An FYI on embarkation/debarkation

[RADGIRL80]

Hi! My husband and I are long time cruisers and just became gold on our most recent cruise, getaway 11/6 sailing. Yay! We have NEVER had any issues with embarkation/debarkation, so I'm hoping our issues were outliers? Embarkation was all one line (not separated by latitudes). The line was enormous, at least an hr long. We arrived at 12:30 for reference. Usually we waited not more than 5 min, no matter what time we arrived. There was even a 30 min wait outside coming into the terminal! Never happened before.

 

Debarkation was an absolute mess!!!! Again, in the past we exited right away with no issues no matter what time we decided to come off. We decided to get off at 9am because our flight was at noon from MIA. It took us close to An hour and a half to just get off the ship. The line started at the front (where you are supposed to get off) and looped to the back around to the front. There was no organization because people were jumping into line in the back. It was horrible. We were worried we would miss the flight, which luckily we made.

 

Are these new occurrences? We never experienced these issues in the past! We absolutely LOVE NCL, and loved everything else about our cruise. But embarkation/and especially debarkation made us think! I am posting this not to complain but just to make sure people aware and plan accordingly, especially debarkation.

[Eleteace]

I had a horrible disembarkation like this from the getaway in may. Getting through American security took almost another hour!

 

 

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[RADGIRL80]

I had a horrible disembarkation like this from the getaway in may. Getting through American security took almost another hour!

 

 

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Getting through customs was bad too (about 30-45min), but getting off the ship was an absolute nightmare!!!! We were in total shock. Multiple times they would stop the entire debarkation process for long periods of time. We were on getaway in 2/15, and this was not our experience. This put a damper on an otherwise wonderful cruise. Sorry you experienced the same!

[Sauer-kraut]

You realize that the workers in the terminal for embarkation are NOT Norwegian employees, but rather employed by the Port Authority. They are the ones running the check in and setting up the queues for passengers.

 

As to debarkation, the problem might lie in the fact that there are fewer Customs & Immigration agents working the stations in the terminal so the lines back up. That is why the cruise lines always suggest a home flight AFTER 1 pm in case there is any kind of issue with debarkation.

[mjkacmom]

It happens, usually not the fault of the cruise line (those workers don't work for NCL). If there are customs issues, it all gets backed up.

[Coreysgrl06]

The worst I've ever experienced was last years cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. It was one line to get on and off the ship. It took two hours to get on the ship and two and half hours spent on line in the terminal. I know they were supposed to do renovations but I don't know if that was done.

[easyboy]

It happens, usually not the fault of the cruise line (those workers don't work for NCL). If there are customs issues, it all gets backed up.

I agree. Terminal operations are not within the control of the cruise line.

[atomax]

When we disembarked in L.A. after the Pearl's Panama Canal transition cruise in April, it was at least 2 hours (probably more, I blocked out the experience, it was so bad). At one point, they held people on the ship for 30 minutes to try and clear out the line at Immigration. There were 7-8 immigration officers for over 2K passengers. Everyone had to go through immigration, even folks on the B2B cruise portion. The lines rivaled those at Disneyland in the middle of summer. Apparently the lines started getting really bad after 8:30, so maybe the sweet spot to disembark is around 8 AM.