Navigator of the Seas Disembarkation Chaos

[Shappy]

Just got off the NOS this am. We had a medical evacuation yesterday and because of that came into port about one hour to 1 1/2 hours late. We had gotten a ticket to carry our bags off early as did many others with early flights. We were instructed to go to deck four to disembark. The captain came on again and offered 'sincere apologies' for being late back to Fort Lauderdale. OK, I can accept that there was a legitimate reason for being late back to port. But how 'sincere' are the apologies when hundreds were left stranded on deck four with luggage in tow when that exit was abandoned and NOT ONE Royal Caribbean employee could be found to give us the new exit deck?!! Hundreds standing on the deck they were instructed to go to with no new announcement or employee telling us which deck the exit had been changed to. Mass chaos because at that point elevator are full, cabins are empty and the entire ship is in the public rooms. Try staying with your family and hauling suitcases around with no idea of where to go. I felt like well they've gotten their tips and how we get off their ship is our problem. We made our flight but saw others in the airport that missed theirs.

 

BTW I'm no newbie, I've taken over 30 cruises and have never seen anything like this.

 

If RC was truly apologetic you would think they could spare one employee to direct traffic for those with early flights.

[RoyalCruiser19]

We had the same problem on the NOS. Everyone was waiting on deck 4 and an employee told us we were leaving on deck 1. they also told us we could not use the elevators. You had all the people rolling down three flights of stairs with their suitcase. It was crazy. Although, once we got to deck one it was easy to get off since we lost many people on the stairs.

[harry0]

Shappy

I understand your frustrations and the chaos I was just off the Navigator last week. But for that reason I chose a later flight and had no problem. If I chose an earlier flight I would have saved some$$$ but also knew I would be taking a chance of missing my flight and it is usually chaotic carrying luggage all over the place. I do sometimes take an earlier flight for the savings but on the shorter cruises I didnot want to waste any time stressed. Royal could do a better job on leaving a lasting impression on the last day.

[silentbob007]

Having been on the first Navigator cruise out of FLL this season a few weeks ago, I'm surprised that they still haven't worked out the kinks in debarkation ... such as telling passengers WHERE they are supposed to debark from (which deck, which end, etc). I don't think it is a "we already have your money thing" but instead a "crew still don't know their jobs" thing.

[piercetc4]

i cruised on the nos last jan and last dec and had zero issues getting off the ship- wonder what is up this season?

i do recall some from the roll call from dec saying they had issues getting off tho- cant remember what they were now-

imho, its best not to book a flt before noon for just in case scenarios- why take the chance?

[Shappy]

It's not just the issue of the flights, I knew we wouldn't miss ours. The issue is consideration for the passengers. Our dining table was literally swarming with staff the night before so that we would not complain about the service (which I would not do since minor complaints might jeopardize a hard working employee's job), but they couldn't spare ONE staff member to inform these heavy-luggaged passengers which deck to get off on?

 

You are talking about thousands of passengers in the public areas, many in wheelchairs and scooters, being knocked about by confused people with luggage. There's no excuse for this IMHO.

[want2seaitall]

Goodness this sounds awful. I'm glad I'm in no hurry to get off next week. I'm going trade my tags for the last tags to get off...and just stay on until they kick me off.

[cruisedd]

Shappy, I was on Deck 4 with you a couple of days ago. I agree - chaos! It was like they were doing it for the first time. I remember watching the gangway slowly move into position on Deck 4 only to stop 10 feet away from the ship! Then, everyone is told to get off on Deck 1. I can understand coming into port late because of the evacuation, but I can't understand the disorganized behavior once we got home.

 

Other than that, the cruise was completely awesome though. The highlights for me were: Ice Dancing show, Quest, Chops, Portofinos, Comedian Juggler, Stingray City. The low points were the show dancers and getting left at Dunns River Falls by my bus driver even though I was at the rendezvous point 5 mins early.

[cruisinalong001]

We didn't find out about the delay in disembarkation until late the night before landfall and had to stand in line with a jillion others at customer relations to get an earlier departure ticket (11:50 AM flight for one of our party) and were racing to retag our bags at 11:55 PM. Surely they could have calculated the delay earlier in the day and let passengers know earlier. Standing in line and retagging our bags at midnight was not the fun way we had planned to spend our last night on the cruise.

 

We thought we were safe with the second departure ticket, but somehow in the chaos were herded to a line that led to deck 2 and somehow were behind those with later departure times. Then.....in sight of the exit to the pier, the line came to a complete halt as disembarkation had been halted and customs officials boarded the ship (someone caught with something). There we were all packed in the hall like sardines, hot and very irritated. I think they just let all the departure colors go in rapid fire order so they could get people off the ship and clean it for the next cruise. :mad: Let's see...our revised departure time was 9AM, we got off the ship at just before 11. Thank goodness our daughter and her luggage made her 11:50 flight and thank goodness we didn't send her off express departure with those on deck 4. She had never cruised before and we thought it might be too confusing, especially pulling a full size suitcase as well as her carryon.

 

What a ridiculous and unecessary ordeal. :mad: If there's a departure delay just handle it in a professional and considerate manner!

 

I want my survey back Royal Caribbean!