Bag search leaving ship at a port stop?

[reedy8]

Why is everyone being so mean to this lady? You really all need to check your self. Just rude in every sense of the word.

I agree with you, (no like button on this site) people are entitled to have feelings and entitled to express them without others jumping down their throats and accuse them of being melodramatic. We all react differently to different situations.

[tinkertwo]

I agree with you, (no like button on this site) people are entitled to have feelings and entitled to express them without others jumping down their throats and accuse them of being melodramatic. We all react differently to different situations.

 

Your right however the op was questioning if it was normal practice to be searched and at the end said ' maybe we’re just too sensitive'. This opens the door to the responses they are getting. Maybe they just expected answers that would go along with their train of thought and are not getting that. Not sure. Keep in mind that asking if they are being to sensitive could involve getting replies about them being melodramatic, its not out of the scope.

 

I think we need to remember what you said yourself, people are entitled to have feelings and entitled to express them without others jumping down their throats. It goes both ways. One thing I have learned since coming to CC is if you ask a question expect all kinds of answers. Don't ask something if you want a lot of 'your right' or 'poor you'. Your not going to get it. I now read everything with a grain of salt. It helps.

[Langley Cruisers]

Looks like OP has checked out of this thread.

[poncho1973]

You aren't surprised, are you? You know how it goes when anyone dares criticize RCL.

 

This has nothing to do with where this thread has gone.

 

Nice of you to bring the straw man to the thread, though.

[ducklite]

I agree with you, (no like button on this site) people are entitled to have feelings and entitled to express them without others jumping down their throats and accuse them of being melodramatic. We all react differently to different situations.

 

People who want to escalate a standard search to the proportions the OP did shouldn't even consider traveling outside their hometown. Seriously.

[poncho1973]

Tl;Dr: Is it normal practice for RCI security staff to check passenger bags when LEAVING the ship at a port stop? Sorry for the length of this post, but I need to get it off my chest.

It's not normal, exactly, but it does happen. Especially when they are looking for something specific or the person leaving is doing something out of the ordinary. I'm guessing the bag being on the trolley is the key here. They have no idea who you are, what the medical history of the person with the bag is, or what your intentions are. It is just unusual. Contrary to how you took it, there is nothing personal or irrational about what they did.

 

 

We were on Brilliance of the Seas on the 18th September (the day of our 40th wedding anniversary and the reason we were on the cruise in the first place)

Good detail, but irrelevant. They don't ask "is anyone having a special occasion today?" prior to bag checks.

 

when a security guard stopped my husband as we left the ship at Ravenna. He held his hand in front of us and rudely demanded to know what was in the backpack that we had strapped onto a small portable trolley – my husband has high blood pressure and it’s easier to wheel a bag than carry it.

As stated, bag checks are in the contract and allowed. A person's health (good or bad) doesn't factor in.

 

My very mild-mannered DH was taken aback at the guard’s confrontational attitude but informed him politely that it was various items for the beach.

He's a security person. He's not a friend. Maybe his attitude should have been nicer (I wasn't there) but he's an authority, not a smiling face of love.

 

 

The guard then insisted that he open the bag there and then and, with no facilities or checking table available, my husband had to go down on his hands and knees on the floor in front of him to open it while the guard stood over him. The check was cursory and involved moving our items from one side to another.

You mention so many details, but don't mention either of you telling this person that you are physically not capable of complying or at least without it causing you physical distress. If so, your options are to allow that person to do it or get you a table. Or you can just bend down and do it despite not being capable of doing so. Most times a simple request for further assistance is met with success.

 

We were outside the ship, a bit shell-shocked really, before I realised how upset and humiliated my husband felt - not to mention how pointless the check actually was... [sNIPPED]

This is all just getting worked up and feeling you are above the way you were treated. No one can change your mind that you were superior and the staff were inferior, so I'll just move past that. Your feelings were hurt. People reading this section either think you're nuts or that you've been disgraced.

 

While this experience didn’t ruin our much planned cruise, it DID put a distinct taint on our respect for RCI. While this is neither the place nor the time to elaborate further, we watched many of RCI’s so-called rules flagrantly broken throughout our cruise, while staff walked past, studiously avoiding noticing them or tackling the offenders. I subsequently asked many of our dinner and lunch companions on the last few days and none had ever experienced a check on the way out of a ship – and certainly not one anywhere that involved getting down on the floor on hands and knees to open a bag.

 

I really want to follow this up in the right manner and appreciate any advice – maybe we’re just too sensitive but my husband still feels upset and humiliated. This is more especially so because of the succession of contradictory excuses given for the incident - none of which hold any water in our opinion - and the very poor way it was handled by RCI.

This is where it goes straight down the crapper for me. You seem to suggest that because they didn't catch every single incident that you feel broke the rules of the ship that they have no right to enforce ANY rules of the ship. A kid ran in the hallway, so how dare they try to stop someone from taking something off the ship that they shouldn't have? You obviously weren't doing that, but they didn't know you weren't.

 

You aren't privy to security concerns on the ship. Maybe at that port people are sneaking ____ off the ship fairly regularly. Maybe you match the profile or your bag was the perfect size? You don't know. Just because YOU know you are innocent doesn't mean anything.

 

I don't support making people who are elderly and infirm do things they can't physically do. That's bad. However, getting chosen for a random check, especially when you were actually doing something that 99% of people weren't doing, just makes you a citizen of Planet Earth in 2016. Welcome to the club.

 

I also speak from experience. I was chosen for a random inspection when I was barely able to walk myself. My knee was seriously inflamed from a sports injury and I was in a ton of pain. Of course that's the day I get picked at the airport for all the extra checks. They took every single item out of my bag. I was running a bit later than I wanted (especially since I was walking at 1/5th speed) and had an entire table (I got a table... but it's not because I'm better than you... I just insisted and they have tables at the airport) and now I had to put it all back!!!

 

It was a serious pain in the rear, but it wasn't personal. It wasn't death-dealing. It wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't humiliating. It wasn't vulgar. It just sucked.

[Computer Nerd]

Isn't that what it's called? I didn't intend to mislead or exaggerate. Does a strip search require all clothes to be removed? If so, then you're right. It wasn't a strip search.

 

Sorry.

 

They were patted down from head to toe. Shirt and shoes removed.

 

Would you feel gipped if a stripper only took off her shoes and shirt? I think the term "strip search" is pretty self explanatory.

[Computer Nerd]

I agree with you, (no like button on this site) people are entitled to have feelings and entitled to express them without others jumping down their throats and accuse them of being melodramatic. We all react differently to different situations.

 

So what you are saying is some people are entitled to say what they want and others are not. :rolleyes:

[MizDemeanor]

It seems some have a sensitivity issue...

[poncho1973]

So what you are saying is some people are entitled to say what they want and others are not. :rolleyes:

 

That's pretty much it.

 

"You can say whatever you want as long as it agrees with me. Otherwise, you can't say it."

[goneclear]

Unfortunately the world we now live in, Security checks are a part of daily life. They can happen almost anywhere anytime.

Do not take it personal, It's life. Always be cooperative and move on.

[Big_G]

Unfortunately the world we now live in, Security checks are a part of daily life. They can happen almost anywhere anytime.

Do not take it personal, It's life. Always be cooperative and move on.

 

I agree but being a major service industry corporation with policies and procedures in place, you would think they would have an area for this type of search that would provide as little inconvenience to their clientele as possible.

[bigque]

Back in 2010 for our flight to San Juan from Atlanta and on the return trip my ticket was flagged for a complete search going through TSA. My wife was not but I had to go through a scan, pat down, wan and a carry on bag search. I never could get an answer at the time as to why I was flagged but I just endured it and moved on. My daughter who works for TSA told me later that it's not TSA that does this but the airlines randomly select tickets to flag for the complete search! In the world we live in now, it has become a way of life. Be it TSA at the airport or Cruise Security, I would much rather for them to be proactive like this than not to and something bad happens!

[goneclear]

I agree but being a major service industry corporation with policies and procedures in place, you would think they would have an area for this type of search that would provide as little inconvenience to their clientele as possible.

 

I also agree with you. It appears in this case it was not something that was an on going exercise so there was no special area with table etc set up. It appears the security officer just acted on a hunch for what ever reason. Some times that method pays off.

Security officials always tell us, if you see something suspicious say something. Obviously he felt some form of suspicion.

I am pretty sure he did not purposely target them just to spoil their day.

My point was these things are going to happen more and more often and we should not let it upset us. Cooperate and move on.

[Blackfish123]

Thanks to everyone for their replies, especially to those who were kind and polite. This will be my final post on this issue, as I ‘move on’ as some people have (sympathetically and otherwise) advised.

 

Before I go, I’d like to add that I think many people have missed much of my point here – this was not any kind of security check, random or otherwise. It served no useful purpose at all. The guard failed to examine the bag properly, didn’t open any of the 2 bags on the inside and didn’t carry out any useful search. Why carry out any kind of examination that is not done correctly?

 

Being Irish, and having lived on both sides of the Northern Ireland border for over 30 years of the Troubles, I know what a security search is and what it isn’t – this wasn’t a security check. I’ve experienced more actual and thorough day-to-day security searches (random and otherwise) on my home, person and property than perhaps most people posting here, so I do know the difference. I accept fully the need for genuine security procedures and have no difficulty with same.

 

As I’ve already said, nothing we were removing from the ship to the shore could pose any kind of security threat to the ship, its crew or its passengers. How could it? We were taking things OFF the ship. If we posed any perceived threat that RCI hoped to interrupt, checking us so inadequately on the way out was absurd.

 

Moreover, as already explained, everything we had in the bag had already passed through RCI’s rigorous security on boarding the ship, including X-Rays. If we’d planned anything untoward with items in that bag that we’d succeeded in illegally taking on board on any previous occasion, carrying such items back and forward on port visits would surely be bizarre? If we were removing food, the guard failed there too – the obvious place to look for that was in the coolbag inside the backpack! Ditto for alcohol or drugs or any other contraband, assuming that there was indeed any logical point in taking them off the ship in the first place.

 

Finally, this check on the way out of the ship was not at all analogous to airport security, or any other kind of random street searches etc. A ship is a closed system once passengers and their baggage are on board. If, in the unlikely event that such a closed system is NOT secure, and random security searches are necessary for safety reasons, the total inadequacy of our ‘security’ check means that cruise passengers have a whole lot more to worry about than our injured feelings.

[Charles4515]

 

 

 

As I’ve already said, nothing we were removing from the ship to the shore could pose any kind of security threat to the ship, its crew or its passengers. How could it? We were taking things OFF the ship. If we posed any perceived threat that RCI hoped to interrupt, checking us so inadequately on the way out was absurd.

 

 

 

 

 

I think what you don't get is that we are not the ones who decide about the when, where or how of bag checks, or if they are inadequate or needed getting off the ship. Your opinion that it was absurd or there could be no threat is an opinion.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited September 28, 2016 by Charles4515

[poncho1973]

Many years ago I worked at a place where people were stealing paint cans. Like entire gallons of some special paint. I had no idea it was going on, but it was. People steal weird crap.

 

I just imagine a scenario like that here. You have no idea what they were looking for, so declaring it useless and not a real search based on your Irish roots isn't really valid.

 

Assume the absurd for a second...

 

A cruise line notices that every time they stop at Port Allottafun life vests are disappearing. No other ports. Just Port Allottafun. Then they find out that Mademoiselle Anaconda's bar in Port Allottafun is giving out free bar tabs for life vests swiped from cruise ships.

 

"Hey Security Minions! Listen up! If you see someone wearing a Mademoiselle Anaconda shirt pay attention to their bags. On top of that, anytime you see a bag big enough for a life vest, even on some little old lady with a walker, make sure a life vest isn't walking off the ship!"

 

That's nuts, but if that happened, a 2 second check shows you don't have a life vest. It would take up the whole bag. If you don't know about the free bar tab because you're never going to be caught dead in that tramp Mademoiselle Anaconda's crappy dive bar and you've never heard of anyone stealing a life vest because they are hideous and orange... well, you'd think that was just silly.

 

 

 

The point is neither of us know what they were told or weren't told to look for. Declaring it useless because you're getting off the ship and needlessly humiliating when you have no idea what they were doing it for is also silly.

Edited September 28, 2016 by poncho1973

[Langley Cruisers]

OP Blackfish123, I truly wish the best for you and I hope you and your groom will be cruising for many years to come. :) Having said that, I just don't think you "get it" concerning this. I understand why you think a ship would be a "closed system" and that you feel nothing criminal could happen after they raise the gangway, but it just isn't true (not about you, but for everyone in general). Any kind of breach could happen anywhere along the way, from ship employees to truck drivers to forklift operators to suppliers... it's scary, actually.

 

Anyway, this lengthy thread has done nothing to change your mind or ease your concerns. I suggest you put it all behind you and consider changing lines if you don't feel RCI treated you fairly. But as I said in another reply earlier, this could happen in an airport, a ferry terminal, a border crossing, or another cruise ship. That's the way the world is now.

[iheartbda]

Karen, I agree with you that the OP just get it even after posting they were going to move on. Oh well, many tried to explain so they could understand. Just another day on CC, (sigh).

[MizDemeanor]

I think the OP explained in the most recent post....there is a predisposition to things we know nothing about.

 

From that point of view, the search was an unproductive annoyance at a minimum, I follow that opinion completely.

 

Stepping back, and using this episode as an example, for future bag searches, its not unreasonable for a table to be set up, as a just as simple practice as the search itself.

 

We are in 'Merica, Seth.....

[SPacificbound]

I am sorry that Mr & Mrs Blackfish 123 felt humiliated by the bag check. Hopefully their next cruise, regardless of what line it is on, will go well for them.

 

As Langley Cruisers said I wish the best for them.

 

We are in a very different world now and I can only see the bag checks, body checks etc. increasing. If I had a dollar for every time I have been "patted down", I would have a very, very good deposit on an expensive cruise. I get patted down every time I board and re-board a ship also. That is the way it is, and either I anticipate and accept it, or I don't travel. That isn't happening as long as I am able to pack a suitcase.

 

poncho 1973, I have to say your post was my favorite, though I've got to admit I skipped a few pages in between.

 

Good thoughts to all, time to move on. :)

[GUT2407]

It seems some have a sensitivity issue...

 

No not sensitivity, it's about me, me, me.

[Merion_Mom]

Many years ago I worked at a place where people were stealing paint cans. Like entire gallons of some special paint. I had no idea it was going on, but it was. People steal weird crap.

 

I just imagine a scenario like that here. You have no idea what they were looking for, so declaring it useless and not a real search based on your Irish roots isn't really valid.

 

Assume the absurd for a second...

 

A cruise line notices that every time they stop at Port Allottafun life vests are disappearing. No other ports. Just Port Allottafun. Then they find out that Mademoiselle Anaconda's bar in Port Allottafun is giving out free bar tabs for life vests swiped from cruise ships.

 

"Hey Security Minions! Listen up! If you see someone wearing a Mademoiselle Anaconda shirt pay attention to their bags. On top of that, anytime you see a bag big enough for a life vest, even on some little old lady with a walker, make sure a life vest isn't walking off the ship!"

 

That's nuts, but if that happened, a 2 second check shows you don't have a life vest. It would take up the whole bag. If you don't know about the free bar tab because you're never going to be caught dead in that tramp Mademoiselle Anaconda's crappy dive bar and you've never heard of anyone stealing a life vest because they are hideous and orange... well, you'd think that was just silly.

 

 

 

The point is neither of us know what they were told or weren't told to look for. Declaring it useless because you're getting off the ship and needlessly humiliating when you have no idea what they were doing it for is also silly.

 

This is a simply brilliant distillation of the situation, IMO.

 

Kudos, poncho.

 

:)

[mollyeilis]

Thanks to everyone for their replies, especially to those who were kind and polite. This will be my final post on this issue, as I ‘move on’ as some people have (sympathetically and otherwise) advised.

 

 

 

Before I go, I’d like to add that I think many people have missed much of my point here – this was not any kind of security check, random or otherwise. It served no useful purpose at all. The guard failed to examine the bag properly, didn’t open any of the 2 bags on the inside and didn’t carry out any useful search. Why carry out any kind of examination that is not done correctly?

 

 

 

Being Irish, and having lived on both sides of the Northern Ireland border for over 30 years of the Troubles, I know what a security search is and what it isn’t – this wasn’t a security check. I’ve experienced more actual and thorough day-to-day security searches (random and otherwise) on my home, person and property than perhaps most people posting here, so I do know the difference. I accept fully the need for genuine security procedures and have no difficulty with same.

 

 

 

As I’ve already said, nothing we were removing from the ship to the shore could pose any kind of security threat to the ship, its crew or its passengers. How could it? We were taking things OFF the ship. If we posed any perceived threat that RCI hoped to interrupt, checking us so inadequately on the way out was absurd.

 

 

 

Moreover, as already explained, everything we had in the bag had already passed through RCI’s rigorous security on boarding the ship, including X-Rays. If we’d planned anything untoward with items in that bag that we’d succeeded in illegally taking on board on any previous occasion, carrying such items back and forward on port visits would surely be bizarre? If we were removing food, the guard failed there too – the obvious place to look for that was in the coolbag inside the backpack! Ditto for alcohol or drugs or any other contraband, assuming that there was indeed any logical point in taking them off the ship in the first place.

 

 

 

Finally, this check on the way out of the ship was not at all analogous to airport security, or any other kind of random street searches etc. A ship is a closed system once passengers and their baggage are on board. If, in the unlikely event that such a closed system is NOT secure, and random security searches are necessary for safety reasons, the total inadequacy of our ‘security’ check means that cruise passengers have a whole lot more to worry about than our injured feelings.

 

 

 

But it WAS a security check. What on earth do you think it was? If you have a suspicion, tell us what you think it really was. What do you want someone officially to tell you?

 

They saw something about the situation, and Security wanted to Check it out. Security check.

 

Israelis would likely scoff at most security checks as well. Doesn't mean it wasn't a check simply because it wasn't on the scale endured during The Troubles.

 

As was brilliantly laid out with Port Alottafun, you don't know what they were looking for. Maybe it would have been obvious.

 

Do you think someone taking food off would put it in the food compartment? And a kilo of drugs isn't necessarily small, and likely could be felt even if you don't look in the compartment where it is.

 

...nothing you were removing was a concern...yes, YOU know that, but they didn't. So they wanted to check it out. The very fact that there was no setup for it means that they were suspicious of the situation, maybe looking for somethings very specific, and they needed to look.

 

As for their checks when you get there, I refer again to the women (not just one) who were bringing money and drugs off and on board. It's not impossible you know. And those women were actually caught. Probably in a manner much like what happened to you. Who knows? Maybe your situation happened 4 minutes before something WAS caught. Perhaps your situation was done to slow the line down so they could notice something else (if that idea bothers you do NOT go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World because that's why they do bag searches; to slow the line down so the real security people can do their job). Who knows? And it doesn't matter if you wonder because it's not your business. They are never going to tell you. Maybe in 3 months you'll read about someone from your ship who was arraigned on some smuggling charges and you'll have "the rest of the story", but don't hold your breath.

 

 

It wasn't personal, no one cared even a little bit about why you were stopped, and you're never going to get the whole story. There is no need to continue to feel hurt by this.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Langley Cruisers]

Stepping back, and using this episode as an example, for future bag searches, its not unreasonable for a table to be set up, as a just as simple practice as the search itself.

 

Since this thread has not yet died a firey death ;) , I will say I absolutely agree with the above. A table under a tent is not an unreasonable request.