Westerdam Disembarkation - July 19

[Crew News]

With so many discussions in the past of disembarkation nightmares, I thought it would be interesting to report on ours.

 

We heard the Cruise Director announce at 8:00 that the disembarkation process would start and that passengers were to proceed to the gangway at their appointed time.

 

Our departure time was 9:00 AM and to avoid the crowd, we waited until 9:15 AM to head for the gangway on Deck two. Signs directed departing passengers to follow a path through the Culinary Arts Center. On previous cruises, this path was jammed with passengers but on this cruise, there was nobody in front of us.

 

We approached the gangway at 9:20 A.M and were in front of our luggage inside the Pier 91 Seattle Terminal at 9:23. We saw Princess passengers disembarking and passing through the same Customs lines. At 9:25 AM our porter had our luggage on his cart, told us to head for one of the six Customs lines, and he would take our luggage through a line used by porters.

 

There was nobody in the lines and the Customs/Immigration folks were not in their normal booths but rather standing outside of them. I handed our Customs Declaration card and both passports to the agent and was cleared within a few seconds. Our passports were not scanned.

 

Joanie dropped off her scooter and assumed the pilot's role of her walker as we proceeded to the passenger pickup point across the street from the terminal. At 9:30, our luggage was at Passenger Pickup Post #1 and I was on my phone to Anytime Car Service. Ten minutes from the ship's gangway to passenger pickup was a new record for us. The speed of disembarkation was amazing and so different from the hassles in Fort Lauderdale.

 

My happiness bubble burst when it took Anytime Car Service nearly 20 minutes to maneuver just one block to reach us. Cars parking four deep to pick up family members caused a huge traffic jam. Cars stopping in the middle of the street blocked those trying to pull away from the curb made the gridlock so severe that traffic-director whistles were useless. I was on the phone with the Anytime driver and even waved to him from the other side of the concrete barrier as he was trying to reach us through the maze of private cars.

 

The disembarkation process was perfection. The passenger pickup gaggle was definitely worse than any other HAL port.

 

Kudos to Anytime Car Service for their perseverance to reach us at the curb. I would recommend them for anyone to/from Pier 91.

 

It must be noted the the vehicle of choice for Seattle taxis is the Toyota Prius which holds very limited luggage.

[dobiemom]

Thank you for all of your reports. Welcome home! :)

[POA1]

Thanks for all the great reporting, Roger! Quick question for you: Do you carry a scanner with you for the menus, or do you bring them home and scan them?

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks for all the great reporting, Roger! Quick question for you: Do you carry a scanner with you for the menus, or do you bring them home and scan them?

 

I'm not Roger, obviously, but can respond to this question:) Thanks to Rafinmd, aka Roy, we now bring a small hand held scanner and scan any and all paperworks we want and either trash the originals or give them to fellow CC members who take them home and use as scrap books goodies:)

 

Joanie

[Krazy Kruizers]

You are right.

Seattle hasn't figured out how to handle all the cars, taxis, and limos.

It has always been a big mess when we leave there.

[KirkNC]

Glad to hear everything went so well.

[rafinmd]

I'm not Roger, obviously, but can respond to this question:) Thanks to Rafinmd, aka Roy, we now bring a small hand held scanner and scan any and all paperworks we want and either trash the originals or give them to fellow CC members who take them home and use as scrap books goodies:)

 

Joanie

 

Thanks. And I got the idea from Cruise Critic member ironin.

 

Roy

[POA1]

I'm not Roger, obviously, but can respond to this question:) Thanks to Rafinmd, aka Roy, we now bring a small hand held scanner and scan any and all paperworks we want and either trash the originals or give them to fellow CC members who take them home and use as scrap books goodies:)

 

Joanie

Thanks! Looking forward to meeting you on the Nieuw Amsterdam later this year. Please let DH know that we will try to protect the supply of ice cream sprinkles. ;)

[Sam.Seattle]

You are right.

Seattle hasn't figured out how to handle all the cars, taxis, and limos.

It has always been a big mess when we leave there.

Agreed! But, that little strip of land was never big enough for two ships to arrive at the same time.

 

How about they stagger the departure for one of the ships a couple of hours and delay the boarding a couple of hours?

 

I know if would be met with resistance and also be the only US Port with such a schedule.

 

Just a thought...

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sam.Seattle

[RedmondCruiser]

we left at 8:30 on the prior cruise and it was a breeze. Customs lines went fast and our son picked us up -- cars were only two deep and the traffic monitors in the lot did a good job of directing traffic. I guess its all a function of when you get off. I still like them to call out luggage tag numbers rather than the honor system though.

[esmo]

We were also on this cruise and the disembarkation was the smoothest we have ever experienced. We were sitting just outside the Queens Lounge and about 8:30 were told that "Brown" could now disembark. We were actually in our car by 8:45 a.m. which was supposed to be our disembarkation time. We didn't experience the traffic referenced, as we were parked in the lot and the shuttle bus was right there when we exited the terminal. Much better than our disembarkation from the Sapphire Princess last October - but that was the fault of the Port of LA and Immigration. Nice end to a nice cruise.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks Crew News for your disembarking report. Glad part of it went well. Welcome back.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for your report.

Welcome back.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were also on this cruise and the disembarkation was the smoothest we have ever experienced. We were sitting just outside the Queens Lounge and about 8:30 were told that "Brown" could now disembark. We were actually in our car by 8:45 a.m. which was supposed to be our disembarkation time. We didn't experience the traffic referenced, as we were parked in the lot and the shuttle bus was right there when we exited the terminal. Much better than our disembarkation from the Sapphire Princess last October - but that was the fault of the Port of LA and Immigration. Nice end to a nice cruise.

 

But many of us don't take a shuttle to the parking lot.

We have to wait for pre-arranged transportation to get through the mass of cars waiting to pick up others.

[missmishka]

Thanks for the information about the private car jam at the pickup point. We will be disembarking from our Alaska cruise on the Westerdam on September 20th and my sister-in-law will be picking us up, after we call her. She plans to wait in the cell phone lot. It will be good to let her know to expect heavy traffic.

 

Really appreciated all your reports of your two week cruise.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for your report.

 

After seeing disembarkation on other cruise lines, I think HAL has one of the most organized disembarkations in the industry.

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks for your report.

 

After seeing disembarkation on other cruise lines, I think HAL has one of the most organized disembarkations in the industry.

 

It is not HAL or any cruise line causing the traffic problems, at least in Seattle's Pier 91. It is Port Security refusing to get their acts together:( Handicapped Drop Off and Pick Up are right across the street from the Entrance/Exit Doors, but the Security refused to allow handicapped passengers and vehicles to stop there to drop off or pick up passengers including me both going and coming back:( They also seemed unable to tell the "Gypsy" vans from regular passenger vans......

 

It was chaos going into the terminal on embarkation and disembarkation.

 

The problems were NOT caused by any of the cruise lines but were due to Port Security not knowing what they were supposed to do:( I swear, there were times I wondered if these people had even been trained.........

 

Joanie

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the report how well disembarkation went. Sorry the pick up traffic was so brutal.

 

ALSO, thanks for mentioning about the Prius Taxis. For those who do not know this, it can be a problem both at the Pier and the Airport. We had never seen such a ridiculous vehicle for transport of travelers and their luggage. Green is great but there needs at least some full size taxis. We learned fast and used car company.

[esmo]

But many of us don't take a shuttle to the parking lot.

 

We have to wait for pre-arranged transportation to get through the mass of cars waiting to pick up others.

 

I was just trying to inform about another scenario - some of us don't have pre-arranged transportation either but must depend on shuttles to parking lots, airports etc.

[Lizzie68]

Thanks for the report how well disembarkation went. Sorry the pick up traffic was so brutal.

 

ALSO, thanks for mentioning about the Prius Taxis. For those who do not know this, it can be a problem both at the Pier and the Airport. We had never seen such a ridiculous vehicle for transport of travelers and their luggage. Green is great but there needs at least some full size taxis. We learned fast and used car company.

 

This is interesting, because Vancouver taxi drivers use the same cars - but there is a big difference at the cruise ship terminal and at YVR - van taxis are available for passengers with lots of luggage. The person co-ordinating the taxi rank at the cruise ship terminal will call the appropriate vehicle.

[sail7seas]

This is interesting, because Vancouver taxi drivers use the same cars - but there is a big difference at the cruise ship terminal and at YVR - van taxis are available for passengers with lots of luggage. The person co-ordinating the taxi rank at the cruise ship terminal will call the appropriate vehicle.

 

 

Are you saying there are van taxis at the pier but not at the airport?

[Lizzie68]

Are you saying there are van taxis at the pier but not at the airport?

 

No, they are at both! I was making the point specifically about the Prius being in general use for taxis, but that van taxis are available, and I have seen and used the van ones at the cruise ship terminal. Crews News implied that only Prius are available at Seattle terminal. I haven't needed one personally at YVR. Got it now?:D

Edited July 22, 2014 by Lizzie68

[erewhon]

Thanks for your disembarkation report.

[sapper1]

No, they are at both! I was making the point specifically about the Prius being in general use for taxis, but that van taxis are available, and I have seen and used the van ones at the cruise ship terminal. Crews News implied that only Prius are available at Seattle terminal. I haven't needed one personally at YVR. Got it now?:D

 

We have sailed into Vancouver four times since 2010 with our usual four large bags plus carry ons. We have never had an issue getting a large taxi to take us to the airport. The one time we flew into the airport we had a van style cab take us to the Pan Pacific Hotel at the pier.

When we disembark we check right into the Pan Pacific at the pier but when we leave the bellman hails the cab from the same taxi lineup as is there for the arriving cruise ships.

 

We will be arriving in Vancouver by ship again next May and finding a large enough taxi is not even on my list of things to fret about.

 

This is a long winded way of saying that I agree with Lizzie. :D