Disembarkation Musings 10/9/21

[L1211]

We disembarked from the Sunrise this morning, sigh. The crowd was light- under 1500 people according to the cruise director, Philippe. We were told they had 500 last minute cancellations.  It was a WONDERFUL cruise. I will tie up my live review (Live from the Sunrise, Take Two) with our final thoughts.  But wanted to share disembarkation processes from this morning.

 

First thought - wow, that was easy!  They called the first walk off group at 7:45am.  That was called by Muster station, starting with A-D. It progressed very quickly with last assisted group was called just one hour later.

I’ve seen questions on “when Is the latest you can depart the ship?”  I’ve never been to breakfast on the final day, always had earlier flights.  Today we were in no hurry.  We have a direct flight that leaves at 4:15pm.  It got us home as early as those with connections,

Sadly.  It is also in Spirit Airline so your prayers are welcome….  They just canceled a flight.
 

Given we were in no hurry, we left our cabin at 8:20 and got a heartfelt thank you form our cabin attendant.  We went to the Lifo on 9 for breakfast.  I was hell-bent to have pizza for breakfast because we’d only managed ONE pizza the entire cruise! We LOVE Carnival pizza, but there was just so much to enjoy, we never got back.  We were too full nights after dinner for any late night pizza.  But, I’m sad to share that it is closed on disembarked mornings.  It was the only venue that was closed.  Guys was serving up breakfast sandwiches, Blue Iguana was making breakfast burritos and the buffet was in full swing.  
 

We quickly found a table to stash our bags and plant our DM. We got burritos for our final meal.  We also had a bottle of champagne from Emma, Director of housekeeping, that we used for final drinks!  The free buffet orange juice made for excellent mimosas! 

We really enjoyed our meal and never felt rushed. We finished about 9:10 and we’re among  the last to disembark.  We waited maybe 5 minutes for an elevator to take is to 3. Sail and sign cards were quickly scanned and we were down the gangway to customs.

 

 Here’s another improvement- I used the Carnival facial recognition line and walked right through- never got out my passport, no declarations!  My mother sailed with a birth certificate so that required a cursory look and then right on through.  Maybe another 3 minutes.  within minutes we were at the curb awaiting our Lyft to the Ft Lauderdale airport.  That was $48 and there was NO ONE in the airport- crazy. Off to our gate to remember  our wonderful experience!  Till next time.

Ciao for Now! 

Edited October 9, 2021 by L1211
Edit

[BoozinCroozin]

Hopefully no issues with your Spirit flight. Nice to hear about the slow debarkation. Our flight is not until 6PM. We can't even go to the airport (MCO) until 2PM. So, we have a ride that will stow our bags, they are dropping us off at a bar, we will chill out, have some lunch, a little bit of football, and then they will pick us up against and drop us off with our bags at the airport.

[mondello]

@L1211 Thank you for the update. We were burned by Spirit in their summer meltdown. Cancelled our flight the night before. No refund because I'd rebooked on credit from a previous flight. Now I'm worried if they'll come through on the flight to our Christmas cruise.

I was wondering why the Director of Housekeeping would gift you a bottle of champagne?

[L1211]

59 minutes ago, mondello said:

@L1211 Thank you for the update. We were burned by Spirit in their summer meltdown. Cancelled our flight the night before. No refund because I'd rebooked on credit from a previous flight. Now I'm worried if they'll come through on the flight to our Christmas cruise.

I was wondering why the Director of Housekeeping would gift you a bottle of champagne?

We board in 30 minutes. Still holding my breath!  Emma is actually the Hotel Director. She chatted with my mother in Java Blue. She bought our drinks there and sent my mother chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. What a gem!  My mother is near 80 with mobility issues.  We just lost our father in July.  I think she was just happy to have us onboard!  It made my mom’s week…. Good luck in December!!! 

[L1211]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Hopefully no issues with your Spirit flight. Nice to hear about the slow debarkation. Our flight is not until 6PM. We can't even go to the airport (MCO) until 2PM. So, we have a ride that will stow our bags, they are dropping us off at a bar, we will chill out, have some lunch, a little bit of football, and then they will pick us up against and drop us off with our bags at the airport.

Oh you have a great plan!!  We are to board here soon. Fingers still crossed…

[gotscrapz]

Well American Airlines  stranded us in Aruba in June for a few days.. so it happens with all airlines I guess. They just flat cancelled out flights, no change or rescheduled - just cancelled. We had to call and hold repeatedly to rebook! Luckily our hotel had rooms still - we did have to move though pay double the original prices. Work fortunately understand and we had travel insurance. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by gotscrapz

[Knights on the Beach]

20 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Hopefully no issues with your Spirit flight. Nice to hear about the slow debarkation. Our flight is not until 6PM. We can't even go to the airport (MCO) until 2PM. So, we have a ride that will stow our bags, they are dropping us off at a bar, we will chill out, have some lunch, a little bit of football, and then they will pick us up against and drop us off with our bags at the airport.

Sounds like a great plan.  What bar are you hanging out at?

[BoozinCroozin]

47 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

Sounds like a great plan.  What bar are you hanging out at?

We'll either go to Hooters or Miller's Ale House. We will have to kill about 4-5 hours.

 

[L1211]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

We'll either go to Hooters or Miller's Ale House. We will have to kill about 4-5 hours.

 

We ended up spending 9 hours in the Ft Lauderdale airport yesterday. Flight delayed 4 hours…. Love your plan!! 

[L1211]

3 hours ago, gotscrapz said:

Well American Airlines  stranded us in Aruba in June for a few days.. so it happens with all airlines I guess. They just flat cancelled out flights, no change or rescheduled - just cancelled. We had to call and hold repeatedly to rebook! Luckily our hotel had rooms still - we did have to move though pay double the original prices. Work fortunately understand and we had travel insurance. 

Ugh!  I’m so sorry to hear that.  Assumed the major carriers were taking good care of their customers when changes happened.  That’s pretty terrible!  Spirit did get us home last night, just 4 hours late- maybe that’s a win!!

[mondello]

@gotscrapz I will heed your plan and purchase insurance for this trip. I've already been burnt by Spirit and have to wonder about flights for Christmas-New Years. Their summer meltdown was caused by overworked crew which doesn't bode well for the end of Dec.

[BoozinCroozin]

We are flying over Thanksgiving, so I expect delays. Hoping no cancelations. The getting down part shouldn't be an issue. Its the flying back Thanksgiving Sunday and the last flight for Southwest. Worst case is we get bumped and have to take a another day off.

 

[mondello]

3 minutes ago, BoozinCroozin said:

We are flying over Thanksgiving, so I expect delays. Hoping no cancelations. The getting down part shouldn't be an issue. Its the flying back Thanksgiving Sunday and the last flight for Southwest. Worst case is we get bumped and have to take a another day off.

 

Yeah, but Spirit went off the rails for at least a week. The only reason I booked Spirit is because they had non-stop to NOLA. I ended up cancelling that Oct. cruise and this is my second attempt to rebook the credits.

[mondello]

This just in: Southwest latest with mass cancellations, over 1,000 today. Second day of a bad weekend for Southwest. They said a lot of the trouble originated in Florida. I'd imagine there are some unhappy Carnival guests down in Florida right now.

Edited October 10, 2021 by mondello
Correction

[pinklucky61]

31 minutes ago, mondello said:

This just in: Southwest latest with mass cancellations, over 1,000 today. Second day of a bad weekend for Southwest. They said a lot of the trouble originated in Florida. I'd imagine there are some unhappy Carnival guests down in Florida right now.

read earlier today that southwest had a "sick out" due to covid mandates.  

[mondello]

Just now, pinklucky61 said:

read earlier today that southwest had a "sick out" due to covid mandates.  

Most likely true but of course pilots union head denies it and says they're doing their best to function under poor management.

[Roscoe13]

Air traffic controllers had a sick out in Jacksonville and then it snowballed from there. Wait until the pilots union says, hold my beer...

[rlindholm]

4 minutes ago, mondello said:

Most likely true but of course pilots union head denies it and says they're doing their best to function under poor management.

Oh its true.  I know someone who's husband is a southwest pilot.  We are currently stuck in Houston because a ton of the Southwest flights yesterday were cancelled.  It was pure chaos.  They wouldn't give you your bags back (even though they were still in the airport), airline tickets spiked on other airlines, there are no rental cars to be had, hotels near hobby were in short supply.  

 

I'm not sure what some people did.  We took a $100 Uber to Bush international and got a hotel near there,  and I managed to get us flights out tonight at 8 pm.  ABC news came to our hotel to interview us.  I'm telling you, its a hot mess.  Originally Southwest rebooked us for Monday night.  48 hours later, with no bags and no concern for what in the world we were supposed to do between now and then.  Uh yeah, no thanks.  Its very inconvenient for us, but not life  changing.  But for some people, with small kids, their meds in their checked bags etc and no money in the bank, it was really really stressful.  

 

And I know that people are going to get on here and say, well you should have backed your essentials in your carryon, and that's true.  But It was a direct flight, i wasn't super worried about losing my bag, I could just go home and get whatever I needed.  Never expected for them to cancel a flight and keep my bag.  Like I said, its inconvenient but not life altering.  I feel bad for the southwest employees who have to listen to pissed off customers for hours on end and no end in sight.  I probably won't fly SW again simply because of the way they have handled this.  They lied and told people it was air traffic control issues and weather.  Everyone at that point knew it was walk offs because of the COVID vaccine mandates and just because they started in traffic control in FL doesn't mean that's the cause of all of the 1400 cancelled flights.  Just be upfront.  People respect that. 

[L1211]

9 hours ago, rlindholm said:

Oh its true.  I know someone who's husband is a southwest pilot.  We are currently stuck in Houston because a ton of the Southwest flights yesterday were cancelled.  It was pure chaos.  They wouldn't give you your bags back (even though they were still in the airport), airline tickets spiked on other airlines, there are no rental cars to be had, hotels near hobby were in short supply.  

 

I'm not sure what some people did.  We took a $100 Uber to Bush international and got a hotel near there,  and I managed to get us flights out tonight at 8 pm.  ABC news came to our hotel to interview us.  I'm telling you, its a hot mess.  Originally Southwest rebooked us for Monday night.  48 hours later, with no bags and no concern for what in the world we were supposed to do between now and then.  Uh yeah, no thanks.  Its very inconvenient for us, but not life  changing.  But for some people, with small kids, their meds in their checked bags etc and no money in the bank, it was really really stressful.  

 

And I know that people are going to get on here and say, well you should have backed your essentials in your carryon, and that's true.  But It was a direct flight, i wasn't super worried about losing my bag, I could just go home and get whatever I needed.  Never expected for them to cancel a flight and keep my bag.  Like I said, its inconvenient but not life altering.  I feel bad for the southwest employees who have to listen to pissed off customers for hours on end and no end in sight.  I probably won't fly SW again simply because of the way they have handled this.  They lied and told people it was air traffic control issues and weather.  Everyone at that point knew it was walk offs because of the COVID vaccine mandates and just because they started in traffic control in FL doesn't mean that's the cause of all of the 1400 cancelled flights.  Just be upfront.  People respect that. 

Thanks for the update.  Did you make it home?!

[Virga]

10 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

Air traffic controllers had a sick out in Jacksonville and then it snowballed from there. Wait until the pilots union says, hold my beer...

 

No, they didn't.  And no, it didn't.  There was bad weather and critically low staffing on the mid shift at ZJX Friday night, but every other airline recovered normally on Saturday.  Southwest is in the middle of an operational meltdown and it's absolute crap to try to pass the buck to air traffic controllers.  

 

I can't tell you why Southwest is struggling - for all I know it actually is about vaccines - but I am intimately familiar with ATC in Florida and I'm so tired of seeing what you posted show up on my feeds.  Shame on Southwest (my favorite airline) for abandoning their dedication to transparency and customer service during this charlie foxtrot.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Virga

[RGEDad]

On 10/9/2021 at 10:42 AM, L1211 said:

 within minutes we were at the curb awaiting our Lyft to the Ft Lauderdale airport.  That was $48

What??

$48 from the Fort Lauderdale cruise port to Fort Lauderdale airport?? (3.1 miles)

Oh wait - the Carnival Sunrise is out of Miami Cruise Port - that makes more sense.

Ok - Now I have another transportation cost data point for future consideration. 

Recently our AA flights to, and out of, FLL were changed by AA to really unreasonable times for our upcoming Fort Lauderdale cruise. I was looking at moving to better/more sane flight times out via Miami airport and knew the added Miami/Fort Lauderdale cost would be the transportation. Luckily the AA Rep who I was talking with to make that flight change helped me out and got me back to reasonable hour flights into/out of FLL (for the same price). But at some point I know I will be needing to use Miami.

[L1211]

2 hours ago, RGEDad said:

What??

$48 from the Fort Lauderdale cruise port to Fort Lauderdale airport?? (3.1 miles)

Oh wait - the Carnival Sunrise is out of Miami Cruise Port - that makes more sense.

Ok - Now I have another transportation cost data point for future consideration. 

Recently our AA flights to, and out of, FLL were changed by AA to really unreasonable times for our upcoming Fort Lauderdale cruise. I was looking at moving to better/more sane flight times out via Miami airport and knew the added Miami/Fort Lauderdale cost would be the transportation. Luckily the AA Rep who I was talking with to make that flight change helped me out and got me back to reasonable hour flights into/out of FLL (for the same price). But at some point I know I will be needing to use Miami.

Yes, sorry!  We did direct flights in Sprit to FLL - much cheaper than the Miami flights even with the Uber costs.  We went in a day early due to the risk with Spirit and EVERY airline now…. Good luck!!!

[Roscoe13]

On 10/10/2021 at 9:49 PM, Virga said:

 

No, they didn't.  And no, it didn't.  There was bad weather and critically low staffing on the mid shift at ZJX Friday night, but every other airline recovered normally on Saturday.  Southwest is in the middle of an operational meltdown and it's absolute crap to try to pass the buck to air traffic controllers.  

 

I can't tell you why Southwest is struggling - for all I know it actually is about vaccines - but I am intimately familiar with ATC in Florida and I'm so tired of seeing what you posted show up on my feeds.  Shame on Southwest (my favorite airline) for abandoning their dedication to transparency and customer service during this charlie foxtrot.

OK...The head of the pilots union was interviewed today and said they could not participate in any such activity as an organization...but as individuals who have vacation on the books to use up prior to a vaccine mandate, which still hasn't been made official BTW, he wouldn't be able to stop that from happening. 

[Virga]

11 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

OK...The head of the pilots union was interviewed today and said they could not participate in any such activity as an organization...but as individuals who have vacation on the books to use up prior to a vaccine mandate, which still hasn't been made official BTW, he wouldn't be able to stop that from happening. 

 

All I was emphatically saying is that the air traffic controllers didn't stage a darned sickout or walkout in Jacksonville.  They had yet another shift of absolutely unacceptably low staffing in the one area that WASN'T completely shut down due to weather or military, but that's sadly more normal than any traveler likes to think about.  They did not shut down, they did not walk out, and it was complete crap of Southwest agents to spread crap about them participating in an illegal strike due to vax mandate grumblings.  People like yourself eventually heard those rumors and repeated them as fact.

 

As for Southwest...  I won't be the one to accuse them of an even unorganized work action - in my experience, even though Southwest kinda likes cowboys and they might well be angrier than United pilots, they're all complete professionals.  Much like ATC folk, they're understaffed, overworked, stressed out, and feeling unsupported by management.  Those things lead to fatigue sick calls under normal circumstances.  They are not working under normal circumstances, and I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Data must show - in hard numbers - if sick calls legitimately spiked this past weekend, though you and I might never catch wind of it.  Either way, I hope that just the fear of it serves as a wakeup call to Southwest.  What's going on behind the scenes there is clearly so much bigger than something that almost no United employees really gave a darn about when push came to shove.  It's pretty sad to watch my favorite airline drowning in mismanagement.  

[Roscoe13]

On 10/12/2021 at 6:39 PM, Virga said:

 

All I was emphatically saying is that the air traffic controllers didn't stage a darned sickout or walkout in Jacksonville.  They had yet another shift of absolutely unacceptably low staffing in the one area that WASN'T completely shut down due to weather or military, but that's sadly more normal than any traveler likes to think about.  They did not shut down, they did not walk out, and it was complete crap of Southwest agents to spread crap about them participating in an illegal strike due to vax mandate grumblings.  People like yourself eventually heard those rumors and repeated them as fact.

 

As for Southwest...  I won't be the one to accuse them of an even unorganized work action - in my experience, even though Southwest kinda likes cowboys and they might well be angrier than United pilots, they're all complete professionals.  Much like ATC folk, they're understaffed, overworked, stressed out, and feeling unsupported by management.  Those things lead to fatigue sick calls under normal circumstances.  They are not working under normal circumstances, and I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Data must show - in hard numbers - if sick calls legitimately spiked this past weekend, though you and I might never catch wind of it.  Either way, I hope that just the fear of it serves as a wakeup call to Southwest.  What's going on behind the scenes there is clearly so much bigger than something that almost no United employees really gave a darn about when push came to shove.  It's pretty sad to watch my favorite airline drowning in mismanagement.  

Coinkadink?

 

https://www.yahoo.com/now/southwest-airlines-reverses-course-says-211536523.html