Miami Embarkation

[abacus2283]

Have MSC fixed their embarkation issues yet? I've heard some stories about huge delays getting on the ship in Miami. No doubt with the passenger numbers light at present it's not as noticeable. 

[Tincup66]

I boarded yesterday 29 Jan.  From the time we got out of the car to the time we boarded was exactly 1 hour.  20 minutes of the hour was waiting for Covid test results. The entire process was very organized and very smooth.

 

 Our boarding time was 11 but a couple of days before we got a text saying it was moved to 2 pm.  We showed up at 11 anyway.  There was nobody checking times and it was not crowded at all.

 

 The process for me was nothing like the negative experience some have posted about.

 

 So far I am extremely impressed with MSC.

 

 

 

[blueslily]

I'm sure that each person's experience will be different based on a lot of different factors. I am on the Seashore now. Embarked yesterday, Jan 29 in Terminal F. I was assigned a 10am arrival time since we have to test for COVID at embarkation now in addition to the test you do 2 days before. I was in line around 9:40am. There were maybe 15 people in front of me. Doors opened at 9:45am. I was given a green bracelet first. Then I was in line for passport check. Next was being assigned for COVID test. I was tested around 10am. Took 1 minute. Then in line to have documents checked. One minute wait for that. Then went through security scan for bags and me. No wait, just walked to a scanner and put my belongings on the conveyor belt to be scanned. Easy peasy. Then went upstairs to wait for test results. My COVID results were back by 10:15ish which only meant I waited like 5 minutes since I was doing the documents check and clearing security while they worked on my COVID  test. When negative results came back, I walked over to the agents. Did the rest of the showing of documents process and getting my sail card. That took 2 mins.  Then went upstairs to the passenger waiting area to wait for the ship to allow new passengers on. It was like 10:25. I was told they usually open the ship at around 11:30. So, I went to the restroom and sat back down to wait around 10:30. Sent a couple texts to friends to say I was waiting. Then bam, I had to get up.  They cleared the ship and new passengers could board around 10:35. Woohoo. I waited like a full maybe 10 minutes total upstairs, not an hour.  I'm not in YC so that experience might be a bit different. The YC folks were waiting right beside the section I sat in. 

 

I didnt have a bad experience at all. But, I'm just one person and my arrival time was first thing. I tracked all the times because I was curious about this process given that this will be my first time sailing with MSC during the pandemic, I wanted to share helpful info to other cruisers, and I wanted to see if it's as bad as some people report. It was a great experience for me. But, please consider my arrival time, I'm traveling solo, plus I usually have my stuff and act together when traveling, lol. Other contextual factors might impact another person's experience. I sailed once before on MSC. It was in Feb 2020 on the Meraviglia right before the cruise shutdown due to COVID. I sailed on Royal last month. So, I was also comparing their embarkation process. 

 

People with later times might report a different experience. I drove to the terminal and parked in Garage G by 9:15am. (I expected to get it messed up a little, the driving and parking, so I had added a cushion of time to my travel to the port. Didnt want traffic, car issues, or confusion about the terminal or where to park to delay my arrival since man, 95 in Miami and the port terminals are all busy.)

 

It might help others who want to respond if you list your ship, date of sailing, and the arrival time you were assigned. That contextual information might be helpful for replies from others and for other cruisers also.

 

Thanks

Edited January 30, 2022 by blueslily

[dexddd]

Not sure where op seeing all these stories.  Only one I recall is when two MSC ships in Port of Miami.

 

The conflicting times is very common though.

[mscdivina2016]

47 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Not sure where op seeing all these stories.  Only one I recall is when two MSC ships in Port of Miami.

 

The conflicting times is very common though.

I was in the mess in December.

We were bused to another building, then bused back everyone was not being allowed on till 2.30 ish. What a mess. Thankfully I was YC.

When we returned, we were at a different terminal and all those that parked in the garage had to take a bus.

What a mess

[blueslily]

18 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

I was in the mess in December.

We were bused to another building, then bused back everyone was not being allowed on till 2.30 ish. What a mess. Thankfully I was YC.

When we returned, we were at a different terminal and all those that parked in the garage had to take a bus.

What a mess

 

Which ship was this for? 

[mscdivina2016]

3 minutes ago, blueslily said:

 

Which ship was this for? 

Seashore

[blueslily]

37 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Seashore

 

Ok. Lucky for us, that is all different for this sailing. We checked in right there in Terminal F. Testing was done right when you walked in to the right before the security scanning area. The little area is small but it worked out easy yesterday.

 

Doubt it would work in that small space when sailings have more passengers. Or, they would really have to design the layout different since the space is small to handle a lot of people. Or, just longer delays waiting perhaps.  Like the holiday sailings that had more people might have been harder to manage in that small space.

 

Either way, yesterday was a breeze for me. Not sure about everyone else. Happy to be sailing. 😁

[abacus2283]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I'm feeling a little easier knowing your recent experiences.

 

FYI I'm on FEB12th Seashore. Check in time 11:00am.

 

It's my first time in YC so my DW and I are super excited. If only we didn't the Pandemic to deal with! 

[phissy]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

I was in the mess in December.

We were bused to another building, then bused back everyone was not being allowed on till 2.30 ish. What a mess. Thankfully I was YC.

When we returned, we were at a different terminal and all those that parked in the garage had to take a bus.

What a mess

It was also a mess in November. Sailed last two weeks of November.

Meraviglia - we were in YC. 
Took over 3 hours and we did not have test at embarkation.

B2B also messed up.

This took 3 hours from leaving ship until back onboard.

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by phissy

[Hlitner]

We have previously had two bad embarkation experiences (both when embarking on the Divina from Miami).  Since we were in the Yacht Club we at least were able to wait in a large YC lounge (with Champagne and cookies) but the waiting time was measured in hours.  Why?  Apparently MSC does not have a stellar reputation with the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) folks having had more than their share of issues with crew members and drug smuggling.  In both of our delayed embarkation it was an issue of CBP delaying the clearing of the vessel which meant that embarking passengers had to cool their heels in the terminal building.  

 

As a comparison, in Dec we embarked at Ft Lauderdale on a large Princess ship.  From when we arrived at the port until we were on the ship was about 15 minutes (Princess uses individual transponder Medallions to speed the process).  On MSC we generally spend that long just waiting at the YC white tent before even being led into the terminal.  We have a future MSC booking (next Nov) and will expect the usual embarkation delays.

 

Hank