Not sure about Port Everglades or Princess ever again

[micbri]

We are platinum cruisers with Princess and have sailed with them 10 times over the last eight years. We loved it enough from our first cruise to never try anyone else, in spite of cutbacks/changes in the entertainment department.

 

Our last cruises were nine days out of Fort Lauderdale on the Caribbean Princess from January 22 to 31. It was going reasonably well to start. We felt the Cruise Director was doing a very going job as this was some of the best entertainment we'd seen in the last four cruises. The crew seemed friendly and hard working. The ship was starting to show it's age, with the sound not particularly great in MUTS and signs of wear-and-tear in some places.

 

On January 26 within the space of an hour, our experience and feelings soured. We were back in Fort Lauderdale and decided to book a ship excursion - taking an airboat tour. Before booking it (our previous choice was cancelled) we made sure it was to get back in time so we could experience The Sanctuary for the first time (we had a 1:00 p.m. appointment) because we felt it would be a nice way to celebrate sailaway.

 

The excursion was fun but traffic getting out to the Everglades was terrible and it set our trip behind schedule. We enjoyed the airboat ride and seeing an alligator in the wild. After we got out of the airboat, a rain storm moved through and we were drenched. Our clothes were soaked through. When the rain stopped, we finished the rest of the visit to the park and returned back to the ship, still soaking wet. We were running late.

 

The bus driver left us and 15 or so others off at the In-Transit passenger Customs area of Port Everglades terminal. We entered the room and showed our In-Transit cards, passports and cruise cards. The Customs staff seemed overwhelmed by us.

 

The officer in charge said there were too many of us and he would let five people come through. My wife politely asked why the port would even have an In-Transit entrance if they were only going to serve a handful of us. This same officer then told my wife "I would be careful what I say, lady. I can make things difficult for you." So we left and started walking to the main entrance. On our way, one person in our group saw a Princess shore-side rep who straightened things out with Customs and we were ushered through the In-Transit room.

 

The fun was just beginning. We were taken into the Platinum/Elite embarkation lounge where all of us started heading towards the ramp to get back on the ship. Some people were boarding and we thought we could follow them up the ramp. (Note - it was now about 12:30 and my wife and I wanted to dry ourselves off, get into some fresh clothes and go to The Sanctuary for 1:00.) A fellow wearing a Princess uniform yelled at us to sit down. We turned around and went to be seated. As I walked by I said: "This is ridiculous. We've been on the ship and we have our In-Transit cards."

 

As I was sitting myself down he yelled back at me "What's the matter? You can't wait an extra two minutes to get to the buffet?" The room was half-full and I was embarrassed that he was yelling at me. Before anything escalated another Princess rep let us head for the ramp and board the ship. We were thoroughly disgusted with this treatment and remain angry and disappointed. The representative in the embarkation lounge needs training in Customer Service, Anger Management, respect for clients and much more. It was terribly rude and disrespectful for him to call us out in front of a room like that.

 

Two phone calls later with Princess Customer Relations and nothing much has come of it. Next time we sail with Princess, we'll get dinner for two (no wine) at Sabatini's.

 

If we ever sail with them again. Probably time to try another line out of Miami, LA, New York or wherever.

[Desert Cruizers]

We have sailed with princess twice, myself a third time for a Coastal and our personal feelings, even though we have had wonderful cruises and met some very nice people, we don't feel the crew are as open and friendly as we have experienced with RCCL. RCCL suits us far better for overall cruise experience.

[foflocruiser]

Customs does not handle IN-Transit guests.

This was a security guard, hired by the cruiselines...

[micbri]

The fellow wearing the Princess uniform was definitely a contractor. The other fellow had a badge of some sort, so I may have assumed he was a Customs officer and not an overzealous security guard.

 

Nonetheless, there is no excuse for them threatening my wife or trying to humiliate me when all we wanted to do was to get back on the ship and change out of our soaking wet clothes.

[houstoncruisers2001]

Once you get off the ship anywhere you at their mercy whether you have a Sanctuary reservation or not.

[ladysail2]

Since you took a ship's excursion, I would have thought you'd get better treatment from the cruise line and be escorted back onto the ship by the tour guide.

I get off the ship between cruises, don't take an excursion, and get treated like you did.

It's true that one does have to be careful when dealing with Customs or any authority-looking personnel.

Half the time, or more, the people in charge really don't know what to do with in-transit folks. All they are trained to do is deal with newly boarding folks. That is the fault of the cruise line/port authority since they train the personnel.

 

The buffet comment was inexcusably rude. Try to believe in Karma and know that you're a better person than he is, the embarassed feeling will go away.