Worst Disembarkation EVER in SF

[usviking]

Thanks for quick responses. I am keeping SF on my wish list. The thought of sailing out and in under the Golden Gate is enticing and happy to hear that all should be fine.

[StLouisCruisers]

We were there Monday morning as well, waiting for the first walk off at 8:30 to 8:45 am. Our Immigration check was at 7 am and it took a few minutes to get through the line. They didn't just stamp your card, they looked you over and asked questions. Things probably started to back up at this point.

 

Then we went to Portafino Dining room to wait. People who weren't supposed to disembark for hours showed up and pushed their way through the aisles to stand as close to the doors as possible so they could get off before us. HUH? They blocked the aisles essentially and got an earful from the rest of us "Walk Off A" people. Since we had our immigration cards stamped and had all our luggage, not sure why they waited so long to call us (8:30). We could have been down on deck 4 gangway getting our luggage sniffed a lot earlier! Only one of the three dogs was working, the other two were just lying around! Definitely there was no room to do a mass inspection, the terminal would have been a better choice. The stairways and elevators were clogged even at this hour.

 

Once outside, we called our "exclusive SuperShuttle van" reserved months earlier. That driver, Ming, was fantastic! He waited so long for us! When he finally got through the clogged streets to pick us all up (7 passengers), other people ran up trying to catch a ride with us. But we filled the van up with our luggage, and there wouldn't be any room for latecomers. We left the pier around 9 or 9:10, not sure of the exact time. But it was so nice to have a relaxing drive to SFO. Nothing like what Pam or the rest of you have discussed. I definitely will keep all this under consideration if I ever cruise to or from San Francisco again! And we thought Rio was awful for our embarkation!

 

Princess needs to learn from this experience. So many things went wrong.:(

[Quenby]

Sandi - thanks again for making the arrangements for the shuttle! :D

[triple7tahoe]

It was a terrible day and I am not making excuses, but, a couple other things added to the already messed up debark.

 

1. Two of the sniffer dogs decided that the ship was a good place and time to...well, do what doggies do outside. Right in the middle of the area where they were doing the inspection. Added more to the delay while it was cleaned up.

 

2. An elderly gentleman tripped on the gangway steps and fell and seriously injured himself. Let's just say there was a lot of blood. He had to be attended to and the area had to be cleaned up as well, so that gangway was closed for a short time.

 

Not excuses but just more things to add to everyone's discomfort.

Ed,

I just started reading this and wondered if you or Peg might post? Thanks

See you soon.

[crusinbanjo]

Wow, Pam thanks for the posting. I hope Princess is reading this and cleans up it's act, you are likely the most respected Princess board poster. If they don't take your post seriously, they are in a real bad way!

[kwahl1]

We were also in that disembarkation mess and I agree completely with everything posted. When the first number (orange 1) was announced in our waiting area, there was no one checking tags, so anyone could leave. There was also no one to guide the crowd leaving. We tried to go through the casino to get to the forward gangway as directed but we were turned away. So we joined the group on the midship stairs. As we moved along slowly, I noted that there were many later groups there in front and it was obvious that they had just gone down and waited there instead of waiting to be called. Additionally, the elevators were kept in use and people were getting off the elevators and by-passing the long lines that were on the four stair wells.

 

Once we were finally off and at the bus, I noted that the vast majority of tags were for much later groups. We finally arrived at the airport around noon and there were people on our bus with 12:15-12:30 flights that had already missed their flights. Thankfully, our flight was later and we made it.

 

Note to Pam in CA - it was nice to finally meet you, even if it was as were were getting off the plane at LAX!

 

 

I guess we were fortunate for our delay, only about 45 minutes. Scheduled for 9:20 call. We were Red -6 the 4th group called. We all filed out pretty orderly, saw the dogs and went to pick thru all the luggage and were in the back seat of a cab by 10:20.

 

Our TA emailed us the next day, saying she had 65 people on the Star, leaving for Hawaii, delayed until after 9 PM, a medical evac, made the CBS local news AND there was an annual Coast Guard inspection that was conducted that day.

 

Did the P&O Oriana have the same troubles?

[caribill]

Let me say this. 99% of the problems being discussed here are the result of having two ships in port that both had debark and embark passengers. There were more than 7000 people moving through the terminal on 3/19.

 

 

Sorry, but the disembarkation problem had nothing to do with how many ships were there.

 

The customs people were using the dog to sniff the hand luggage of six people at a time (on the ship, not in the terminal), a process that took about 2 minutes. That meant no more than 180 people could disembark an hour at each of the two gangways, or a maximum of 360 passengers per hour.

 

With 2600 people (plus some crew) needing to go through the process, it would take over seven hours if this procedure was used for all passengers.

[caribill]

We ALWAYS take an excursion with airport (or hotel) transfer on disembarkation day; on 4 different cruiselines we've been escorted off past the hordes.

 

Those with Princess transfers were stuck in the same disembarkation mess and many missed their flights.

 

There was no way to escort anybody past the tightly packed hordes.

[Pam in CA]

Those with Princess transfers were stuck in the same disembarkation mess and many missed their flights.

 

There was no way to escort anybody past the tightly packed hordes.

I agree. Not only were people tightly packed but everyone had some sort of hand luggage or carry-on. A few crew tried to get through to go to their crew quarters and even very skinny ones had an extremely hard time. They pushed and shoved their way through. There was absolutely nowhere to go or move more than an inch.

[kwahl1]

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/captain-greybeard/2012/02/pos-aurora-in-us-drug-bust.html

[dorisis]

I guess I will try to avoid any cruises into or out of SF. Thanks to all for posting their experiences.

 

~Doris~

[pegpowell]

Ed,

I just started reading this and wondered if you or Peg might post? Thanks

See you soon.

 

Triple7, I worked on the Oriana side. It was pretty low key compared to the Princess side. I didn't see must of what happened, didn't even know Ed was there until the crowd cleared at about 4:45.

[aaerobear]

Bdjam, oh yeah, I know. I have worked at pier 35 for more than 6 years now.

 

This was by no means normal as you know. Everyone has their version of the causes for the delays and most (sorry to say) just don't have a clue.

 

The passengers on the Star were the most effected by the problems. Those on the ship were held up and made to wait for, not only, the first round of sniffing dogs but many other problems. (all talked about earlier).

 

Peg...I didn't see you either, but then i was up to my elbows checking in Star passengers and in the morning at the bus staging area. Dale is languishing on another Hawaii trip I guess.

[Corinda]

I guess I will try to avoid any cruises into or out of SF. Thanks to all for posting their experiences.

 

~Doris~

 

I wouldn't give up yet Doris - there is nothing like sailing through the Bay and under the bridge...Maybe it's because this is home but it is so thrilling :)

[frediver]

Since this issue seems to be related to the number of ships in port or ICE is there any way to know how many will be in port on a given day? I assume departure times will be about the same, 4pm

I just received an email telling us our boarding time and also referring to multiple ships in port so boarding could be an issue if debarkation is difficult.

 

I am also wondering what will happen if I call Princess now and refer to this issue as outlined here, what plans they have to stay on schedule and how they

plan to accommodate guests when Princess can't keep to it's schedule?

My wife has mobility problems and can not be left to stand for long periods, she does not require a wheel chair as long as she can keep moving.

[cruzisme]

For May 20 this year, how many cruise ships will be departing from San Francisco?

[WineCountryCruiser]

Since this issue seems to be related to the number of ships in port or ICE is there any way to know how many will be in port on a given day? I assume departure times will be about the same, 4pm

I just received an email telling us our boarding time and also referring to multiple ships in port so boarding could be an issue if debarkation is difficult.

 

I am also wondering what will happen if I call Princess now and refer to this issue as outlined here, what plans they have to stay on schedule and how they

plan to accommodate guests when Princess can't keep to it's schedule?

My wife has mobility problems and can not be left to stand for long periods, she does not require a wheel chair as long as she can keep moving.

 

I assume that you are inquiring about the Sea Princess sailing for May 13, 2012 that is shown in your signature. If so, the S.F. port schedule shows that there will be three Princess ships in port on May 13th. The Island Princess will be at Pier 27 and the Star Princess and the Sea Princess will both be at Pier 35. Because of your wife's mobility issues and this specific scheduling situation, you may want to contact Princess to see if they can provide boarding assistance. I see that the Sea Princess will be the only ship in port when it returns to S.F. on May 23rd so disembarkation should be easier.

 

Craig

[WineCountryCruiser]

For May 20 this year, how many cruise ships will be departing from San Francisco?

 

The S.F. port schedule shows the only cruise ship departing on May 20 is the Golden Princess.

 

Craig

[caribill]

Since this issue seems to be related to the number of ships in port or ICE is there any way to know how many will be in port on a given day?

 

This was an ICE issue, not related to number of ships.

 

Once off the Star Princess, the terminal was deserted (only six at a time could get past the dogs and disembark). Easy to find the luggage and easy to leave the terminal.

 

As Princess said over and over while we were waiting in the dining room for our group to be called, "Princess cannot control what custom personnel do. The delay is not due to anything under Princess' control."

 

Although the delay was not under Princess' control, the sending down of hundreds of passengers at the same time was.

[bvm49]

The other ship, the Oriana was on a world cruise & we believe only about 700 or so (including us) out of 1700+ total passengers got off at SF. Fortunately this was our 2nd US port as we had customs clearance at Honolulu. We thought this experience was disorganised as many passengers ignored the instructions due to delays by the customs officers. We ended up getting off the ship at that port about 2 hours late as we weren't on a ship tour.

 

At SF we were due to disembark at 9am & walked off the ship right on time. We were surprised that no one checked our hand luggage - maybe they were all over at the Star Princess! Or maybe it was because we had come from Australia;)?

 

There was a line for taxis but it moved reasonably smoothly - we were very impressed by the many friendly local organisers on the street.

[aaerobear]

ICE has nothing to do with it, it is CBP (customs and border patrol)

 

ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) deals mostly with illegal immigration matters. CBP handles inbound customs and Immigration procedures.

[aaerobear]

FYI, The people handling the curbside and taxis are fully employed by the handling agent that also has the bus people, the directional people, the baggage assist agents and the check-in agents.

[cruzisme]

Thank you for the good news re May 20.

We will be traveling light but hope to avoid long waits. New Orleans terminal has been the worst for us ever (embarkation) because of the security check. Once through that it was a breeze with Princess.

[pegpowell]

Cruzisme, don't want to burst your bubble, but...

 

I am on this sailing also. I'm stressed about getting to the port because May 20th is BaytoBreakers. The city will be a zoo for several hours. I tried to find a hotel but that is not looking good.

[Quenby]

ICE has nothing to do with it, it is CBP (customs and border patrol)

 

ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) deals mostly with illegal immigration matters. CBP handles inbound customs and Immigration procedures.

 

It's Customs and Border Protection.