2 1/2 Hour Navigator Disembarkation

[cruiselovers]

Just curious if other travelers found this in the past. From the time they called our color at 8:30 until we grabbed a cab at 11:00 we stood in a line to go through customs. Fortunately an agent pulled us out of line to the front so we could make our flight out of Lauderdale.

 

Ending a vacation is lousy enough, but this was the worst we've ever experienced!

 

Princess: Ocean: 3/02

RCL: Enchantment: 8/01

Grandeur 1/00

Celebrity: Century 8/00

Galaxy 8/03

NCL: Norway: 7/86, 3/87, 6/90, 4/03

Navigator of the Seas 4/04, Golden Princess 8/04

 

[cruizinpooh]

Yes! This is the one (and only) part that I can't stand about a cruising. It is nerve-wrecking for those that have to make a flight. Immigration has chosen to train new officers during regular debarkation. Which slows the process! Not sure if this is what you experienced. Glad to see you made it home though.

[cruiselovers]

Interesting that you point out "trainees." Just noticed that today. One processing, and two "looking on." Unfortunately, both Navigator and Explorer were both in port at the same time. Should be better staffed for 7K passengers.

 

We did make it home, thanks. Can't wait until the laundry's done!

 

Princess: Ocean: 3/02

RCL: Enchantment: 8/01

Grandeur 1/00

Celebrity: Century 8/00

Galaxy 8/03

NCL: Norway: 7/86, 3/87, 6/90, 4/03

Navigator of the Seas 4/04, Golden Princess 8/04

 

[Tyron]

this will be my third time on the navigator and each time was painless and quick even with both ships in port...if debarkation is slow it's the fault of customs not RCI...they dictate how quick or slow the procees of unloading all those passengers will be...sorry u had a long debarkation.

 

Til We Party on the Navigator Of The Seas...AGAIN!

[Nancyquilts]

Sorry about that. Debarkation in Miami from the Brilliance was the easiest ever yesterday. We had a late number and were still at the airport before 10:00 a.m. Nancy

[Rachelleh]

We have always chosen to carry off our own luggage, it makes a super quick "get away", a little hassle, but much less than waiting around in specific areas. We have not cruised on Rccl yet, but hopefully this is an option for our Nov. cruise on NOS, especially easy when you add in 3 kids.

[alexkrn46]

We were on the Navigator in March, we were in the airport (miami) by 9Am and our flight didn't leave until 3pm. We managed to get on a 10:30am flight ended back at home by pm it was great.

[kate7047]

We, too, had about 2 1/2 hours to disembark NOS on 4/10. Our color was called at 8 and it was 10:30 when we got to our car. The entire delay, IMO, was with immigration. The wait vanished once past immigration. I think they were understaffed, and Explorer was disembarking at the same time (over 7,000 passengers total). We got off forward and there were only 4 immigration officers working that 1/2 of the ship. Also, being a holiday week, there seemed to be a HUGE number of non-US citizens, and I suspect that contributed, what with higher security and all. (Never took us more than 30-40 minutes before!)

 

Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Disney Magic, Grand Princess, Volendam, Amsterdam, Zuiderdam, Millenium, Navigator of the Seas

[2VaCruzers]

We also were disembarking on April 10th but were the first to be called since we did a post cruise excursion (our flight out of Miami wasn't until 6 pm). There was a bit of a delay at immigrations. Many families in front of us had birth certificates and photo IDs so each one had to be checked carefully. Those families w/ passports seemed to go thru a bit quicker. Our immigration station had only 3 attendants. We got thru fairly easily, but I suspect the bottleneck began around 8 or 8:30. Friends of ours were called at 8:30 and didn't get off til 10:30.

 

Until we navigate the Navigator

 

[gnfcon]

We had a FANTASTIC time on the Navigator last week, except that we vacated our cabin at 8, had a color for 8:30, and got off the ship at about 11:30. They said the delay was because of customs training and internationals, but it took us about 1 minute at customs to clear our family of 5. Then there were problems at baggage claim because 2 of the suitcases ended up 2 rooms away from where they were supposed to be. 16 of our group barely made it on the 1:30 flight out of Miami...

 

That being said, we really did have a great week, and I even survived eating the ranch steak one night! Our waitstaff was excellent, never felt crowded onboard, enjoyed the ports, etc. We were with a group of 25, all ages, and everyone was thrilled. If you have questions please let me know. We had kids in the children's program, went to shows, did Capt. Marvin's in Cayman Islands (phenomenal, couldn't say enough good things about it), climbed Dunn's Falls in Jamaica, snorkeled in Nassau (which we thought was really good until we got to the Cayman Islands!), and so on. It was a blast.

 

NOS 04/03/04!!!

Majesty 04/03, 08/03

 

[2VaCruzers]

gnfcon....I was on NOS last week and also did Captain Marvin's snorkeling. What session did you do? Morning? It was my first time ever snorkeling and I loved it. It's a whole other world under the ocean. Also did Dunns Falls. I was selected to be first in line. I was apprehensive at first, but glad I was in the beginning rather than the end. I made it all 960 feet and have a doozy of a cut on my left shin to prove it.

 

I too thought the waitstaff was excellent. The kids, IMHO, were well behaved..all 1100 of them.

 

I had an aft balcony and LOVED it. It's a lot of walking...but worth every step. In fact, I lost 3 lbs on this cruise!! And that's w/ eating dessert every night and then some!!

 

Until we navigate the Navigator

 

[gnfcon]

We were on Capt Marvin's in the morning, but it was a charter that my MIL arranged as there were 18 of us. It was AWESOME!! We also did Dunn's River which we enjoyed very much.

 

We had an inside cabin on 6th deck. I have never slept better. Glad to hear the kids weren't too bad for you, as there were 12 of them, including 6 teenagers, from our family group!! What a wonderful bunch of memories they/we all will have!

 

We were on Majesty of the Seas last year, and while I would definitely go back on MOS again, the Navigator really has so much more to offer. My kids are wondering exactly when we will be able to repeat this vacation.

 

NOS 04/03/04!!!

Majesty 04/03, 08/03

 

[Hlitner]

We have generally had good experience getting off ships in Miami with a single exception (immigration held a Carnival ship until 10:30). However, you have to wonder about immigration policies (or misplaced priorities). The cruise ships departing from US ports have their passenger lists cleared, in advance, by Homeland Security (immigration). The ships than follow tighter security procedures (picture ID, cruise cards, etc) than you would find at any US border. Than the ships return to the US and they subject all of the passengers to tighter immigration controls than you find at Canadian or Mexican boarder crossings (we won't discuss how easy it is to cross without any immigration check). It just seems that these Homeland Security agents could better spend their time trying to close our borders to the hoards of illegals that simply walk across the Mexican and Canadian boarders.

 

Hank

[BigDave]

We had the same delay on the Rhapsody on the 11th.

 

I think there was some sort of school holiday in Mexaco last week so there were a lot of mexican's families cruising and customs and immigration hasn't came up with a elegant way of handling a overload of internationals.

 

BigDave

 

My first cruise: Enchantment - 10/13/2002

My next cruise: Rhapsody