Epic T.A. New York Disembarkation fiasco

[floating on a boat]

My observations tell me that "walk off" disembarkation should not be allowed. Passengers should be allocated coloured luggage tags and coloured identity cards which matched their luggage. The colours should correspond to the decks they occupied and should be adhered to - Yes, I know this was the intention but there didn't seem to be a way to enforce this. The problem was when it was announced that "walk off" (carring you own cases) was to commence, other passengers decided that they would disembark early. These people had obviously had their luggage taken off by NCL (or did they only pack an overnight bag or a backpack for a week - I don't think so). We sat patiently in the casino awaiting our turn to disembark,which was originally set for about 11:30hrs - it turned out to be 14:00hrs when our colour was called, due to the disembarkation being halted on several occasions due to congestion in the terminal.

We witnessed people falling down the escalator from deck 6 to deck 5 on several occaions, due to impatience, trying to carry 2 cases and more, instead of using the elevators. It has been said in some threads/reports that NCL were not as organised as they should have been -but the passengers didn't help either. If this kind of mayhem happens on disembarkation -God help us if it was an emergency!!!!:confused:

[mylesf]

This was a custom's issue not a NCL issue. They were only allowing a handful of non-US passenger's off at a time, which slowed the process down to a snails pace....

[floating on a boat]

This was a custom's issue not a NCL issue. They were only allowing a handful of non-US passenger's off at a time, which slowed the process down to a snails pace....

 

It was a customs issue because too many were trying to get off at the same time.

[mylesf]

It was a customs issue because too many were trying to get off at the same time.

 

We were debriefed once we were able to board in NY about the isssue and there is more to it than what you are posting here.

[floating on a boat]

We were debriefed once we were able to board in NY about the isssue and there is more to it than what you are posting here.

 

Debriefed! Sounds like a military operation took place we didn't know about.

[rolloman]

Bottom line, it really is not an issue on how embarkation or debarkation was in NY and South Hampton because it was a one off situation. Now if there is an issue in Miami where the ship is home ported and they are properly staffed for the weekly process then everyone will have something to complain about.

[mylesf]

Bottom line, it really is not an issue on how embarkation or debarkation was in NY and South Hampton because it was a one off situation. Now if there is an issue in Miami where the ship is home ported and they are properly staffed for the weekly process then everyone will have something to complain about.

 

Completely agree with you...

[WonderMan3]

This cruise ended over a week ago. Why are people still whining about disembarkation?

[fi'fi]

Wow

[BikerAl]

We were debriefed once we were able to board in NY about the isssue and there is more to it than what you are posting here.

 

So if you were debriefed, why not debrief us?

[mylesf]

So if you were debriefed, why not debrief us?

 

My second post covers it...Pretty straight forward.

[ellfin]

Wow is right. Let me put some perspective on this post.

 

Folks complaining about waiting to disembark a one week vacation where they were served hand and foot and could afford the luxury.

 

Go to your nearest food bank and watch people lining up to get a dinner or two for their family. Wonder where they post their complaints :)

 

 

On a recent Celebrity trip, disembarkation went awry as well due to customs. AND that was in the Great new Pier 18 terminal in Lauderdale that was built for the massive Oasis crowd.

 

The reason. There were many many more non US Citizens than usual and they were fingerprinting all of them. It took forever. Very hard to

blame the cruiseline.

 

So as a "Foreigner" I guess we could start a thread on how the US Government can't handle things :)

[time2cruise1]

This was a custom's issue not a NCL issue. They were only allowing a handful of non-US passenger's off at a time, which slowed the process down to a snails pace....

 

It is over now and not sure why I am responding but the handful of non-US passenger's story is just not the case. I was escorted off the ship at 11:30 while they were still in the express disembarkation and it was on hold as the second wave of VIP passengers.

There were 100s of passengers searching for their luggage in every color tag section of bags and clearly part of the problem not letting those with their bags to get off the ship.

The non-US passenger line for Customs had 100s in it and was 3 times as long as the US line.

The real difference in NY from my past transatlantic cruises and other cruises to and from there is the addition in the remodel of pier 88 of airport like passport control with 1000s of passengers having to pass through a dozen stations.

In the past customs came onboard early and all the non-US passenger's lined up early and were cleared onboard. Those US citizens customs had an issue with from the manifest were called to report before disembarkation even started. Once it started it was a speedy process with passengers holding their documentation and simply handing in the declaration forms to customs agents as they exited the hall as fast as they got off the ship. It used to take longer to start but once it got going it was quick.

The same problem could happen with any NCL ship in NYC since with only about 3500 passengers on the Epic there were not that many more then a full Jewel class ship.

[mylesf]

It is over now and not sure why I am responding but the handful of non-US passenger's story is just not the case. I was escorted off the ship at 11:30 while they were still in the express disembarkation and it was on hold as the second wave of VIP passengers.

 

There were 100s of passengers searching for their luggage in every color tag section of bags and clearly part of the problem not letting those with their bags to get off the ship.

 

The non-US passenger line for Customs had 100s in it and was 3 times as long as the US line.

 

The real difference in NY from my past transatlantic cruises and other cruises to and from there is the addition in the remodel of pier 88 of airport like passport control with 1000s of passengers having to pass through a dozen stations.

 

In the past customs came onboard early and all the non-US passenger's lined up early and were cleared onboard. Those US citizens customs had an issue with from the manifest were called to report before disembarkation even started. Once it started it was a speedy process with passengers holding their documentation and simply handing in the declaration forms to customs agents as they exited the hall as fast as they got off the ship. It used to take longer to start but once it got going it was quick.

 

The same problem could happen with any NCL ship in NYC since with only about 3500 passengers on the Epic there were not that many more then a full Jewel class ship.

 

You got off just as custom's pretty much stopped the process and then would only allow NCL to take about a dozen non-US passengers off at a time. In addition, they were finger printing all of them which took time. I was at the pier and the hotel director came off the ship to give us that update. We were suppose to emback at noon and because of this we could not get on until 4pm....

[gkbiiii]

Both sides of the pond were poorly done by NCL, concidering the QM2 does the same thing year round, I am not impressed!

[Mc_Cruiser]

Both sides of the pond were poorly done by NCL, concidering the QM2 does the same thing year round, I am not impressed!

 

Seems from numerous threads you have it in your head NCL were out to personally make your cruise a misery, and everything that went wrong, even AFTER you left the ship was their fault. Pointless arguing with a mindset like that !

[brfan]

From reading this thread and others where disembarkations were considered bad, in a lot of those cases the passengers themselves probably caused a lot of the problems. If they would just follow the instructions by going to their designated wait area and leave when their colour/number is called and not clog up stairwells or the departure area, I bet most disembarkations would go a lot smoother and perhaps with fewer delays. The cruise line has no control over how the Customs Officers handle things, if they're late or slow or decide today every non-US citizen is going to be checked more thoroughly. But I think if passengers would just not have a stampede mentality even a slow disembarkation would be smoother. It's not a race, you don't get a prize for getting off the ship first. :D