We had a strange disembarkation 3/28

[dsawyer]

I was on the same voyage with the OP. We used the Southwest checkin at the pier and there was no charge.

 

When we saw the lady with the sign, we asked her if we had to have purchased transfers or if this was available for anyone flying on Southwest. She said anyone.

 

Then we saw how long the line was and we said never mind and that we would check in at the airport. We already had printed our boarding passes on the ship.

 

She strongly encouraged us to check in there as the line at the airport was going to be even longer. We took her advice and it also took us about 30 minutes to check in.

 

When we reached the front of the line, they took our bags but printed out new boarding passes for us.

 

The lines to get the taxis were also long but we didn't have luggage so it wasn't too bad.

 

When we reached the airport, we were so glad we had already checked our bags. The lines on the curb and at the Southwest desk were unreal but we just bypassed them and went to the gate.

 

Not so fast!!! The line to get through security was the longest I have ever seen but we weren't in a particular hurry so we didn't panic.

 

My thoughts about Southwest checkin at the pier is that they only do this at peak travel times like springbreak. In our case it was a zoo at FLL airport. :eek:

 

Also, Princess will always trade your tags for earlier disembarkation if you feel you might be cutting it too close.

 

We could have missed it but we did not see a "Bags to go" service.

[west coast cruiser]

I really think the way to go from now on is to stay overnight after desembarking.

Princess transfers are a good deal when you consider the relief from stress.

WCC

[dsawyer]

We were told that the last Princess transfer buses leave at 8:30 a.m. which means a long wait at the airport if one has an aftenoon flight.

[nailsmhc79]

Hello Aquarian...Choochella and Seafish......Mars checking in....Thanks for the great information. I am looking to book a Southwest flight back to Pittsburgh after our Panama Canal cruise in October. We were thinking of doing self-embarkation to save the hassle of searching for the luggage and it looks like the Princess shuttle will be the way to go instead of a taxi.

[dsawyer]

Hello Aquarian...Choochella and Seafish......Mars checking in....Thanks for the great information. I am looking to book a Southwest flight back to Pittsburgh after our Panama Canal cruise in October. We were thinking of doing self-embarkation to save the hassle of searching for the luggage and it looks like the Princess shuttle will be the way to go instead of a taxi.

 

 

Even if you use the Princess shuttle, one has to still check in their own luggage at the aiprort.

 

The airport is where the real madhouse was not the pier.

[Garn]

Actually, I think what caused a lot of the chaos is that the Ruby was over an hour late getting into FLL due to problems recovering the lifeboat in Princess Cays. I was on early walkoff (7:10 am), but we didn't get out until almost 9:00- and we were the first group off. I think Princess could have done a much better job communicating about what was going on, and I'm sure some folks missed their flight, but it's all part of cruising as far as I'm concerned.

[Garn]

Duh... I was thinking he was talking about the cruise that arrived this morning, which had departed 3/28... never mind. (My brain is still in post-cruise muddle)

[MichCook]

P.S. After experiencing that mess near the taxi's, I think I am going to purchase a Princess transfer to the airport when it's offered near the end of the cruise. It's more expensive, but it's simpler, especially when there are 5 ships in port.

 

We experienced the same long wait in line for a taxi coming off the Emerald. Last cruise we used the Princess transfer. It was much easier.

[rpach10115]

I was on the same cruise.

Here's what happened: As stated above, the ship left Princess Cays about 2 hours late because of the tender problem. At this time, the room stewards were leaving the meet times for disembarkation in the cabins. They never changed the meet times to make up for arriving later. This caused everybody to collect in the meeting places(Explorers, michaelangelo,club fusion, etc..). Since they were so press for time, because the first gorup was more than 2 hours late in getting off, they started to overload the system. They basically let the whole ship off in 45 minutes. Also, there were approx 400 crew members leaving the ship. I know, because they were with us in michaelangelo.

 

We were green 4, basically the last off, and were told to get off by 10:00. Our meeting time was 9:15. ALSO, the MSC Orchestra was disembarking directly in to the same area at the same time. This caused over 6000 people to be moved out of that area within approx 2 hours. The Sheriff was making a lane outside the terminals for the taxis just to get in. This caused the traffic to really back up. NONE of the taxis could get in. The traffic attendentas were completely overwhelmed. It did not work very well. You should have seen it. I have taken 7 cruises from PE, never have I seen it so bad.:eek:

 

We got lucky and got a cab in about 15 minutes, but I could se that there could be people that could have been there for MUCH longer..l If you could picture it, It was complete beldam. The worst I have ever seen.

 

And to top it off, the OP had problems with Southwest. I saw that southwest line @ 10:00am, it was VERY long and did not look orginized at all. We had a 12:00pm filght on delta and made it to the airport by 10:45. Not too bad. The traffic was pretty bad for a saturday morning.

 

But the OP really does have a legitimate gripe. I was there and saw it myself.:eek:

[DanJ]

I was on the same cruise.

 

I read the OP to say they were disembarking on the 28th, while you were embarking that day.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

P.S. After experiencing that mess near the taxi's, I think I am going to purchase a Princess transfer to the airport when it's offered near the end of the cruise. It's more expensive, but it's simpler, especially when there are 5 ships in port.

 

I always get the porters to take my bags and they always get me a taxi right away no matter how big the crowd is. It's well worth the tip. After I'm off the ship the only thing on my mind is getting home as fast as i can.

 

Bill

[rpach10115]

I read the OP to say they were disembarking on the 28th, while you were embarking that day.

 

 

My Bad, I read the dates too quickly.

 

WELL, the same thing happened on 04/04/2009.

Sorry for the dates mixup.

 

I guess they didn't fix the problems from the week before because yestarday 04/04/2009 was complete bedlam.

[Colo Cruiser]

Can you suggest a scanner that would pick up the ships frequencies?Thanks!

 

 

Although not cheap this is one of the best out there...

 

http://www.greamerica.com/PSR-500.html

[SanFranCruizer]

I, too, was on the Ruby Princess that disembarked on 4/4/09. It was the worst disembarkation I have ever experienced! We finally got through the customs line and then spent over an hour outside. My parents drove and to get the car and bring it to the pick up area took 45 mins. The whole thing was a total nightmare. No one on Princess communicated much of anything. All of the info I heard about why we left Princess Cays late I heard from other passengers.:(

[Garn]

No one on Princess communicated much of anything. All of the info I heard about why we left Princess Cays late I heard from other passengers.:(

You must have been somewhere that you couldn't hear. The Captain made several announcements over the PA (and the whole ship PA, not just the public area one) about the problems recovering the lifeboat, and the impact that it would have- although these announcements were all on Friday- the did a lousy job of communicating yesterday.

[dsawyer]

I think its going to be a zoo at Ft. Lauderdale airport until spring break time is over right after Easter. Especially on the weekends.

 

I thought the economy was so bad? Not happening in Fort Lauderdale.

 

It did seem Southwest Airlines was the busiest but can't say for sure.

 

It must be because they have pretty decent prices, don't charge for the 2nd bag and get you to you destination in a more timely manner than the major airlines do. :)

[Aquarian]

Thanks to all of you who posted. What I still can't understand is why if our boarding passes weren't being approved on the SW computer, why didn't they just issue new ones? It sounds like others have endured some of the same craziness we experienced on the 28th. We have always used Princess transfers in the past. This was the first time we tried it on our own. We were novices and the circumstances couldn't have been worse for first-timers. We have been on 9 cruises, but this was the first time we tried to hail a cab at the pier. I'm really not sure what we will do in the future. It was fun hearing from all my neighbors in the Butler, PA area. I had no idea there were so many Princess fans around here, especially when all the advertising in SW PA is for Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Again, thanks to all for their input and advice. BTW, we were listening intently for colors being called in Club Fusion. I'm guessing that the Captain's Circle Hostess did not receive the colors properly from her source.

[mjkbaok]

You must have been somewhere that you couldn't hear. The Captain made several announcements over the PA (and the whole ship PA, not just the public area one) about the problems recovering the lifeboat, and the impact that it would have- although these announcements were all on Friday- the did a lousy job of communicating yesterday.

 

 

We were on the cruise with you and I agree that the communication on Saturday morning was lousy (non-existent). I heard several announcements on Friday about the problems with the lifeboat and also the captain made a final one when we finally left. He said that we would be an hour late but they never said what we should do the following morning. We had Orange 1 disembarkation at 8:10 in club fusion so we just wandered down there at 8:20 (still hadn't been cleared by customs at that time so there was no hurry). We had bought the princess transfers so didn't really have any problems once our color was called. Waited about 2 minutes for the bus to fill up and off we went. The Ruby was awesome:D

[peppygirl]

We kind of ran into this same thing on our last cruise on the Crown. We are also platinum, but since we were sailing with other friends who were first timers, we did not go to the Platinum lounge. Our disembarkation point was the Wheelhouse Lounge. We arrived far before our color tag was to be called. We waited almost 40 minutes, when I asked a crew member about our color tag. She stated it was called 20 minutes prior. We never heard it. Luckily, we were able to disembark, but already had a shuttle waiting for us that we had prearranged. This is the first time we ever ran into this situation.

 

PS By the way, I see you are from Butler. I live in Saxonburg. Welcome neighbor!!

 

that sounds like a nightmare! Good idea to pre arrange shuttle service, though; never thought of that

 

ps too I'm originally from Butler and now live in Monaca (Beaver Co) Howdy neighbors!!;)

[Aquarian]

Hey we're glad to hear from another former Butler Countian. How long have you lived in Beaver County?

[peppygirl]

We kind of ran into this same thing on our last cruise on the Crown. We are also platinum, but since we were sailing with other friends who were first timers, we did not go to the Platinum lounge. Our disembarkation point was the Wheelhouse Lounge. We arrived far before our color tag was to be called. We waited almost 40 minutes, when I asked a crew member about our color tag. She stated it was called 20 minutes prior. We never heard it. Luckily, we were able to disembark, but already had a shuttle waiting for us that we had prearranged. This is the first time we ever ran into this situation.

 

By the way, I see you are from Butler. I live in Saxonburg. Welcome neighbor!!

sounds like a nightmare; never thought to pre arrange shuttle service; thanks for that tip.

pss..I'm from Butler also but live in Monaca (Beaver county) howdy neighbors:)

[monicasmom]

Lawrence Co. here! We just got off Ruby Apr.4. It really was awesome!

[peppygirl]

since 2003; all my family still live Butler; small world; hi Lawrence Co and Mars!!!

[Aquarian]

To all of my neighbors who responded. It's freezing and snowing here in SW PA and don't we all wish we were on a cruise?

[seafish]

Aquarian - Yea ... don't you just love the snow. Just covered the flowers (again) got fooled by the temporary burst of sun shine. Working right now on final tour arrangement for an upcoming cruise to cure the cabin fever. Take care - SeaFish