San Diego Disembark Time

[Deep68]

We will be on the Koningsdam Christmas cruise which disembarks on December 26th. Was wondering if anyone had recent information on how long the disembarkation process is taking with COVID checks etc. Trying to figure out what time flight I should book.

 

Thanks 

[fsdj1097]

We were on the first Koningsdam cruse, after the 'pause'.  The disembarkation was, by far, the most disappointing part of the cruise.  We could tell, from looking from our balcony, down to the cruise terminal, that things were moving very slowly.  We were among the last few groups to be disembarked.  HAL made several announcements regarding passengers not congregating near the disembarkation area letting us know that things were 'backed up'. When they finally called our group, we proceeded down to the disembarkation deck, only to find a line of people, waiting to be scanned off the ship, that snaked back for a long ways.  We waited in that line for almost an hour before the line started moving.  HAL crew members were circulating around letting us know that the problem was actually the customs agents who were trying to use a new system in the cruise terminal.  By the time we presented ourselves to the customs agents, it was well over an hour.  What the customs agents were doing was simply taking a picture of each passenger with their cell phones, and then chit-chatting with the passengers for a short time.....I'm not sure if those pictures were being used to interface with some database or what....but it was not a pleasant experience.  Thankfully, our flight wasn't schedule to depart SAN until 2:35 that afternoon.  

[lazey1]

I was on the same cruise and it seemed that disembarcation took an extremely long time.  It was after 11:30 when the shuttle reached the airport, then another hour to be taken by wheelchair to my departure gate. I was thankful that my flight was after 2PM.

 

[Deep68]

2 hours ago, Deep68 said:

We will be on the Koningsdam Christmas cruise which disembarks on December 26th. Was wondering if anyone had recent information on how long the disembarkation process is taking with COVID checks etc. Trying to figure out what time flight I should book.

 

Thanks 

Thank you for your input. I hope disembarkation process will improve by December.

[Deep68]

47 minutes ago, lazey1 said:

I was on the same cruise and it seemed that disembarcation took an extremely long time.  It was after 11:30 when the shuttle reached the airport, then another hour to be taken by wheelchair to my departure gate. I was thankful that my flight was after 2PM.

 

Thank you for the input 

[klsmickey]

We were also on that cruise and waited in the long line. We were told that the elevator wasn't working and that was the problem for the delay. After the line started moving again we were fortunate enough to be able to walk down the stairs to get to our luggage, instead of waiting for the elevator.

[DAllenTCY]

In the recent past in San Diego, CBP agents merely glanced at your passport or Birth Certificate and the average time for start to finish for disembarkation was less than 2 hours for 2,100 - 2,400 people.

 

Since restarting a month ago, every sailing it takes longer and longer.  Last Sunday CBP took almost 4 hours.....for 1,300 guests.

 

It is not an elevator.  Agents are intent on a discussion with every guest....sometimes taking photos...other times taking notes.  There have been as many as 8 agents when we used to have 4.

 

I think you can draw your own conclusions; however, I suggest no departing flight before noon.

 

David

 

[oakridger]

Why would the customs agents want to “chat” with the passengers?  Were they asking specific kinds of questions?  Any ideas?

[DAllenTCY]

Facial recognition technology threatens to replace the need for them.

 

It is that simple in my opinion.

 

 

David

 

 

[Sharon in AZ]

I was also on the first disembarkation from San Diego after the pause. What a horrible experience. We had recently sailed in Alaska 6 weeks earlier and thought it would be similar to that disembarkation experience. Our flight was at 11:40 am and we allowed enough time to disembark, or so we thought. After an hour of standing and barely moving in a very long line (and no, it wasn’t because of the elevator because we took it) I knew we weren’t going to make our flight. Thank goodness an agent kindly took us ahead in line, otherwise it would have taken another hour, and I know many people weren’t happy seeing us escorted ahead. Once we reached the area where the agents were, the agent looked at our passports and took our pictures and chatted with us about where we were from. But they really took their time. Really took their T I M E.  They were in no hurry and didn’t care if we were. 

Good thing about San Diego— the airport is super close. We made our flight but the take away is that I will never book a flight earlier than 1:30pm — 2:00 pm from San Diego—EVER!  Better yet, stay the night. 
 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Sharon in AZ

[Cap'nWoody]

Sunday's (10/31) Coastal CA cruise will have Ensenada as its first port call.  Followed by San Francisco on Wednesday.  Won't we clear customs and immigration in San Francisco since it is the first US port?   If so, this should minimize the hassle of debarking in SD next Sunday morning.

[waASPCrusier]

I seem to remember that you used to be able to keep your luggage, opposed to putting it out night before, and leave in the first group.  Is this still an option ? Anybody recently do this if it is still an option ?

[fsdj1097]

1 hour ago, waASPCrusier said:

I seem to remember that you used to be able to keep your luggage, opposed to putting it out night before, and leave in the first group.  Is this still an option ? Anybody recently do this if it is still an option ?

Yes, it's still an option.  We walked off with our luggage in San Diego.  

[waASPCrusier]

15 minutes ago, fsdj1097 said:

Yes, it's still an option.  We walked off with our luggage in San Diego.  

Thank you.  How early did you depart/make it through customs ?  Were there many people ?  Again thank you for the information.

[fsdj1097]

3 hours ago, waASPCrusier said:

Thank you.  How early did you depart/make it through customs ?  Were there many people ?  Again thank you for the information.

Since we had a HAL transfer to the airport, we were assigned a 9:30 am time slot to disembark.  If you choose to, you can be among the first off the ship, which I believe started at 7:30am.  However, because of the slowness of the Customs/Border Patrol staff, we were not off the ship until closer to 10:45 am.   I believe that there were approximately 1,400 passengers on our sailing.

[waASPCrusier]

44 minutes ago, fsdj1097 said:

Since we had a HAL transfer to the airport, we were assigned a 9:30 am time slot to disembark.  If you choose to, you can be among the first off the ship, which I believe started at 7:30am.  However, because of the slowness of the Customs/Border Patrol staff, we were not off the ship until closer to 10:45 am.   I believe that there were approximately 1,400 passengers on our sailing.

Thank you.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

17 hours ago, oakridger said:

Why would the customs agents want to “chat” with the passengers?  Were they asking specific kinds of questions?  Any ideas?

They claim they can detect suspicious people thru casual conversation.   

[DAllenTCY]

That seems fine to me for people entering the US from a foreign country. 

 

At the end of a 7 day cruise, where your passport and photo were required to board....it seem redundant and unnecessary.

 

Over the past 15 years, just how many people were detained by CBP at the San Diego pier?

 

I can recall only a handful arrested by Harbor Police (one for each of the following) spousal battery, pedophile taking photos at the pool, inability to pay for casino losses in excess of $10,000, unpaid child support and outstanding warrants.

 

Not one single person that I know of was arrested for breaking immigration laws or smuggling.

 

David

[san diego spartan]

3 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

That seems fine to me for people entering the US from a foreign country. 

 

At the end of a 7 day cruise, where your passport and photo were required to board....it seem redundant and unnecessary.

 

Over the past 15 years, just how many people were detained by CBP at the San Diego pier?

 

I can recall only a handful arrested by Harbor Police (one for each of the following) spousal battery, pedophile taking photos at the pool, inability to pay for casino losses in excess of $10,000, unpaid child support and outstanding warrants.

 

Not one single person that I know of was arrested for breaking immigration laws or smuggling.

 

David

Hey David - while I think you have a valid point - there was also a man arrested for killing his wife on a cruise.  I forget which line - maybe a Carnival ship....anyway just add that to your list. 

[DAllenTCY]

This was not in San Diego.

 

David

[RGEDad]

In March 2019 we pulled into SD after a 28 day South Pacific cruise. I had decided to do the walk-off , and haul our luggage off the ship. The line/mob trying to funnel out of the ship was like the entrance into a rock concert with only one entrance. Lots of pushing and squeezing to get out. DW and I got separated in the mash and had to meet up after we exited the ship. In the crush (and it was a crush) one of the gentlemen next to me said he sailed out of SD all the time and it always like this. The customs process was extremely slow at the ships exit. Once we cleared the ship customs exit stand - no more crowd. When we got to the taxi stand - it was remarkable - there was a line of Taxis, just waiting - Not like Fort Lauderdale where there is typically a feeding frenzy to get a taxi. So we got into the first taxi and the taxi driver was saying it is very typical to have people getting off late from the ship for their flights as it is typically well after the docking time to clear through customs. He then went into a long series of Port to Airport transfer war stories. We were lucky as I had left enough time - even with the delayed ship exit - to still get to the airport (11:40 Flight). 

Next time I disembark at SD - I will remember to leave myself plenty of time before my flight - at least - I hope I remember.

[san diego spartan]

3 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

This was not in San Diego.

 

David

Umm yeah it was.  My husband was in federal law enforcement at the time and I have personal knowledge of the situation. It was a cruise out of San Diego and the husband was arrested and charged and I believe he either was convicted or pled guilty I can't remember the outcome but it was certainly out of San Diego and it was actually big news at the time and all the papers.

[san diego spartan]

[san diego spartan]

So a bit longer ago than I recall I guess as we get older time certainly flies but still within the 15-year time frame of your statistics.

[zgscl]

You all have just convinced me to change to the 3 PM flight from the 11 AM. I think a relaxed breakfast in the pinnacle, late disembarkation and an afternoon in the Sky Club will be a much better way to end my vacation than getting up extremely early and standing in a massive line to try and rush to the airport and risk scrambling to reschedule my flight. 

 

Has anyone done the San Diego Highlights tour? Would love to do the zoo but flight schedules just don't work as I would have to delay until after 6 so I will have to try for that on my next sailing in March.