Have they fixed "self-assist" debarkation yet?

[wannagonow123]

Before I begin, this is not a Customs/ immigration issue.

 

Back in April, we had a B2B on the Triumph. At the end of our first leg, we decided to get off in NO to walk around the French Quarter before the next leg. We were told we could get off when we wanted and come back on when the ship "zeroed" out. This was not an issue for us. We woke up early to get off after FTTF and priority folks. What a debacle! They never announced to people in the lounge that they could get off. Instead, the people greeting those that went into the lounge just disappeared. OK, lets get in line with floor One. HA !!!!! There were people getting off with old luggage tags (yes, they were on our cruise according to the dates on the tags). They were floor 6 & 7 without priority markings. No one was monitoring anything. The CD kept announcing they were only letting Deck 1 off and for people not to go to debarkation deck. Again, HA. After 90 minutes, we finally made it to customs deck, where we went right through.

 

The same thing happened at the end of our second week. We were Deck 2 and after the same announcements, we finally decided to join in crowds after 2 hours of Deck 1 only calls. Of course you could not get an elevator. If a US Fire Marshall had been around there would have been issues. People had 3 & 4 large suitcases that were blocking walk paths. It took us 3.5 hours to get off the ship for self-assist. We should have just let them take our luggage and relaxed.

 

There are easy ways to allow this process to work as intended.

 

Every cruise, they hand out a "How are you leaving?" survey. If you are getting off traditionally, no changes required. Hand out luggage tags and leave out at night. If you are self assist however, hand out colored stickers, one per person, that correspond with your deck, or priority& FTTF people. Wrong sticker, and you are not allowed in the disembarkation lines. Have the folks that say goodbye as you ding out , walk around a get those that don't belong in that boarding out of line!

 

I had a good cruise! I do not need someone saying goodbye. By the time I get to them, I am pissed.

[RuthlessBoss]

I don't know how it can be fixed. People are doing what they want rather than do as they should. By the time they get ahead of others, there is no time to single people out when trying to unload thousands.

[golfb4cruzing]

Never had a problem on Princess. Latest off any trip has been 9am. There should be a best practice program between company under the Carnival umbrella. The variances between lines is mind boggling. Princess could use Carnival knowledge on desserts.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

As long as people are people and the "ME FIRST" attitude exists, debarkation will always be a mess. A little tag on someone's luggage doesn't stop the cattle drive herd from pushing their way to the front...and self-assist has just exacerbated the issue as people are pushing and pulling all their paraphernalia, ignoring Carnival personnel, and blocking exiting for everyone behind them.

 

I guess Carnival could lock the doors to everyone's cabin and just let them out when their exiting time is available, but somehow that doesn't seem to realistic.

 

It's going to take 3 or 4 hours to clear a ship...a half dozen custom's agents just can't service the crowd of 3 to 4 thousand any faster, so not everyone can be off the ship in the first hour, no matter what system is set up. But, don't let passengers know that...it's the END of their vacation and they just want off so they can wait for customs, form lines in the parking lot, wait at the curb for transport and luggage loading.

 

I'm glad we are members of the "wait until the last possible moment" to exit the ship. I'd rather spend my time visiting with family members sitting in a nice comfy chair than standing for hours in non-moving lines getting my shins scarred and suffering assorted bumps and bruises.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Sweet Dutch Girl

[RuthlessBoss]

Never had a problem on Princess. Latest off any trip has been 9am. There should be a best practice program between company under the Carnival umbrella. The variances between lines is mind boggling. Princess could use Carnival knowledge on desserts.

 

I must make a note of how "perfect" Princess and their passengers being "perfect" as you frequently brag about over here on Carnival forums. ;)

[biguy56]

As a first time cruiser, and reading all kinds of reviews for this topic, I think we want to be one of those whom take their time leaving. We are staying overnight at port so no big hurry to get to motel. What is better, sending bags out or taking yourself if waiting till later to leave? Do you have to be out of your room by a certain time? Thanks in advance for any info

[StolidCruiser]

Agree with the prior respondents. Once the herd starts moo'ing toward the exit, there's very little that can be done to control it.

 

I like the idea of locking guests up in their cabins until their the appropriate time. Another idea would be to issue Carnival employees actual cattle prods to shock the violators back to where they belong but somehow I doubt it would have any effect.

 

I have long since accepted the fact embarkation and debarkation are total clusters; After my first couple mass-market cruises I learned - don't arrive early to board and don't go down early to exit. No stress at the start and no stress at the end. :D

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

As a first time cruiser, and reading all kinds of reviews for this topic, I think we want to be one of those whom take their time leaving. We are staying overnight at port so no big hurry to get to motel. What is better, sending bags out or taking yourself if waiting till later to leave? Do you have to be out of your room by a certain time? Thanks in advance for any info

 

Don't do self-assist. If you are leaving "later" your luggage will be waiting in isolated splendor prior to customs. We always pack-up everything and carry only a back-pack or shoulder bag with our essentials from the night before.

 

One of the reasons we book mid-decks is so that we can use the stairs the first and last day and avoid the elevators and crowds. The last morning we leave the room at last call and head to the lido deck and find a nice out of the way place to meet up as a family. There "are" food items available and drinks so the waiting is comfortable.

[lizardhowson]

I must make a note of how "perfect" Princess and their passengers being "perfect" as you frequently brag about over here on Carnival forums. ;)

 

Have noticed the same - perhaps poster should be playing more golf and doing less cruising :D

[ScottsSweetie]

I've never seen self-assist take 3.5 hours. If debarkation were to start around 6:30am, then with your times self-assist wouldn't be finished until 10:00am. Typically, the entire ship is cleared by 10:30 or so, and everyone with a zone tag could not get off in 30 minutes.

 

Also, I've never heard them only call one deck at a time - usually in groups of 2 or so.

 

If it really did take 3.5 hours for self-assist then there had to have been extenuating circumstances for that date, because that would have caused the empty out time to be around noon.

[winddawn]

Before I begin, this is not a Customs/ immigration issue.

 

Back in April, we had a B2B on the Triumph. At the end of our first leg, we decided to get off in NO to walk around the French Quarter before the next leg. We were told we could get off when we wanted and come back on when the ship "zeroed" out. This was not an issue for us. We woke up early to get off after FTTF and priority folks. What a debacle! They never announced to people in the lounge that they could get off. Instead, the people greeting those that went into the lounge just disappeared. OK, lets get in line with floor One. HA !!!!! There were people getting off with old luggage tags (yes, they were on our cruise according to the dates on the tags). They were floor 6 & 7 without priority markings. No one was monitoring anything. The CD kept announcing they were only letting Deck 1 off and for people not to go to debarkation deck. Again, HA. After 90 minutes, we finally made it to customs deck, where we went right through.

 

The same thing happened at the end of our second week. We were Deck 2 and after the same announcements, we finally decided to join in crowds after 2 hours of Deck 1 only calls. Of course you could not get an elevator. If a US Fire Marshall had been around there would have been issues. People had 3 & 4 large suitcases that were blocking walk paths. It took us 3.5 hours to get off the ship for self-assist. We should have just let them take our luggage and relaxed.

 

There are easy ways to allow this process to work as intended.

 

Every cruise, they hand out a "How are you leaving?" survey. If you are getting off traditionally, no changes required. Hand out luggage tags and leave out at night. If you are self assist however, hand out colored stickers, one per person, that correspond with your deck, or priority& FTTF people. Wrong sticker, and you are not allowed in the disembarkation lines. Have the folks that say goodbye as you ding out , walk around a get those that don't belong in that boarding out of line!

 

I had a good cruise! I do not need someone saying goodbye. By the time I get to them, I am pissed.

I've noticed on my last few cruises that priority debarkation has been very disorganized, and the staff just don't manage the debarkation process like they used to. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems like they just don't care. On Legend in June, no one came to open up the dining room priority meeting place until they actually started letting people off. By then there were over a hundred people jammed into the elevator waiting area in front of the dining room and on down the hall. People couldn't get off the elevators because there was so much luggage sitting around and the area was shoulder to shoulder with people. And this wasn't because people were acting up. It was because Carnival didn't do what they were supposed to do. And just when they finally did open it up and everyone filed in, they started filing everybody out. By the time the platinum and diamonds got to the debarkation area, it was already clogged with FTTF people debarking. What a mess that was. I wonder if Carnival will change priority debarkation when they announce changes to VIFP soon.

[Sixtytwo]

I think the cruise lines do the best they can in getting folks on and off the ships. But, as long as people believe they are a priority, there will be little change over the current issues.

[First and Ten]

I've never seen self-assist take 3.5 hours. If debarkation were to start around 6:30am, then with your times self-assist wouldn't be finished until 10:00am. Typically, the entire ship is cleared by 10:30 or so, and everyone with a zone tag could not get off in 30 minutes.

 

Also, I've never heard them only call one deck at a time - usually in groups of 2 or so.

 

If it really did take 3.5 hours for self-assist then there had to have been extenuating circumstances for that date, because that would have caused the empty out time to be around noon.

 

I cruised in May....did self assist....we were not priority. They started by calling people by deck number, one at a time. I never remember hearing a call for priority debark, so I don't know if it was in effect. Process started at around 8, we were called by 9:15 (Deck 7). After the self assists were off, I assume they would have started calling by Zone number (I have no idea how many "Zones" there were). What apparently they did were lock down the elevators so if they called Deck 4, Deck 5 people couldn't intercept the elevators and call them to Deck 5....by the time we were called, total process of getting off ship to parking lot was 15 mins

Edited August 5, 2016 by First and Ten