Waiting to get off ship Epic after TA

It seems there are only 2 people from either customs or immigration to clear the whole ship we left our room at 6:30 and are standing on deck 7 for over 30 minutes. They stopped letting people off the ship since it was full at the lines inside.

Hopefully people won't miss flights.

Keith

Quite normal for the EPIC after TA!! Its the same in the other direction too.

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If this is normal after the these types of cruises then why don't they just adjust the schedule accordingly on the web site for the subsequent cruise? Seems like a simple enough thing to do. :confused:

Quite normal for the EPIC after TA!! Its the same in the other direction too.

A major issue is that we were due to clear immigration in St Thomas a few days ago so many people made (non-amendable) travel arrangements based on an early departure from the boat in PC.

NCL re-route us to the Azores and assure us they will do everything in their power to get us off as quickly and efficiently as they can.... Guess they meant everything but pay money for additional service in the terminal.....

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Guess they meant everything but pay money for additional service in the terminal.....

 

 

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When I've done the Barcelona disembarking, we are usually 1-2 hours delay whilst immigration and customs clear the ship - this looks much worse and clearly due to the reroute to the Azores, which was out of anyone's control really. The response from NCL previously has been factors outside our control... They can't control the speed that immigration/border control officers work at...

Hope everyone gets home safely and as speedily as possible.

I wasn't aware that NCL provided or paid for the customs or immigration officials. I thought it was the government that did both.

The governent EVEN has service fees they ask the airline or cruise line to collect to pay for the service.

I wasn't aware that NCL provided or paid for the customs or immigration officials. I thought it was the government that did both.

Private companies the world over pay their governments to do their jobs...

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When I've done the Barcelona disembarking, we are usually 1-2 hours delay whilst immigration and customs clear the ship - this looks much worse and clearly due to the reroute to the Azores, which was out of anyone's control really. The response from NCL previously has been factors outside our control... They can't control the speed that immigration/border control officers work at...

 

Hope everyone gets home safely and as speedily as possible.

NCL just love their “out of our control” clause... letting hundreds of people off a ship to stand in queues for hours with no food and water - they could control that if they wanted to.

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So you are saying that if you were standing inside the ship you would be happy! No cruise line controls the port or customs. It not a clause it is fact.

The thing is I’d be sitting in comfort ... with water.

NCL 1000000% controls the flow of letting people off the boat into the terminal.

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NCL in MANY places tells people not to make travel arrangements any earlier than SIX HOURS after the scheduled port time. People who choose to ignore that and make earlier plans are doing so at their own risk.

We were due to dock around 6am so we’re now at that 6 hour mark regardless!

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Private companies the world over pay their governments to do their jobs...

 

 

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Hopefully folk have travel insurance, and will be able to claim back extra costs much more easily. Sounds like they are doing the full immigration check that folk from the UK get subjected to every time they pass through a US airport. It takes time but is supposedly protecting the US border.

When I board, what deck will it be?

NCL is saying 2- 2 1/2 hours to boarding.

Really have sympathy for those still on board. Lack of customs agents seems to be a problem sometimes. It is a shame to end a great trip on such a note.

Private companies the world over pay their governments to do their jobs...

 

 

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I don't think it is the cruise line job to decide who to let into the US and who is not permitted to enter the US. The cruise line would be just as happy if they did not have to do any customs or immigration procedures.

What they really should do is work with border control and have global entry terminals on the ship itself so no matter which port you arrive you can do global entry and walk off. Once in the terminal it was pretty quick but 6:30 in and 8 AM out is too long they should tell people they will be called in groups if 25 or so.

BTW based on your picture earlier you ARE still on the ship.

Yes the first queue was still on the ship. Bottleneck for the final swipe when there are only 2 stations doing so.

We then had a 2 hour queue past that point. They had already stopped disembarkation because of the delays in the terminal. They chose to restart it despite the delays still being as bad. NCL have a duty of care to their passengers and either shouldn’t have let people off the boat, or warned them what they were about to enter, so that we could make an informed choice - wait on the boat in relative comfort or end up in a situation like we did.

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The thing is I’d be sitting in comfort ... with water.

 

NCL 1000000% controls the flow of letting people off the boat into the terminal.

 

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No they don’t, customs tells them when to allow passengers off, and when not to (got stuck in a similar situation in NYC with only 3 agents ). NCL wants nothing more than to turn the ship over, and getting paying passengers onboard to spend money.

Having fun sitting here for several hours waiting to get on the epic. Hopefully they will start loading us on soon

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When I board, what deck will it be?

 

 

 

NCL is saying 2- 2 1/2 hours to boarding.

 

 

 

Really have sympathy for those still on board. Lack of customs agents seems to be a problem sometimes. It is a shame to end a great trip on such a note.

And for us starting our trip as well. This is our first NCL cruise...they have a lot of making up to do. Royal Caribbean has never put us through this hell.

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Is it like this just for TA cruise or always with the Epic? Concerned because we booked a shore excursion for when re return to Port Canaveral at cruise's end.

That was definetely the longest I have ever spent disembarking a ship. I sort of understand, the immigration delays but what frustrated me was the chaos inside the ship. There were no signs on the ship saying where to go for easy walk off, eventually after asking staff, was guided into the dining room and queued in there for an hour and a half. Guests were coming in, sitting where they liked and then jumped the queue. It was ridiculous. We started queueing at 7.20 and just made it off in time for our car at 10.00. It was such a shame to end the cruise like that.

Is it like this just for TA cruise or always with the Epic? Concerned because we booked a shore excursion for when re return to Port Canaveral at cruise's end.

We sailed the Epic out of PC last Dec 9th, no problems boarding but I do remember the same type of stories involving customs after the TA in Nov.