Constellation disembarking mess

[gold1953]

I have sailed on Celebrity and Carnival. There were non US citizens on both lines who did not show up to customs. A group of 4 on Carnival when 'found' said "we thought there would be long lines so we went to breakfast first ". There were a few on Celebrity also who had to be found. There were not enough customs agents to process all the folks in a timely fashion after the Panama cruise in San Diego, so this slowed things down. Sometimes customs are looking for something or someone that we can't we told about.

Many folks decided to go before their calls and clogged hallways.

Just look how fast we can all get off in a port! We don't have customs to pass through!!! Yes ,many stay on in ports but it still flows much faster.

This past Jan. was very bad as it was soon after the airline security breach so the customs were 'doing there job'. We flew in from Canada where alirlines were just as bad ( worse) The men all got goosed :eek:as buddy had his bomb in his underwear. The agents really did not see the humour when my husband asked for a lady when his turn came. The lines there were just like on the ship. Folks in them that should not have been, way ahead of their schedules.

[ARetiredGuy]

In March, I emailed a message to Celebrity expressing my dissatisfaction with its San Diego disembarkation process. To date, I have not received a response. Celebrity doesn't even have the courtesy to respond to its clients. This was the first cruise with them and will be the last. I'll stick with Holland America.

 

Since the Panama Canal cruise was a 13-day cruise and they ruined 1/2 a day, I support all of us sending a request for a 1/26th refund of our cabin charge.

[DocJohnB]

I'm not sure if the missing passengers were fellow Canadians or not. I do think that there was some confusion created when the Celebrity TODAY stated as disembarkation info: "US & Canadian Citizens : The inspection will be held in the cruise ship terminal after disembarking the vessel." I believe it was a memo under our door that stated we now needed to go to the Bar at the Edge of the Earth. I was in a cabin with 2 other women & one of them picked up the memo & placed it on the desk with the tons of other papers that had accumulated. I never saw the memo until later that last day. This was the first time I've ever had to go through customs on board & I was surprised. If a similar thing happened to the people that didn't report on time to immigration, then I think perhaps Celebrity does need to look into the situation. They could have made announcements stressing that there was a CHANGE in the disembarkation process - the operative word being CHANGE so that people would realize that the information they'd already received was no longer valid. I have no idea why it took so long for the people being paged to report to immigration. Perhaps they were on deck partying or dozing with the intention of disembarking late, not realizing that NOBODY could get off the ship. Again, as per Celebrity TODAY: Please note: Celebrity Constellation will not be cleared for disembarkation until all NON-US & NON-CANADIAN GUESTS HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE IMMIGRATION INSPECTION. They may not have been aware that they were preventing the whole ship from beginning the disembarkation process!

 

Just a thought here: I believe that customs and immigration are two separate entities. All foreign nationals (non-American) undergo an immigration inspection . . . . this is normally held on board the ship and prior to disembarkation. Customs is indeed held "in the terminal after disembarking the vessel where luggage is subject to inspection". All passengers are required to go through customs. Perhaps this is where some of the confusion lies Snowbird.

 

As to ARetiredGuy's suggestion that "It is the crew of the Constellation that failed to present the Non-Americans and the Non-Canadians to immigration in a timely manner". That is absolutely absurd. It is the individual's responsibility, not Celebrity's, to present themselves in a timely manner. Each and every cruise I have been on repeated announcements are made for "so and so in cabin XXXX' to report for immigration processing. It usually starts out with a few cabin number numbers being called and works its' way frustratingly down to one or two.

 

Now ARetiredGuy's suggestion that "Celebrity arrange to have immigation board in Cabo and do the process while we were at sea on Friday?" is the best and only valid suggestion he makes. We have actually experienced this process in the Caribbean on a couple of occasions and it works . . . beautifully.

[DocJohnB]

I support all of us sending a request for a 1/26th refund of our cabin charge.

Now, the basis for your angst becomes apparent.

[Ma Bell]

He might want to send his request to the customs agents and passengers who caused the trouble.;)

[mmp13]

We had a similar issue on holland america cruising in and out of new york. embarkation delayed over 5 hours with no explanation and then, at the end of the cruise going through immigration to get off the ship. Everyone was given a time to go through but no one wanted to pay attention to assigned time. There was line that snaked through a narrow hallway into a very dark nite club. HAL was creative though. They managed to squeeze in tables with souveniers along the hallway for passangers to make last minute purchases. No crowd control just one more chance to make money!;)

 

We have been delayed getting on and off ships many times. Unfortunately when these delays occur at the end of the cruise I think they have more of an impact as passengers are already dissappointed that their vacation is ending etc. I think it also colors one's perspective of the cruise line since it is the last thing you remember. when delay is at the beginning of the cruise you have the whole cruise to enjoy and forget about it!

[Ma Bell]

Seriously, it's a shame when something like this happens, as it will occasionally, and there's not much the cruiseline can do about it. Some ports are notoriously worse than others for disembarcation as they just don't have good facilities. It is usually people not reporting that cause the problem.

[BBsails]

We were recently on the Constellations TA that ended in Hamburg. We were told that customs and immigration officials boarded in Rotterdam and cleared the ship, so we didn't have to present any documents before leaving. Yea! Despite that, disembarkation was a nightmare due to having only one (1) taxi line outside the ship with a huge number of passengers being herded to board the first taxi in line--only one person, couple or group at a time getting into a taxi. The backup was horrendous. Celebrity had personnel outside trying to get things moving, but it was still chaos. It's not only the US West Coast.

[mjane1999]

If I ever have a flight I am concerned about making I make sure I have the right color tag if I am setting out my luggage. If they give me the wrong ones I go to the desk and request the time that I need. They can't make you stay on the ship. If you think you are going to miss your flight speak up.People walk their bags off that have early flights or just because they want to get off early and they are usually the first ones off the ship which I have done also. The tags are for control purposes to make the process go smoother. Not to make anyone miss their flight over it.

[LINGBER]

I hate being herded into a waiting area to sit until our color is called. I really think this is one area that HAL has it right. (I know someone posted a problem with immigration on a NY sailing) but in general they do a great job making the experience pleasant. We have sailed with them in Europe and in Florida. We were never herded into a lounge to wait and wonder what is going on. A lounge that is usually crammed with people and their bags. Just got up and dressed, left our cabin about 8:30, went to breakfast and relaxed. Always off the ship no later than 10:00. They say you can stay in your cabin until they call you, but I always leave by a reasonable hour as they need to turn over the cabin. I prefer the announcements instead of being kept in the dark waiting for someone with a radio to decide if we need an update. The feeling of confinement to a specific area and the lack of announcements have a weird way of making the time pass more slowly.

[Ma Bell]

You are allowed to remain in your cabin on Celebrity too. You are given a time and usually it's only a few minutes from the time you arrive at your lounge until you disembark. This is something that happens only occasionally and with all cruiselines.

[uktog]

The disembarkation leaflet that comes to your cabin clearly suggests you arrive at your designated point 10 minutes before your allocated disembarktion time. Most times, if you follow that you will not be in a herded scenario. IF you have a delayed disembarkation, it will be clear things are backing up if you are in one of the later groups and you will usually find personnel directing you to other places in the ship ie the pool deck to wait for a period

The problem is usually those who decide, "I will just ignore this advice and squeeze into this already overcrowded space"

It is one time when an Elite perk is really helpful as I find Michaels Club or wherever they are using for Elites never gets crowded and the hostess always has a walkie talkie to find out info

I note someone says I will just go off regardless of the colour being called - this will not always work as sometimes in the luggage shed not all the colours are off loaded from the ship at once and sometimes (and rightly so for security reasons) they have later colours roped off to stop someone wandering in and helping themselves

 

The message in all this thread is actually quite simple, the one your mother is bound to have given you at least once in your life

 

Just do as you are told!!!

[stephenp]

having sailed on the Connie´s last Christmas cruise from Miami.

Let me tell you about your so called home land security.

 

Everybody was delayed leaving the ship because only 3 immigration officers were on duty. Non US and US were put into the same lines which later took over 4 hrs. We had to wait over 90 mins for our bags as no passengers came down to claim bags so no new ones came.

Having been on more that 40 cruises I will never cruise out of Miami again It is the worst Cruise terminal ever!!!!!! Fort lauderdale is much better.

 

Your so called immigration knew that over 2000 passengers were due to leave the Connie, sending only 3 officers was just a joke. This you cannot blame on anybody else the biggest problem is MIAMI !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thankfully we do not have these problems in Europe !!!

[MacThespian]

What would you do to solve the problem? Perhaps round up all the non-US citizens and keep them in a holding tank overnight, so that when the Immigration people come on board the next morning, they don't have to hunt for them? Perhaps have armed guards knock on their cabin doors at 4am, and physically escort them to the theater so they're ready for Immigration? How do you think that would play in the court of public opinion. Can you see the headlines on CNN??? "Cruise ship passengers forced to leave their cabins at an ungodly hour to pass Immigration inspection." If passengers get hacked off when their steak doesn't arrived perfectly prepared, can you see what would happen if any cruise line started employing police state tactics to get passengers to follow directives?

 

It makes no difference what ANY cruise line does. If the non-US citizens have their heads up their collective behinds and refuse to get themselves to the appointed room at the appointed time, what are they supposed to do?

 

Where, in God's name, does personal responsibility begin?

 

It's not only non-US citizens. I've been on cruises where US citizens decided they didn't have to go through customs and immigration. I don't blame Celebrity or DHS, I blame the pax who didn't show up.

 

The mess caused by releasing everyone at once, though--I'm not entirely sure. That might be X's fault, or it could have been in response to a DHS "request."

[CRUZBUDS]

It seems like most of our cruises are held up but non U.S. citizens not reporting to customs. Never to that extreme - but enough to be pissed off. When they start paging the same name and cabin number over and over --that's the tip off that they didn't bother to report to customs -and no one is going anywhere until they do.

 

U.S. citizens just hand their declarartion form to and agent as they leave the luggage area on the dock or sometimes at the foot of the gangway. They don't have to report anywhere -- (at least in San Diego)

[gold1953]

It seems like most of our cruises are held up but non U.S. citizens not reporting to customs. Never to that extreme - but enough to be pissed off. When they start paging the same name and cabin number over and over --that's the tip off that they didn't bother to report to customs -and no one is going anywhere until they do.

 

U.S. citizens just hand their declarartion form to and agent as they leave the luggage area on the dock or sometimes at the foot of the gangway. They don't have to report anywhere -- (at least in San Diego)

 

The thing is no one can start to leave the ship until all non- citizens report . Once the disembarking starts it is no longer related to citizenship. All I do as a Canadian is hand my slip over as you do. This is where US citizens are stopped and questioned if needed. This can hold the line up.

 

Pat

[boogs]

having sailed on the Connie´s last Christmas cruise from Miami.

Let me tell you about your so called home land security.

 

Everybody was delayed leaving the ship because only 3 immigration officers were on duty. Non US and US were put into the same lines which later took over 4 hrs. We had to wait over 90 mins for our bags as no passengers came down to claim bags so no new ones came.

Having been on more that 40 cruises I will never cruise out of Miami again It is the worst Cruise terminal ever!!!!!! Fort lauderdale is much better.

 

Your so called immigration knew that over 2000 passengers were due to leave the Connie, sending only 3 officers was just a joke. This you cannot blame on anybody else the biggest problem is MIAMI !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thankfully we do not have these problems in Europe !!!

 

Yeah, we in the US can't get anything right - not like you perfect Europeans! That is unless it's a volcano that is huffing and puffing a bit and then all of Europe gets so out of control the whole damn place shuts down! :D

 

Immigration is a problem when several ships arrive at nearly the same time. It's not only Miami - this could happen anywhere in any country. This happened to us in Ft. Lauderdale when at least six ships all arrived within minutes of each other. We were the first in line and we could see the row of ships behind us like a parade. There are only so many immigration people available, so when multiple ships arrive it's a problem. Most days there is only one ship, and sometimes none, so immigration can't afford to staff the port at full capacity all the time otherwise they'd be sitting on their butts most of the time. And then we bumbling idiots here in the US would be complaining about wasting our tax dollars! :confused: