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Dawn Boarding issues in Tampa

Sir_Randy

By Sir_Randy,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Sir_Randy

Sir_Randy

Posted
Posted

Just took a look at the Port of Tampa webcam, and it appears that passengers are lined up the length of the pier waiting to board. I read that they have been having issues disembarking the Dawn in Tampa, and this of course delays the boarding process. Anyone in line waiting to board today?

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lasefton

lasefton

Posted
Posted
Just took a look at the Port of Tampa webcam, and it appears that passengers are lined up the length of the pier waiting to board. I read that they have been having issues disembarking the Dawn in Tampa, and this of course delays the boarding process. Anyone in line waiting to board today?

 

I would like to have that web site if you could ?

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rmandmm

rmandmm

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We got off the Dawn in the priority line before 8:00 AM and it took nearly an hour to go through customs at that point, with not that many people in front of us. There were 2-3 domestic agents working as well as one non-US line.

 

When we got on last Sunday, we were among the first on around 1:15-1:30. We could see people still outside the terminal still waiting to go through check-in they said there were 4 agents working that day as well.

 

From what I could tell, it was a customs issue rather than NCL but who knows.

 

The cruise itself, our first on NCL, was absolutely wonderful. We'll be back. :)

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lasefton

lasefton

Posted
Posted
We got off the Dawn in the priority line before 8:00 AM and it took nearly an hour to go through customs at that point, with not that many people in front of us. There were 2-3 domestic agents working as well as one non-US line.

 

When we got on last Sunday, we were among the first on around 1:15-1:30. We could see people still outside the terminal still waiting to go through check-in they said there were 4 agents working that day as well.

 

From what I could tell, it was a customs issue rather than NCL but who knows.

 

The cruise itself, our first on NCL, was absolutely wonderful. We'll be back. :)

 

That is great to hear . We will be on the Dawn in Jan.

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DCP

DCP

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hoping it is not this way on the 8th when we board! Does anyone know what the issue may be with customs at this port lately? Is it just NCL that is affected by it? I'll just be sure to pack my extra patience....

Edited by DCP
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Laszlo

Laszlo

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Wow, still problems??? We were on the first full sailing Nov 17th-24th. Yes, their was a real shortage of agents. I wonder if the cruise is still not closed loop. Did you have passengers board in Cozumel again?

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CruisinMaterial

CruisinMaterial

Posted
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The Customs shortage has been an on-going problem in the Port of Tampa for awhile. I've known several folks from Boston who follow the ship to Tampa in the winter for cruises because they've gotten to know the staff. Almost all of them have had excessive delays when trying to clear customs from Tampa and they've sailed on various weeks. I guess Homeland Security and CBP need to beef up their staffing or pull from other locations on turn around days. If not Tampa may start losing cruise ships bc when the cruise lines hear complaints about it and it starts reflecting badly on them they'll do what it takes to change their image.

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Laszlo

Laszlo

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The two other cruise lines in port don't seem to have the same issue. I wonder what is up with that. We were thinking about booking the Sun next year, but the way things are going might just take the Pearl out of Miami

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Laszlo

Laszlo

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Posted (edited)
So what time is the ideal time to arrive? Im planning on buying plane tickets in the next month or 2 for my April cruise out of Tampa.

 

Are you flying Southwest out of Baltimore? I would try and find a flight which gets to Tampa no later than 11:am Our friends from York who flew out of Baltimore had a flight at 8:00am. It was almost 4 hours late because of fog. They arrived at the dock at 2:30pm

 

Better yet fly down Saturday and stay at the Marriott, thats what we did. $133 a night for a king bed and a 6 dollar cab ride (less than a mile) to the pier

Edited by Laszlo
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jackparts

jackparts

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We too were on the Thanksgiving Darn Dawn cruise (10 passengers). We arrived Sunday at 10:15 to get there early only to see loads of people outside from the cruise that just ended. When we got in line inside, we were told that the previous cruise had picked up 4 cabins of cruisers that had been stranded in Cozumel. This caused everyone to go thru customs. ?? I thought everyone had to go thru customs as a standard procedure. Inside, mass confusion from the staff. The waiting area soon filled up. Free water and juice were taken away by 1:30. When I asked some crew members what had happened, no response. The only thing heard from the staff was when I attempted to get some water from the Suite waiting area and was told TO LEAVE NOW, I COULD NOT BE IN THERE. We were on the ship by 3pm. We arrived on time back in Tampa and could not get luggage tags earlier than 10 am, even though I was in line early. We decided to do self walk off on Sunday. Early breakfast to get off early and apprx. 7:30 they announced we could walk off. We immediately got in line and proceeded to advance 10 ft. every 10 minutes. At 9:55. we were outside and missed our 9:15 super shuttle pickup. More on the Darn Dawn later. By the way, we were on Carnival in 2012 and had no problems in Tampa, must be a new nuisance.

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JuneauWhatIMean

JuneauWhatIMean

Posted
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We too were on the Thanksgiving Darn Dawn cruise (10 passengers). We arrived Sunday at 10:15 to get there early only to see loads of people outside from the cruise that just ended. When we got in line inside, we were told that the previous cruise had picked up 4 cabins of cruisers that had been stranded in Cozumel. This caused everyone to go thru customs. ?? I thought everyone had to go thru customs as a standard procedure. Inside, mass confusion from the staff. The waiting area soon filled up. Free water and juice were taken away by 1:30. When I asked some crew members what had happened, no response. The only thing heard from the staff was when I attempted to get some water from the Suite waiting area and was told TO LEAVE NOW, I COULD NOT BE IN THERE. We were on the ship by 3pm. We arrived on time back in Tampa and could not get luggage tags earlier than 10 am, even though I was in line early. We decided to do self walk off on Sunday. Early breakfast to get off early and apprx. 7:30 they announced we could walk off. We immediately got in line and proceeded to advance 10 ft. every 10 minutes. At 9:55. we were outside and missed our 9:15 super shuttle pickup. More on the Darn Dawn later. By the way, we were on Carnival in 2012 and had no problems in Tampa, must be a new nuisance.

 

 

WOW! Two hours + to disembark? Something is seriously wrong at this port. I wonder if the customs agents are working too slowly, do they have to process a lot of foreigners, (to the U.S.), is there a problem with loading/unloading luggage, or maybe there is a shortage of porters? :confused::confused:

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rmandmm

rmandmm

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WOW! Two hours + to disembark? Something is seriously wrong at this port. I wonder if the customs agents are working too slowly, do they have to process a lot of foreigners, (to the U.S.), is there a problem with loading/unloading luggage, or maybe there is a shortage of porters? :confused::confused:

 

There were just 3 customs agents for all the US passengers getting off and while were in line we saw many people getting the full fingerprinting and 5th degree from the agents, with one of the three stepping out ever so often to do something. When we went through, a family of four, our agent just looked at our passports, asked if we had anything to declare then sent us on our way.

 

We saw a lot of luggage already sitting there when we got off, so I really think it is a customs issue rather than porters, but like others have said, Carnival left on time, so it's kind of mysterious.

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rmandmm

rmandmm

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I just saw this interesting thread over on Carnival...maybe this has something to do with it??

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1951513

 

If the stop in Belize really did cause increased customs inspection, it would make sense that NCL took longer than Carnival...they skipped Belize that day due to winds.

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clean1owner

clean1owner

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We are cruising on Dawn out of Tampa in April. Should we get there ridiculously early or semi-late? I would really prefer to not be in line for 3-4 hours.

 

So what time is the ideal time to arrive? Im planning on buying plane tickets in the next month or 2 for my April cruise out of Tampa.

 

 

I would suggest flying in the day before, and then call a cab for a 10:00 pick up from your hotel. It worked great for us.

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