We are here ... Ship is not!!!

[WES143]

I may be wrong but the other side of the Dames Point bridge is usually filled with cargo ships. Many longshoremen and merchant seamen that I know work out of that side. There may not have been any room, but then again I could be wrong.

[WES143]

I'm glad we have a port at all, but like you, I wish we could get newer/bigger ships and more cruise lines. When the port first opened, Carnival had Magic here but the bridge was really a problem for such a huge ship and Magic didn't stay long.

 

 

Yeah, I remember when the Carnival Miracle sailed from here for a few weeks. They were praying everytime it had to pass under the bridge.

[Simplertimes]

My feeling is that if I were on the ship coming back, I would love to be delayed! I never want to end my vacations! (Not to mention, I paid $16.50 for insurance on my flight if I have a problem in January coming back from my cruise. A small price to pay for "just in case.") My fear is not being able to fly out of Boston due to a snowstorm at the end of January to get down to New Orleans for my cruise!

 

For the people waiting to board, I do understand their frustration. Having waited and waited for their day to come, I'm sure all they want to do is get on the ship! Once they do and have a drink in their hands, all will be okay.

[GloriaF]

Yeah, I remember when the Carnival Miracle sailed from here for a few weeks. They were praying everytime it had to pass under the bridge.

 

Miracle not Magic! Sorru fpr the mix-up...

[Colorado Kat]

I guess it makes sense that if passengers were delayed getting off the ship, their cars would still be taking up space in the parking lots, so no room for the incoming passengers. I feel badly for everyone affected.

[ilovetexas]

I hope you have a great cruise anyway. Order the beef and brie sandwich and a shrimp salad sandwich with chips from room service. Yummy!!!

 

That yummy sandwich is no longer available from room svc on the Fascination. :( We couldn't get room service to pick up the phone, anyway.

 

Or Carnival could have done like RCCL did with the Freedom of the Seas yesterday and plowed through the storm and wound up with ship damage and a few people getting injured.

 

At least carnival and Disney had the sense to stay in port and ride the storm out until this orning.

 

Here in Charleston we now have the storm and the extreme high tides and winds associated with it....

 

Glad the OP is taking this in stride and hopefully is thankful carnival is responsible enough to put passenger safety in front of itineraries and missed flights.

 

Bill

 

Carnival did sail us right through that storm. Sunday was horrible! They may have chosen to keep the Sensation in the home port until it was over but they darned sure chose to sail us through it to get home. So, while I don't blame Carnival for the weather, I'm also not going to give them the same thumbs up you're giving them.

[KentuckyKat]

In the end we had a great cruise. I am so sorry for all you guys who were stuck in the parking lot for so long. We saw you sitting there. We had never been to JAX port and decided the night before to use JAX park and ride ($5 day). It was a couple of blocks from the port.

 

Turned put that this was a really good call because the van/bus they took us over on didn't have to wait in the parking mess - just dropped us off at the door so (after the zoo) we got to park and ride lot about 3:30 and were on bus to port while people were still getting to their cars from previous cruise. Then we were on ship by 5 - no long waits anywhere.

 

We did eat in dining room the first night but not at the correct assigned tables. We were assigned to the smaller dining room (forgot the name) but on the second day we requested a change to the Sensation dining room. No real reason, just tradition. Had great meals all week.

 

Funniest thing about cruise -- after all the freakout to get my adopted daughter's passport they totally did not even glance at it once during debarkation - even when she tried to show it to them they just waived her on.

 

Getting home today. Stopped to visit family and picked up two kittens. Now driving back to Ky with 3 kids, 2 grandparents, DH, me and 2 kittens! Lord help!

[BananaAnna]

(this is the blurb I posted on our other roll call re our embarkation)

DH and I got back today from Fascination cruise. It got off to a slightly rocky start - CCL phoned about 8:40am and advised us about the delay, with embarkation to be held 3-7pm. About 12:30pm they emailed us that same info and added departure expected 10pm. We chillaxed at the hotel till noonish, had lunch at Denny's, went to a movie and arrived at port about 5:30pm thinking we'd have missed the early influx of folks. Were directed to a parking lot and stayed there till maybe 6:45 then directed where to do final parking. Doug dropped me and luggage at terminal then parked the car. He met up with me in terminal and we snaked thru the line and boarded maybe 7:15 or so. It wasn't too bad for us - I had snacks, sodas and water in the car, but I really felt bad for the folks that had to stay on the ship for so much longer than they'd expected. I'm sure people missed flights and/or had to drive home much later than they'd planned.

 

If any of you met the lady passing out spearmint candies in the parking lot - that was me :) We were fortunate that there was enough cloud cover to keep it from getting so terribly hot. Our cruise itself was fabulous!! Enjoyed the shows, Conch Train in Key West and Atlantis tour in Nassau.

[teddy'sgirl]

In the end we had a great cruise. I am so sorry for all you guys who were stuck in the parking lot for so long. We saw you sitting there. We had never been to JAX port and decided the night before to use JAX park and ride ($5 day). It was a couple of blocks from the port.

 

Turned put that this was a really good call because the van/bus they took us over on didn't have to wait in the parking mess - just dropped us off at the door so (after the zoo) we got to park and ride lot about 3:30 and were on bus to port while people were still getting to their cars from previous cruise. Then we were on ship by 5 - no long waits anywhere.

 

 

This is where I was most frustrated with Carnival! We arrived at the port around 10:30 am, knowing about the delay but to make sure we could find the port without any problems. We were directed to Regency Mall and told to find the Carnival reps outside of Sears. We did and were given a piece of paper with "Boarding Zone #2" on it, no name, no booking number, just here's your paper and check back with us hourly. They told us to arrive at the port at 4pm. We did and were directed to the "temporary" parking. Once there, we were not given any other information until about 5pm when we could see people on the Lido deck but we were told they were not allowing anyone on the ship yet! :eek: A Carnival rep finally came to the lot about 5:30 to pick up people who were being dropped off by family and taxi's. She was looking for one particular taxi who had passengers and had a meter running for an hour and a half! We were FINALLY allowed out of temporary parking at 6pm. They had quite a few angry passengers in the parking lot. We could see the shuttle buses dropping passengers off at the terminal but we were still being held! I don't know if that was Carnival's decision or JaxPort's decision but it was a bad decision! :mad: I have to say that once we were on board, we had a fanstatic cruise but emabrkation was awful! On the flip side of that, debarkation was a breeze and I was expecting the worst! We did self disembark and were off the ship and in our car by 8am! I was a little taken aback by the lack of check points when we got off. Customs simply took our form and never looked at it. We never had to show ID (passports, birth certificates) to anyone. A little odd but glad we were able to get off the boat quickly!