Delays Disembarking Fort Lauderdale Cruise Terminal

[jbuch02]

....... this may be a late informational post but its important for cruisers arriving Fort Lauderdale to know about this.

 

As everyone knows US Customs has been effected by the clown act in Washington known as Sequestration. I believe that short staffing customs agents in airports and cruise terminal is purposeful on the part of administration and department officials to make a political point. If true, it makes me sad as an American to see our US arrival destinations operated like those in third world countries. Shame on our Congress.

 

Anyway, the point is that during debarkation of Celebrity Eclipse on March 9th, 2013 at Fort Lauderdale, it took us 90 minutes from the time we left the gangway of the ship until we hoped in a taxi headed for FLL. This was not Celebrity's fault but rather due to the fact that there were three customs agents to clear about 4000 guests and crew disembarking that day. Normally walk off is a breeze ..... 20 minutes or so is the norm.

 

There were also 6 other ships in port and I believe 4 of those were disembarking about the same time as Eclipse and one of those ships was Oasis of the Seas (5500). Clearly, customs was overwhelmed.

 

There is not anything you can do about this but plan ahead. It does no good to be angry and complain loudly to nice people who are port greeters and security. They have nothing to do with it either. It is your elected officials in Washington and anyone with a brain knows it does no good to complain to them either. Government is not "for the people" and hasn't been since the late 1800s.

 

So, unless you know things have changed with US Customs, if you have a noon departure from the Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL), allow 1.5 to 2 hours to leave the ship, get your bags and clear customs and 30 minutes to get to the airport by Taxi. Airport check in is pretty good at FLL but it also takes about 30-40 minutes to get to your gate nominally. Plan accordingly.

 

One option is to walk off as soon as the bell sounds on the ship and just hang out at the airport and if you travel lite, this is a good way to go. At least you are going to be somewhere in the first 100 or so passengers in line for US Customs. It does no good to use ship's Valet Luggage programs. The only delay you avoid here is picking up your bags and this was NOT an issue that I could see.

[CruiserBruce]

This has been discussed across several boards, and it is inconsistant, at best. Yes, there has been long lines some days. Other days the lines have been "normal".

 

Please don't inject politics here. The overtime budgets have been frozen- a standard measure for budget cuts- same as any company might do. This too has been widely reported. As the need for staffing the ports fluctuates widely day by day, and over various times of the year, the requirements for staffing the port are, at least partially, filled by overtime.

 

As to not booking early flights- agree. Too many people see a great early flight and book it, before realizing the reality of getting there in time for the flight.

[toberman]

I didn't see anything "Political" in the OP's post. He/She was just giving out info to help people decide on when to make plane reservations... at least that's how I see it. It's just not FLL but also MIA where "stories" are coming out about delays. Personally, I expect it and will make my travel arrangements accordingly.

[MADflyer]

It was very interesting listening to the port Everglades cam radio conversations between the ships in port on Saturday. They were very discreet in their wording, but it was clear that they held certain feelings about how things were being handled but realized that overtime would naturally be cut and would affect the weekend operations the most.

 

Oasis arrived at 0430 and mentioned they had not been cleared until 12 noon and it was clear in the tone that this had not been usual prior.

[jbuch02]

After reading CruiserBruce's Post in response to my thread opener, I decided to look around to see what I could find to confirm or refute the impact of Sequestration on US Customs and therefore, its indirect impact on cruise ship debarkation in US Ports of entry such as Fort Lauderdale.

 

Contrary to what CruiserBruce implies (this shouldn't be a big deal), it is and I suspect, as I have discussed with people closer to the situation than I am, its going to get worse as the real impact of the Sequestration is felt down the pipeline in 30 to 45 more days. It is NOT, as CuriserBruce states, a normal business practice of cutting overtime when funds get low.

 

Here's a link to the letter from US Customs and Boarder Patrol (CPB) sent to interested industry users of CPB services:

 

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/newsroom/advisories/info_seq_cbpops/trade_travel_letter.ctt/trade_travel_letter.pdf

 

Bottom line, the well advised and prepared cruising traveler should plan on significant increases in debarkation times and curb to gate airport times as both CPB and TSA are affected by Sequestration. Trying to mitigate this realty isn't the smartest approach. If delays don't occur, its like money in the bank. If they do, as it appears they will, and you have planned for it, you will be none the worse off.

[LJWECOC]

I returned to Port Everglades on Celebrity Equinox 3/15 at around 7 a.m.. The delays were horrific. I was on the line for more than 2 hrs and when I left the terminal at 11:00, the line was just as long as when I first got on the line. I assume the last passengers did not clear Customs until at least 1:00. I know personally that departing crewmembers were not cleared until 3:00 p.m.

 

Celebrity did their best to stagger departures, but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was determined to make it painful. There were 3 officers SLOWLY processing the 2800 passengers. Each took turns closing their line to take the union-mandated 20 minute breaks. Three supervisors/senior officers were standing around doing absolutely NOTHING. Keep in mind CBP receives ADVANCE PASSENGER INFORMATION well in advance of the ship's arrival, so clearance should be very quick, certainly no more than an hour.

 

As a retired immigration officer I can say with certainty the behavior of the CBP staff was deliberate, intended to draw attention to sequestration cuts. The game they played was shameful...identical to the games played years ago during other budget cutting exercises.

[3boysandadog]

OP,

Why does using Luggage Valet (if available) not help? Can you use that service and still line up as early as possible with the self-debarkers?

 

Thanks in advance

[FLAHAM]

Well, if the 3 inspectors cleared 5,000 people in, say, 5 hours, each inspector cleared 5.5+ people per minute (about 11 seconds each), allowing zero time for any breaks. That's super-duper fast work!

[Love the beach]

OP,

Why does using Luggage Valet (if available) not help? Can you use that service and still line up as early as possible with the self-debarkers?

 

Thanks in advance

 

It did help with us. We were on Nieuw Amsterdams b2b Feb 24th- March 10th and on turn-around day, March 3rd we started off the ship at 9am to spend the day in Ft Lauderdale--were on the customs line for 1&1/2 hrs. Since our flight home was at 12:30pm we knew we would have a problem so we decided to use the Luggage Direct service. We had to be among the first group off (7-7:30) in case customs chose to inspect our bags. Our group was called at 7:45--the lines were short and we were at the airport by 8:40 (took a taxi).

 

Marge

[jbuch02]

It did help with us. We were on Nieuw Amsterdams b2b Feb 24th- March 10th and on turn-around day, March 3rd we started off the ship at 9am to spend the day in Ft Lauderdale--were on the customs line for 1&1/2 hrs. Since our flight home was at 12:30pm we knew we would have a problem so we decided to use the Luggage Direct service. We had to be among the first group off (7-7:30) in case customs chose to inspect our bags. Our group was called at 7:45--the lines were short and we were at the airport by 8:40 (took a taxi). Marge

 

...... I forgot to mention that Celebrity tells you in the letter you receive with your Valet Luggage Program you can walk off at any time. Not knowing what was going on with Customs before hand, we sat and drank coffee for 2h not wanting to leave. So, yes, if you can arrange an early walk off some how (either traveling lite or using the Valet programs), it can help.

[3boysandadog]

...... I forgot to mention that Celebrity tells you in the letter you receive with your Valet Luggage Program you can walk off at any time. Not knowing what was going on with Customs before hand, we sat and drank coffee for 2h not wanting to leave. So, yes, if you can arrange an early walk off some how (either traveling lite or using the Valet programs), it can help.

 

Great. That's what I was hoping to do. Our flight is 11:45am, which before the sequestration slow down would have been no problem, but now I'm a little worried. We'll walk off early, either with our luggage, or hopefully,without it via Luggage Valet.