Bag search leaving ship at a port stop?

[Viv0828]

I'm sorry this happened to you. If it happens again I would politely explain that I have health issues and bending down is difficult and could they please provide a table to place the bag on so I could open it.

 

Unfortunately, better ways of handling an issue usually occur to me too late to do any good!!

Edited September 25, 2016 by Viv0828

[GUT2407]

Australia have dogs sniffing for food items when you arrive in port. etc. They are Very Strict!!!

Been searched many times going or coming in port. Part of traveling.

 

Sure are, thank goodness.

[KansasK]

I am sorry this happened to you. It would have bothered me, too.

 

It is easier for others to think of other ways to handle it than it was for you, faced with a rude official and no table to place the bag on.

 

I hope you enjoyed the rest of your anniversary and had a good cruise, anyway. Congratulations on your 40th anniversary! :)

[Computer Nerd]

Oooooo, nothing like a good soap opera. :D

[ColoradoGurl]

It sounds like you let this ruin a good portion of your trip, as you spent a lot of time being upset about it. I think you guys maybe took it a bit personally and maybe should just appreciate the fact that it's odd to see someone rolling a bag on a cart and it should warrant a red flag.

 

And why did you feel that you should have been treated differently because it was your wedding anniversary? I realize that's a long time to be married and it was special for the 2 of you, but nobody else cares, especially ship security, who isn't going to feel badly about doing their jobs just because you ranted to them about how it's your anniversary and they had the nerve to stop you at security on such a special trip [emoji57]

 

 

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[sea shepherd]

There security is a joke. There good a harassing people at the gangway. But worthless when a fight brakes out. Seen a brawl in the crown Viking and they could do nothing. People were kicking the crap out of each other and they were asking to see there sea pass. After that I see them as a rent a cop at the mall.

[Charles4515]

There security is a joke. There good a harassing people at the gangway. But worthless when a fight brakes out. Seen a brawl in the crown Viking and they could do nothing. People were kicking the crap out of each other and they were asking to see there sea pass. After that I see them as a rent a cop at the mall.

 

 

 

I thought that only happened on Carnival! Just saw a video of the third big brawl on there this year. Not sure what they can do except get the ID's. Don't want them to pull a gun and probably they don't want to injure any passengers or get injured themselves. Get their ID's and toss them at the next port probably the best they can do in that situation.

 

Been on 55 cruises and I don't think I ever felt I was harassed on the gangway. Take off my hat and sunglasses was the worst of it and that makes sense. They were doing their job. The one time they annoyed me was weird. I was with a group and they kept calling a group members name to report to guest relations. A lady in our group. I had seen her onboard so after the fourth time they announced her name I went to the lounge where she was and told her about the announcement. We went to guest relations and they had her picture because they thought she had not returned from port. She had not even gone ashore. So security kept asking me if I had used her sea pass to leave the ship. Huh.....

 

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Edited September 25, 2016 by Charles4515

[Homosassa]

Sorry, OP, but for some reason you somehow fit a profile of suspicious activity (perhaps the backpack being attached to a separate trolley).

 

Of course the security guard expected one of you to open the bag. It was reasonable. Somehow the backpack was place on the trolley by one of you before reaching the guard. And, to get anything out of the bag, one of you was going to have to somehow reach the bag to open it.

 

When in that situation of a random search, smile, say "Of course I will" and calmly stand there .

 

By the way, in 1982, my husband and I fit the profile for Red October terrorists and were stopped for a vehicle and luggage search at a Dutch-German border station. We cooperated fully and patiently waited while our passports were run through the system.

 

We were cleared and politely sent on our way.

 

And no, we were not given a reason for the stop and search. It was only afterwards that we were told that we fit the profile at the time (by a family member that was involved in German national security).

[ducklite]

I thought that only happened on Carnival! Just saw a video of the third big brawl on there this year. Not sure what they can do except get the ID's. Don't want them to pull a gun and probably they don't want to injure any passengers or get injured themselves. Get their ID's and toss them at the next port probably the best they can do in that situation.

 

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This is where cruise lines should talk to each other and share information so a person who has been ejected for serious cause (drug use, fighting, etc.) will not be able to just hop over to another line and cause mayhem on that one as well.

 

It seems that brawls are becoming more and more common, and I wouldn't be surprised if ship security has tasers available to them sooner than later as a result. Sad commentary on our society, isn't it?

[lucymorgan]

I am sorry this happened to you - especially on a special day and especially if it made your DH upset and embarrassed. I agree with others that he should not have had to get down on his hands and knees.

 

I have been stopped many times for the explosive check before getting on a plane (where they swab your bag and put it into a machine). It seems like every time I fly I get stopped. I am surprised when it doesn't happen!

 

5 years ago, my sister in law had to go through many hoops to get a visa for the US to go to Disneyland with my brother and their children (including travelling 200 miles for a face to face appointment with the embassy) because her very common married name was the same as someone with a different birthdate and different country who was on the watch list.

 

As an experienced traveller this is part of travel and every country and every travel provider has security people who sometimes appear to be gruff, rude, over the top, officious. It is their job - some are more understanding and sensitive than others. I've learnt to smile at them all...... they are there for our protection (nice or not)

[Charles4515]

This is where cruise lines should talk to each other and share information so a person who has been ejected for serious cause (drug use, fighting, etc.) will not be able to just hop over to another line and cause mayhem on that one as well.

 

It seems that brawls are becoming more and more common, and I wouldn't be surprised if ship security has tasers available to them sooner than later as a result. Sad commentary on our society, isn't it?

 

 

 

It is sad commentary that brawls have been happening. I never want to see anything like that. I expect that ship security does have tasers or something like that available.

 

 

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[troykahack]

It's a new world now. I'm glad any security is checking!

 

Me too.... part of life today... things have changed..

[Charles4515]

 

 

 

As an experienced traveller this is part of travel and every country and every travel provider has security people who sometimes appear to be gruff, rude, over the top, officious. It is their job - some are more understanding and sensitive than others. I've learnt to smile at them all...... they are there for our protection (nice or not)

 

 

Security people are trained to be authoritative. Their job is different than other crew members whose job is customer service and are trained to be submissive.

 

 

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Edited September 25, 2016 by Charles4515

[LMaxwell]

Something had to occur for them to force you on to the ground to do a search for fruit....

[larka]

Recently all the major cruise lines have had passengers and crew members caught smuggling Drugs both on and off the cruise ships. You will see more and more random searches being conducted. However, neither crew nor passengers are given bogus reasons in all the ones I have seen conducted. And I have never seen a person searched for food by ship security officers.

Usually K9s are utilized but are not always available for immediate access for the ships security officers.

[maryjo881]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I know everyone is saying to let it go, and the only reason I would too say let it go is because nothing else will probably be done and it will eat you inside. I too have been checked but it was getting back on the ship. The security scared me so much. My husband raced up to me when he saw how nervous and confused I was. At least I had a table to put my bags on. They could have at least pulled a chair over for your husband to place the bag on. I believe the real issue is that the OP was assured it would be followed up and on two different occasions it wasn't. Sounds like security was trying to sweep it under the rug. Anyways I think it was just a bad egg. You'll run across poor service in every company. I hope it doesn't ruin RCI for you. Also, happy anniversary!

[jc foster]

Sad to say but you can formal complain all you want. The truth is cruise lines don't give a damn anymore. We were on a cruise where the head waiter actually called my wife and I FAT in front of everyone in the buffet line (for the record, I am 6'2" and 240). The woman behind us commented "If he thinks you guys are fat what does he think about me??". We complained onboard and the head of the dining staff PROMISED he would bring the waiter to our table himself to apologize (which is all we wanted). The next day, he told everyone the incident was closed - even though we never saw him or the head waiter at our table. We sent a letter to the main office and received a letter that basically said "Gee, that's too bad". To make matters worse we were at the "most cruised" dinner and were stock holders so this was NOT our first rodeo.

Agreed. With the possible exception of a very small cruise or river boat line they could care less. These are billion dollar cruise lines with many thousands of customers and thousands of employees. There is always another couple just around the corner waiting to book that cabin.

[mollyeilis]

we are EU citizens and don’t need to skip out of an expensive cruise half way through carrying (at most) 1kg of baggage while the rest of our clothes and valuables were back in our cabin.

 

You're taking it too personally. People DO do this. You are people. Therefore, you might be people who do this. They don't know about what was in your cabin. They don't know you at all.

 

 

I refuted this – we’ve NEVER seen anyone else checked on the way out at port, even with very large bags. I asked him what possible reason anyone would want to smuggle alcohol out of the ship when it was 10 times cheaper on land.

 

People are weird and make weird choices. And it doesn't matter that you hadn't been around people who were being checked on the way out; I'm sure you were not the only people in history to ever be checked on the way out.

 

the guard was actually searching to see if we were taking food off the ship.

 

Also very possible. People do it.

 

 

 

We understand that security is necessary, certainly returning on board. Our bag on a trolley was small, weighed less than a Kg and the first incident happened as we left the ship, not on the way back on board. The search was extremely cursory and wouldn't have uncovered anything, ignoring as it did the other bags inside and the outside pockets. It was a pointless exercise.

 

The whole incident was handled very poorly by RCI staff and compounded on the way back by pulling us aside again to offer a half-baked apology. What we don't understand is the 3 different 'explanations' given to us. They were clearly scrabbling to cover their a$$es.

 

If 'random' checks need to be carried out on the way out of a ship, a protocol needs to be put in place for searching bags properly or else the same procedure as in embarking needs to take place.

 

Searches are often cursory. If it was so fast and cursory, though, how was there much time for feeling humiliated?

 

What do you think they are CYA for? They don't care. They are security; they are doing their jobs. The people you were asking don't know, and the people who know *aren't going to tell you*. Period. End of story.

 

Should this happen in the future, perhaps you and DH could both take hold of the bag and allow the search to happen in the air, so to speak?

 

...we wheeled the same bag on and off at every port. People generally like to have some kind of rationale or consistency, never mind a little common courtesy.

 

Rationales, consistency, and courtesy are NOT things that go along with security. You're tilting at windmills to hope for that.

 

And what if the very fact that you wheeled that SAME bag off and on at every port is EXACTLY why you were noticed?

 

Are you aware of the incident that was referred to before? Women were smuggling drugs and money. They were leaving and entering the ship with items that were not supposed to be there.

 

 

My leaving the ship with a small bag posed no security threat to anyone - if that were the case, each and every bag should be checked every time.

 

It could very well be a security threat; again, they don't know YOU. They know *people*. And people are crazy and weird and bizarre and do ridiculous things.

 

Random checks are random checks.

 

If cruise lines are going to carry out random checks on people leaving the ship then people should be made aware that this is a possibility.

 

You are now aware. :D

 

If this had happened to me I would have said. "Lets find a nice clean table so you can search our bag easier. I am not going to kneel down on this filthy pier and unpack my bag!"

 

Agreed.

 

Or, since it was already on a trolley, could it have just stayed on the trolley to be searched?

[Chitoryubt]

... with the posters who justify, justify, justify anything and everything not complimentary towards RCI. Not everyone agrees with the rah-rah-ers. Being treated like crap is being treated like crap.

 

I'm not a hater, I love RCI. I cruise them almost exclusively. BUT - I've seen them make mistakes before. My personal "feeling" is that bad behavior can happen anywhere. I'm on vacation, and it takes an awful lot to get me upset, and I usually just write it off. That being said, YOU are the one who experienced this, and only YOU know the severity. If you are that upset, dispute it thru the CEO or President's office - their emails are posted in many threads here on CC. If anyone has those emails that reads this thread, perhaps they will post it for you, or you can do a search for it. Be persistent, if you decide to pursue it, because a lot of businesses wait to see if it will just "go away".

 

Good Luck!!

 

Beth

[ducklite]

There is an awful lot of DYKWIA'ism in this thread.

[bouhunter]

Why is everyone being so mean to this lady? You really all need to check your self. Just rude in every sense of the word.

 

Because she is making such a big deal out of NOTHiNG and won't let it go. Ridiculous.

[Slam308]

Not being confrontational, just asking a question about something I can't picture. Why would your husband have to get on his hands and knees on the floor to open a backpack? Couldn't he, or you, simply lean over to open the bag?

 

Happy belated Anniversary!

[critterchick]

This is where cruise lines should talk to each other and share information so a person who has been ejected for serious cause (drug use, fighting, etc.) will not be able to just hop over to another line and cause mayhem on that one as well.

 

It seems that brawls are becoming more and more common, and I wouldn't be surprised if ship security has tasers available to them sooner than later as a result. Sad commentary on our society, isn't it?

 

I believe that they do share that information, even across corporate families (e.g. RCCL to Carnival Corp).

 

Security people are trained to be authoritative. Their job is different than other crew members whose job is customer service and are trained to be submissive.

 

I think it's probably more a matter of a crewmember from a different culture and ESL simply telling the couple that he needed to inspect the bag and not considering that his approach came across as confrontational/rude/agressive/whatever. And I don't think that "submissive" is the right word for the other employees - at least as far as Guest Services are concerned, I think the training is designed to clear the queue as soon as possible with whatever story will get rid of the person in front of you.:rolleyes: They are, however, trained to take a lot of abuse without fighting back, but that's true in most service industries.

 

OP, the inspection is not unusual (that was the original question, right?;)). The first time is never fun (take that as you will:eek:;)), but one quickly becomes inured to it. I'm sorry the crewmember wasn't polite about it by your (or probably my) standard. I would also have invited him to open the bag.

 

Not being confrontational, just asking a question about something I can't picture. Why would your husband have to get on his hands and knees on the floor to open a backpack? Couldn't he, or you, simply lean over to open the bag?

 

You must be young or do yoga (I do).:) Many people can't just bend over to tie their shoes, let alone open a bag.

Edited September 25, 2016 by critterchick

[mattg43]

So you took a random security check so personally that you spent hours of your vacation worrying about it, trying to track down people to complain to, etc?

 

Unbelievable.

 

SMH

Edited September 26, 2016 by mattg43

[Viv0828]

There is also the possibility that security got a tip that someone looking like you or your DH or having a bag similar to yours, was going to smuggle something off the ship. You just never know

 

And if it's difficult for you to open the bag, ask security to help. If you ask pleasantly, most likely they will be happy to help you.