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Escalator now operational in San Diego


DAllenTCY
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The B Street Pier now has a guest escalator. Among many needed improvements it also brings a sense of worry to me.

 

Please do not use this conveyance if you do not have one hand free to hold the moving railing.

 

There are still 2 elevators.

 

Upcoming sailings are "Maasdam" (San Diego - Sydney), "Zaandam" (San Diego - Rio), "Oosterdam" (San Diego - Mexico), and "Amsterdam" (San Diego - Hong Kong).

 

Bon Voyage.

 

David

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Good news- thanks David!! Should free up some of the bottleneck with the stairs. We'll be coming in on the 30th on Oosterdam from Vancouver on 12 night.

 

Did you say previously that there will be a separate entrance for continuing passengers? If so which entrance? Was kind of confusing last year.

 

Thanks

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The problem with your particular itinerary is that I do not know if you'll clear US Customs in Astoria, Oregon. Therefore, I can't answer with any confidence as to how you might re-board your B2B sailing here.

 

David

Edited by DAllenTCY
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From past experience Customs normally comes onboard to clear everyone in Astoria. We are not on a B2B cruise. Our cruise was sold and is booked as a 12 night cruise with San Diego as our third port call. Later they added the 5 night Coastal and 7 night Mexico.

 

Last year several on the same cruise on Westerdam had problems reboarding and the and GSM had to clear it up in the terminal. We received an apology card and a bottle of wine on board that evening. Announcement was made on board at about 8:30 or 9:00 am advising that the ship had been cleared and passengers that were not disembarking in San Diego were free to come and go as they please and advised the all aboard time.

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  • 5 weeks later...

franc, a related question. Did you have a long wait to clear customs? Just departed the "O" in San Diego on the 14th, many of us elected late time. There was a double line from customs to the far end on the luggage area, believe only one officer.

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franc, a related question. Did you have a long wait to clear customs? Just departed the "O" in San Diego on the 14th, many of us elected late time. There was a double line from customs to the far end on the luggage area, believe only one officer.

San Diego, going or coming, is almost always a mess.

An escalator, while nice for people who need it, will do nothing to improve the effiency and effectiveness of the port workers, baggage handlers, cruise terminal security personnel and U.S. Customs & Border Protection who all contribute to slowing down the process in their own way.

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franc, a related question. Did you have a long wait to clear customs? Just departed the "O" in San Diego on the 14th, many of us elected late time. There was a double line from customs to the far end on the luggage area, believe only one officer.

 

We left the ship at about 9 am, found our luggage and got in the line. Line was moving very fast- just showed the officers our passports and they waved us through. Less than 10 minutes from the ship to a taxi

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We were on the same cruise as Frank and had a similar debarkation experience. We were off the ship by 8:30am, breezed through luggage retrieval and customs. We were outside the terminal waiting for our ride before 9am

One thing I was surprised and/or curious about is that we didn't have to complete a customs form and turn it in. We've had to do this on every other trip we've taken to Mexico, cruise or land vacation.

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We left the ship at about 9 am, found our luggage and got in the line. Line was moving very fast- just showed the officers our passports and they waved us through. Less than 10 minutes from the ship to a taxi

 

We had the same experience in February. Easy-Peasy Debark! Boarding the Oosterdam on Saturday and hoping for as easy an Embark as we had in February for Westerdam!

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The problem isn't CBP.....it is that guests do not have their passports available for the officers when they exit the terminal.

 

Disembarkation has been within 10 minutes of scheduled time each and every ship this fall season.

 

Backups are due to your fellow passengers who aren't prepared.

 

David

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One thing I was surprised and/or curious about is that we didn't have to complete a customs form and turn it in. We've had to do this on every other trip we've taken to Mexico, cruise or land vacation.

 

The forms have been permanently discontinued.:)

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The problem with your particular itinerary is that I do not know if you'll clear US Customs in Astoria, Oregon. Therefore, I can't answer with any confidence as to how you might re-board your B2B sailing here.

 

David

 

We disembarked San Diego on Oct 5 and it was the quickest and easiest we ever had on 20 HAL cruises! It took all of 5 minutes from the time we were scanned off the ship (no waiting there either) to the time we got our luggage and were in a taxi.

 

The reason was no customs, as we cleared in Vancouver (where we boarded) I assume??

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We disembarked in San Diego a couple of weeks ago and there was very little trouble.

 

You are wrong about the importance of the escalator. If I were to complain about anything it would have been the the lack of a gangway escalator (we went down the stairs to save time). The gangway elevator was the disembarkation bottleneck for passenger who could not use the stairs.

 

igraf

 

 

 

San Diego, going or coming, is almost always a mess.

An escalator, while nice for people who need it, will do nothing to improve the effiency and effectiveness of the port workers, baggage handlers, cruise terminal security personnel and U.S. Customs & Border Protection who all contribute to slowing down the process in their own way.

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The problem isn't CBP.....it is that guests do not have their passports available for the officers when they exit the terminal.

 

Disembarkation has been within 10 minutes of scheduled time each and every ship this fall season.

 

Backups are due to your fellow passengers who aren't prepared.

 

David

 

Most ports and airports I have been through there is an agent telling you to have your passports and docs ready, so there is no holdup. Does no one do that in San Diego?

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Most ports and airports I have been through there is an agent telling you to have your passports and docs ready, so there is no holdup. Does no one do that in San Diego?

 

Yes they do, but unfortunately a lot of people don't seem to listen.

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San Diego, going or coming, is almost always a mess.

An escalator, while nice for people who need it, will do nothing to improve the effiency and effectiveness of the port workers, baggage handlers, cruise terminal security personnel and U.S. Customs & Border Protection who all contribute to slowing down the process in their own way.

 

When Holland America ran their own shoreside operations in San Diego, the port was often rated the best in the country according to guest surveys. Both embark and debark were efficient unless there was a situation beyond anyone's control (such non-US pax showing up late for immigration onboard, which delayed debark.) A few years ago when HAL decided to hire an outside company to do the work for them, customer service took a dive, and most employees quit because of it. Some remained - like David - to carry the torch and try keep some semblance of dignity and class for Holland America's guests.

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