Disembarkation in Terminal V - facial recognition cameras?

[CrazyTrain2]

On 12/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, raphael360 said:

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

I use Global Entry.  It's a bit of PITA to get but it includes TSA Precheck.  Once you have it, it is pretty easy to renew. 

 

As far as Facial recognition goes - It is or will be EVERYWHERE.   From ATMs, to Flight gates to Toll booths.  It's a real upgrade to the computer simulation we are all living in.

[Janthere]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:33 PM, CrazyTrain2 said:

I use Global Entry.  It's a bit of PITA to get but it includes TSA Precheck.  Once you have it, it is pretty easy to renew. 

 

 

Sadly no Global Entry line on disembarkation for Virgin the last time i sailed with them (october) 

 

[brilliantseas]

On 12/31/2022 at 2:37 PM, rebeccac said:

 

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.

 

I would imagine CBP dictates which terminals are equipped with the facial recognition hardware, with priority given to the terminals with the largest ships for most efficient processing. The Virgin terminal and ships are some of the smallest at Port Miami. It'll expand everywhere with time. 

 

Cruises that stop in certain ports also receive a higher level of screening than others; for example sailings that stop in Belize and Honduras have elevated CBP screening, presumably for drug and cash smuggling. This slows down debarkation. I'm not sure which, if any ports, VV stops at, require the elevated screening, but it may also play into which sailings get facial recognition screening followed by a quick wave through the terminal vs. a full manual screening / questioning by CBP? 

[Fogcityca13]

7 hours ago, brilliantseas said:

 

I would imagine CBP dictates which terminals are equipped with the facial recognition hardware, with priority given to the terminals with the largest ships for most efficient processing. The Virgin terminal and ships are some of the smallest at Port Miami. It'll expand everywhere with time. 

 

Cruises that stop in certain ports also receive a higher level of screening than others; for example sailings that stop in Belize and Honduras have elevated CBP screening, presumably for drug and cash smuggling. This slows down debarkation. I'm not sure which, if any ports, VV stops at, require the elevated screening, but it may also play into which sailings get facial recognition screening followed by a quick wave through the terminal vs. a full manual screening / questioning by CBP? 

They do have an itinerary that stops at Roatan. We were on that itinerary and did get the full manual screening. We left our room at 9:15am and we’re waiting for our ride before 9:30. Not a big deal, but I sure do enjoy using my Global Entry privilege. It was such a hassle to get.

 

My understanding is it’s a partnership between the cruise line and CBP, with CBP having complete control of which terminals get them. Maybe it’s something that may get added later.

[theb3]

On 12/21/2022 at 11:36 AM, raphael360 said:

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

Yeah.  That was a bummer.  No Global Entry at Terminal V.  Waited in a LONG line when we disembarked earlier this month.  We asked if they had Global Entry but no luck.  We are spoiled by having that when we fly.  

[Janthere]

Just to give another data point for disembarkation times. I left the Valiant Lady on Feb 19 at 9:20 am and there was no line at all in customs. Can confirm there is still no facial recognition cameras or Global entry line and there were 2 customs officers working at the time. 

[CruznTheWorld]

Left Scarlet Lady on 2/22 - no facial recognition - we left at 8:15 and waited about 10 minutes in line.  Not bad

[_tacocat_]

6 hours ago, CruznTheWorld said:

Left Scarlet Lady on 2/22 - no facial recognition - we left at 8:15 and waited about 10 minutes in line.  Not bad

I’m on a back to back from that one.  Seemed most of the ship waited till 10:15/10:30 to start thinking about getting off. B2Bers had to meet at sip at 10:30, and the line to disembark went all the way to the foreword elevators.  I think they finally got all but 2 passengers off by 11:15, then we had to wait another 45 mins for those idiots to get off the ship.  Seems like the wait generally gets worse after 9/9:30 every one ive been on!

[Fogcityca13]

4 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

I’m on a back to back from that one.  Seemed most of the ship waited till 10:15/10:30 to start thinking about getting off. B2Bers had to meet at sip at 10:30, and the line to disembark went all the way to the foreword elevators.  I think they finally got all but 2 passengers off by 11:15, then we had to wait another 45 mins for those idiots to get off the ship.  Seems like the wait generally gets worse after 9/9:30 every one ive been on!

I’m surprised they don’t charge people who do that or at least threaten a charge if you’re not off the ship in the next 15mins. 

[cantgetin]

They are not even consistent within the line.  Our selected disembark time on the app was 10:45, but at 10:30 they started making the "get the heck out of here" announcements....We got off at 10:30, but due to the need for wheelchair assistance in the terminal, we were waiting just off the ship.  There were a lot of people leaving in the 10:30-10:45 range and stragglers as late as 11:10.  NOTE:  we were OFF the ship, waiting in the terminal for assistance.

[_tacocat_]

3 minutes ago, Fogcityca13 said:

I’m surprised they don’t charge people who do that or at least threaten a charge if you’re not off the ship in the next 15mins. 

They should.  Or not let them back haha.

 

I was seething! Fortunately/unfortunately the first half hour delay worked for me because I was on a thrilling legal call for work, but after that I was just getting plain old hangry and irritated that I was missing prime turnover day pool time!!!

[Citrons]

On 12/21/2022 at 3:06 PM, 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.  

We brought carry on luggage and didnt have to wait for the lifts. Some people with ridiculous oversize luggage complained that we got on the lifts. We paid for our cruise and we chose not to be burden ourselves with excess baggage with this very reason.

 

These people were bonkers thinking we were going to escort them into the lift with their oversize luggage when we had zero luggage on us. We had paid to be on that cruise and were not going to wait for people who made the mistake of bringing baggage which was the size of the elevator. 

 

If people want to disembark quickly they should consider carrying a small back pack (ours did us for 3.5weeks holiday) or get staff to take their luggage off the ship the night before.

 

I really really recommend people with oversize luggage to leave it out the night before and to not hog up the elevators on the morning. Or at least you cannot complain when people with no baggage jump on the elevator. 

[Citrons]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:56 PM, cantgetin said:

They are not even consistent within the line.  Our selected disembark time on the app was 10:45, but at 10:30 they started making the "get the heck out of here" announcements....We got off at 10:30, but due to the need for wheelchair assistance in the terminal, we were waiting just off the ship.  There were a lot of people leaving in the 10:30-10:45 range and stragglers as late as 11:10.  NOTE:  we were OFF the ship, waiting in the terminal for assistance.

Some people do back to back and from our experience the back to back people leave at 11.10

[_tacocat_]

6 hours ago, Citrons said:

Some people do back to back and from our experience the back to back people leave at 11.10

totally depends on how compliant the first voyage passengers on.  i noted this on another thread, but we had to wait until almost noon to get off because of two idiots who probably didn't even start to pack until 10:45, evidenced by the fact that half of their crap was shoved in garbage and shopping bags...

[cantgetin]

We are firm believers in placing the luggage out the night before.  The elevators on departure day are a pain.   Even without luggage, we had to do the "ride up to get down" bit.

I'm probably "that" person, but I see no reason that people can't comply with their scheduled disembarkation time, particularly because it is so much later on VV than on other lines.  Even oversleeping won't cut it because the announcements DO come into the staterooms loudly on the last day as departure time nears.  I suppose there are people who have issues with their accounts.

Edited February 28, 2023 by cantgetin

[RNPJN]

On 12/21/2022 at 2:34 AM, janbear said:

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! 

We were on in Oct but left a little after 9 am walked right off  no lines

[cantgetin]

In October, we were off the ship by 10:40 but didn't get to the Customs area till about 11:15 due to an issue with terminal wheelchair assist.   We were in line for maybe 2 minutes with one party in front of us.  Luggage claim was also really easy as we were the only one left in our area.

Edited March 1, 2023 by cantgetin