What is this New Immigration procedure when disembarking?????

I was reading a review on the Equinox today and they mentioned the new disembarkation procedure? They said people were waiting over an hour for the new face to face/immigration procedure. Is this something new and why do we have to wait over an hour just to get out of the terminal? :eek:

I was reading a review on the Equinox today and they mentioned the new disembarkation procedure? They said people were waiting over an hour for the new face to face/immigration procedure. Is this something new and why do we have to wait over an hour just to get out of the terminal? :eek:

Where's the review?

Just disembarked Infinity in San Diego and disembarkation was a breeze. There was an agent standing there who glanced at our passports, took our customs declaration, and we were on our way in a few minutes. I have heard something about not needing a customs declaration anymore unless you exceed the allowable amount, but we got the form to fill out this time.

The review you read was somewhere in the Middle East -- Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Not an American-government procedure.

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The review you read was somewhere in the Middle East -- Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Not an American-government procedure.

 

 

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Wrong. I just read the same Equinox review. It was a member review of the Equinox and the reviewer did say it was a Caribbean cruise. Others might like to know if this is an immigration change.

It depends on the location of the dock. In November after Navigator moved to Miami we were put in a temporary "tent" terminal. There was no room to get the folks off the ship and then back onto the ship. That terminal was the very eastern terminal. Pax weren't off the ship until around noon and we stood in a winding line through the parking lot. We were on a B2B and from reading here it sounded pretty simple. They take you off, whisk you through customs, and back on you go. Not so much. We were in the far western terminal which has a very small capacity. They halted debarkation several times announcing the terminal was at capacity. We finally cleared customs around noon and back for our 1130 lunch in the MDR.

Just got off Equinox in Fort Lauderdale this morning. There was a short wait to go downstairs to collect luggage. That did seem a little disorganised but then straight into a short queue for immigration. Our passports were looked at very quickly and we were on our way. We are Uk citizens. From leaving the ship to getting in a cab took less than half an hour.

Where's the review?

Here on CC under reviews! It,s for the Equinox.It,s a new review.

Where's the review?

The review you read was somewhere in the Middle East -- Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Not an American-government procedure.

 

NO It,s a Eastern Caribbean taken this month! April 2017.Go read it here in CC under reviews.Celebrity Equinox!!!

I was reading a review on the Equinox today and they mentioned the new disembarkation procedure? They said people were waiting over an hour for the new face to face/immigration procedure. Is this something new and why do we have to wait over an hour just to get out of the terminal? :eek:

I just got off the Equinox this morning (4/24/17) and it was the quickest every. Our tag number was 12 and called about 7:00 am we were on the street waiting for our car service in 20-25 minutes. We were really surprised how well it went.

"Glitch 2 was disembarkation. New "face to face" immigration/customs regulations required passengers to wait in line for over one hour to be processed. Celebrity needs to consider providing a seating area in the disembarkation terminal for those waiting to be processed. Older individuals are not able to comfortably stand in lines for over one hour before leaving the terminal."

The above was taken from the review. I'm not sure what they mean by "New face to face immigration/customs regulations". Both times clearing customs on our Nov/Dec B2B they held our passport next to our face and waved us along. We did self debark on the second leg and arrived at the airport too early to check in.

Last month, I had a Global Entry interview. When I said we cruise a lot and that the only port doing it so far is Port Canaveral, I think. The officer told me that it probably wouldn't be handy for clearing customs. He said the ship's Captain is the one calling the shots on how debarkation will go. DH's interview is May 6 at a different airport. Portland OR is booked clear through November so I checked Seattle and got him in there. 4 hr trip but we will use it for a baseball game. I will have him ask the same thing and see what the answer is and perhaps ask about this "new" customs procedure. I assumed that when he told me that, he works for them so knows the inner workings. As I was writing this paragraph, I just realized the some folks who work with my employer give out horrible info to people. Also, you would expect the call centers to know the company rules but it is often posted on here that pax get different answers depending on which employee they get on the phone. :o

We disembarked from silhouette yesterday at Fort Lauderdale. We were walk offs and from time disembark started until we cleared immigration took no more than 15 minutes. There was no enhanced face to face or additional questioning. We presented our passports which were given cursory check and that was it.

Silhouette yesterday. We were #14. Got called about 8:20.

Process was the same as always.

Off the Reflection on April 15 in Miami. No Custom form provided or required. In fact I asked the Cabin Attendant for one the night before and he said we no longer need them. Maybe this was itinerary specific. Just a very quick look at passport. No complaints here.

I found the review you were referring to. It's too bad that they don't provide more information. In March, when we returned to Ft. Lauderdale from the Mardi Gras cruise on the Equinox, we had to change terminals due to a problem in the port. We had to wait a long time in line which presented a problem for my sister who was having some serious health problems. However, once we waited in that line and reached immigration, our Global Entry cards got us through the process in no time at all. My primary complaint was with Celebrity because we had no idea how long we'd be standing before reaching the terminal. When we saw some staff members returning with empty wheelchairs, I asked if someone could help my sister. The response was "you only have that far left to go". In fact, we continued to stand for a long time and even though we speeded through immigration, the walk to a taxi was pretty far. I felt that Celebrity was non-responsive and not helpful in that situation.

Left our cabin on Silhouette( Ft Lauderdale) yesterday at 8:15 and were in our car by 8:50. That included the long walk to customs from the ship and the very, very long walk between terminal 25 and the parking garage. We made our porter very happy with our tip It was money well spent.

Recent cruise, Panama Canal 4/2, Infinity, San Diego ..was a breeze for U.S. passport holders. Met some passangers from Canada & they were told at least 3 hrs, believe this was done on the ship before disembark.

I can think of a couple of reasons why there was a "face to face" CBP interview. One is if the ship was at a temporary facility as some have said, and the CBP infrastructure was not fully implemented. The other, and perhaps more likely, is that someone either left the cruise early or joined late. While the cruise remains a "closed loop" cruise in terms of allowable forms of ID (BC and DL), when the person/s arrived or left the passenger manifest changed and had to be resubmitted to CBP. CBP then handles the new manifest as a different class of voyage (starting in a foreign country, whenever the passengers joined/left), which requires a different clearing process, and also limits the time CBP has to screen the passengers on the manifest, so they have the option of doing an international type of arrival interview.

This is why most cruise lines have limited the granting of downstream boarding/disembarkation on cruises from the US.

And it isn't the Captain's call as to how disembarkation goes, except for any confusion onboard the ship. The Captain cannot control how CBP wants to clear the passengers.

...

Last month, I had a Global Entry interview. When I said we cruise a lot and that the only port doing it so far is Port Canaveral, I think. The officer told me that it probably wouldn't be handy for clearing customs.

Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) has had global entry since 2015 .

Save some time by downloading the mobile passport control (MPC) app to your smartphone now - it will save you time later when it comes time to complete your customs declaration. That along with the automatic passport control (APC) made exiting last December quick as a wink- we were outside within 10 minutes of collecting our luggage.

I will never understand why only the US requires an immigration procedure after a closed loop cruise. The same people left the US a week or so before and all foreign people went through immigration before when entering the country. They all already hold the required form of visa. If this visa or visa waivet has not expired or people have been exchanged during the cruise everyone has already been checked and cleared. Different story if you enter for the first time of course, e.g. after a transatlantic.

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I use the Mobile Passport app and breeze through

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Did they ask to see you paper passport?

I use the Mobile Passport app and breeze through

 

 

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Did they ask to see you paper passport?

Yes, you still need to show your actual passport. Having used it at Port Everglades in November and again last month, I highly recommend it.

I just got off a Regent cruise to Cuba at Miami. We were told they no longer hand out the blue forms. Agent asked if I had anything to declare and I gave him an inventory of the liquor I had in a rolling case (Cuba, remember.). He seemed to think for a while, maybe doing some calculations in his head, then waved me through without paying a duty. I understand from reading other posts that the duty is not that much and agents will often not want to bother. We also have Global Entry and understand it is not necessary to use the card unless entering from Canada or Mexico or using the kiosk. Your Global Entry information has been entered on the profile the agent sees when scanning your passport.

Just wish the OP had indicated what country they were referring to in the heading. Celebrity disembark in about 20 countries around the world. Don't assume that everyone disembarks in the USA