disembarking at galveston port

[noslen3333]

I would like to know if passengers disembarking at Galveston and are taking their own luggage off are able to grab a porter once they hit the luggage area.

 

I have sailed Carnival 25 times now and have zone 1 luggage tags. The last 2 times we disembarked at Galveston it took us 3 hours the first time and 4 hours this last time. To be fair, this was spring break (March 23rd).

 

I know that more and more people are disembarking themselves and that is their right but not too long ago, I was off the ship in under an hour. Now, it is taking so much longer that I am considering either going to another port or not cruising...at least on Carnival. What good is priority disembarking when it means nothing at all.

 

I am 56 years old and cannot stand for 2 plus hours. It takes me days to get back to my physical self. By the time we get into the luggage area, there are no porters left and first I stand in line at least 45 minutes just for a porter and then 1 1/2 hours in line to get through Customs...too long for my back and legs.

 

Just trying to come up with a solution to a problem that is getting worse. Would appreciate your thoughts if they are constructive. Thanks

[overthehillcruiser]

We were on your cruise and had the same platinum issue with disembark. What a joke..I think half the ship did self assist.It has been the same with us as you, taking longer and longer. I think you could get a porter. The problem is , when we asked if we could go with the self assist, as I knew our zone 1 bags were there, they denied us to do so. What the H--- does priority mean ? This was our last CCL cruise after 14..Royal only for us from now on. I share your sentiments. Thanks for your report. I am waiting for my Carnival survey now.

[jst]

Yes there are porters available, and they will be only to glad to help you.

[MichelleChell]

Do you think maybe it was a bit different due to the fog/oil spill thing? I have never had an issue getting off in a timely manner at the Galveston port and I am not platinum.

[noslen3333]

I do not believe that it had anything to do with the oil spill. We were on the Magic Halloween cruise and we took 3 hours getting off the boat, waiting in line for the porter and then waiting in line to get through Customs.

 

I do realize that is was Spring Break and there are more people walking off the boat with luggage in hand. So that was my question. If you disembark with your luggage..are you able to go through the porter line and get a porter.

 

On both my last 2 cruises on the Magic, by the time we reached the luggage area, all porters were in use and I average around a 45 minute wait just for the porter.

 

The only reason I can come up with is the self debarkers are getting the porters first making those of us wait...way too long.

 

I used to be able to get off the Magic or Conquest in a timely, reasonable manner that did not require standing in multiple lines for several hours. Once we reached the port at 6pm on Sunday, disembarking became standard practice. The oil spill had little, if nothing, to do with it.

[Chmie]

When we disembarked the Magic in Galveston a couple years ago we did grab a porter. I couldn't handle all my wife's luggage :D

Took us 2-3 hr to get thru customs and out the door. Seems some people still wait until they are right at the customs desk with 2 carts of luggage then start looking for their documents. :mad:

[lady_cruiser]

............What the H--- does priority mean ? This was our last CCL cruise after 14..Royal only for us from now on. I share your sentiments. Thanks for your report. I am waiting for my Carnival survey now.

Priority does not mean that you are the 'only one' that has priority. Now everyone who has at least one cruise behind them is considered priority.

 

And it isn't Carnival that has problems with Galveston, it is also Royal Caribbean. So if you feel you need to cruise on another line just don't pick one sailing from Texas.

[DebJ14]

Every time we have had priority debarkation in Galveston they have let the Priority passengers off as soon as the # 1 and 2 luggage was cleared. We always went midway through the self - assist. They stopped the self assist line to let us get off. We did this 3 times in 2013. They told us to be at the meeting place at a specific time and we were taken off within 15 minutes of that time. As for customs and immigration, the longest we waited in the Carnival terminal has been about 30 minutes when returning from Belize, Roatan and Cozumel because they do the full inspection. It takes them forever to type in the birth certificate and license info, but the passport express lanes moved quickly.

[hftmrock]

We actually had the opposite issue in Miami 2 years ago. We wanted to self assist and they told us to wait in an area and they will tell us when to disembark. We were on one deck (dont remember the deck number but lets say deck 9). They called self assist deck 14, then 13, then 12 , then priority folk (platinum, etc) then 11, then regular folk deck 14 then self assist 10 and regular folk deck 13... :mad:

 

we waited over 90 minutes before we asked if we could just leave and they said ok. 90 minutes after they STARTED to let people off.... and we WERE self assist

[Crusin Hogs]

I am curious if you are doing self assist , Why do you need a porter?

[hftmrock]

I am curious if you are doing self assist , Why do you need a porter?

 

I think they are doing regular disembarkation and not self assist but the OP is saying that there are so many people doing self assist that it takes forever until they can get off and when they do, there are very few porters around.

 

maybe I am mistaken buts thats how I am reading it

[skinky]

I got off of the Triumph yesterday in Galveston and was in lowly group #21 for disembarkation. Once I picked up my luggage I stood in line for maybe 20, 25 minutes with my trusty passport in the express line before I was finished going through customs. The entire process from when I left my room until I was standing on the curb outside of the terminal probably took about 40 minutes.

The birth certificate line, however, was moving at a snail's pace and was easily going to take hours to move through.

[noslen3333]

You are correct Hftmrock. That is what I am saying. I have been cruising since 1998. Rarely were there long wait times getting through Customs. All I know is the last 2 times we have disembarked from Galveston, my whole process has taken 3 hours and then 4 hours and I am platinum. It just doesn't make sense so I am trying to figure out what the problem is.

 

Next time I cruise from Galveston, I will have to leave in a wheelchair because I simply can't stand for hours...too hard on my body.

[jonbgd]

It doesn't help that people sell their priority tags on Ebay also:rolleyes:

[tommytune42]

I have found that disembarking in general is taking longer at nearly every port. I've been in and out of Tampa, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Port Canaveral in the past year and it seems that is taking longer and longer. My suspicion is that it has nothing to do with either the passengers or the cruise line and everything to do with U.S. Customs. Last November we arrived in New Orleans and it took a dreadfully long time because Customs was understaffed. There were spaces for several more agents that remained unopened. We saw the same thing in the other ports.

[dandsfranklin]

We've carried our luggage off pretty much since Galveston started letting you do it. It's MUCH faster. We don't need a porter because we're already carrying our stuff. Not much standing at all. Mostly just walking on through.

[hftmrock]

We've carried our luggage off pretty much since Galveston started letting you do it. It's MUCH faster. We don't need a porter because we're already carrying our stuff. Not much standing at all. Mostly just walking on through.

 

I wish that happened to us in Florida when we did self assist

Edited March 26, 2014 by hftmrock

[irishnyc]

To be honest this doesn't sound like its a carnival problem, or a Galveston issue, or priority, self-assist, lack of porters, or anything else like that. While all those things combined are not helping the situation, two hours shouldn't be too long for a 50-something to wait without needing a wheelchair, barring a medical issue. We waited much longer for a taxi at port in NYC.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited March 26, 2014 by irishnyc

[radlad68]

We had a long wait and were in zone 15 on the Magic on 3/16. Galveston seems to be slower than other ports we've been through! It was almost 11 by the time we got outside of the building :(. There were no porters and we should've done self assist as we were able to carry our own luggage. We learned our lesson for there!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[dandsfranklin]

I have found that disembarking in general is taking longer at nearly every port. I've been in and out of Tampa, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Port Canaveral in the past year and it seems that is taking longer and longer. My suspicion is that it has nothing to do with either the passengers or the cruise line and everything to do with U.S. Customs. Last November we arrived in New Orleans and it took a dreadfully long time because Customs was understaffed. There were spaces for several more agents that remained unopened. We saw the same thing in the other ports.

 

 

Customs has suffered from Government cut backs. It's awful at some airports when arriving on an International flight. I wonder if the Global Pass card will be used on cruises eventually too.

[okgirl]

I've cruised out of Galveston over a dozen times. I generally do Priority Self Assist. It rarely takes more than 45 minutes to get through customs and I don't generally get a porter.

 

There is a special place to wait for the next available porter and unfortunately that wait can be longer than just getting in line with your own luggage.

 

Part of the recent delay may be due to the 2nd screening that quite a few people have to go through when they have alcohol purchases. I haven't sailed from Galveston since that new screening began, but I'm sure a spring break cruise would mean even slower lines.

[overthehillcruiser]

Sorry to differ ladycruiser, but you do not get priority anything with one cruise..

Priority does not mean that you are the 'only one' that has priority. Now everyone who has at least one cruise behind them is considered priority.

 

And it isn't Carnival that has problems with Galveston, it is also Royal Caribbean. So if you feel you need to cruise on another line just don't pick one sailing from Texas.

Edited March 26, 2014 by overthehillcruiser

[overthehillcruiser]

This is what we tried to do Sunday as we knew our zone 1 bags were there, but they would not let us go. Several people were really mad , and chewed out the girl in charge.We had never had this before.

Every time we have had priority debarkation in Galveston they have let the Priority passengers off as soon as the # 1 and 2 luggage was cleared. We always went midway through the self - assist. They stopped the self assist line to let us get off. We did this 3 times in 2013. They told us to be at the meeting place at a specific time and we were taken off within 15 minutes of that time. As for customs and immigration, the longest we waited in the Carnival terminal has been about 30 minutes when returning from Belize, Roatan and Cozumel because they do the full inspection. It takes them forever to type in the birth certificate and license info, but the passport express lanes moved quickly.

[MichelleChell]

Guess I have always gotten lucky. I have never waited long and seem to always get a porter that knows which agent moves fast. I even use BC.

[twocruiseguys]

As many have pointed out, sometimes the process flows smoothly, other times not so much. On our March 2 debarkation, there did seem to be so may self-assist passengers that they had to stop the lines leaving the ship several times due to congestion in the terminal. By the time they called our zone 7 (we were not self-assist), it was nearly 1100am. We proceeded to the terminal. I got in line for a porter. There were about 20 persons ahead of me. Then the porters all took lunch break. Seems the union stepped in and enforced their regulations. Not Carnival's fault, but it was just something that made a bad situation worse. The porters had no choice, even though many of them said they would have rather kept working. I abandoned the porter line, we packed up our bags and headed to customs and TABC check point. When all was said and done, it was after 100pm before we were in the car heading home. Times have changed. In previous years, we have been off the ship by 900am, and home by 200pm.

 

All this being said, we have come to expect the unexpected at Galveston. The bottom line is - - we refuse to let the frustrations of an inefficient debarkation process cast a dark shadow on what has been a relaxing fun-filled cruise. My thoughts: if you know it may happen, prepare for it mentally and make any preparations on the front end of the cruise that you can. Obviously, this does not work for everyone - especially those that have to catch flights or have other deadlines. Being within driving distance of the port certainly helps, but I understand we cannot all be so lucky.