The agony of debark

[MarkBearSF]

Got off a 2 day repo from SF to Vancouver on the Star Princess. The disembarkation was tied for most horrible experience with the time we were all pushed off the Rembrandt after they declared bankrupcy mid-cruise.

 

An 11 letter word starting with "cluster" and ending in "k"

All 2000 passengers were told to walk their luggage off with spotty communication on the procedures. We had to vacate our cabins by 11:00 AM. We docked at 2:00. For the first 2 hours there was a MASSIVE blockage in the atrium. No guidance from the staff, no communication, just total chaos.

 

I gave up trying to convince first time cruisers that it wasn't usually like this, but I don't think any of them will ever cruise again. Any good memories of the previous 2 days were wiped-ou by the misery of disembarcation.

 

In our case, we finally to the shuttle area at 5:00. Six full hours since we had left our cabin - about 3 of which were spent standing in endless lines.

Edited May 17, 2015 by MarkBearSF

[LARGIN]

What ship, what port, when?? :confused::confused:

[MarkBearSF]

Vancouver. Yesterday after a 2 day repo from SF on the Star Princess

[ceilidh1]

Yup, got to agree with you here. We were on the cruise and had a lovely two days, but disembark really seemed to fall apart! I had expected long lines for bag drop off/pick up so went early for drop off and early to collect and didn't have to wait at all. However, we waited in Crown Grill for what seemed like an eternity with no staff and no communication even though we were in port and the gangway was in. After about an hour, a bunch of folks just seemed to spontaneously get up and head toward the exit so we all just followed. No idea if we were supposed to get off, but we just joined the crowd. Once off, we waited in a line with everyone else and after about 10 minutes were told that we shouldn't be waiting in line if we had our own bags...no communication whatsoever until this point (and this was from ground staff not ship staff - no sign of ship staff anywhere!). Once out of the line, it was a matter of minutes to go through customs and out to the taxi line up. Makes me wonder why we were kept waiting for what appeared to be no reason...

[Baatman]

Getting off the ship is always a sad moment for us....especially if was a great cruise. I can only imagine what you must have gone through. Hope you were driving and didn't miss a flight.

[shepp]

Well, you know…not to seem utterly unsympathetic, but that's travel, even for risk-averse cruisers. Stuff happens. I've been through train breakdowns in Burma, roller coaster breakdowns in Ohio, canceled flight in Bangkok, riots in India, airport shutdown in Chicago, a landslide in Ecuador. Not even EPCOT is immune from potential problems. Heck, you can stay home and drown in your own bathtub. Thank your lucky stars you weren't traveling in Nepal and move on…

 

(OK, I guess I do sound utterly unsympathetic, but still…)

Edited May 17, 2015 by shepp

[FritzG]

Well, you know…not to seem utterly unsympathetic, but that's travel, even for risk-averse cruisers. Stuff happens. I've been through train breakdowns in Burma, roller coaster breakdowns in Ohio, canceled flight in Bangkok, riots in India, airport shutdown in Chicago, a landslide in Ecuador. Not even EPCOT is immune from potential problems. Heck, you can stay home and drown in your own bathtub. Thank your lucky stars you weren't traveling in Nepal and move on…

 

(OK, I guess I do sound utterly unsympathetic, but still…)

 

However, none of the above were preventable. It sounds like the staff on the ship should have been in control and given adequate information and help. I was on a debarkation like this on the Diamond years ago, and the staff either stood by and watched the chaos or hid out to avoid it. I think this could have been prevented by a more competent staff.

[RocketMan275]

Well, you know…not to seem utterly unsympathetic, but that's travel, even for risk-averse cruisers. Stuff happens. I've been through train breakdowns in Burma, roller coaster breakdowns in Ohio, canceled flight in Bangkok, riots in India, airport shutdown in Chicago, a landslide in Ecuador. Not even EPCOT is immune from potential problems. Heck, you can stay home and drown in your own bathtub. Thank your lucky stars you weren't traveling in Nepal and move on…

 

(OK, I guess I do sound utterly unsympathetic, but still…)

 

We should swap stories. My favorite involves a 747 and a volcano.

[Colo Cruiser]

What ship, what port, when?? :confused::confused:

 

 

"Got off a 2 day repo from SF to Vancouver on the Star Princess. The disembarkation was tied for most horrible experience with the time we were all pushed off the Rembrandt after they declared bankrupcy mid-cruise."

Edited May 17, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[Colo Cruiser]

Wow Vancouver seems to have these melt downs every year. Not good. :(

[VibeGuy]

Was arrival originally scheduled for 0700 before the unpleasantries?

[Colo Cruiser]

Was arrival originally scheduled for 0700 before the unpleasantries?

 

Think it all started with the delayed embarkation, extra noro cleaning, and a night departure from SF.

[CaptainKlutz]

Worst one we ever had was Galveston. That whole cruise was a bit of a joke. It was spring break and we were late for every port...except amazingly...getting back to Galveston. We stood in line on the pier for over 3 hours to get a bus to the airport...people were missing flights it was so bad. We had a 2:30 flight fortunately. Initially I'd been dreading the 4 hour wait at the airport but that turned out to be not a problem!

 

I think it's the ports, not Princess to a great extent.

[VibeGuy]

Think it all started with the delayed embarkation, extra noro cleaning, and a night departure from SF.

 

I think they were about three hours late leaving Pier 27, but they seemed to hit the dock about seven hours late by my quick math. I'm wondering what people were told about arrival time during booking.

[Colo Cruiser]

I think they were about three hours late leaving Pier 27, but they seemed to hit the dock about seven hours late by my quick math. I'm wondering what people were told about arrival time during booking.

 

Yeah kinda strange.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I hope those planning to fly home immediately had a Plan B.

 

Reminds me of our return to FLL after the Ruby couldn't get one of it's tenders up from the Princess Cays visit. Delayed us by about 3 hrs. Figured they'd make up the time getting back to FLL (there's plenty of time to put the pedal to the metal, right?). Well, they didn't. What a nightmare.

 

People were crying, fighting, yelling, even screaming while in line to get off the ship. Many flights were missed and the crew were utterly useless in explaining what was happening and what would happen once we arrived at port. I've never seen such mismanagement in my life. Thankfully, it's only happened once. I hope this is a singular experience for the OP too. ;)

[snoodqueen]

Wow Vancouver seems to have these melt downs every year. Not good. :(

 

This had nothing to do with Vancouver - it was ship related, with lack of communication on their end and earlier issues. The staff on shore were on the ball.

[Kenswing]

It seems these one and two day cruises are unique in the way they send you off the ship.. Pretty much grab your stuff and get off..

[Colo Cruiser]

This had nothing to do with Vancouver - it was ship related, with lack of communication on their end and earlier issues. The staff on shore were on the ball.

 

 

Yes this one does not, however..........

According to some cruisers returning on recent Princess cruises they were still disembarkation issues in the terminal.

[MarkBearSF]

Well, you know…not to seem utterly unsympathetic, but that's travel, even for risk-averse cruisers. Stuff happens. I've been through train breakdowns in Burma, roller coaster breakdowns in Ohio, canceled flight in Bangkok, riots in India, airport shutdown in Chicago, a landslide in Ecuador. Not even EPCOT is immune from potential problems. Heck, you can stay home and drown in your own bathtub. Thank your lucky stars you weren't traveling in Nepal and move on…

 

(OK, I guess I do sound utterly unsympathetic, but still…)

 

Sorry, I can't buy that. (And think of all the starving children as we were eating our meals)

 

It simply was a big screw up by Princess. ...and yeah, I've had issues on many trips (see the reference to being kicked off a ship mid-cruise due to bankruptcy.) - but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be called to account for their mistakes.

[MarkBearSF]

Yes this one does not, however..........

According to some cruisers returning on recent Princess cruises they were still disembarkation issues in the terminal.

 

However, this was a backup in the ship with no coordination. If customs was slow, and the process was controlled, it would still be OK, just slower. This was uncontrolled chaos.

[MarkBearSF]

(mistaken reply) No message

Edited May 18, 2015 by MarkBearSF

[Colo Cruiser]

However, this was a backup in the ship with no coordination. If customs was slow, and the process was controlled, it would still be OK, just slower. This was uncontrolled chaos.

 

 

 

I got it.

[ceilidh1]

From my perspective, there was no hold up shoreside - once we were off the ship and told by shore staff we didn't need to wait in line, we were through customs and out in a matter of minutes. The problem (for us, anyway) was that there seemed to be no clear idea on the ship of who was meant to go where or when. As a result, we just sat in the lounges with no ship staff to be seen.We were not meant to arrive in Vancouver until noon originally, so the late arrival was just under a two hour delay - we actually docked at 1:40pm. No idea when the first passenger was let off, but we didn't leave the ship until 3:30pm, even though our revised "time" was 2:15pm. I suspect we may still be sitting there if other passengers hadn't just decided to up and leave and everyone followed suit!:rolleyes:

[iceleven]

Were there other ships in port that day?