Customs: Warning

[Blanq]

DH and I are back from the 3/4 Equinox sailing. We had an absolute fabulous time, and I will certainly do a TR in the next few days to let you know about our wonderful experience with X (our first but certainly not our last) and our cruise in general.

 

This post is to provide you with our experience returning to Pt Everglades yesterday morning. There is another recent thread, about delayed boarding for the 3/15 sailing yesterday, to which I replied, but I think this deserves its own thread.

 

In the 3/11 "Celebrity Today", there was a note about Celebrity's Express Walk-off program, and I should have paid more attention and, frankly taken it seriously. The information touting this program is listed multiple times throughout the cruise, but in the 3/11 notice there was this: "Due to the recent US budget sequestration CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are anticipating slight delays at ports of entry into the US, including airports and cruise ship ports".

 

So we dock in FLL on time yesterday, 7 am. We had a 1:15 flight scheduled. Plenty of time, right? We were in group 19 for debarkation, a 9:20 am meeting time in the Silhouette DR. Fine. Great. All is good. There was an announcement early in the debarkation process that that debarkation was going quicker than anticipated. Perfect. It's a good morning. And then it all went south. So when did we actually get out of the port? We walked out of the port, into the FL sunshine, to the taxi line at a few minutes after 1:00 pm. Yup. Missed our flight home and incurred $300 in change fees to rebook to a 6 pm flight. We were repeatedly told by customs/port staff that the delays were due to lack of staff "due to sequestration".

 

So this is my message: Plan accordingly folks. BTW, we sailed through the FLL airport with no delays.

[CathyCruises]

Wow. Amazing. So sorry but many people will thank you for the heads up. Thank goodness we only embark in FLL--and disembark in Rome, where they hae never herd of sequestration. I feel your pain. . .:confused:

[mahdnc]

Blanq, sorry to hear about your plight, but thanks for passing on the information. I imagine that there were quite a few others on your sailing that suffered the same misfortune......

 

CathyCruises, you may not be entirely out of the woods if you are flying back to the USA and having to catch a connecting flight.

[fishycomics]

Holidays are near

 

St Patty's day.

 

Holy Thursday

 

Good Friday

 

Easter Sunday

 

Passover

 

lets not forget spring break

 

SO do you think they play a toll in reasons why things are tightning up.

 

glad you did well in ways and best of luck on the next.......;)

[Wine-O]

Same thing happened to us on Thursday night when we flew into Newark Liberty from an overseas flight. Huge lines, long wait, and few immigration agents. It seems that all this is being done "on purpose" and to blame it on sequestration/budget cuts. It's all a bunch of crap to inflict pain on the American people to prove some sort of cynical political point -- all being done for political reasons. :eek:

 

Be prepared because this isn't going to go away soon. :(

[benchmarklearning]

This is total bull. The sequester cuts are cuts in the INCREASE for the coming year. There should be no slowdowns because every agency is getting the same funding as last year (or more). The slowdowns are by design - to inflict the most pain on people so you will whine to your Congress person. A LEADER would direct agencies to continue to spend at last year's rate and to minimize any effect on the public. A LEADER would have ensured that you would not have had this problem.

 

Sorry but I am very angry about this because it is totally unnecessary, contrived, and people are being played as pawns in this. :mad:

[jackdiamond]

This is total bull. The sequester cuts are cuts in the INCREASE for the coming year. There should be no slowdowns because every agency is getting the same funding as last year (or more). The slowdowns are by design - to inflict the most pain on people so you will whine to your Congress person. A LEADER would direct agencies to continue to spend at last year's rate and to minimize any effect on the public. A LEADER would have ensured that you would not have had this problem.

 

Sorry but I am very angry about this because it is totally unnecessary, contrived, and people are being played as pawns in this. :mad:

You are totally correct.

[helen haywood]

So if one did self-debarkation one would have been through much earlier?

[teajak]

This is total bull. The sequester cuts are cuts in the INCREASE for the coming year. There should be no slowdowns because every agency is getting the same funding as last year (or more). The slowdowns are by design - to inflict the most pain on people so you will whine to your Congress person. A LEADER would direct agencies to continue to spend at last year's rate and to minimize any effect on the public. A LEADER would have ensured that you would not have had this problem.

 

Sorry but I am very angry about this because it is totally unnecessary, contrived, and people are being played as pawns in this. :mad:

Totally agree but complaining will get you exactly nowhere.Who is there to complain to,all of them,both political parties, share the blame.:eek:

[GeorgesGal]

Wine-O, I agree completely with you. This is all a game being played out to inflict the most pain where many people will feel the effects of Sequestration!

 

All ammunition to raise spending, when in reality the cuts are to future spending, not cutting back on current limits. So why the cutbacks?????

 

I am so angry I could spit!

[shoesonfire]

We experienced very long waits at Customs in Newark arriving from Europe and missed our connection as well and this was in 2010, happened again in Atlanta last year -- no sequestor then!!

[Can'tstopcruising]

And now small knives are allowed. But not yogurt over 100 gm.

 

Who are the Brains behind these decisions?

[Kevnzworld]

There is some local INS manager that is purposefully doing this out of spite and malice in the hopes of " teaching us a lesson ".

There are ways to reduce expenses by 3% , without hurting services. The managers that can't or refuse to do so should be fired.

[Michidoeme]

DH and I are back from the 3/4 Equinox sailing. We had an absolute fabulous time, and I will certainly do a TR in the next few days to let you know about our wonderful experience with X (our first but certainly not our last) and our cruise in general.

 

This post is to provide you with our experience returning to Pt Everglades yesterday morning. There is another recent thread, about delayed boarding for the 3/15 sailing yesterday, to which I replied, but I think this deserves its own thread.

 

In the 3/11 "Celebrity Today", there was a note about Celebrity's Express Walk-off program, and I should have paid more attention and, frankly taken it seriously. The information touting this program is listed multiple times throughout the cruise, but in the 3/11 notice there was this: "Due to the recent US budget sequestration CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are anticipating slight delays at ports of entry into the US, including airports and cruise ship ports".

 

So we dock in FLL on time yesterday, 7 am. We had a 1:15 flight scheduled. Plenty of time, right? We were in group 19 for debarkation, a 9:20 am meeting time in the Silhouette DR. Fine. Great. All is good. There was an announcement early in the debarkation process that that debarkation was going quicker than anticipated. Perfect. It's a good morning. And then it all went south. So when did we actually get out of the port? We walked out of the port, into the FL sunshine, to the taxi line at a few minutes after 1:00 pm. Yup. Missed our flight home and incurred $300 in change fees to rebook to a 6 pm flight. We were repeatedly told by customs/port staff that the delays were due to lack of staff "due to sequestration".

 

So this is my message: Plan accordingly folks. BTW, we sailed through the FLL airport with no delays.

 

We can tell exactly same story - timings of planned debarkation and when we were finally in taxi are so similar (might have been in taxi 1/2 hour earlier) - but we were coming off Equinox in early November 2009 after an Ultimate Caribean cruise.

[BugsyCruiser]

This is total bull. The sequester cuts are cuts in the INCREASE for the coming year. There should be no slowdowns because every agency is getting the same funding as last year (or more). The slowdowns are by design - to inflict the most pain on people so you will whine to your Congress person. A LEADER would direct agencies to continue to spend at last year's rate and to minimize any effect on the public. A LEADER would have ensured that you would not have had this problem.

 

Sorry but I am very angry about this because it is totally unnecessary, contrived, and people are being played as pawns in this. :mad:

 

I absolutely agree. The sequester is being used as an excuse to make unnecessary cutbacks because politicians are whining that they didn't get their way. And here is something else: Presidents Reagan and Clinton during their terms exempted certain items from any kind of sequester cuts that were related to safety and security and they included CUSTOMS OFFICERS.

 

So this totally unnecessary as I said but it's being done because someone wants to score political people by intentionally causing people pain and getting them upset.

[Oville]

And of course there have been problems in Port Everglades all winter long. Add Spring Break to the pot and you've got a real mess.

[coldbird]

Wine-O' date=' I agree completely with you. This is all a game being played out to inflict the most pain where many people will feel the effects of Sequestration!

 

All ammunition to raise spending, when in reality the cuts are to future spending, not cutting back on current limits. So why the cutbacks?????

 

I am so angry I could spit![/quote']

 

Future spending from 1 march thru 1 oct this year! The agency I work for will be cutting my pay starting the end of April by 20% if sequestration stays in effect and congress does nothing. The reason is because the cuts are across the board and the agency does not have any option of where to cut the $$ from.

 

For me that will mean one day off without pay each week till 1 October. If you are wondering who I work for it's the same company I have been with for over 35 years - The Air National Guard maintaining f-16 aircraft.

 

I'm sure the people that work for immigration are in the same boat.

[patty1955]

Future spending from 1 march thru 1 oct this year! The agency I work for will be cutting my pay starting the end of April by 20% if sequestration stays in effect and congress does nothing. The reason is because the cuts are across the board and the agency does not have any option of where to cut the $$ from.

 

For me that will mean one day off without pay each week till 1 October. If you are wondering who I work for it's the same company I have been with for over 35 years - The Air National Guard maintaining f-16 aircraft.

 

I'm sure the people that work for immigration are in the same boat.

I work for a federal court. We were told yesterday that we're going to have to lose 15 of our 90 staff members. If you think that's not going to affect our productivity, you must think we're more than human. And there are more cuts in the next few years. Add that to the hiring freeze we've been under and we're in serious trouble.

[foodle]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/03/08/Sequester-forces-Border-Protection-cuts/UPI-15691362761007/

 

I find the part about 150 to 200% increase in wait times appaliong and terrifying, may be time to move those airfares back or plan for an extra day on either end.

[Travelicious]

I'm sorry for those who will lose their jobs, or lose a significant portion of their salaries. Pretty sad that those of us fortunate enough to be able to continue traveling during this time are more concerned about little inconveniences than the real pain real people will be experiencing. Seems everyone wants cuts, but no one thinks it should affect them.

[NLH Arizona]

Future spending from 1 march thru 1 oct this year! The agency I work for will be cutting my pay starting the end of April by 20% if sequestration stays in effect and congress does nothing. The reason is because the cuts are across the board and the agency does not have any option of where to cut the $$ from.

 

For me that will mean one day off without pay each week till 1 October. If you are wondering who I work for it's the same company I have been with for over 35 years - The Air National Guard maintaining f-16 aircraft.

 

I'm sure the people that work for immigration are in the same boat.

I believe that if our president would have taken the offer to allow him and his administration to decide on what gets cut, they could have cut all the wasteful spending (like shrimp on treadmills) and no federal employee or the public would have gotten hurt by the sequester. But, alas, he didn't want to have to make the decisions. When I was working, my company had a 15% budget reduction and they didn't let go of one employee or reduce anyones hours, so it can be done, if one were to care.

[ghstudio]

I have a great deal of sympathy for the good folks who are going to lose their jobs because they have visible jobs. This is probably one of the most cruel publicity stunts pulled off by our government.....and both sides are equally guilty with most of the blame on the president who could be leading in a positive way rather than running a "hurt the people" campaign. Hopefully, but doubtfully, washington will come to their senses.

 

I keep hoping for another political party to emerge....the middle of the roaders who will bring sanity back to government rather than our idealistically polarized situation now.

 

I don't believe for a minute that they need to cut back on customs agents...any more than I believe they had to cut white house tours.

 

Both sides have good points.....but we don't need the extremists on either side...they aren't helping anyone except themselves (which is of course their only focus).

[chaching]

When was the last time THEY took a pay cut or a benefit cut? They are allowed to continue voting themselves a raise!!! We Americans need to rise up and take a stand against what THEY make and the benefits THEY get compared to the "average" American. THEY have NO IDEA what it is like to lose your job... if THEY get voted out... they still get RETIREMENT for LIFE... reallly? We need to get a petition going to VOTE them a pay cut and benefit cut and a retirement cut....:mad:

[naples queen]

We had a very similar experience when leaving the Constellation in Miami last Saturday. Hours standing in line! We were also given the same excuses from the immigration staff.

[easternLIers]

The President created the sequester law. He stopped the tours of the white house. He is creating all the slowdowns. He let hundreds of illegals out of jail. This is what the majority of the people want. I'm sure it will get better.....right. LOL

 

Jim