Response from email to Mr. Bayley

[excitedofharpenden]

I've taken 12 cruises this year and feel that the problems appear to be largely Port Everglades specific.

Wow, you do cruise a lot. No wonder you get invites to the Captain's Table! Is that cruises or cruise credits? Either way I'm so impressed.

 

Phil

[uktog]

Wow, you do cruise a lot. No wonder you get invites to the Captain's Table! Is that cruises or cruise credits? Either way I'm so impressed.

 

Phil

 

I suspect there is a business model running here

 

cruise a lot = smooz them a lot = bottom line

 

So its not about the model wife, its about the model finances

 

But yes, to be able to have a large number of cruises in a short time is something to be very happy about....maybe one day.......

[dkjretired]

Here's an article in Seatrade Insider about delay aboard Carnival Freedom due to sequestration.

 

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news/news-headlines/port-everglades-carnival-freedom-delay-atypical.html

[Rjbobalou]

Here's an article in Seatrade Insider about delay aboard Carnival Freedom due to sequestration.

 

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news/news-headlines/port-everglades-carnival-freedom-delay-atypical.html

 

This has nothing to do with politics,its been going on for sometime.

[Rjbobalou]

Everyone should complain to Celebrity and to Port Everglades Ellen Kennedy Manager of Corporate & Community Relations and Steven Cernak Port Director.

We might get some results.

[GreenTreeFrog]

We disembarked from Equinox on Mar 15 at Port Everglades. We were scheduled to disembark in Group 19 at 9:30am. After an hour and a half waiting on the ship, we left with Group 15. Took 2 hours to get through Customs and Immigration and we made our flight, leaving from FT Lauderdale at 2pm through to Sydney, Australia, with just 15 mins to spare. Very stressful way to end our wonderful cruise! Had we been warned, we would have been more prepared.

 

I am grateful I don't have to line up for clean drinking water for that long.

[TLCOhio]

Interesting range of insights, information, opinions, etc., on this thread. Have not done any cruises out of Florida, yet. Our first four cruises were all in Europe and things worked fine. We are looking forward to our first “down under” visit, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Celebrity Solstice sailing, departing Sydney, going from Australia to Auckland/NZ doing 14 days on this ship we loved in the Med in June 2011. Hopefully things will be smooth for boarding in Australia and for getting off in New Zealand.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 125,800 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[chamima]

I've been reading about all of these debarkation horrors with interest since we currently have a cruise booked on the Eclipse for next February.

(Princess no longer does 14 day cruises so this seemed perfect but now I don't know.)

We've sailed Princess out of Fort Lauderdale many times and never had a problem but I do know that a long, miserable disembarkation can leave an awful memory of even the best trip.

Since a lot of the problem seems to be (if I'm reading these threads correctly) that you have to go to Terminal 24 to get your luggage and then back to 25 for Customs,

I was curious if having the Luggage Valet service (the $20/pp one where Celebrity takes your luggage to the airport) would help?

Anyone out there that has used the Luggage Valet service out of Fort Lauderdale?

What was your experience like?

Edited April 3, 2013 by chamima

[PinotBlanc]

Hi Tommy

No ,you have me beat. it was from Nov to this May. My year is my cruising season.

 

 

Do you take other types of vacation?

[dkjretired]

This has nothing to do with politics,its been going on for sometime.

 

Anyone who has been on this board for awhile knows there have been problems, I'm just passing this link on as information.

[Happy2cruise]

Read this thread with interest. Are you able to give Mr. Bailey's email address. We had a horrific disembarkation out of Bayone on Silly. My husband was in wheel chair and we we literally unable to get on the crowded elevators. Without going into the details, we were not able to get any help getting off the ship.

 

Just wondering, did you go to the designated disembarkation area assigned to only wheelchair assistance passengers?

[Jimsgirl]

There is no reason why a US passport holder reentering the US should not just breeze through . . . sequestration or not.

 

Not just Celenbrity

 

I was on QE, last week, at Ft Lauderdale Wednesday March 27, In transit passengers were told we would need to get off even though we were not going on shore. Told to report to gathering place at 8a.m, we waited and waited. No one from Cunard came to tell anything, in fact there was no staff from Cunard around t all

 

After several hours a public announcement told us to get off, we did went through US passport (took about minutes if that) then we were told to "sit over there". so there we sat and sat and sat and sat, then Cunard let a gaggle of travel agents on board , at same time telling us ,- their fare paying passengers , -we had to wait.

 

In all I was out of my cabin, or off ship for over 4 hours, and Cunard never offered us as much as a glass of water let alone a cup of hot coffee or a Danish.

 

It is not just Immigration officials that are to blame , the cruise lines also have themselves to blame for the way they care for their passengers , and for their passengers being angry .

 

Disembarking in NY was a repeat, told to gather at 8, sat and sat, did not get into terminal itself until 10a.m.fault was entirely due to Cunard's disorganization.

 

Night before I received three envelopes containing three different coloured luggage tags, and three different areas to gather , had to stand in line t Pursers desk to sort out which was correct.

[KeywestK]

Well, Mr. Bayley was on the March 24th sailing of Silhouette. So he had the opportunity (on Sunday, March 31st) to join all of the passengers in the long, outdoor snaking line--just to get indoors to claim luggage that seemed to be set up in so many nooks and crannies--it's a wonder any of us found ours! Then we got to join another long line-with all our luggage in tow to get to the customs agents. There were 4 working which seems like "normal" to me. This process took well over an hour!! Thank goodness it wasn't pouring rain and the weather was relatively cool. The icing on the cake was that we were told there was no restroom available after we got through customs!! I did eventually find one in another terminal. The "Modern Luxury" part of the Celebrity Cruise was well over by that point for us!!

 

Terri

 

There were 2 customs agents on Feb. 23rd when we disembarked from Eclipse. Lucky for Mr. Bayley he didn't have to wait in the long line that everyone from our sailing had to endure....:(

 

And FWIW, these problems at PE are not new, and have nothing to do with sequestration. When we disembarked at PE in Nov. '11, it was even worse!

[PinotBlanc]

Everyone should complain to Celebrity and to Port Everglades Ellen Kennedy Manager of Corporate & Community Relations and Steven Cernak Port Director.

We might get some results.

 

 

You've pointed us in a good direction. Thanks.

 

Why do passengers wait for an end of cruise questionnaire to address dissatisfaction when things go wrong aboard a cruise? Isn't it better to get an apology, a correction or compensation before getting off the ship?

 

End of the cruise questionnaires are distributed at the last minute in hope cruisers will dump their negatives in a box. End of that !!!

 

IMHO, The disembarkation fiasco at Piers 24/25 is in a Celebrity file headed for waste management after the ships are repositioned for the summer. Didn't Bayley respond "working on it". ??????

Edited April 4, 2013 by PinotBlanc

[PinotBlanc]

I wrote a letter to Mr. Bayley concerning the disembarkation situation. Last Monday, I received a phone call from one of his Executive Assistants thanking me for sailing on Celebrity and thanking me for my letter. She said that many of the staff--and I gather she was included--have been sent to Port Everglades to witness what takes place. They are aware of the situation. My impression from what she said was that there is some conversation taking place between the Port officials and Celebrity. But, she could not say what will happen. She did say that it is Celebrity's desire that the entire cruise, from embarkation to disembarkation, be as pleasant and enjoyable as possible.

 

 

Nice, sweet, bland, flat, non-commital, an appropriate stall.

 

SHAME on Celebrity for not providing help for the end of cruise fiasco at Piers 24/25 to make it "as pleasant and enjoyable as possible".

 

May I suggest: refreshments, seats, baggage assistance, restrooms, shade awnings for the curb, moist towels, and fill in the rest Celebrity.

What can YOU do?

[kristikae]

And FWIW, these problems at PE are not new, and have nothing to do with sequestration. When we disembarked at PE in Nov. '11, it was even worse!

 

I agree! It's easy for them to blame this on the sequester but it was going on before the sequester started. I cruised in January and we had the same problems.

[dmk]

Everyone should complain to Celebrity and to Port Everglades Ellen Kennedy Manager of Corporate & Community Relations and Steven Cernak Port Director.

We might get some results.

 

Would you know their email addresses? Perhaps, mass emailing might help.

[chamima]

Would you know their email addresses? Perhaps, mass emailing might help.

 

 

 

Google is your friend:

 

http://www.porteverglades.net/about-us/port-administration/

 

Business Development

Corporate & Community Relations

Michael Vanderbeek, Director

Ellen Kennedy, Manager of Corporate & Community Relations Section

Jean Elie, Sr. Manager of Business Development

Tel: 954-468-3521;Toll-free: 1-800-421-0188;

Fax: 954-468-3529

 

 

Contact e-mail addresses:

 

General: PortEverglades@broward.org

 

Cargo: PortEvergladesCargo@broward.org

 

Cruise: PortEvergladesCruise@broward.org

 

Directions

 

Port Director's Office

Steven M. Cernak, P.E., PPM, Chief Executive & Port Director

Glenn A. Wiltshire, Deputy Port Director

Peg Buchan, Assistant to the Port Director

Paul Stanton, Assistant to the Port Director, Petroleum

J. David Anderton, II, AICP, Seaport Planning Manager

Tel: 954-523-3404; Fax: 954-523-8713

As administrative head of Port Everglades, the Port Director has responsibility over proper administration of all seaport functions. The Deputy Port Director, as second in command, performs such duties in the Port Director's absence.

[Andy]

Nice, sweet, bland, flat, non-commital, an appropriate stall.

 

SHAME on Celebrity for not providing help for the end of cruise fiasco at Piers 24/25 to make it "as pleasant and enjoyable as possible".

 

May I suggest: refreshments, seats, baggage assistance, restrooms, shade awnings for the curb, moist towels, and fill in the rest Celebrity.

What can YOU do?

 

Hi Pinot Blanc,

 

It seems that Celebrity has decided they cannot improve the situation at Pier 24/25, or they do not wish to spend the $$$ to do so... and has opted to move Eclipse to Miami for the Winter 2014/2015 Caribbean season. It seems Eclipse will remain in Ft Lauderdale for the 2013/2014 season, so unless they figure out how to improve the guest embark/disembark experience, I'd anticipate more frustration ahead next season.

 

Let's hope Celebrity will use the next few months, to figure out how to improve a lousy situation. I'm on Eclipse this weekend, and I'm keeping my embark expectations very low, especially as we've been advised to after 12 noon. At any rate, I'm not about to let it upset what should be a wonderful Cruise.

[dkjretired]

Hi Pinot Blanc,

 

It seems that Celebrity has decided they cannot improve the situation at Pier 24/25, or they do not wish to spend the $$$ to do so... and has opted to move Eclipse to Miami for the Winter 2014/2015 Caribbean season. It seems Eclipse will remain in Ft Lauderdale for the 2013/2014 season, so unless they figure out how to improve the guest embark/disembark experience, I'd anticipate more frustration ahead next season.

 

Let's hope Celebrity will use the next few months, to figure out how to improve a lousy situation. I'm on Eclipse this weekend, and I'm keeping my embark expectations very low, especially as we've been advised to after 12 noon. At any rate, I'm not about to let it upset what should be a wonderful Cruise.

 

Hi Andy:

 

To add to the situation, has any decision been made by RC as to where their new Oasis class ship will go. Will they bump a current Celebrity ship out of the good terminal.

[Andy]

Hi Andy:

 

To add to the situation, has any decision been made by RC as to where their new Oasis class ship will go. Will they bump a current Celebrity ship out of the good terminal.

 

Good question Don. I haven't heard anything about where RC will deploy the 3rd Oasis ship, though its not due until Mid-Late 2016. If they opt for Port Everglades, and have all 3 Oasis Class ships sailing from Ft Lauderdale... my guess is, Equinox would likely get bumped from Pier 18. Plenty of time though, so we'll have to see how that one plays out.

[Treacher1]

What terminal number does Eclipse use? What have been your experiences with Eclipse disembarkation? Thank you for any information - sailing March 2014 out of Ft. Lauderdale.

[USVI-4-me]

Hi Pinot Blanc,

 

It seems that Celebrity has decided they cannot improve the situation at Pier 24/25, or they do not wish to spend the $$$ to do so... and has opted to move Eclipse to Miami for the Winter 2014/2015 Caribbean season. It seems Eclipse will remain in Ft Lauderdale for the 2013/2014 season, so unless they figure out how to improve the guest embark/disembark experience, I'd anticipate more frustration ahead next season.

 

Let's hope Celebrity will use the next few months, to figure out how to improve a lousy situation. I'm on Eclipse this weekend, and I'm keeping my embark expectations very low, especially as we've been advised to after 12 noon. At any rate, I'm not about to let it upset what should be a wonderful Cruise.

 

 

Oh dear, this thread has unhappy news.

Will it make a difference. Probably.

At least it lowers expectations.

 

I think somebody popped my Cruise balloon.

 

Andy, have a wonderful cruise.

You'll find all the good in the experience.

 

-Marisa

[foflocruiser]

Terminal 25/22/24 will be renovated in the next two years...then Terminal 29. These are the last two terminals to be renovated.

Pretty remarkable considering there are 9 terminals (8 multiday and 1 ferry terminal)

This information is available on their public MasterPlan

Edited May 8, 2015 by foflocruiser