joeyjeremiah Posted January 7, 2020 #1 Share Posted January 7, 2020 To anybody embarking today on the Divina be prepared for delays. Disembarkation is very slow. It’s 10:30 am and the self disembarkation group is still waiting to get off the ship. They haven’t started calling colours yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashna Posted January 7, 2020 #2 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Oh no! We are boarding on the 12th and they told us to arrive for embarkation at 3:00pm. I wonder if there is some issue. Did you stop in OC last night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyjeremiah Posted January 7, 2020 Author #3 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Yes we were in OC last night. But we also had Columbia on our itinerary. So customs is very slow. Hopefully on the 12th things are quicker for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashna Posted January 7, 2020 #4 Share Posted January 7, 2020 How late did you stay in OC? They changed ours departure to 4:00pm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyjeremiah Posted January 7, 2020 Author #5 Share Posted January 7, 2020 We were there until 11;00 pm. They cancelled the Junkanoo parade because of weather but they did the lighthouse show. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashna Posted January 7, 2020 #6 Share Posted January 7, 2020 You are lucky! We are on a B2B and hope we get to see the Island at night on the second leg as it is still scheduled for 11:00pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyjeremiah Posted January 7, 2020 Author #7 Share Posted January 7, 2020 We were supposed to be off the ship at 8;00am. We didn’t get off until 2:00. It was the worst disembarkation I’ve experienced and I’m not new to MSC. There was no organization or directions It ended up being just a long queue. There were punches thrown multiple times between passengers as people were in line for hours and a second line formed so it was chaos were they merged. There wasn’t enough staff to control things and police and border guards came on-board to help control things. It was not a good situation at all. I understand that customs was slow and that is out of MSC’s hands, but the passengers made things worse and MSC did not have things setup properly so the poor crew members were stuck in a no win situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashna Posted January 7, 2020 #8 Share Posted January 7, 2020 That sounds absolutely dreadful. I am now rethinking getting to the port for an early embarkation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistertoaster Posted January 7, 2020 #9 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Was this a one off situation, or does MSC/customs have issues in Miami( e.g. labor slow down, lack of staff, general disorganization)? We have sailed out of Miami many times and embarkation and disembarkation has always been efficient. We are on the Divina on the 31st and I am wondering if I should change embarkation/disembarkation plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenofEverything Posted January 7, 2020 #10 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I see from the port webcam it is still there. Was supposed to sail an hour and a half ago. Would be interesting to know whats up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashna Posted January 7, 2020 #11 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Since we are on the next sailing, I would really be interested to know the cause of the delay in disembarkation. We would have missed our return flight had we encountered this type of delay. This would also mean that all those people were stuck in line waiting to embark. What a mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseguyinorl Posted January 7, 2020 #12 Share Posted January 7, 2020 1 hour ago, mistertoaster said: We are on the Divina on the 31st and I am wondering if I should change embarkation/disembarkation plans. Your embarkation should be fine. If you are only on a seven night you will be fine for debarkation as well. Any time the ship stops in Colombia, embarkation/debarkation is severely delayed. 3 minutes ago, QueenofEverything said: I see from the port webcam it is still there. Was supposed to sail an hour and a half ago. Would be interesting to know whats up This sailing starting now is a charter for the Jam Cruise (https://jamcruise.com/). With all the special equipment they have to load and the late debarkation, sailing late doesn't surprise me. Bret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistertoaster Posted January 7, 2020 #13 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Thanks for the response. We are on a seven day Caribbean cruise with the typical stops and no Colombia. Should be business as usual in Miami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyjeremiah Posted January 8, 2020 Author #14 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Today was an exception. This is my 3rd Miami cruise on the Divina. My first cruise embarkation was delayed because the ship had stopped in Colombia on the previous cruise but I think embarkation had started by about 1:00 that cruise. I’m sure videos of the chaos will be showing up on YouTube in the coming days as people were yelling and screaming, chanting, fighting and almost rioting. It isn’t the norm and was exceptionally bad and chaotic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenofEverything Posted January 8, 2020 #15 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Is it always like that after a cruise that stops in Columbia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallivanting Souls Posted January 8, 2020 #16 Share Posted January 8, 2020 We also will be embarking on Jan 12th. Our posted time to board is 1PM. We plan to arrive right around then. I hope not too much delay getting off as we need to head to hotel, do laundry and next day board another cruise. Have a great trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4121deere Posted January 9, 2020 #17 Share Posted January 9, 2020 On 1/7/2020 at 5:33 PM, cruiseguyinorl said: Your embarkation should be fine. If you are only on a seven night you will be fine for debarkation as well. Any time the ship stops in Colombia, embarkation/debarkation is severely delayed. This sailing starting now is a charter for the Jam Cruise (https://jamcruise.com/). With all the special equipment they have to load and the late debarkation, sailing late doesn't surprise me. Bret Looking at that website I bet u $10 that we are late boaRiding and leaving on the 12th. It will take them forever to get equip of and the ship cleaned up after that bunch. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISLANDCRUSO Posted January 9, 2020 #18 Share Posted January 9, 2020 (edited) On 1/7/2020 at 5:29 PM, joeyjeremiah said: We were there until 11;00 pm. They cancelled the Junkanoo parade because of weather but they did the lighthouse show. There already seems to be a theme going on with this at O.C as they cancelled it on our recent stop there along with excursions blaming the wind which was not that bad. We left at 11 pm also despite the itinerary saying 23.59. Our Seaside cruise that stopped at Colon had the very same issues when arriving back in Miami, MSC need to change this port, along with Freeport, Colon is the worst we have been to. On our last cruise we arrived at 12.30 and sailed straight through the priority embarkation line which was empty and was onboard in about 15 minutes. Edited January 9, 2020 by ISLANDCRUSO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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