Coral Princess-Disembarkation disaster

[Cruisin' Chick]

Disembarkation started late on our Hawaiian cruise, I think because the immigration folks boarded late. We just relaxed as we were getting picked up for our ride back home (just had to contact the dispatcher for the car service we've booked to tell them we weren't getting off the ship at our predetermined time). We're the type someone mentioned above, locals who weren't going to try to get ahead of others. Our ride wasn't going to cost us more no matter how long the driver was going to wait and we were just coming home to home.

 

We did leave the ship at 11:10.

[c-legs]

It seems that most passengers have very little understanding of Customs/Immigration/ Disembarkation (not disembarkment) regulations and procedures in America.

 

Whenever an international carrier (like a cruise ship) that is not on a "Closed Loop Voyage" (Google this term if you do not understand it), enters the USA, all passengers MUST go through US Immigration (not necessarily Customs) at the first port of entry. That's what you did at Bar Harbor.

 

When an international carrier (like a cruise ship), on a closed loop voyage or not, concludes that voyage in a US Port, all passengers MUST go through US Customs (but not necessarily Immigration) in that final port. That's what you did in Fort Lauderdale.

 

When any ship goes through US Immigration or Customs procedures, the ship's clearance officers contact the US Customs and Border Protection Offices several days before arrival. The US Officials at that point dictate when, where, and how the inspection is to take place. They decide which rooms are to be used for the inspection, how bright the lights are to be, how many entrances, exits, and lines there are to be, whether or not background music is allowed, what and when they are to be served to eat and drink during the inspection, and many other details. There is no discussion on any of these issues. The US Government makes ALL the decisions.

In Fort Lauderdale this week, the US Government changed all those rules for your cruise at the last minute.

 

Now a little note on how labor laws work on ships. Most passsengers don't understand that either.

 

The ILO (International Labor Organization) permits ship's crew to work an absolute maximum of 13 hours per day, with an absolute minimum break of 6 consecutive hours in a 24 hour period. All working hours are tracked manually and signed by crew and managers. At the end of each week and month, these tracking sheets go to the head office and are available for inspection by the ILO. Any violations of this 13 hours per day rule result in huge fines for the cruise line, and managers getting fired.

 

On the final day/night of your cruise, as the ship is approaching a US Port, all Galley and dining room staff are up most of the night cleaning. They must have the ship spotless for any US Public Health Department surprise inspection. All the housekeeping staff are up all night - either cleaning or collectiing your suitcases. These departments comprise about 80% of the crew. All of these people hit their 13 hour quota and must get a few hours rest at some point - because tomorrow is the busiest day of the week - and they cannot go over their 13 hour quota tomorrow either. And somebody has to clean all the cabins in the morning and cook and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

The remaining 20% of the crew are Deck, Engine, Entertainers, and Concessionaires. Deck and Engine staff are posted on specific watch hours. Entertainers and concessionaires have separate contracts that exclude them from most duties not related to their jobs. The Hotel Department generally cannot touch these people for any extra help.

 

So US Customs changes all the rules at the last minute, throwing the entire system into chaos. The ship has to make last minute changes to the customs/ disembarkation (not disembarkment) process. Who are they going to recruit to help out with the additional crowd control issues? There is nobody left. Everyone is either on a legally mandated rest period, already working, or exempt by contract. So they make do with whoever is available.

 

The result is your so-called "disaster". Although I tend to think of a "disaster" as something more like the "Titanic Disaster", or the "9/11 Disaster".

 

Cooler headed people might describe your Ft Lauderdale experience as annoying, disappointing, disturbing, but probable not life-changing.

 

Life goes on.

BruceMuzz

Thank you for your clarifications, ;very valid and pertinent. You are right in saying lots of cruisers are unaware of the specific perspectives you are presenting, and their logistic impact on the whole disembarkation/ embarkation ''turn around day '' routine.

I had the ''good fortune'' of spending time as a part-timer meet'n'greet , shoreside assigned at pretty well all tasks,for a couple of cruise lines here in Vancouver.

Took me very little time to give my head a shake and modify my previous views on how ''screwed up everything was '' ( as a cruiser ).

Shipboard logistics are as involved and over stressing as you portray them , on turnaround day, the worst of any cruise days on any and all cruises.

Thanks for your valued contribution to all of us.

Cheers

:);)

[billie5]

Bruce,

I agree. Thanks for a very enlightening contribution.

 

Bill

[Dustyone]

Pack a little lighter and try to use the self-disembarkation - you will be the 1st of the ship but not necessarily on time. If there is a delay the entire process backs up and groups scheduled for later disembarkation often cause congestion with those who have been delayed. Our last 2 Princess cruises (Diamond & Emerald) had disembarkation delays for whatever reason, causing a backup and some very irate passengers. Becoming irate does not help the situation - I have tried to think of methods to alleviate the problem ie passengers could stay in cabins until called, however, the cabins must be ready for the new passengers to embark so this probably would not be a suitable solution. It just seems to be a problem with the larger ships and I don't think it will be disappearing anytime soon. At LAX our disembarkation delay almost made us miss our flight - it was a Saturday so perhaps lighter traffic was in our favour. When US Immigration causes the delay there is absolutely nothing the Cruise Line can do. We are all at the Government's mercy. On our last 2 HAL cruises we did the walkoff disembarkation and everything went smoothly - thats why I think the smaller the ship the simpler the problem. I have also wondered if there is an Immigration process problem when a ship is not sailing on 7 day increments ie a ship on a 10 day schedule will return to port on a different day for each sailing - where do the additional immigration officers come from for those shifts ie. if a ship comes in every 7 days, Immigration is able to schedule a regular shift. I do not know how Immigration shifting of personnel works but I suspect there would be a scheduling issue with the non 7 day increment sailings??:confused::confused:

[Mary Ellen1]

Thanks, BruceMuzz. I had no idea about the labor regulations you describe. Very interesting. Now that you mention it, it seems to me that you see fewer staff around the ship on the last morning. You've explained why. Thanks again.

 

Mary Ellen

[WeBeGone]

After experiencing one similar horrible disembarkation, we now purposely try to be the last ones off the ship. We're off around 10ish. Saves on the nerves and is a restful way to end the cruise. Of course we're lucky enough to drive but even if we were flying, I'd book a late flight.

[Cruisin' Chick]

After experiencing one similar horrible disembarkation, we now purposely try to be the last ones off the ship. We're off around 10ish. Saves on the nerves and is a restful way to end the cruise. Of course we're lucky enough to drive but even if we were flying, I'd book a late flight.

 

We try to kick back and relax. It did help that the last two times we didn't leave from L.A., we were staying post-cruise. Then it doesn't matter how soon we get off the ship. I wouldn't recommend anyone trying to leave a ship in the Ports of LA or Long Beach and attempting to make a flight at LAX anytime before noon. Even on a weekend, there could be tons of traffic on the 405 freeway, and if you can't get off the ship early enough...you could risk missing your flight.

[mwcashi]

Jane,

 

We got wind of the confusion before we got down into the frey. One of our daughters went down before us and was verbally abused by other passengers who thought she was trying to cut in line. We talked to several others who confirmed the chaos. We waited in the library or walked the Promenade. By 10:30 the line had dwindled and we got off with no hassle and since the bulk of the luggage was already claimed we quickly found ours. We met many fine people on the cruise and I hate to think that the ordeal soured so many of our fellow passengers.

 

If anything, I would fault the crew for allowing so many passengers to gather for the immigration when they were not ready. This was our fifth cruise with Princess and I won't let this one experience taint our overall impression of the line.

[bhopal21]

We had a similar experience leaving The Island in February at FLL. We were in the express walk off group waiting in the Wheelhouse bar and they mistakenly released the Universe Lounge group and then called into the Wheelhouse and said "Oops". You can imagine what the line looked like by then.

 

Mike:)

[Margarita Jane]

Early disembarkation was not working last Saturday. Most of the ship, no matter what color luggage tags, or if they were early disembarkation, were all in line at the same time for immigration. Everyone on the ship got a letter saying they had to go through immigration, and were assigned a time to show up for immigration. They were also given a time to meet in a lounge or library or whatever at a later time to await being called to get off the ship.

 

After going through immigration, you were given a little green card, which allowed you to get off the ship when your color was called. So, even if you had no luggage, you could not get off the ship until you had one of those little green cards...supposedly.

 

It was not a problem to collect luggage in the terminal - everyone was so late getting off the ship that all the luggage was lined up and ready to be picked up.

 

My whole point is that this was a dangerous situation with so many people in one location on the ship, and no organization. It could have been avoided by having people report to the lounge/library/whatever first, and then called to immigration. Yes, we still would have been getting off the ship late, but there would have been order.

 

By the way, after getting my little green card, there was an announcement for "all available crew to meet on deck 5 to welcome the new crew coming aboard". So, it appears there must have been some available crew during this mess.

 

~ Jane

[gooch47]

Every time someone posts asking how early they can get off the ship because they have an early flight, I think about situations like this. We've been in several of them and now usually stay an extra day after the cruise just like we always stay an extra day before.

[financialgrl]

Every time someone posts asking how early they can get off the ship because they have an early flight, I think about situations like this. We've been in several of them and now usually stay an extra day after the cruise just like we always stay an extra day before.

 

I agree. To me, part of the cost of a cruise is staying the day before and after for the stress factor alone. Two years ago I used RCI ship transfers back to the airport - I was staying at a hotel AP for an extra night and just took the AP shuttle back to the hotel. The terminal was only about 20 minutes from the AP so I figured they had several minivans that caravanned transfer passengers back and forth. Surprised to find they had one pretty new very large bus. We were not off until 10:30 am. I was shocked to find those off at 8:00am had been on the bus for 3 hours and they were furious. The bus left early because some woman had booked an 11:30 flight (literature warns not to do so before 1pm but that's another issue). She created such a scene RCI decided to call separate cabs for the final 3 not yet on the bus when we left.

 

I now just take my time, let the crowds disappear and get my own tranportation back to my hotel. Cheaper and not at the whim of anyone else - easier all the way around.

[Gypsy025]

After reading the many posts about the disembarkation on this particular ship, it would appear that, because of a last minute change by Homeland Security, no matter how much preplanning was done by Princess, nothing would have prevented the 'chaos'.

Maybe the only solution (from a Monday morning quarter back) would have been if everyone was locked into his/her cabin and only allowed (unlocked) to leave at say 25 at a time to proceed to US Immigration/Customs area and then 'allowed' to disembark.

Unfortunately, there are people who feel that any issued instructions don't apply to them. Have you experienced those who disregard the following and there are many more examples?

- 'please assemble in your designated area and wait to be called'

- 'please do not block the entrance to the gangway'

- 'please do not wait on the stairways'

- 'for guests on ship's tours, please do not report to your designated area until the time stated on your tour ticket'

- 'for guests on ship's tours, please do not report to your designated until all members of your group are present, otherwise you might not be on the same bus'

[Ferndale Girl]

If everything goes smoothly - what is the procedure that we should expect in Ft Lauderdale at the end of a Panama Canal cruise? Are there forms to fill out? Thank you.

[caribill]

If everything goes smoothly - what is the procedure that we should expect in Ft Lauderdale at the end of a Panama Canal cruise? Are there forms to fill out? Thank you.

 

You will receive a form several days before the end of the cruise asking for your flight or other arrangements when you reach the port. Based on your answer, you will be issued luggage tags and told what time you would be expected to report where to disembark. (The time is when to report. Actualy disembarkation for your color tag will normally be around that time, but could be delayed.)

 

When disembarking you will need to go though immigration and customs on shore. The normal customs declaration form will have been delivered to your cabin and will need to have been filled out to give to customs.

[Shoalwater]

They should read this thread. So many say yes, go ahead and book that early flight, no problem. Well, sounds like from time to time there is. We disembarked in FLL once and had no problem getting off the ship, but then had to mix it up with the other 15,000 PAX from the 6 other mega cruise ships that also disembarked, not to mention the equal number of new PAX starting to arrive to board the ships. There was little to no mass transit as the first wave that left got caught up in a trafffic jam trying to re-enter the port. We always book a 1600 hrs flight out of FLL. That way, when things like this happen we find a quiet seat at the bar, sip coffee or whatever and read or play some cards. No stress because sure as shootin, the ship wants you off so they can leave again.

[Ferndale Girl]

Caribill: Thanks for the info. We're going to sign up for the ship excursion to the Everglades that will end up at the airport. For some reason you can't pre-book this excursion. I hope it all works out.

[cacy6893076]

brucemuzz---thank you for your level headedness as well .....really , end of story.......many people really don't realize that while they are sleeping the crew is working 'round the clock and the frenzy gets more so between time of disembark- embark of the next voyage. The crew has a tough 24 hour turn-around period and must be ready with welcoming smiles by embarkation time in the afternoon. The combo of the sapphire coming in as well added to the confusion and as you said she was on an lax rt voyage

whereas the coral had hit aruba coming form a distant foreign port. I wish people would be more understanding of labor laws and the crew's responsibilities and duties, need to rest, etc. It certainly would not be something i could sustain for even a 3 month depolyment. Takes a certain breed. Thanks again for a clear potrait of the situational -operational needs/requirements.

[caribill]

We're going to sign up for the ship excursion to the Everglades that will end up at the airport. For some reason you can't pre-book this excursion. I hope it all works out.

 

 

On all the Princess ships, you cannot normally book disembarkation day excursions until you are onboard. Even then, it may be several days into the cruise before they offer those excursions.

[GloriaF]

Sorry - they were longshoremen. Princess for the most part had their act together for our disembarkation. The first group disembarked at 7:15 (those who were carrying their own luggage out). We also had the normal crowds and people blocking entrances but our ship cleared right away and people were able to disembark. We just couldn't get our luggage once we disembarked.

 

Coral - Just to set the record straight, Bob & I were doing the self disembarkation from the same cruise, and were to meet in Michaelangelo DR at 7:15. We were there in plenty of time, just to be told that the ramp on shore that was supposed to connect to deck 5 was not working and we had to wait in the DR and go in small groups in the elevators to deck 6. It was about 8 am before we were off. "Red 1,2,3,4" was also meeting in the MDR and started coming in before we were out, which made getting out with luggage a little tricky. It was very crowded on the ship, but once on land things went smoothly. We walked straight through immigration, and taxis were waiting with no line. We were at the rental car desk at the airport by 8:20.

 

Things could have gone more smoothly if:

1- the port had notified the ship earlier that the ramp was not working.

2- people did not rush out the door when asked to wait their turn.

 

Still, if you just go with the flow and don't get all bent out of shape, it all works out in the end. It certainly didn't ruin our cruise.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a problem with the luggage. When you are traveling with Flo and Bunny, you have enough to take care of without added headaches about luggage being late.

[Zephyrguy]

I agree whole heartedly with Jane and everyone else in the thread. This was a total disaster after a great trip. What a terrible screwup on Princess's part. What was really noticable was the lack of ship personnel anywhere in the area. I think I recall 2 maybe 3 helping with people in wheelchairs etc. I do recall that there was a change of ships personnel that were leaving and embarking of a new crew, so that I am sure entered the equasion. As someone siad, THANK GOD there was no fire or other disaster as it would have been bedlam for sure.:(

[SAPMAN]

This is why I try to schedule my flight 3-4 hours later than what would be considered normal. I can sit back, read, have a coffee, etc. while the masses crowd to get off. Isn't funny that people pay good money to get on and then can't wait to get off?

 

If Princess would have offered $50-$100 coupons for a future 7+ day cruise to those that waited in a remote area until the crowds were not an issue, would that have lessened the stampede?

[raysmithva]

The immigration officers were NOT late. From my cabin balcony, I saw all of them waiting dockside to board on time at 7 a.m. And there were a lot of them. I'm not sure of the exact count. I'm always surprised at how easily people believe that "the government" is always to blame. Several years ago an airline pilot went on the PA system to tell passengers that the flight delay was caused by "air traffic controllers." The FAA Administrator was on board and had a flight attendant take his business card up to the pilot. The pilot came back on the PA system and explained the real situation, taking back what he said about ATC. Don't always accept "it's the government's fault" for a reason.

[yyzatcqq]

They should read this thread.

 

I'm here... and I'm still not changing my flight from 0850. If I make it... great! If I don't... oh well. It won't stress me out. Hell if my job doesn't stress me out, trying to make an 0850 flight sure wont!

[raysmithva]

 

When any ship goes through US Immigration or Customs procedures, the ship's clearance officers contact the US Customs and Border Protection Offices several days before arrival. The US Officials at that point dictate when, where, and how the inspection is to take place. They decide which rooms are to be used for the inspection, how bright the lights are to be, how many entrances, exits, and lines there are to be, whether or not background music is allowed, what and when they are to be served to eat and drink during the inspection, and many other details. There is no discussion on any of these issues. The US Government makes ALL the decisions.

In Fort Lauderdale this week, the US Government changed all those rules for your cruise at the last minute.

 

So US Customs changes all the rules at the last minute, throwing the entire system into chaos. The ship has to make last minute changes to the customs/ disembarkation (not disembarkment) process.

 

 

I do not believe these statements to be completely accurate. I do not believe that the US Government would dictate conditions that could lead to passenger endangerment with over a thousand people trying to get through a single line. I do not believe that the captain of the vessel would be forced to accept these conditions. I do not believe that the US Government "changed all those rules . . . at the last minute." I would welcome specific proof of your allegations. It's always easy to blame the government.

 

Even if your allegations are correct, the cruise ship can and should have a contingency plan for such occurrences. As many people have pointed out, there are several options for the ship crew under these circumstances.

 

I experienced the disembarkation of the Coral Princess in LA :eek: and please don't tell me to "get over it." :p It did not have to be that bad. And it was the Coral Princess--not "the government"--that could have fixed the situation.