cruisestitch

Yes, passengers who didn't follow instructions made it worse for all of us, but if the Customs/Immigration staff had shown up on time, and gotten the process started in a timely manner, and brought the correct equipment to scan the ESTA forms, it would have all gone much more smoothly.

And knowing that passengers don't always follow instructions, Celebrity staff could have made the entire process go better if they had communicated better why the green forms were needed, and if they had walked the lines making sure that each and every passenger had everything they needed prior to getting to the place where the SeaPass cards were being scanned and we were sent on to see the Customs/Immigration official.

I'm surprised no one has reported on this yet. But most of the people severely affected probably aren't home yet.

Here is what took place.

On the Eclipse TA which ended Saturday in FLL, the actual first point of US entry was St. Thomas. We then went to Nassau, and ended in Florida.

All passengers (and crew) had to formally enter the US there.

We were given times to line up, starting at around 7 a.m. One set of lines for US and Canadian passengers, one set for all others.

The non-US/Canadians were all given green forms to fill out. Most did not, because the forms are now obsolete, since approximately June, and they figured that the forms were handed out in error.

The US/Canada line was painfully slow -- it took 45 minutes to an hour to get to the person who glanced at your passport and waived you on.

But this was nothing compared to the non US/Canada folks, who should have been able to have their documents scanned by the Immigration officers. However, after showing up late, and then demanding that their check-in tables be moved from their original (pre-approved) locations, the Customs/Immigrations officers revealed that they had brought no scanning equipment and all the non US/Canadians would have to have their documents (the green forms) dealt with manually.

It meant filling out the green form after all, and then waits of one to two hours to get through the line, for the 1600 British and all the rest of the non US/Canadian passengers.

Needless to say, there were lots of angry passengers, lots of people missed shore excursions (Celebrity shore excursions were held to allow for late passengers, but private excursions were all messed up). After about one hour the Captain announced that the ship would stay an extra hour in port to make up for the time missed, however, by then some passengers had already made their way ashore, so they never got that announcement and hurried back to the ship at the previously announced time.

The Captain made a "thank you for your patience but this was all beyond Celebrity's control, it was all Customs/Immigrations fault" which wasn't entirely accurate. There were many things that Celebrity could have done to make the lines move quicker, for instance, having someone walk down the line to make sure that passengers all brought both their passports and SeaPass cards, because astonishingly, some did not. Some passengers brought all the passports for their whole family, even though the instructions clearly stated that each person had to present themselves individually. Some had forgotten their SeaPass cards and held up the line with stupid comments like "I know my stateroom number, isn't that enough?" Some even tried arguing with the Customs/Immigration officials. Like that was going to work.

Later, the Captain announced that because we had all cleared, we would not have to go through Immigration in Florida again.

WRONG! A day later, a letter was sent to all staterooms, telling us that because we had left the US to go to Nassau, we WOULD have to go through the entire process again in Florida.

Many passengers felt like the Captain's declaration that we would not have to go through Customs/Immigration in Florida was a deliberate lie, said to keep people from going to Guest Relations and pitching fits. And they may have been right.

The overwhelming sentiment I heard was "well, we won't be coming back to the US after this treatment ever again."

I can only imagine what it will be like next year when Eclipse's first port of entry will be New York City.

Good job!

Try Celebrity Captain's Club Zenith level --

you get an image of a woman coming out of a swimming pool and "3000+ points"

If you order Anytime Dining, you're on a different cruise line :)

A choice of shower gel or soap will be the main enhancement announced later today when the new levels of Captain's Club roll out, replacing the cocktails and vouchers offered previously :):):)

"On. My last cruise I was told fleet wide the second day is a formal night."

Not necessarily so. On the Eclipse transatlantic, the first formal night was not on the second day. It was on the third day.

Eclipse disembarkation this morning after the TA was slow, slow, slow. Not enough porters, either. That one really mystifies me.....why they can't have enough porters, and failing that, why they can't provide luggage trolleys. It was a long, uncomfortable process. No luggage valet, either, not unexpected after a TA.

The website. And the website. And did I mention the website? It's my least favorite thing about Celebrity.

And I can't figure out why their Mexican food at the lunch buffet is so awful.

But mostly, for me, it's the website!

Scanners are the size airports use. A 28" case probably won't go through. Your 22" should be fine, as would a soft suit bag or large tote bags. You will need to take the port bus to get from the terminal to the ship at Port Liberty

Currently on Eclipse. There is a collection box for cash donations at Guest Relations. Nice to see.

Yes but not for morning flights. I think that flights have to be after 2:00 or so

What port? What airline? What airport?

For FLL or MUA that is too early

Would that every cruise could be as you describe... Good ship, good crew, good food, good weather, sounds like the perfect combination. We wish you Good Luck to complete the package.

Remember the Sequestration? The automatic spending cuts? Fewer TSA agents, fewer CBP agents, longer lines to get off cruise ships, longer lines to get onto planes. What was easy prior to that action became much more difficult, thus the advice that if you once=upon=a=time made early flights post-cruise, that experience might not be predictive of what today's passengers might face.

Yes, deck 8 on Reflection. Thanks for the correction.

On the Celebrity website you can see deck plans of the ship. Those two rooms are, as I am sure you know, on opposite sides of the ship, but they are relatively close to each other. To walk between them you would cross at the elevator. The deck plans can be enlarged if the room numbers are hard to see -- just hit the symbol in the gray box in the upper right hand corner of the deck plan and you will get an enlarged view.

It's a small area on deck 7 with some chairs and tables, and often a coffee station. On some cruises it becomes a teen-age hangout. On others it's empty. Do a search of this board and you can find a photograph of some of the ball-shaped chairs there. Just a relatively quiet spot for reading most of the time.

One cruise I happened to be assigned the table closest to the entry door and watched as men were handed jackets which were conveniently hung on a clothes tree just inside the entrance but out of the way. Some sheepishly took the jacket and walked on into the dining room, some refused and left. Also saw men in shorts turned away. It was a most interesting place to sit.

The dress code is unevenly enforced, but men need to be aware that it is possible that they won't be allowed into the dining room on formal nights without a jacket.

( By the way, appropriate dress for ladies might also be an issue. One night a scantily clad woman was also asked to cover up with a shawl or sweater. She was, as they say, nearly falling out of her dress. (Also nearly falling down from too much drink). She waited at an empty table nearby just inside the door while her companion left and returned a few minutes later with a beautiful Spanish shawl for her. )

see this press release:

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/11024491_CEL_SpecialtyDiningPck_Flyer2.pdf

"I would suggest using Luggage Valet or whatever Celebrity calls it." but for the flight the OP originally was interested in , this would not have been available, as the flight was too early. Now that a later flight has been booked, this might be a viable option. With no large suitcases in tow, you could take a taxi over to Las Olas area, and find a nice outdoor cafe for brunch/lunch, then make your way to the airport. With Luggage Valet you get your boarding pass while on the ship, so you would go straight to the Security screening line and head for your gate.

Question to all of you who successfully made those early flights: was that pre- or post- sequester?

And here's a scenario to consider . Friends booked the cruise at xyz dollars then added the cruise tour which increased their total to abc dollars .

It sure looks to me that they should get the original cruise price of xyz dollars back.

Adding the tour should not have lowered the price of the cruise portion.

Thoughts?

The last time possible will be around 10:00. Breakfast service ends around 8:30 and there really isn't much to do while you are hanging around the ship. Pools are closed, most public areas that aren't being used for disembarking passengers are being cleaned.

You might look into staying an extra day in Fort Lauderdale. That early flight the next morning might have an attractive price, and you might come out ahead.

When you put the phone into airplane mode, you need to manually turn the wifi on. While Airplane Mode does turn Wi-Fi off by default, it doesn't prevent you from turning it back on.

From Apple Support:

When you enable airplane mode from the Settings screen, an airplane icon () appears in the status bar at the top of the screen and the following wireless connections and services are turned off:

Cellular (voice and data)

Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

GPS

Location services

If allowed by the aircraft operator and applicable laws and regulations, you can re-enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth while in airplane mode:

Wi-Fi: While airplane mode is on, tap Settings > Wi-Fi, then turn Wi-Fi on and choose a Wi-Fi network.