Tampa recent cruisers?

[39august]

How has embarkation and debarkation been recently in Tampa, please? Any slowdowns due to immigration/customs as has been reported from some ports?

[Ken at the beach]

We sailed March 10th. No problems getting on but definitely slower getting off. Not sure how this affected next cruises boarding as we were the second group off the ship. A good tip is to get a porter to carry your luggage (tip him well). They have a special lane for porters only. We by passed about 250 people and were out in 5 minutes.

[SeminoleFan]

We sailed on March 25th and had no delays with boarding. We were on the ship within 15 minutes or less; arrived at the port at 11:30. Debarkation was a bit slower, but still not bad. We were group #15 and after picking up our luggage it probably took about 20 to 25 minutes. The lines snaked around but kept moving.

[CruisingChristine]

We sailed on the 30th of March. We were at the port at 10:45am and were on Deck 11 by the pool by 11:30am.

When we left the ship on Saturday, we were off, through immigration, and had our luggage in less than 15 minutes.

 

eta: we were in group 23 for leaving the ship....so we were in that line at 9:40am.

[AeroBaldness]

Just got off today. Piece of cake. Arrived at port around 10:15 and was in group 1 (were only gold). Boarding started at 11:30 and we were on by 11:45. Getting off today were we're number 11 at 8:55. We were in no rush and I was having too much fun to pack so we left the room at 8:50 with all out luggage and we were in a cab for the airport by around 9:20.

[39august]

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like it's all good.

[Wayne1288]

The doors open at about 10 - 10:15. As soon as we get clearance from the ship, guests are allowed on. That's usually around 11:00 am. As far as debark, it all depends on how many CBP officers we have at Terminal 3. If Carnival and Holland America are in, we only get 2-3 officers for debark. Self-assist walk off starts around 7:30 and everyone is off the ship by 10:00 am. Yesterday, we didn't get a line in the luggage hall until 9:30am.