Near riot on Silhouette on 5/27

I'm presently on Celebrity Silhouette and VERY disappointed in Celebrity's behavior yesterday at St Petersburg Russia. Their behavior nearly caused a riot several times as we were going through Russian immigration. We all knew to expect an hour or longer wait to get through immigration so most people with private tours got up early and got in line early. The lines were incredibly long but everyone was fine with that. We were all excited about our 3 days in SPB. All of a sudden you start hearing people yelling NOOOO and getting very agitated and pushing and shoving. Well what happened was that Celebrity decided to take people on the ships tours and put them in the front of the lines going into immigration. So all these people who didn't have to wait in line at all were put in front of those of us who planned and got up early to get in line. I had a man who pushed in front of me at the direction of someone from Celebrity-I told him he was not going to go before me and I pushed around him. This was totally inappropriate and uncalled for on Celebrity's part. If they want to treat their ships tours people special then they should have had a seperate line for their ships tours people to go through immigration. I plan to put this on Facebook and then of course tell Celebrity when I get my survey. Shame on you Celebrity-your have been my favorite cruise line but now I will rethink that.

 

Teanne

Aboard Silihouette

Sounds like you started the physical pushing. Its well known that ships excursions get off first. You post your comments on facebook and see if anything comes of it. Surveys are a waste the only care about positives not the complainers. Sorry to break it to you

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I've been through immigration in more countries than I can count. In Russia, in port, if you are on the ship side of the line for immigration, then Celebrity can escort people to the head of the line.

On my last crise to Saint Petersburg the cruise line treated the port like a tender port. Everyone doing their own thing had to get a number and wait in a dining room. The ship monitored the length of the line in immigration and controled when people were allowed off with priority going to ships tour groups.

This made for very smooth flow and avoided the problem experienced by the OP. Though I doubt they would have liked it any better.

:(q

Celebrity certainly can control the flow of pax off the ship. But if this incident happened off the ship, then I agree Celebrity was wrong. Nobody has any sympathy for people complaining about "how Celebrity messed up disembarkation in [whatever port]." And that is correct, it's local Customs and Immigration that has control. No one would ever want Celebrity to let people through Miami Customs first because they booked Celebrity Air or something. Same thing here. Once off the ship, you're on your own. Plus, Celebrity will hold the ship for people on their tours, so what's the rush?

Our line mess up in FLL was just after we were off the ship .Celeb at that point was in charge and put the wrong line first.,..it all worked out but it is wel known that Celeb not is not very good at this end of things. Have witnessed many a disembark turn into a cluster bomb!

Ship tour passengers are given preference to disembark when they are ready. However going through an immigration queue is completely different. That is under the control of immigration and port authorities. They should not have been expected to go through the front of the immigration line.

Celebrity certainly can control the flow of pax off the ship. But if this incident happened off the ship, then I agree Celebrity was wrong. Nobody has any sympathy for people complaining about "how Celebrity messed up disembarkation in [whatever port]." And that is correct, it's local Customs and Immigration that has control. No one would ever want Celebrity to let people through Miami Customs first because they booked Celebrity Air or something. Same thing here. Once off the ship, you're on your own. Plus, Celebrity will hold the ship for people on their tours, so what's the rush?

I've been on a few cruises where local authorities did not permit a second gangway, they control, not Celebrity. The "hurry" is that the tours want to keep the people together and a long delay may complicate the tour. As said Zenith and Suite passengers have real priority disembarkation. They usually meet in Michael's Club and are escorted by the Concierge to the front of the line. I know from many experiences that they often hear some uninformed passengers yell that they are breaking into the line. Might be helpful for Celebrity to state their policy in Celebrity Today prior to the first Port of Call.

IMHO there is a significant difference between Celebrity prioritizing ship's tours, suites, etc., and allowing them off the ship first or onto ship's tenders first, versus bringing them to the front of an immigration line. Why should a private company (i.e., the cruise line) be able to bring people to the front of immigration lines for any reason?? I would not have been happy either, although I certainly would not have pushed or shoved anyone or created a near riot. That any country allows this, regardless of which country it is, I think is unfair. My opinion.

In our St Petersburg tour on another line, those of us taking a private tour were asked to wait before disembarkng until their go-signal. We waited while we saw those on ship excursion disembark in line. We were then directed at line's end. At immigration, we had a choice which line to take. We did not notice if anyone on the ship's excursion was late on disembarkation. There were no confrontations.

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First, I have to say that Russian immigration officials are about what you'd expect from a low-level Russian bureaucrat. The ship has even less control over them than they do over USA immigration officials so, none.

If you thought this was bad, you should have tried going through immigration in New Orleans on the Equinox Mardi Gras cruise. We patiently waited for our number to be called. Later I found out that people with much higher numbers crowded around the exit until the staff finally let them through long before we could exit. Their need to get to partying seemed to give them privilege.

How is this any different than Celebrity and other cruise lines taking suite and other priority guests to the head of the US immigration line when disembarking in Port Everglades? This past March, DW and I had to cool our heels in the priority Global Entry line while a group of suite passengers were placed ahead of us. We weren't happy to see a cruise line program taking precedence over a government program, but as Peter Trueman would say, "that's not news, but that too is reality."

This is true. On our Eclipse cruise in January we chose to take the suite disembarkation from Michael's Club. We were escorted down to the luggage area using elevators, someone waited for us to gather our bags and then they put us in a special expedited line for immigration that put us ahead of people who had been waiting longer. That's one of the perks. You get that priority too on an excursion if you have an immigration situation. Now perhaps it isn't necessary all the time for Celebrity to do this if the line for immigration is not that long. I just personally wouldn't be surprised if I was standing there waiting in line to see Cruise excursion pax getting priority as that is a well-known policy. And I certainly wouldn't start shoving innocent people who were only doing what the cruise line told them to do.

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How can this come as a surprise to you? Of course they let the people on their excursions off first. This is a risk you take booking your own.

They also escort anyone in a suite on a private tour to the front of the line.

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NOT true on HAL which is exactly why we went on the Baltic Sea cruise with them and not Celebrity. I had heard this about Celebrity before in St. Petersburg.

 

On HAL we took a two day private tour. We lined up shortly after docking and were the 3rd and 4th persons to walk off the ship after it had been cleared. Went straight through immigration and met our driver and guide. No problems at all. So glad our choice was Holland America!

On HAL we always get off early before the ships tours leave the theatre. I haven't had experience in Russia.

On Celebrity if doing a private tour it helps to have someone in the group in a suite!

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How is this any different than Celebrity and other cruise lines taking suite and other priority guests to the head of the US immigration line when disembarking in Port Everglades? This past March, DW and I had to cool our heels in the priority Global Entry line while a group of suite passengers were placed ahead of us. We weren't happy to see a cruise line program taking precedence over a government program, but as Peter Trueman would say, "that's not news, but that too is reality."

Really, I didn't know suite passengers were taken ahead of the global entry line. At that point you are off the ship and the cruise is over.

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IMHO there is a significant difference between Celebrity prioritizing ship's tours, suites, etc., and allowing them off the ship first or onto ship's tenders first, versus bringing them to the front of an immigration line. Why should a private company (i.e., the cruise line) be able to bring people to the front of immigration lines for any reason?? I would not have been happy either, although I certainly would not have pushed or shoved anyone or created a near riot. That any country allows this, regardless of which country it is, I think is unfair. My opinion.

I would agree that a private company shouldn't bring people to the front of the line IF the line is made up of people from various ships. When we were in St Petersberg the only people going thru immigration at that area of the port were the passengers on our ship. So in that case the Russian authorities were there because Celebrity paid port fees to be there.

IMHO if the Silhouette was the only ship using immigration then giving Suite guests, Zenith, ship tours participants priority is consistent with what Celebrity's practice had been.

I don't think any of the priority immigration strategy is appropriate in a non US country. Off the ship - yes but immigration is something else. Guess I will know in a few weeks when we disembark in SPB.

3 days at a port and you isn't have a tour scheduled thru Celebrity. What is the rush?

 

It is always published in the paper and many other places that those with tours booked thru them will get off first.

 

We had to go thru customs while stopping at Key West. We were issued times to show up. It went rather smoothly and took us about 10 minutes to go thru.

 

Don't know why people were standing in line in Russia as they should have been given a time or number.

 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

They did the exact same free for all riot style when we were in Beijing 2015. To make matters worse the CD was constantly announcing how slow and unhelpful the chinese immigration officials were. Yep he's also stated everytime we visit this port we go thru this unruly mess.

Well Celebrity wouldn't you get the smarts and give people a # and sit like civil people in the theatre. When visiting another country if this is how they handle immigration at a snails pace well so be it. Celebrity should not be condoning people gathering in the gangeway exit for 5 hours (yep we waited 5 hours) to be pushed and shoved and act like animals. Also I can't remember seeing any special assist areas and there were also people with rollators and walking sticks thrown into the mob. Would love to do another Asia cruise but not sure if Celebrity has improved on this port.

The OP is talking about the lines on the ship waiting to get off and go through immigration. Celebrity took a group of people that were departing on a ship sponsored cruise and ushered them to the head of the line.

 

This has nothing to do with immigration.

You have the right to your own opinion.

You don't have the right to make your own facts up.

I don't think any of the priority immigration strategy is appropriate in a non US country. Off the ship - yes but immigration is something else. Guess I will know in a few weeks when we disembark in SPB.

It's been an up and down thing with Celebrity. As mentioned earlier in the thread, some years back there had been issues with Celebrity discouraging private passengers. When I went through SPB on Celebrity a few years ago, possibly due to the previous complaints we had no issues and once you were off the ship you lined up on your own (there was even discussion with the CD at the time as they gave a briefing before arrival due to the special procedures).

Now, possibly due to time or just a different CD, it sounds like they're trying to give extra benefits to their own tour bookers again. It's one of these things where knowing your rights is the best weapon you have...

Grrrrrr is how I feel about the subject. As long time cruisers (for over forty years on far more then 100 cruises) who seldom use cruise line excursions, we have long had big issues with cruise line excursions getting priority. In St Petersburg, many of the reputable private tour companies even warn cruisers not to be conned by the cruise line...as the Russian authorities do not give preference to tours. The Russians simply use a first come first serve policy. The problem here is Celebrity! I should mention that last August we visited St Petersburg on HAL's Zuiderdam and HAL did not shove their tour groups ahead of those who were waiting. The ship's tour groups simply got into line with everyone else.

 

Hank

Thank you Hank-someone seems to understand this situation.

First of all, you are alluding to suite passengers which are given priority tendering and disembarkation. That is a known perk, whether you agree with it or not. They pay for the convenience.

 

Second that is not what the OP is complaining about, even though she seems to have been grateful that you sided with her. Those that book with ship sponsored excursions also get priority disembarkation and if the tour runs late, the ship will wait for them to return. Again, this is part of what people pay for when they choose a ship[ sponsored trip over self-touring or a privately arranged tour.

 

Third, that's the way it works, You generally get what you pay for. The fact that you have not been previously inconvenienced is not a testament to anything except the fact that you have chosen itineraries with ports that are not an issue.

We went to Israel and security and immigration was VERY tight with longs lines. Celebrity tour passengers got off first and were at the head of the line which is what is expected-no problem with that at all. The rest of us with private tours went next and everything was fine. No one from Celebrity tours came and tried to cut to the front of the immigration line-this is NOT about who gets off the ship first. Thanks

Teanne

The OP is talking about the lines on the ship waiting to get off and go through immigration. Celebrity took a group of people that were departing on a ship sponsored cruise and ushered them to the head of the line.

 

This has nothing to do with immigration.

No-this is wrong. I'm totally talking about the immigration line-NOT the line to get off the ship. Most of the ships tours were taken upstairs and we think they had their own private immigration line to go through. We "think" that line got too long so they brought people downstairs to the lines that everyone else was waiting patiently in. This was long after everyone had gotten off the ship. Totally about immigration.

Teanne

I can't believe some of the answers being given. Anyone who's been to St. Petersburg should be able to visualize the set-up there and realize the OP isn't talking about getting off the ship. :rolleyes:

To the OP: Sorry to hear of your issues. Seems the cruise lines try this from time to time. Those of us who read the Baltics boards on a regular basis have heard it before. A few years back it was Princess who tried to "direct" traffic through the Immigration lines for their own tour passengers, and it only stopped when they got some serious blowback from the Russian immigration officials themselves (and perhaps from irate passengers, as there were quite a few who expressed themselves here on CC at the time....)

While Celebrity may be free to decide who gets off their ships and when, I don't think they get to exercise the same control off the ship and in line for immigration.

For those who question why one would take a private tour -- it's because they are MUCH better than the large ship tours, especially in St. Petersburg. Small groups can dodge the longer lines, can make changes on the fly, and have control over what they see and do. Not to mention the opportunity for a much more personal interaction with your guide. You might want to read this excellent review of private tours in St. Petersburg, published RIGHT HERE on CC a while back (some things have changed, but not substantively):

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1304

Just a quick question, once off the ship and in the queue for immigration have you disembarked? Do Celebrity have the authority to require you to effectively stand back and let others pass whilst standing in an immigration hall. Would that require the approval of the immigration authorities?

Just a quick question, once off the ship and in the queue for immigration have you disembarked? Do Celebrity have the authority to require you to effectively stand back and let others pass whilst standing in an immigration hall. Would that require the approval of the immigration authorities?

It is not a line like TSA at airports with people in roped off lines.

It is more like lines to checkout stands in a supermarket. Nothing to prevent a bully from just cutting in near the front of the line at one of the checkout stands.

We went to Israel and security and immigration was VERY tight with longs lines. Celebrity tour passengers got off first and were at the head of the line which is what is expected-no problem with that at all. The rest of us with private tours went next and everything was fine. No one from Celebrity tours came and tried to cut to the front of the immigration line-this is NOT about who gets off the ship first. Thanks

Teanne

I had a different experience in Israel this past November with Celebrity. The ship tours did get off first, but as we all know they are staggered. So when everyone else was in line more ship tours walked by others and went to the front of the immigration line.

whatever will bewilder me