Port Canaveral - Epic Big Problems

[Rebels82]

Those of us who will be taking the Epic in the future have probably read about the Embarkation/Disembarkation problems. I read there was a 30 minute wait just to drop off your luggage. There were people waiting for up to 2 hours outside to get in.

 

For those of you who have experienced these issues the past couple of weeks, do you have any suggestions for those going on the Epic in the next few weeks..i.e. park your car and bring your luggage to drop off? Are there any better arrival times than others?

 

Yes, hopefully NCL and the port will improve things.

 

Thanks.

[Wedgie Wedgie]

I pulled right up. Popped the trunk. Gave the porter my room tagged luggage. Slipped him a fiver. Parked in the designated area. Hopped on board. Proceeded to cruise.....what could be simpler?

[Sissaaaaaa]

Those of us who will be taking the Epic in the future have probably read about the Embarkation/Disembarkation problems. I read there was a 30 minute wait just to drop off your luggage. There were people waiting for up to 2 hours outside to get in.

 

For those of you who have experienced these issues the past couple of weeks, do you have any suggestions for those going on the Epic in the next few weeks..i.e. park your car and bring your luggage to drop off? Are there any better arrival times than others?

 

Yes, hopefully NCL and the port will improve things.

 

Thanks.

 

It was ONE cruise that had an issue. :cool:

[ejnsb]

I pulled right up. Popped the trunk. Gave the porter my room tagged luggage. Slipped him a fiver. Parked in the designated area. Hopped on board. Proceeded to cruise.....what could be simpler?

 

 

That was good to hear. Other reports have been very negative. We sail Dec. 10. Never sailed NCL out of Canaveral before but the experience with other lines from there has been outstanding. I suspect it was a combination of new terminal (remodeled), and new personnel both on and off the ship.

 

 

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[hawkeyetlse]

Other reports have been very negative.

They were all reports about the November 12 sailing, weren't they? Everything seemed back to normal for the following embarkation on November 19. And those folks are still on board, so let's wait and see how their disembarkation goes before panicking about "Epic Big Problems". :)

[sunny aurora]

For the November 12 sailing, it was Epic's first time in Port Canaveral. They weren't using their normal terminal. Things should get smoother now that they know what to expect. The November 19th sailing is the first one at the normal terminal.

[BirdTravels]

It was ONE cruise that had an issue. :cool:

 

The Epic has embarked at Port Canaveral twice. And twice there have been issues (very long lines, very long waits, and very disorganized port staff,,,, who don't work for NCL,,, but are the local agents hired by NCL).

 

All of this is perplexing since the Breakaway calls at Port Canaveral every week. And last season, the Spirit used Port Canaveral for embarkation (the Epic takes her place this season). We embarked on the Spirit (which admittedly is a much smaller ship) in April and it was a breeze.

[Rebels82]

Yes, there have been 2 weeks of problems....11/19 and 11/26 sailing. I heard from one person who is on the 11/19 sailing....they were in the car line 30 mins to get to the drop off luggage point.

[julie3fan]

Yes, there have been 2 weeks of problems....11/19 and 11/26 sailing. I heard from one person who is on the 11/19 sailing....they were in the car line 30 mins to get to the drop off luggage point.

Isn't today only 11/23? 🤔

[Rebels82]

My bad with the dates....the 2 problem weeks have been 11/12 and 11/19....I am leaving on the 26th which is why I am looking for suggestions, if there are any.

[Niquein99]

I'm on board the Epic now, we're on the sailing that left 11/19. Currently docked on Ocho Rios enjoying the beach at Margaritaville! Anyhow, we drove to the port and parked in the parking garage at Terminal 10. From the time we parked our car, went thru security and got our key cards, was all of 30 mins. However, yes there was a LONG wait to get on board the ship and people that got to the port later than us did experience long waits to get into the building. But it was the Epic's first sailing from Terminal 10. I would suggest getting to the port as early as you can and bring your patience! :) I'm sure the process will get better with each sailing. My boarding time was 12 - 12:30 pm, but I still got to the port by 9:30 just in case of problems. Either way, enjoy your cruise!

 

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[AdGuyMG]

Isn't today only 11/23? 🤔

 

Must be driving a DeLorean with a "special" dashboard and accessories.

[DGP1111]

I pulled right up. Popped the trunk. Gave the porter my room tagged luggage. Slipped him a fiver. Parked in the designated area. Hopped on board. Proceeded to cruise.....what could be simpler?

 

That would indicate you are onboard right now . . . and I hope you are having a fantastic time on this great ship. :)

 

That definitely didn't happen on the first sailing departing Nov 12. Not one person on Planet Earth had the experience you described on that first sailing. Not one.

 

.

[arraijan55]

Those of us who will be taking the Epic in the future have probably read about the Embarkation/Disembarkation problems. I read there was a 30 minute wait just to drop off your luggage. There were people waiting for up to 2 hours outside to get in.

 

For those of you who have experienced these issues the past couple of weeks, do you have any suggestions for those going on the Epic in the next few weeks..i.e. park your car and bring your luggage to drop off? Are there any better arrival times than others?

 

Yes, hopefully NCL and the port will improve things.

 

Thanks.

It was a nightmare of a trip first they dont respect my reservation i had reserved 6 rooms and they said my travel agent do it then they said they have no resposabilites we were the only ones they misplaced like ten reservatios and the first day it was amad house then they told us theryre are goning to pay us the difference of the rooms because they had lower place,to make it short they gave us only a voucher for the inconvinience they made to my family and grand children it was the worst trip of my life iwas cheated.

[seaskydoll]

We were on the 11/19 Epic cruise. We took the NCL bus from the hotel, arrived at the port about 12:45. Sat on the bus in traffic to get to the parking spot for 30 minutes. Once we parked, an NCL rep came and escorted us past the lines to the security entrance. That took about another 30 minutes. There were more lines to check in inside but, we are platinum and breezed through that. We were on the ship by about 2pm and went straight to our cabin. There were very long lines outside the terminal, not sure how quickly those moved. Getting off the ship today was super easy so hopefully it will continue to improve.

[LrgPizza]

The only times I've sailed out of Port Canaveral have been on DCL. Each time I remember standing in long lines outside the terminal.

[mblitch]

Once we parked, an NCL rep came and escorted us past the lines to the security entrance.

 

 

Why were you so special as to get the escort. If the thread concerns general cruise passengers, why chime in when you have some kind of special access?

 

To respond to the general question, I was on the 11/19 sailing and arrived around noon. Getting to the luggage area took a while since you have to wait in line behind the cars that are parking on site just to access the drop-off point, but otherwise it was relatively smooth with no significant wait.

Edited November 27, 2016 by mblitch

[DMH15]

Why were you so special as to get the escort. If the thread concerns general cruise passengers, why chime in when you have some kind of special access?

 

 

Why so rude? This is a NCL thread. This poster was on a NCL transfer. Is it not in the realm of possibilities that some other readers here might have also booked NCL transfers and might benefit from hearing this information?

 

 

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[BirdTravels]

Why were you so special as to get the escort. If the thread concerns general cruise passengers, why chime in when you have some kind of special access?.

 

You really shouldn't be flaming people who are just posting about their experience. Mean person.

[TNcrzr4life]

I'm on Epic now (11/26 sailing). We arrived around 10:15 at parking garage, paid, dropped luggage, parked, went thru security, got our cards and went to seating area. No real waits. Took about 20 minutes. Started boarding 11-ish. We weren't priority and boarded around 11:30. I'm a firm believer in arriving as early as possible to avoid noon-1pm gridlock [emoji4]

 

 

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[newmexicoNita]

Those of us who will be taking the Epic in the future have probably read about the Embarkation/Disembarkation problems. I read there was a 30 minute wait just to drop off your luggage. There were people waiting for up to 2 hours outside to get in.

 

For those of you who have experienced these issues the past couple of weeks, do you have any suggestions for those going on the Epic in the next few weeks..i.e. park your car and bring your luggage to drop off? Are there any better arrival times than others?

 

Yes, hopefully NCL and the port will improve things.

 

Thanks.

 

pretty tough to put the blame for the long waits to drop off luggage on NCL. Most of this is a port problem. that being said; we were on the first embarkation Nov. 12th. We had no problems dropping off luggage, but after we got inside it was a nightmare. We arrived about 10:30 and finally were on the ship about 12:30. Many passengers waited even longer. We had a similar problem when we sailed out of New Orleans the first time after the Spirit had been in dry dock. Just remember people sometimes over exaggerate when things have not gone well. It is human nature. Let's hope you will not have any serious wait when you board.

Edited November 28, 2016 by newmexicoNita

[newmexicoNita]

It was a nightmare of a trip first they dont respect my reservation i had reserved 6 rooms and they said my travel agent do it then they said they have no resposabilites we were the only ones they misplaced like ten reservatios and the first day it was amad house then they told us theryre are goning to pay us the difference of the rooms because they had lower place,to make it short they gave us only a voucher for the inconvinience they made to my family and grand children it was the worst trip of my life iwas cheated.

 

you certainly must have had all your conformation number with you; all 6 and all of you would have pre registered I am guessing. Your TA is responsible for making sure everything is in order; you are as well. You will take this up with your travel agent, right?

[Bonobochick]

It was ONE cruise that had an issue. :cool:

 

Nah. I was on the 11/19 cruise and it was messy to get on. The line was at least 60 minutes from outside to actually reaching the counter (and that was me luckily being able to get in the Platinum level line or it would've been much longer). I usually travel out of NYC and once left out of Miami & have never waited more than 20 minutes to check in until that Epic cruise. I spoke with the woman checking me in and it seems like the problem is a lot of people who come in on shuttles arrive in a 30 minute window so it gets ugly from like noon - 1pm. She said 10-11a was dead and they prefer when it's staggered instead of a lot of people showing up at the same time.

 

The disembarkation wasn't great either with a slow moving & long customs line. I had to take a car rental shuttle. That was problematic as the new area doesn't really label the shuttle slots so people are standing around waiting and wondering which slot to go to for the correct shuttle. The porters don't really know either cause we has one who told us to go to the wrong spot when we were actually already in the prime spot for the car rental shuttle. Plus the traffic coordinators will hold up the buses /shuttles arriving if the slots are all full, which also delays arrivals/departures. The guy at the car rental place told me that they'd had more than a few complaints about the shuttle spots not being properly marked for people and it being problematic.

[Zippeedee]

I was on the 11/12 cruise. The shuttle driver explained the parking slot system while we waited to get into one. The slot is assigned by the traffic coordinator guy standing in the road as you enter the final turn. It is apparently based on whim as our driver predicted his slot and was totally wrong. Waiting for the shuttle back to the airport was an hour of dragging luggage from one end of the lot to the other, trying to get on a bus. The same shuttle company, never in the same slot. Nothing to do with NCL, but exhausting chaos.

[pooh/tigger]

We are on board the Epic in Jan.

 

Our airline needs to change our flight to 11:30am. Otherwise, we are looking late in to the evening. Must be flight change/itinerary time of the year.

 

I use a wheelchair so would receive priority off and priority at airport.

 

For those who have been on recently, how early did they start letting people off?