Question for PaulMedik

[Hurricane Girl]

Hey, I remember your post about Porter 150 and I remember you posting his pic. Well guess what???? we encountered him. He did us the same way!!! I was soooo mad about this. He is making a killing off doing this to passengers and it is not right!!! My question: Did you report him? if so who did you report him to? I am determind to report him to someone. Of course my DH tipped him way too much, but who wouldn't?? I mean you are leaving all of your luggage with this man. Maybe if several people report him then he will be stopped. Please let me know.

Thanks!!

[PaulMedik]

Hey, I remember your post about Porter 150 and I remember you posting his pic. Well guess what???? we encountered him. He did us the same way!!! I was soooo mad about this. He is making a killing off doing this to passengers and it is not right!!! My question: Did you report him? if so who did you report him to? I am determind to report him to someone. Of course my DH tipped him way too much, but who wouldn't?? I mean you are leaving all of your luggage with this man. Maybe if several people report him then he will be stopped. Please let me know.

Thanks!!

 

 

Hurricane Girl,

 

No, I didn't report him other than here on Cruise Critic. :)

 

I'll be looking for him when we arrive June 14 though. ;)

 

For those of you who haven't seen or encountered him, the individual in question is the obese fellow on the right;

 

 

I will be taking more pics of him on June 14 and will get close up pics of his badge and I'll have my sons video the entire encounter. :D

[PINEVIEW01]

What port was this??

[PaulMedik]

What port was this??

 

 

 

Miami

[cuyahoga11]

What does he do that the others dont?

[PaulMedik]

What does he do that the others dont?

 

 

He first states that he's responsible for all of our luggage from then until it arrives at our stateroom and that we should take good care of him.

 

After tipping, regardless of the amount because he doesn't look at it, he says; 'this is what you're giving the man who is responsible for all of your possessions you'll have with you?' And when the answer is yes he stomps off and hands the money to his thug buddy and they turn their backs to you. I tipped him well and our luggage arrived at staggered intevals through out the late evening / night and was wet and covered with white sticky stuff.

 

His only work for our luggage was that he was there when we put it in the cart and we still tipped him. He's a worthless thug. (And I'm being nice) :mad:

[vacruizer]

I would be mad!!!! As someone who used to make their living from tips - nothing irritates me more than being harassed for them. Just not cool.

 

I will watch out for this guy in July but sounds like maybe you both should report him to the port authority and/or the union - maybe they can stop this from happening to future cruisers.:mad:

[Hurricane Girl]

Thanks for your quick reply on this. :) I knew the second our shuttle pulled up that he was porter 150. I remembered him from your posts. I just stood back and watched him and listened to his BS. I was so mad but I let it go and told my DH that as soon as we got back home I was going to try and find out where to report him. If someone knows where I go to report him let me know.

This was our 5th cruise and nothing like that has ever happened before.

[PINEVIEW01]

Miami

Thanks! Thought so. When I arrived they were still dealling with out going. I tried putting my luggage on a cart as nobody would help me. I was told I couldn't do it and had to wait for a porter. I only had the one bag.

[mike91911]

This seems like the type of thing a local news station would be all over for one of their "hidden camera" type consumer stories.

[Brenda Bell]

I'm thinking that you would call the Port of Miami and report him. Good Luck!!

[Hurricane Girl]

This seems like the type of thing a local news station would be all over for one of their "hidden camera" type consumer stories.

 

lol...I like that idea...maybe Paul will get it on video for them.... :D

 

Tomorrow I am going to start calling around until I find the right place so that I can report him. I don't think that one person reporting him will be enough though...but at least it is a start.

Who knows, maybe he has been reported before.

[DarthGrady]

Now I'm glad I carried by big ugly duffel on board when we left out of Miami. It seemed like an albatross at the time, but I am relieved to have not dealt with that guy.

[fern1226]

did you get my e-mail? I sent it to you approx 2 days ago. If you didn't, I will post my questions on the roll call.

[chefboyrdee]

the porters are member of the internatioanl longshoremans assoc. look for a telephone # in the miami/ft lauderdale area. i know they have a branch in ft pierce florida. also try hallmark stevedore company, they might be the stevedore compnay that hires the porters. hope this give a starting point.

[DGP1111]

I never saw the original thread concerning this dude, so I'm glad to hear about it now. I have 3 departures from Miami (a port I've rarely used when sailing Carnival) coming up, so I can plan to avoid him. I tip the porters well on all cruises, but I'd not want to start my day with this type of frustration by an 'encounter'. Again, thanks for the heads up!!

[PaulMedik]

did you get my e-mail? I sent it to you approx 2 days ago. If you didn't, I will post my questions on the roll call.

 

 

Susan,

 

Yes. Sorry for the delay.

 

Paul

[ruskatab]

Dont these guys make like 12 bucks an hour? Why are they being tipped to do their job. Maybe the news should be made aware of this and the extortion tactics this guy is using. We always tip but he would of gotten no tip and a piece of my mind if he had said that to me.

[crusinpsychRN]

This seems like the type of thing a local news station would be all over for one of their "hidden camera" type consumer stories.

 

Call Channel 7 in Miami. I used to work there and we did this kind of story.

[crusinpsychRN]

lol...I like that idea...maybe Paul will get it on video for them.... :D

 

Tomorrow I am going to start calling around until I find the right place so that I can report him. I don't think that one person reporting him will be enough though...but at least it is a start.

Who knows, maybe he has been reported before.

 

If you find a contact person and number and post it here, guess how many people will call and notify and let them see this thread, even if it hasn't happened to them. Can you insist someone else be called to porter for you? He is nothing but a thug. The other porters need to get rid of himas he puts them all in a bad light.

 

I HATE giving money to someone when I put my bag on a rolling cart and he pushes it inside and puts it on a conveyor belt or something like at the airport. I'm capable of doing that myself when it's only a few bags. When it's a lot I have no problem tipping when they are helpful.

[crusinpsychRN]

I called the International Longshoreman's office in Miami and only got voice mail saying office is closed. I left a message for them to call me back asking if they are responsible for porters at Miami's port. I'll let you know if I get a call. I googled Hallmark Stevedore and only found FLL port.

[Hurricane Girl]

I don't intend on calling a tv-station and reporting to them and telling them about this site...it would be like Fox all over again. I am going to report him.

 

I have no problem tipping the porters...we always do. :) I had the problem with him basically asking for it before he even gave us the chance to tip him. :(

 

After the cruise we were held up in the luggage area for a few minutes and a porter had already came and loaded our luggage on his cart to take out for us. He stood there patiently waiting with us and our luggage. When we got where we were going he started to walk off before we could tip him. I had to tell him to wait for just a second, he looked at me and smiled. He got a very GOOD tip for all that he did. He smiled and politely said thank you. Porter 150 didn't even thank us for his big tip. THUG!!! (I would put the real word for what I think he is but I will be nice) :(

[Hurricane Girl]

I called the International Longshoreman's office in Miami and only got voice mail saying office is closed. I left a message for them to call me back asking if they are responsible for porters at Miami's port. I'll let you know if I get a call. I googled Hallmark Stevedore and only found FLL port.

 

Please do...Thank you for your help...I am calling Carnival today to ask if they can tell me who to contact. I'll keep checking back to see if you get a response.

Thank you!!! :)

[mike91911]

I don't intend on calling a tv-station and reporting to them and telling them about this site...it would be like Fox all over again. I am going to report him.

 

Who doesn't know about this site? What indident are you talking about. I can picture it though, instead of the story being about this particular porter, the headline would be how dangerous it is to cruise due to organized crime and extortion.

[arizdback]

To the OP, I know how frustrating it is to deal with this guy. I hope that being able to vent here is enough of a solution for you because there is not a thing that you can do about it.

I have read all the replies and I have noticed that most of the people saying that they would complain do not appear to be from big cities on the East coast. The union RUNS the port of Miami and they have free rein to do pretty much anything that they want to at the port. If you call or write the union you are only making yourself fodder for lunch time laughs.

I am willing to bet that the mayor of Miami wouldn't touch these guys with a ten foot pole. They have the ability to shut the entire port down in 5 minutes. Which in turn would create millions in losses for the city. Believe me that Porter 150 is not the only one who pulls this. As soon as you get out of the car or bus they size you up as a potential mark. Many times they will team with another porter to do the good cop/ bad cop routine so that when you walk away you realize that you just got held up but "the one guy was really nice."

The porters all know where each bus came from. If they know you are coming from a hotel on a Carnival shuttle they know that you probably had to fly in a day before. This means you likely will be intimidated by the big city dock worker because you are not used to dealing with these guys.

When you think about it, these guys should be admired in a kind of sick and perverse way. They have managed to raise the art of the shakedown to the highest level.

The last time I sailed from Miami was back in 1997 and I seem to recall 150 using the same exact lines at that time.