 2022 by eroller

[raphael360]

When does one book their disembarkation time?  

[eroller]

1 hour ago, raphael360 said:

When does one book their disembarkation time?  

The day prior to disembarkation all the information (including the ability to select a disembarkation time) becomes available on the app.  I love that they wait until the day prior (unlike some lines that starting taking about it on day 2 of a 7 day cruise). Also no paper or tags delivered.  It’s all so simple on the app and works incredibly well.  If you have bags that need  collecting you let them know on the app how many and just leave outside your door prior to midnight.  
 

As I mentioned earlier it was the very best disembarkation process I’ve ever experienced, and that includes the small luxury lines.  

Edited December 25, 2022 by eroller

[neverendingcruising]

In a unique twist, you are expected to keep the tags on your luggage from embarkation and reuse them for departure. Seems odd at first but really makes sense when you think about it. 

 

I do believe you can choose your departure time under Shore Things whenever you want in advance, no need to wait until it pops up in the app. 

[cantgetin]

I'm sure we did it a few days before disembarkation under shore things on the app.  It shows up really big on the last full day.  We also got a paper in the cabin with all the instructions including "go on the app and pick a time.  They didn't check times...I think the idea is to have people choose just so they are spreading us out.  Very early and very late tend to be most crowded, but getting off the ship was no big deal.

 

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by cantgetin

[raphael360]

I just received my ‘get ready to cruise’ email and Virgin says I can and should book my disembarkation slot via the app before I get to the port. Has anyone been able to find this option in the app??

 

“What to book before you get to the port

Below is a list of things you need or can book before you get on board:

• We’ll need you to book your disembarkation slot so that we can all get off the ship in a spaced-out fashion. You can do so on the Sailor App”

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, raphael360 said:

I just received my ‘get ready to cruise’ email and Virgin says I can and should book my disembarkation slot via the app before I get to the port. Has anyone been able to find this option in the app??

 

“What to book before you get to the port

Below is a list of things you need or can book before you get on board:

• We’ll need you to book your disembarkation slot so that we can all get off the ship in a spaced-out fashion. You can do so on the Sailor App”

It is on the app under "Shore Things," which is the same place you'll find excursions.

 

[raphael360]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

It is on the app under "Shore Things," which is the same place you'll find excursions.

 

Brilliant-thank you. I looked there several times but didn’t scroll down far enough to see this. 

[aqlollipop]

I spent just about everyday of our cruise looking for disembarkation in the app because I knew we were supposed to book it and I knew we wanted a later time. Never found it until like the night before, yes under Shore Things, no idea why I couldn't find it before but the app had been very buggy all week. By the time I found it the only time the app was offering me was 7:45, which was a hard pass from us. We just never bothered to book a time and wandered off when we were ready, around 10 am. Minimal line on the gangway, but other wise it was a smooth flow. So I would say don't twist yourself up about booking the time slot. If you get the one you want perfect, but if not, there is no enforcement. 

[raphael360]

I found the option to schedule my disembarkation time slot on the app under shore things for Miami on the last day after cangetin pointed it out.  Score...:)

 

With that said, I just received my email from Virgin informing me dining reservations are now available for my Feb. 8th sailing. But the disembarkation schedule option is not yet offered.  I find it a bit odd but it is what it is :)

 

I'm 8 days out and super pumped....  Anyone else on the Key West voyage next week?? 

[raphael360]

13 hours ago, aqlollipop said:

I spent just about everyday of our cruise looking for disembarkation in the app because I knew we were supposed to book it and I knew we wanted a later time. Never found it until like the night before, yes under Shore Things, no idea why I couldn't find it before but the app had been very buggy all week. By the time I found it the only time the app was offering me was 7:45, which was a hard pass from us. We just never bothered to book a time and wandered off when we were ready, around 10 am. Minimal line on the gangway, but other wise it was a smooth flow. So I would say don't twist yourself up about booking the time slot. If you get the one you want perfect, but if not, there is no enforcement. 

I'm betting you will be able to walk off anytime if you have all of your luggage in tow. Seabourn for example had no hard and fast rules to when you could disembark BUT,  access to our luggage was arranged by "group" and access to it was barred until our group number was called (and most or all of the luggage the previous group was gone). This 'luggage access' was enforced by the port of Miami personal.  And this was a ship with less than 300 passengers.

[aqlollipop]

There's no enforcement at luggage access either. We hand carried our luggage this time, but passed right through the luggage area where all the bags are just arranged by deck and there are some staff available to help you find it if you need it.

[cantgetin]

THey didn't enforce times and there were no groups on our disembarkation.  I think the "pick a time" was just to try to spread out people.  No regulation of when you could get luggage either.

[rebeccac]

On 12/22/2022 at 10:45 AM, jon81uk said:

But it’s up to the Government to decide how to manage the border, not Virgin so it doesn’t matter how they manage embarkation, they’ve got almost no control over passport control.

 

While that is true to some extent, we just recently got off a Royal Caribbean ship in Miami and they did have the facial recognition system in their terminal, so obviously the technology is used at Port Miami.  I was a bit surprised that Virgin did not have the latest technology at their terminal.