Disembarkation on Getaway...NCL Wins the Strategy Award!

[MizDemeanor]

I ma convinced after Sunday's diesmbarkation that NCL has found a very clever way to clear the ship out in record times.

 

When I got our 'we will leave the times up to you' brochure with the 'pick the color tags that work for you' idea, I thought this is really amazing.

 

Save the trouble of worrying about tags not being correct, or timely for flights, or the hassle of going to guest relations to plead a flimsy case for the tage color of your choice.

 

I was loving this cruise and this idea. Until. Until the morning of disembarkation occured and I reaized that there was 80% of the ship who decided to be walk offs with luggage in both mitts. Even so for those with tags that would have been later calls than early walk offs.

 

The staff was abused, there were heated confrontations among passengers that was concerning, there was more gridlock than aound the UN on an assembly day. Nothing moved. Nothing made sense.

 

I was supposed to be off at 8:10am as a Red Tag with Transfer. At 9:45am lo and behold we arer finally off and go to pick up our luggage and if you can imagine being the last people to get to an airport luggage carousel with no luggage left but a few pieces, that was the scene at the luggage pick up.

 

It was an OMG moment.

 

NCL had succeeded in finding a way to clear the ship of passengers like mice from a sinking ship.

 

NCL told them we will leave the times up to you, and you know what? 80% of the ship or more raced with their luggage to gridlock, fought their way off the ship with 50 pound hand weights of great instability up stairs and down stairs and up stairs and down stairs, and then eventually pushing and shoving and queuing, succeeding in getting off the ship in record time.

 

For those traditionalists who still want to pick up their luggage and who book transfers like me, expect the conflicts to be plentiful, the disembarkation times to be extended, and the buses to be full before you get there.

 

I felt bad for the staff more than I felt bad for myself. What I witnessed was unbeleivable. I'd have pulled my name tag off and flung it where ever it landed. I would have run for the homeland in a heartbeat leaving my last pair of clean underwear behind.

 

But you know what? NCL got that ship cleared of guests faster than any line I have been on just for people like us who want to get on board at 6:30am day of sail and not be held up by anybody, and I mean anybody, who came before.

 

Got to give them credit for this kind of crazy sucess.;p

[Até]

Even when we have done priority early walk off I am amazed at the number of people who have done early walk off and are already wandering through the various bag color areas looking for their bags. It can be a free for all. Rats is a better analogy....

[BirdTravels]

There are too many people who "think" that they can do self walk off when they really can't. There macho dad trying to move 4 big bags down the gangway while mom has a baby strapped to her front and two other kids in each hand. Why they think that this is a "good idea" no one will every know. Like getting on a plane wait a long time while folks who have no physical ability to lift bags try to cram overstuffed carry-ons into the overhead bins.

 

In both cases, just check the bags, and let the folks who are paid to move luggage, move it.

[www3traveler]

Having done a number of disembarked a number of times from The Getaway, I agree with the OP description.

 

It also seems to me, that the very SAME people to race to get to the terminal as early as possible, then push and shove to become the "first ones" on board are also the SAME people who are the first in line to leave. UGH!!!

[Knobhdy]

Ugh, not me. I always get up, have a leisurely breakfast. Go back to my room. Finish last minute packing. Maybe sit on my balcony. And then at the last possible minute, walk out, grab my bags, and leave. Almost no lines at all.

 

 

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[dd likes to cruise]

Ugh, not me. I always get up, have a leisurely breakfast. Go back to my room. Finish last minute packing. Maybe sit on my balcony. And then at the last possible minute, walk out, grab my bags, and leave. Almost no lines at all.

 

 

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And you can easily find your bags, as there are not many left! ;p

[KarimaJ]

Ugh, not me. I always get up, have a leisurely breakfast. Go back to my room. Finish last minute packing. Maybe sit on my balcony. And then at the last possible minute, walk out, grab my bags, and leave. Almost no lines at all.

 

 

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This was my plan since we had a late flight. Didn't work so well. We took a late color tag, had breakfast, finished packing, and sat in a 8th floor lounge type area FOREVER. Lots of lines, gridlock etc... They stopped giving water/juice at La Cucina area pretty fast. Once the pitchers were gone, that was it! This was the worst disembark ever.

[Tatka]

We usually do selfdebarkation, but we do have one midsize bag pp and maybe small carry-on or laptop. Convenient for us. We just have breakfast, grab our bags and off we go.

[ilovetotravel1977]

On our Epic cruise, our flight wasn't until 4pm, so we were one of the last ones off the ship. They were literally telling us to leave LOL

 

On our Escape cruise, our flight was at 12pm, so we did early walk-off. We were near the front of the line which snaked around the casino. It didn't take us very long, but we got in line at about 7:15am. The line was crazy as we were getting off the ship.

[norway olin]

I was on that Getaway debarkation. When the line started winding around outdoors I figured they were leading us all up to the "walk the plank" on the ropes course. :cool:

[hansolosmom]

I'm starting to wonder if it's a "big ship" thing. We did Anthem of the Seas in Oct and it was the worst disembarkation ever. We didn't do walk off, but it seems like half the ship did. They stopped calling numbers at about 9:30 because there was such a line up in the terminal. I think the problem is people decide to do walk-off with out telling them so there are more people than expected in line or people decide to just jump in line and get off. When we were in the customs line we say a ton of people who had numbers in the 40's on their bags and they were only calling numbers in the 20's

[Até]

... I think the problem is people decide to do walk-off with out telling them so there are more people than expected in line or people decide to just jump in line and get off...

 

It's definitely the latter. It's not necessarily that there are too many true walk offs, I've seen piles of "early walk offs" carrying only small bags or one suitcase for four people and head straight to the baggage claim areas. Some stricter baggage claim access would stop that, but I guess that is port controlled and would require some sort of communication between them and the cruise ship.

[pieshops]

i always find it funny, people cant wait to get on the ship and start their vacation but when that last morning rolls around everyone cant wait to get the hell off

[perditax]

We've been discussing the GA disembark problem over here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2471890

 

This problem is mentioned in almost every GA review over the last several months. I'm sailing her in a few weeks and fortunately have a 1:40p flight, still dreading it. I'm going to try the "latest time" and find a place to hide.

 

From recent descriptions this situation is going to turn violent soon if they don't do something.

[perditax]

This was my plan since we had a late flight. Didn't work so well. We took a late color tag, had breakfast, finished packing, and sat in a 8th floor lounge type area FOREVER. Lots of lines, gridlock etc... They stopped giving water/juice at La Cucina area pretty fast. Once the pitchers were gone, that was it! This was the worst disembark ever.

 

Hi there--what you describe is (was?) more or less my plan, including the 8th floor lounge.

 

When you say it didn't work so well, do you mean because it took so long?

 

When you mention lines and gridlock, do you mean the chaos spilled over to the 8th floor?

 

What time were you able to leave the lounge, and was the full-ship line still going then?

 

Would greatly appreciate any info you'd care to share. If 8th floor is a bust I need to decide between buffet (where they may try to kick me out at 9:30 I guess) or solo lounge, where I'm pretty sure they'll leave me alone, but I almost certainly won't be able to get a cellular signal.

[KarimaJ]

Hi there--what you describe is (was?) more or less my plan, including the 8th floor lounge.

 

When you say it didn't work so well, do you mean because it took so long?

 

When you mention lines and gridlock, do you mean the chaos spilled over to the 8th floor?

 

What time were you able to leave the lounge, and was the full-ship line still going then?

 

Would greatly appreciate any info you'd care to share. If 8th floor is a bust I need to decide between buffet (where they may try to kick me out at 9:30 I guess) or solo lounge, where I'm pretty sure they'll leave me alone, but I almost certainly won't be able to get a cellular signal.

 

 

The 8th floor lounge area was OK. You couldn't get down to the 7th floor totally packed on the stairs and elevators. There wasn't "chaos" on the 8th floor per se. You'll be ok sitting there. I heard a lot of people did walk off and it was awful. We couldn't have gone when our color was called too crowded for me. Once we noticed some flow we went down into the line. I honestly can't really remember when we got off, wasn't paying close attention since had such a late flight. But once in the baggage area it went pretty quickly.

 

 

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[perditax]

The 8th floor lounge area was OK. You couldn't get down to the 7th floor totally packed on the stairs and elevators. There wasn't "chaos" on the 8th floor per se. You'll be ok sitting there. I heard a lot of people did walk off and it was awful. We couldn't have gone when our color was called too crowded for me. Once we noticed some flow we went down into the line. I honestly can't really remember when we got off, wasn't paying close attention since had such a late flight. But once in the baggage area it went pretty quickly.

 

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I really appreciate you taking the time to respond! helps me finalize my strategy. :)

[SheehanDJ]

Disembarkation day has always amazed me.

 

All the advice you get on boards like this is "fly in the day before to reduce risk and travel stress", soon followed by discussions about how "yes you can make a 9:30am flight on disembarkation day."

 

We relax both coming and going with a day before the cruise and a day after, we get off the ship just a few minutes before they kick us off. Never have to stand in line and finding our bags and getting a cab is a breeze. If you could look at it with out any context, you would think people had a horrible time and could not wait for their vacation to be over.

[MizDemeanor]

It's Buzz Kill, an awful way to wind down a terrific vacation.

 

We did see at least two segments of certain groups cross over and out and was wondering if it was a Haven group going down interior stairwells to deck 6.

 

If so another reason to go that route just to keep the good vibes going if that's the case.