Late departure? How does one buy it?

[ace1zoe2]

52 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

I don't know what terminals you're being dropped off in, but I have never not had to see a real CBP agent when getting off the ship. You're saying you just go up to a kiosk that takes a picture of your face and then you walk to the street and don't interface with a live person at all? Where is this? 

This is exactly how it works at the new Galveston terminal. Less than 15 minutes from scanning out at the ship and driving out of the parking lot. Straight off with bag, down a hall, stop to look at a camera for less than 2 seconds and you're out the door headed to your car.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, ace1zoe2 said:

This is exactly how it works at the new Galveston terminal. Less than 15 minutes from scanning out at the ship and driving out of the parking lot. Straight off with bag, down a hall, stop to look at a camera for less than 2 seconds and you're out the door headed to your car.

 

Same deal at Port Canaveral.

[orville99]

It works this way as long as you are a U.S. citizen carrying a valid passport, and as far as I have seen in our past 17 cruises since the restart, not dragging all of your own luggage off of the ship.

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

I just came across the attached Royal Caribbean document. How does one get this? It says available on select ships but I haven't seen or heard about it on any of the Oasis or Quantum class ships I've been on? One of my biggest pain points with cruising is the fact that you have to be out of your stateroom by 7 or 8am. Being able to leave your room at 9am would make things a heck of a lot more enjoyable for me on the last day. I really wish Royal offered some kind of paid priority departure option. I think the top tier suite passengers get some fancy departure option, but I would be more than happy to pay 100 bucks extra (per person) just to have no line to get off and be taken to a priority customs line. Every time I get off a cruise ship it's 1 to 2 hours of waiting in line hell that I dread from the moment I step foot onboard.
 

 

Any specifics as to why it takes 1-2 hours to get off.  Many ports have facial recognition technology (FRT) and therefore no need for long lines or showing of passports.  On my recent Anthem cruise in February, it took me exactly some 20 minutes to leave ship, get my luggage and go thru customs and on to the garage.  25 minutes later I was home.

 

By the way the same time frame when I sailed Oasis for Miami in early December.

 

Ps.  TSA is experimenting with FRT at selected airports.

[poocher]

1 hour ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

I don't know what terminals you're being dropped off in, but I have never not had to see a real CBP agent when getting off the ship. You're saying you just go up to a kiosk that takes a picture of your face and then you walk to the street and don't interface with a live person at all? Where is this? 

Yes, this was at Miami terminal for Explorer in October (not the big one for the Oasis class).  There were agents monitoring but we did not have to interact with them.  Are you an international spy????

[Rubyfisch]

Just now, poocher said:

Yes, this was at Miami terminal for Explorer in October (not the big one for the Oasis class).  There were agents monitoring but we did not have to interact with them.  Are you an international spy????

Even in Boston (in October 2018) and Baltimore (in December 2022), where you do interact with a human agent, it was a cursory look at my passport and no questions. I effectively didn't stop moving from being dinged off the ship to walking down the ramps to having my passport looked at to grabbing my luggage to walking out to the taxi line.

[LoganTheCruiser]

33 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We have been to the Miami port 5 times in the last 4 months.  It is super easy and the facial recognition makes it super fast.

It must not be out on the days I'm there. They must see "Logan" on the manifest and remove all of the facial rec kiosks in advance. 😅

[LoganTheCruiser]

32 minutes ago, steamboats said:

It´s not offered for US departures as the ship has to be empty prior to the boarding of the next passengers.

 

It used to be available in Europe and the sticker was 35 or 39 Dollar. But it never reappeared since the ships started again after the Covid-19 break.

 

steamboats

Ah, interesting! So the ship being empty prior to boarding of next passengers is a U.S. rule and RCI was allowing there to be crossover in Europe?

[LoganTheCruiser]

26 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Same deal at Port Canaveral.

Again, they must remove all of this fancy new tech when I go through as I was through Port Canaveral back in November and there were zero kiosks.

[LoganTheCruiser]

22 minutes ago, orville99 said:

It works this way as long as you are a U.S. citizen carrying a valid passport, and as far as I have seen in our past 17 cruises since the restart, not dragging all of your own luggage off of the ship.

I'm a U.S. citizen solo cruiser, always carry-on bags only. One roller bag, one backpack. It shouldn't take me an hour + to get through a line to get off the ship considering this. But it does.

Edited April 7, 2023 by LoganTheCruiser

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

Again, they must remove all of this fancy new tech when I go through as I was through Port Canaveral back in November and there were zero kiosks.

 

They were there for my 3 cruises in May, July, and October. Not sure what to tell ya.

[LoganTheCruiser]

24 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Any specifics as to why it takes 1-2 hours to get off.  Many ports have facial recognition technology (FRT) and therefore no need for long lines or showing of passports.  On my recent Anthem cruise in February, it took me exactly some 20 minutes to leave ship, get my luggage and go thru customs and on to the garage.  25 minutes later I was home.

 

By the way the same time frame when I sailed Oasis for Miami in early December.

 

Ps.  TSA is experimenting with FRT at selected airports.

Okay, you guys don't seem to believe me. I took a video. Here's the 95 minute customs line I waited in after getting off Wonder recently.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by LoganTheCruiser

[poocher]

You do seem to be the outlier here. And it’s not that we don’t believe you, it’s just not what any of us have experienced.  Can I ask what time you typically debark?

Edited April 7, 2023 by poocher

[Tlbecker1]

6 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

It must not be out on the days I'm there. They must see "Logan" on the manifest and remove all of the facial rec kiosks in advance. 😅

I am sorry that was your experience.  Maybe the machines were down that day?  We haven’t had any issues.  

[LoganTheCruiser]

12 minutes ago, poocher said:

Yes, this was at Miami terminal for Explorer in October (not the big one for the Oasis class).  There were agents monitoring but we did not have to interact with them.  Are you an international spy????

Not an international spy. Just unlucky I guess!

[OCSC Mike]

10 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

Not an international spy. Just unlucky I guess!

 

Sounds like something a spy would say. 🤔

[steamboats]

15 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

Ah, interesting! So the ship being empty prior to boarding of next passengers is a U.S. rule and RCI was allowing there to be crossover in Europe?

It's US law... Not a rule by RCI. In Europe it's not required to have an empty ship. That's also why you can find interporting in Europe. As for the Oasis Class ships in the Med (Symphony in 2023) the main turnover port is Barcelona but you can interport in Civitavecchia (meaning start and end your cruise there).

 

steamboats 

[Charles4515]

20 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

Okay, you guys don't seem to believe me. I took a video. Here's the 95 minute customs line I waited in after getting off Wonder recently.

 

 

You are not supposed to take photos or videos in that area. Lucky you didn’t get caught. 

[Jkaczanowski]

2 hours ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

I don't know what terminals you're being dropped off in, but I have never not had to see a real CBP agent when getting off the ship. You're saying you just go up to a kiosk that takes a picture of your face and then you walk to the street and don't interface with a live person at all? Where is this? 

Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, and Bayonne (New Jersey).  All had facial recognition.  Never seen a line more than a couple people even when one of my teens inevitably beeps and has to see a real customs agent

[luckyinpa]

25 minutes ago, Jkaczanowski said:

Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, and Bayonne (New Jersey).  All had facial recognition.  Never seen a line more than a couple people even when one of my teens inevitably beeps and has to see a real customs agent

 

i'm glad to see FLL is the same as NJ. taking my first flight to a cruise out of FLL and manhattan , redhook and NJ are super fast to face scan and be on your way so thats what im used to and want in every port!

Edited April 7, 2023 by luckyinpa

[VirginiaIsForCruisers]

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Los Angeles was still "manual" CBP last summer.

LA had facial recognition when I went through in March of this year.

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, VirginiaIsForCruisers said:

LA had facial recognition when I went through in March of this year.

Good to know. Last summer was a mess getting through customs because they took a few CBP agents to do a crew inspection. It took about an hour to get through customs.

[VirginiaIsForCruisers]

3 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Good to know. Last summer was a mess getting through customs because they took a few CBP agents to do a crew inspection. It took about an hour to get through customs.

I disembarked at around 8:20 and barely had to slow down for the scan. It was great.

[LoganTheCruiser]

Ya’ll better hope you’re not on the same ship I’m on I guess is the lesson from this thread since no one has any problems on their cruises. Every cruise I’m on grinds to a halt when it comes to disembarking. Disembarking was paused by CBP on BOTH of my last Royal cruises because the terminal got too full. Must just be me that causes all the problems with lines on disembarking 😆

[RedIguana]

3 hours ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

But you're saying that if you hire a porter to transport your bags then that comes with getting access to a separate less busy customs line?!

Yep. At least the case on all my cruises from Tampa, Port Canaveral, Miami and FLL. 5 of those since the restart except Port Canaveral. Last one August of 2022. POM and Tampa porter went all the way to the car.