Open Letter to Celebrity: I'm Extremely Disappointed with how your staff handled our multiracial family at check in.

[sanger727]

On 12/30/2023 at 3:59 PM, wahooker said:

Same last name, same address. However, they never even looked at the Driver's license that my daughter tried to show them. Once we said she was Adopted, they wouldn't look at anything except to demand the original adoption paperwork.

Wow. I work at a church where there are many multi-racial adopted families. If there was no connection showing that a minor didn’t have a parent on board - but same last name and address shouldn’t have gotten a second look. Also, presumably she confirmed that you were her parents 🙄.

Edited December 31, 2023 by sanger727

[wahooker]

3 hours ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I believe it is important to identify 'who' the person(s) worked for.  Living a mile from the port and dealing with cruisers a lot, many are not used to the port staff that are usually older, retired (sort of) snow birds from the northern states, mostly the northeast (and especially the 'city folk' in the northeast).  If one is not 'used to them' them can seem very, very caustic, yet they'd not even notice it amongst themselves.  It is what it is.  I'm getting the vibe that you got 'one of those' and they 'dig in' versus easing back.

 

I also don't know if you were actually accused of potentially being involved as a sex trafficker or if the said unskilled, poorly trained and salty snow birder OR if you felt accused of such with just the reference to their concerns overall.

 

I still can't figure out why it would just you and your family.

 

Back to add one item to our post with our TSA procedures with our Japanese biracial grandkids, one has our last name, one has her mothers-then fathers (ours also) with the hyphen and we offered that were both of the same parents with the naming decision for the oldest more to honor the Japanese grandparents at the time.

 

Well, we hope you had good cruise regardless.  Life is full of so much right now it's hard to stay unscathed.  Take care and we hope that your are treated appropriately and informed in more detail about how and why this could have happened in the first place.

 

The initial agent was a 25-30ish female who appeared to be Hispanic, while some of the supervisors appeared to match the snowbird description.  

 

However, all were wearing Celebrity uniforms and name tags, so this is obviously some being paid either directly or indirectly through Celebrity, and the responsibility for making sure that the issue is taken care of is Celebrity, whether it is an employee or a contractor they hired.

 

And yes, I was specifically told that we may be sex trafficking.   When I asked "When we have all the documentation that celebrity asks for on their website, why are you singling out one of my children and demanding more documents we have never been asked for in previous cruises.  The answer was "For all we know, you could be trafficking her". 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Has OP addressed the scenarios posed by @Ferry_Watcher?  What was the room assignment configuration?  Was the family checking in with multiple agents?  If this was addressed and I missed it, please forgive me.

[ChutChut]

47 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Where in the world did you get that? I said paying and having proper documentation DOES necessarily give them the right to board. 

My sincere apologies!

[ChutChut]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

How dare anyone ask for proof or disagree with the mob!. 

Proof of what? Are you suggesting multi-racial families should be targeted?

[vjmatty]

1 minute ago, ChutChut said:

My sincere apologies!

No worries 🙂

[ChutChut]

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

As someone who checks-in passengers for Alaska cruises, I am trying to figure out what happened in this situation.  My gut tells me that it was not racially motivated, as we see many different types of families cruising.  As additional street cred, I am also the parent of an internationally adopted child, and I do not share the same last name as my spouse.  So I understand the nuances of traveling with an adopted child.

 

I am wondering if there had been some sort of past incident or problem either at the embarkation pier, or at another terminal that caused corporate to ask check-in agents to be hyper-vigilant with checking in.

 

I also wonder if the entire family of 6 (and 3 staterooms) were sent to different agents for check-in.  It would be surprising if a single check-in agent checking in a family of 6, all with the same last name, all traveling with passports, would question the family relationship.

 

If the family was being checked-in  by different agents, I wonder how the staterooms were divided between the two adult parents, and the 21 yr old adult son, and the two 17 yr old twin boys, and the 17 yr old daughter.  How the staterooms were booked - particularly who the 17 yr old young woman was booked to share a room with, could have played a role in this saga - especially if she was booked with an adult male.   Again, if the embarkation port was on a higher alert for possible trafficking, or questionable situations, it is possible that the staff was playing it safe, and making sure that the 17 yr old was really safe traveling.

 

I am also curious why this took 30 minutes, multiple supervisors, and even the ship's Documentation Officer to get involved.

 

I know when Royal Caribbean rolled out their Minor Child Consent to Travel crackdown last summer, it caused lots of delayed embarkations for families.  We were waiting for Celebrity to start as well, but they said that it was going to be put off, and we didn't have to deal with it during the Alaska season.  I wonder if Celebrity's minor travel consent rollout just recently happened and that may have played a role in your delayed embarkation.

 

In any case, I am glad that it all worked out for you, and I hope that the rest of the cruise was enjoyable.

Sorry but I don't buy it. Same thing happened to me and my daughter. It was racial - that was obvious. There's no reason to single out a person of a different color. Entirely inappropriate and outrageous. 

[ChutChut]

2 hours ago, CruiseRQA said:

I think the issue at hand is child trafficking.   Certainly a crime.   In this case we have a white father with (we know now) an Asian daughter.   How is it "racist" for the white father to have been suspected of something and therefore asked to provide additional documentation.   They were acting to protect and Asian girl.

 

Now I agree completely that the port authorities were acting stupidly and ignorantly.   They seemed to have been poorly trained.   There seemed to have been absent procedures to quickly and professionally deal with this.    All of this could be the likely explanation rather than racism.   Again again, the person being "accused" is a white guy!

Got it. I thought the poster suggested someone was accusing the port agent of the "crime" of racism. Too much wine......

[ChutChut]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I think you may have misread this post. 🙂 

Yep, I did and apologized to the poster.

[wahooker]

3 hours ago, ChutChut said:

My daughter and I have been given so many side looks, stares, disapproving glances, etc. I taught her early to ignore the ignorant fools and low-IQ imbeciles. When other kids (when she was very young - doesn't happen now) would make the "slant eye" when asking where were her eyelids, she just laughed and told them she thought her eye shape was pretty cool. A cashier at Target asked me "how much did she cost?" I told her the kid was priceless and pricey! A dude in Starbucks muttered under his breath that "Chinese Commies shouldn't be allowed" in "his" country. Little did he know my kid is an unabashed Capitalist. I've learned to accept these indignities and just walk on, but, sometimes, I wonder how they have affected my daughter. She says she doesn't care, but, I think, deep down, it hurts her. 

With our adopted daughter, my standard answer to that was "Less than her Brother spending 2 days in NICU." Multiples yield stupid questions, and adopted kids yield stupid questions, and we got the best of both. 🙂

[wahooker]

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

As someone who checks-in passengers for Alaska cruises, I am trying to figure out what happened in this situation.  My gut tells me that it was not racially motivated, as we see many different types of families cruising.  As additional street cred, I am also the parent of an internationally adopted child, and I do not share the same last name as my spouse.  So I understand the nuances of traveling with an adopted child.

 

I am wondering if there had been some sort of past incident or problem either at the embarkation pier, or at another terminal that caused corporate to ask check-in agents to be hyper-vigilant with checking in.

 

I also wonder if the entire family of 6 (and 3 staterooms) were sent to different agents for check-in.  It would be surprising if a single check-in agent checking in a family of 6, all with the same last name, all traveling with passports, would question the family relationship.

 

If the family was being checked-in  by different agents, I wonder how the staterooms were divided between the two adult parents, and the 21 yr old adult son, and the two 17 yr old twin boys, and the 17 yr old daughter.  How the staterooms were booked - particularly who the 17 yr old young woman was booked to share a room with, could have played a role in this saga - especially if she was booked with an adult male.   Again, if the embarkation port was on a higher alert for possible trafficking, or questionable situations, it is possible that the staff was playing it safe, and making sure that the 17 yr old was really safe traveling.

 

I am also curious why this took 30 minutes, multiple supervisors, and even the ship's Documentation Officer to get involved.

 

I know when Royal Caribbean rolled out their Minor Child Consent to Travel crackdown last summer, it caused lots of delayed embarkations for families.  We were waiting for Celebrity to start as well, but they said that it was going to be put off, and we didn't have to deal with it during the Alaska season.  I wonder if Celebrity's minor travel consent rollout just recently happened and that may have played a role in your delayed embarkation.

 

In any case, I am glad that it all worked out for you, and I hope that the rest of the cruise was enjoyable.

Regarding your questions - She was in a room with one of her 17 year old brothers, directly adjacent to mine and my wife's room. All of us went to the same agent as a group at checkin. About the higher sensitivity because of current events, Why did they ask "Is she adopted?". We could have just as easily said no, and explained there was a previous marriage. We had no idea that telling the truth would put us under extra scrutiny - not that we would be inclined to lie in the first place.

I don't know that a documentation officer was involved - someone else mentioned that and I have never heard of a documentation officer. Certainly nobody was introduced to us as a documentation officer during all this.

I have never heard of a minor travel consent, not even sure what that is. In any case, none of the staff mentioned it.

 

[wahooker]

27 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Has OP addressed the scenarios posed by @Ferry_Watcher?  What was the room assignment configuration?  Was the family checking in with multiple agents?  If this was addressed and I missed it, please forgive me.

I did just above yours, probably while you were typing.

[sanger727]

9 minutes ago, wahooker said:

Regarding your questions - She was in a room with one of her 17 year old brothers, directly adjacent to mine and my wife's room. All of us went to the same agent as a group at checkin. About the higher sensitivity because of current events, Why did they ask "Is she adopted?". We could have just as easily said no, and explained there was a previous marriage. We had no idea that telling the truth would put us under extra scrutiny - not that we would be inclined to lie in the first place.

 

exactly. My step sister had a child in a biracial relationship and they divorced. Her daughter is her daughter; not adopted. No reason to think it’s a sex trafficking situation.

[Ferry_Watcher]

38 minutes ago, wahooker said:

All of us went to the same agent as a group at checkin. About the higher sensitivity because of current events, Why did they ask "Is she adopted?". We could have just as easily said no, and explained there was a previous marriage. We had no idea that telling the truth would put us under extra scrutiny - not that we would be inclined to lie in the first place.

 

Reading this, one would respectfully ask if your family of 6 is a blended family, and possibly not all the children share the same last name?  It has nothing to do with how much a love a parent has for a child, but for folks whose job it is to safeguard minors (like pier agents, TSA, CBP, etc), questions do need to be asked.

 

If I have misread what you wrote (or meant), I do apologize.

[wahooker]

7 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Reading this, one would respectfully ask if your family of 6 is a blended family, and possibly not all the children share the same last name?  It has nothing to do with how much a love a parent has for a child, but for folks whose job it is to safeguard minors (like pier agents, TSA, CBP, etc), questions do need to be asked.

 

If I have misread what you wrote (or meant), I do apologize.

All of us share the same last name, not a blended family. We have 3 Biological sons, and one adopted daughter of a different race.

 

I did mention blended families earlier as another example of how someone could end up with a multiracial family without adopting, but that was just an example to show how weird it was to single out someone of a mixed race family, as those situations are probably more common than adoption.

[Ferry_Watcher]

8 minutes ago, wahooker said:

All of us share the same last name, not a blended family. We have 3 Biological sons, and one adopted daughter of a different race.

 

 

Given what you just clearly wrote (same last name, passports, etc), I can't see a reason why the check-in agent didn't just embark all of you.  

The only explanation I can think of is staff may have been told to be extra vigilant during the school/holiday break that minor children not traveling with a parent needs a signed consent form.  Sadly, this probably could have been cleared up quickly if the check-in agent asked your daughter who she was traveling with.  (Answer: Mom & Dad)

Sorry that this happened to you.  Soon your daughter will be 18 yr old, and you won't have to deal with this craziness after that.

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

possibly not all the children share the same last name?

 

You might have missed OP's post #47, where he told us his son read to the agent the language about same names on passports but it did no good.

[markeb]

27 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Soon your daughter will be 18 yr old, and you won't have to deal with this craziness after that.

I think a better response to the executive offices, from the 17 year old, is “Soon I’ll be 18 years old and able to make my own travel plans. I’ll never forget how Celebrity and Port Everglades treated me and my family nor will I hesitate to tell my friends.”

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, wahooker said:

 

 

However, all were wearing Celebrity uniforms and name tags, so this is obviously some being paid either directly or indirectly through Celebrity, and the responsibility for making sure that the issue is taken care of is Celebrity, whether it is an employee or a contractor they hired.

 

 

I am very sorry this happened.  But just to clarify - Celebrity does not hire the contractors.  The check in staff work for the port.  The next day they will maybe be in a Norwegian uniform and name tag.  Celebrity does need to work with the port people to make sure this doesn't happen again.

 

I'd also send a copy to the port everglades port authority.  

 

Edited January 1 by abbydancer

[Spif Barwunkel]

I stand corrected, there are now three sensible posts on this thread. Ferry_Watcher has 'em all, #'s 159, 173, and 200.

 

Except to empathize with the OP and family, I'll not attempt to get into anyone's head and speculate on the whys and wherefores. I'm not that smart. The reason(s) for this unfortunate circumstance, whether justified or not, remains with those employees who were involved. At the time, and to them, it seemed the right thing to do.

 

The "dark world", in its insidious existence, is very sophisticated in its attempts to further advance the various methods of heinous, unlawful acts. To those people who at any given time are charged with assuring that nothing wrong happens on their watch, in my space, I realize the difficulty in that effort. From another person's perspective, it is sometimes hard to understand the rationale behind what one does. In that same vein, perhaps the benefit of the doubt is best given.        

 

  

[mayleeman]

Everyone who thinks the OP should not complain about this gross violation of Celebrity's own guidance, please remember this thread if you are ever stopped by anyone in authority because they have a "feeling" you might be committing a crime, and are asked to prove you are not. 

[tschwa2]

On 12/30/2023 at 3:56 PM, wahooker said:

We had 3 minor children, all 17 year olds.

Why were the other two not asked if they were adopted? Why was only a multiracial family singled out? No other family we spoke to was asked about whether their kid was adopted.

 

 

Sorry if  I missed the answer if you already answered about last names.

 

Edited January 1 by tschwa2

[markeb]

Just now, tschwa2 said:

 

Does your daughter have the same last name on her passport as you and/or your spouse?  If not, do the other two children have the same last name as you and/or your spouse?  

If not it could simply be a matter of travelling with a teenager with a different last name and not because of race.  

Did you read the thread? Yes and yes.

[the_dylaness]

On 12/30/2023 at 4:22 PM, mphooker said:

 

But here's the other thing that bothers me...How likely is a sex trafficker going to have a passport AND pay for all this to go on a cruise?  I'd like to know those percentages.  

 

 

Sex and human traffickers come in all flavors... many may actually be quite well off since they are making their living trafficking other people and profiting off their lives.

[Cruise till you drop]

On 12/30/2023 at 12:21 PM, PTC DAWG said:

I don’t see an issue in making sure of things in this instance…

 

 

I agree.  Child is a minor and adopted so I think Celebrity had every right to make sure