SEA disembarkation delay for Royal Princess and Travel Insurance

[wrongwaywatson]

14 hours ago, jlmklm said:

Our disembarkation was very much delayed.  We met in the theater with our group as instructed at 8:00 AM.  We were supposed to disembark, pick up our luggage and get on the shuttle bus to the airport.  Princess was blaming CBP.    By 11:00 AM it was a madhouse.  After initially telling passengers to please not line up, to wait in lounges or go back to your stateroom they stopped all announcements and  we were told by a staff member to just get in the long line and see what happens.  Finally they said Americans and Canadians could get off.  We found our transfer bus but still arrived at the airport after our plane left.  I booked us another flight that day departing in a few hours but it was quite expensive.  I have sent a couple emails to Princess but have not received a response.  This may very well have been my last Princess cruise.

I have read that there was an issue with CBP, so how is that Princess's fault?  I understand being upset, I would be, too, but I don't see how this was something that Princess could control?

[DallasGuy75219]

10 hours ago, CruisinChris said:

If needed, you might ask them to carry you over to another airline.

No airline is going to protect you on another airline because you arrived at the airport late and missed your flight.

[Buckeye10640]

The 5/13 disembarkation must have gone better, or at least embarkation did.  We arrived at port around 1030am and were on board in 1/2 hour. 

[rj59]

On 5/7/2023 at 5:24 PM, cruisingrob21 said:

This has happened before, and will happen again (3rd time for me).  Any coastal cruise that ends in SF (not at the new terminal) or Seattle and can't go through US CBP clearance in Vancouver has the risk this will happen.  I have now learned to avoid voyages leaving Vancouver and ending in a US port on the west coast where pre-clearing US customs can't occur due to a Canadian port of call.  I suppose this could happen in LA or San Diego but I haven't experienced it - it seems to be better operations in those locations.  There were also a large number of non US citizens onboard and no lanes to separate US vs other passengers.  The processing speed of US vs non-US passengers was about twice as slow for non US passengers.

This really isn't an issue for LA or San Diego, since they have the facial recognition machines. Seattle still doesn't, and you're getting larger and larger ships out of the terminals in Seattle, which can make embarking and disembarking a nightmare, especially since they have to man the NCL pier also, with the huge Encore and Bliss. That's why I'd advise anyone planning an Alaskan cruise to check port schedules for Seattle or Vancouver, but also for each port, since it will affect tour availability, crowding, and getting a berth near town or having to tender. Of 3 Seattle Alaska cruises last summer, Discovery Princess was the worst boarding experience, since for some reason they made everyone take their own bags in a long line to the luggage scanners, instead of using porters and going straight to check-in. I decided to go small this summer, and picked the smallest ship possible--HAL Volendam, and made sure there would be only one smaller NCL ship in Vancouver for embarkation and only Sapphire Princess at disembarkation, to cut down on lines and stress. The N/S ones on Princess and 10-11 day r/t from Vancouver on Crown Princess are also extremely cheap compared to Seattle, and you get either Glacier Bay or Hubbard on most of them, whereas Discovery never got close to Dawe's Glacier. 

[SSAtlantic]

4 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

The 5/13 disembarkation must have gone better, or at least embarkation did.  We arrived at port around 1030am and were on board in 1/2 hour. 

Please come back and post how your disembarkation went. At least one person on the previous cruise had posted on the roll call that she had an 8:30 shuttle time and was just leaving the ship at 10:30. That will not work for my 11:30 flight. Thanks

[WAvoyager]

On 5/7/2023 at 8:45 PM, ronandannette said:

Alaska only flies the Calgary route a few times a week and because they're an economical option, seats are scarce now that the cruise season out of Seattle has started. We asked about a few more creative routing options but nothing came together. 😕

 

I wish I'd had this advice before - we would have passed on this short cruise. We only booked it at all to use up the very last of our Covid-credits, which resulted from canceled Princess bookings in 2020/21 and were set to expire at the end of the month. 

 

As for Border Security, when we finally got off the ship it was bizarre - they barely glanced at our Passports and just waived us through. Not even any customs declaration. I really don't know what to make of it. 

Too late now, but did you check for flights home from Vancouver?  There should’ve been more frequent flights, and the transfer from Seattle to Vancouver’s not too bad.

[beg3yrs]

On 5/15/2023 at 6:42 PM, wrongwaywatson said:

I have read that there was an issue with CBP, so how is that Princess's fault?  I understand being upset, I would be, too, but I don't see how this was something that Princess could control?

Some government agencies will guarantee increased staffing, for a fee paid in advance as it usually involves paying overtime wages. Something Princess is likely loath to do.

[Buckeye10640]

On 5/16/2023 at 2:10 AM, SSAtlantic said:

Please come back and post how your disembarkation went. At least one person on the previous cruise had posted on the roll call that she had an 8:30 shuttle time and was just leaving the ship at 10:30. That will not work for my 11:30 flight. Thanks

Will do. By 'previous cruise' I hope you mean the one disembarking 5/6 and not 5/13.  We got our paperwork last night. Self-disembarkation starts at 8am. We plan to be there ready and waiting at least 15 minutes early. Hopefully we can easily get a taxi and get to the airport quickly.