Delayed Disembarkation FLL has this been sorted out

[johnandlinda]

And when we got to the point of being processed the agent wanted to carryon a chit chat session after processing us...might explain why things were moving so slow...worst we had ever seen!

[comcox]

In Ft. Lauderdale, the princess transfers can be a poor value.

 

Cab fare is $15 - $18 to FLL.

 

Usually, there are plenty of cabs available. However,

if there are a lot of ships in port, and you are at berth

21, there can be a big line. 3 weeks ago, the cab line

there was about an hour; and there were 2 deputies

keeping order.

 

If you are arriving on a weekday, I would use a cab.

 

We will be arriving on a Saturday at 6 am according to the schedule and I think there will be two other ships Carnival Conquest and Oasis of the Seas in port as well.

[pablo222]

We will be arriving on a Saturday at 6 am according to the schedule and I think there will be two other ships Carnival Conquest and Oasis of the Seas in port as well.

 

On 17-October, CruiseTT says only Emerald Princess in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I don't know if that is 100% correct source.

 

One other thing to keep in mind -- as it is the end of a TA,

very few passengers will have their own transportation

(as no one drove to the port to embark the cruise).

[san diego sue]

Transatlantics always take much longer to disembark. Ship has been out of the country for months. In a lot of cases, huge amounts of non U.S. citizens so that can bog things down going through Immigration .

For people with early flights in Ft. Lauderdale, and not wanting to risk a long taxi wait, I would take the Princess transportation. Everyone on your bus will also have early flights (Princess will put later flight people on later bus). Cost of Princess transportation vs. cheaper Cab, should not be a factor especially if you risk missing your flight.

When I have a flight after 1:00PM, I take a cab.

In NYC (Brooklyn terminal) on one of my Transatlantics, we were lucky to have a 5:30PM flight. Well, about 90% of passengers were non U.S.

I was suppose to leave ship at 10:30 and because there was such a bottleneck at Immigration, got off after 12:00noon. Not Princess fault.

In Dec. we had a B2B in Ft. Lauderdale. So we signed up for a Princess tour. Well, our bus of tourists were mostly Australians and we were an hour late because of Immigration. Those poor people had to wait over an hour in line with only one Officer for non U.S. Citizens.We sailed right through and sat on the bus waiting for everyone to show up.It was only a shopping tour with return to ship after, so no big deal.

[CruisingJs]

I did not even think of getting a refund.We were even late again at Houston and only had an hour at the Space Center.

I do think if FLL is regular Princess Excursion folks could adjust timing.

I did manage to buy a good pair of trainers cheap but that took 20 minutes of the time trying on different ones.There was a huge Target there did not have time to look around though. There are so many different styles of clothing for ladies that we do not have in Canada.It was very disappointing .To top it all I bought a coffee in the International Cafe on board while waiting and had to pay Florida sales tax.:eek:

 

We were on that Space Center tour with you. When we got home I emailed Princess telling them we only got 45 minutes at the Space Center instead of 2 hours and they gave us each $100 OBC for our next cruise.

 

I think this cruise was unusual because you could disembark in either Fort Lauderdale or Houston. Those of us staying on until Houston, which was less than half the ship, had to get off the ship with people disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. It was quite a mess. We thought that by taking a Princess tour in Fort Lauderdale, we would avoid the congestion but it didn't work out that way at all.

[pablo222]

To top it all I bought a coffee in the International Cafe on board while waiting and had to pay Florida sales tax.:eek:

 

Almost as if you had bought it on land in Ft. Lauderdale.

[comcox]

Thanks for everyone's input. FLL port sounds a mess. I think I will try to avoid it in the future after this cruise. I did find notice of the other two ships in port that day on another cruise schedule website.

 

I know when lots of people complain about the horrible immigration/customs lines at the Miami Airport something was finally done about it. Perhaps that's what needs to happen at the ports. You would think the cruise lines would use their clout to get things improved.

[pablo222]

Thanks for everyone's input. FLL port sounds a mess.

 

Things are usually slow after a TA.

 

Other than that, things in FLL are not half as bad as they

sound on Cruise Critic. These forums are a magnet for

critical (negative) comments.

[kruisey]

When we actually managed to get to Customs and Immigration in FLL there was a line for USA and Canadian passengers no one was waiting and they just took ones passport within seconds and one was out of there.We still did have to wait for others on the coach for our shopping trip but not that long.Still left us only an hour for shopping before having to return to ship:(

[chloe45]

I agree, have seen this in Ft Lauderdale and LA.

 

During our last disembarkation at FLL about 3 weeks ago our porter was complaining that the custom agents were taking a break every 15 minutes. The line was very long. It took at least 40 minutes to get through. That's after being 40 minutes late to leave the ship. The folks we were waiting with were worried about making there flights and/or catching the shuttles. The gal in charge was telling some people to just go and not wait for their color. We didn't care because our car was in the garage but standing in that line for that long was tiring.

[pablo222]

When we actually managed to get to Customs and Immigration in FLL there was a line for USA and Canadian passengers no one was waiting and they just took ones passport within seconds and one was out of there.We still did have to wait for others on the coach for our shopping trip but not that long.Still left us only an hour for shopping before having to return to ship:(

 

Why would I book an excursion to go to a 'huge target' (store)?

 

I was looking at an alaska cruise from Seattle this summer.

 

In at least two of the ports, AND Seattle, there is a Walmart!!!

That seals it for me!

[Diver2014]

We live in Miami and go out of Port Everglades often on cruises, mostly with HAL, Royal Caribbean and now Princess in November. We have never been able to get past the Customs and Immigration without standing in line for ages, even with early self disembarkation. Why can't the US Govt put a few more agents on, especially when there are 4 or 5 ships in port that each carry 4000+ passengers? Luckily for us, we drive to the port but for many folks, getting to Ft Lauderdale International Airport before noon can be a challenge....and it's only 15 minutes away from the port (in heavy traffic!).

So yes, I'm complaining not about the cruises or ships or the cruise lines but the customs agents who hold up so many people in line needlessly.