Star still in San Francisco

[Dudleydog73]

I've said this before, its really important not to confuse the union as a whole with some of the idiots who are in it (this holds true for almost every profession).

 

Yes, there are extortionist porters (typically ones who have been demoted from container duty) and ones who think they are helping the cause by doing stupid stuff. That said, in most cases the bosses DO NOT want this kind of behavior (there are exceptions, like the current Carpenters issue with the convention center in philly where the boss is one of those idiots). As noted, if you report one of these folks to the supervisor, they will likely be booted.

 

I have had professional, if not always happy, port workers far more often than not.

 

Sincere union management knows these things hurt their position, not help it.

 

 

Loonbeam,

 

I appreciate your stance on unions, but IMHO they do nothing but promote job protectionism for many folks (notice I did not say all) who could not otherwise make it in a free market. I have only had a couple instances of porters highly advising the need to give a nice tip when dropping off bags at checkin, but thankfully you are correct in stating that the majority of porters seem to be standup individuals. I hope that everyone involved with this dispute gets what they are deserving, but most professions know that a true professional goes above and beyond when the call of duty is there, even if there is no monetary gain.

[JJ2sail]

I am sailing on Sunday 4/12 on the Star.

 

Just wondering how the recent embarks and debarks have been going? Should I just bring carryon luggage?

 

And have they solved any of the issues with the return debark procedures and collecting luggage? It was a mess last September when we sailed.

[VibeGuy]

The PMA and ILWU are as functional now as they're ever going to get - the membership hasn't voted yet, but the caucus recommended approval 78% to 22%, and the ports are operating normally again. The final vote isn't until late May, but I wouldn't worry much.

[PoohUnderstands]

I am sailing on Sunday 4/12 on the Star.

 

Just wondering how the recent embarks and debarks have been going? Should I just bring carryon luggage?

 

And have they solved any of the issues with the return debark procedures and collecting luggage? It was a mess last September when we sailed.

 

Just off Star's 3/21-4/5 sailing. The pier is fine. Just like all my embarkations and debarkations in Ft. Lauderdale. Please stop being concerned. Luggage to my room just after 5 and we were undersail just after 5 also. As we disembarked, I immediately saw my bags neatly in the area they were so designated to be. Porters available, and friendly, and helpful.

 

Pooh

[Cruzn ELM]

I am sailing on Sunday 4/12 on the Star.

 

Just wondering how the recent embarks and debarks have been going? Should I just bring carryon luggage?

 

And have they solved any of the issues with the return debark procedures and collecting luggage? It was a mess last September when we sailed.

 

I did a b2b Mar 14 and 21 ending last Sun, Apr 5. Everything went smoothly with both embarkations and the disembarkation.

[JJ2sail]

Great, thanks, good to hear they have worked out the kinks.

[gnatz007]

Great, thanks, good to hear they have worked out the kinks.

 

 

We are on the Star right now. It was very easy and straight forward. We arrived around 1:00 and took us around 20 minutes to get on board. Our luggage was to the room before 3:00. Was the fastest we have ever received our luggage. We were unpacked before muster.

 

It's been a great cruise and you will have an awesome time! I'll post a bigger review next week. There have been some hits and some small misses.

[JJ2sail]

Thanks for the update.

[Lancer1568]

deleted

Edited April 11, 2015 by Lancer1568
ooops wrong forum

[Northender]

We are on the Star right now. It was very easy and straight forward. We arrived around 1:00 and took us around 20 minutes to get on board. Our luggage was to the room before 3:00. Was the fastest we have ever received our luggage. We were unpacked before muster.

 

It's been a great cruise and you will have an awesome time! I'll post a bigger review next week. There have been some hits and some small misses.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.:)

[Pierlesscruisers]

Too bad these thugs are holding the port hostage. :mad:

Greedy greedy greedy.

 

I'm not a big fan of the longshoreman's union, but how do you know that the greed is on the part of the longshoremen? It could be on the part of management. The hang up could be over a legitimate point. They have been working without a contract since last July, in case you didn't know. This has affected the entire West Coast, not just SF.

 

Tom

[gcvt]

Looks like she's getting away on time today. Beautiful day too.

[Bernbun29]

We sailed on her in late Feb and had no problem at the port. Boarding was fast, got to sail out under the GG bridge and it was spectacular!!

[kennelgang]

My wife and I live in San Jose, just south of SF. We have sailed out of SF from pier 35 a number of times. This past May we were excited to be sailing Celebrity Infinity out of the newly built pier 27.

 

Much to our dismay there was complete confusion as to how to get to the terminal entrance once inside the fence. No signs for which lanes to get into for drop-off or pick-up. Taxis had a priority lane next to the terminal entrance. Making it very inconvenient for embarkation.

 

The traffic control personnel were extremely rude both at embarkation and debarkation..Yelling at everyone if they made the slightest of mistakes (e.i. getting into to the wrong lane for pick-up).

 

At the entrance to the terminal, there was mass confusion and there were no port or Celebrity personnel willing to assist in providing wheelchair service for my special needs wife, which I had requested in advance prior to sailing. We were told they did not provide such special needs requirements and we were on our own!! We finally located a wheelchair, but no one to wheel her, so she tried with great effort to wheel herself since I had to wheel our one carry-on and her portable oxygen machine.

 

Once we got to the check-in area we were told that my wife could no longer keep the wheelchair and she was force to relinquish it.

 

Shame on San Francisco for not doing an accurate survey of traffic flow prior to building this pier and shame on the Port Authority and Celebrity for not providing supportive or caring personnel.

Edited June 10, 2015 by kennelgang

[iceleven]

So sorry that you and your wife had such a terrible experience at the new terminal. What time did you arrive? Is it possible that there were still passengers leaving the ship that helped create the chaos? Were you being dropped off or driving there yourself? We've cruised in and out of the new terminal many times and as of yet, never had a problem; always an easy drop off and an easy pick up. I do recognize that there have been bad experiences by others, though.

 

I've observed many times the passengers needing wheelchairs being whisked away and boarded by Princess Staff and generally always with priority over those who could stand in the lines.

 

Perhaps it was a failure of Celebrity to provide adequate personnel in the area. And again, if you arrived while people were still debarking, I could see how it would have been much more difficult to control the flow.

Edited June 10, 2015 by iceleven

[kennelgang]

So sorry that you and your wife had such a terrible experience at the new terminal. What time did you arrive? Is it possible that there were still passengers leaving the ship that helped create the chaos? Were you being dropped off or driving there yourself? We've cruised in and out of the new terminal many times and as of yet, never had a problem; always an easy drop off and an easy pick up. I do recognize that there have been bad experiences by others, though.

 

I've observed many times the passengers needing wheelchairs being whisked away and boarded by Princess Staff and generally always with priority over those who could stand in the lines.

 

Perhaps it was a failure of Celebrity to provide adequate personnel in the area. And again, if you arrived while people were still debarking, I could see how it would have been much more difficult to control the flow.

 

Yes, the arriving cruise was late in debarkation, however, it does not excuse the fact there are no lane direction for debarking and embarking, which is a clear mistake on the part of the design of the pier and the lack of an effective pre-study of traffic flow prior to construction. There will always be these types of situations (late debarking) and there appears to have been no planning for such. There is also no excuse for the sheer lack of common courtesy. The fact of telling us we were on our own was not acceptable under any circumstance.

Edited June 10, 2015 by kennelgang

[Colo Cruiser]

Employees with the entitled attitude.

What a joke. :(

[Pierlesscruisers]

At the entrance to the terminal, there was mass confusion and there were no port or Celebrity personnel willing to assist in providing wheelchair service for my special needs wife, which I had requested in advance prior to sailing. We were told they did not provide such special needs requirements and we were on our own!! We finally located a wheelchair, but no one to wheel her, so she tried with great effort to wheel herself since I had to wheel our one carry-on and her portable oxygen machine.

 

Once we got to the check-in area we were told that my wife could no longer keep the wheelchair and she was force to relinquish it.

 

Shame on San Francisco for not doing an accurate survey of traffic flow prior to building this pier and shame on the Port Authority and Celebrity for not providing supportive or caring personnel.

 

While I certainly understand your feelings on your situation as you have described it here, I would like to make one point on something that you mentioned in your last paragraph and that involves the personnel involved.

 

When it comes to the support people on the pier they are limited to what they can do by the contract between the cruise line and the company providing the shore-side support. By that I mean that if the contract says that the cruise line will provide a given service (say movement of passengers via wheelchairs and the support company is not to provide that, then the support company pretty much has their hands tied. If they provide such service in contravention to what the contract has said then they are putting their company as well as their personnel in a very hazardous position as regards legal liability should anything happen to the passenger while they are providing that service. So if Carnival, in this case, says they'll handle all wheelchair transport, the other company has to take a hands-off policy. While that doesn't help you or anyone else in a situation like the one you describe, it is, nevertheless, a fact of life.

 

So what can a traveler do in a situation such as the one you describe? The only thing that I can see that you could do would be that everyone who would be affected by such a situation were to write the cruise line involved and tell them that they will never again sail on one of their ships until the situation that you experienced is resolved and that you will let everybody you know, regardless of whether they cruise at present or not, what occurred during your cruise. The only way to have any affect on any major corporation is to hurt them where it hurts the most, in the pocketbook. You might also let other major groups like AAA or AARP know what your experience was. But, as with any protest action, you should always be factual and unemotional and make no threats or take any other negative types of action.

 

One man's opinion!

 

Tom

[cheeseclan]

Tom,

 

Sorry i am changing the subject: how do you like Gig Harbor? My husband wants to retire there in about 6 years or so.

 

Debbie

[Pierlesscruisers]

Tom,

 

Sorry i am changing the subject: how do you like Gig Harbor? My husband wants to retire there in about 6 years or so.

 

Debbie

 

After my wife retired from the Army (I'd already retired 7 years earlier) we returned and ended up here in GH and have been here 20 years now so we like it pretty well. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to Seattle if we want/need to go there and it's only about 30 minutes or so to SeaTac if we need to catch a flight so everything is "reachable" pretty easily. The only thing that isn't great is that there is a bridge toll (going up to $5.50 a shot on the eastbound bridge) which wasn't there when we first moved here. Of course there was only 1 4-lane bridge then also where we now have 2 4-lane ones (old one west bound, new one east bound) so the old problem with congestion isn't there.

 

Send me an email at one of the email addresses I use (genealogisttom@gmail.com) and we can talk about the advantages/disadvantages of Gig Harbor. That's not my normal email but it'll do for an initial contact. (I don't think I'm breaking any Cruise Critic rules by giving that info out. If I am I'm sure I'll find out very quickly! :confused:

 

Tom

 

Tom

Edited June 11, 2015 by Pierlesscruisers