Live from Millennium Panama Canal East-to-West April 21 - May 6, 2023

[RTShaker]

Safe travels to all departing this morning.

[Fly and Sail]

Nobody has walked off the ship yet and the terninal lines are a disaster apparently.

Welcome to LA!

[Fly and Sail]

Horrible! 
 

 

[mahdnc]

If no one is off yet, how are the lines a disaster?

[cruisestitch]

8:35 just started calling the first numbers 

[cruisestitch]

2 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

If no one is off yet, how are the lines a disaster?

They are lining up outside on the terminal deck

Edited May 6, 2023 by cruisestitch

[DaKahuna]

This is just to get inside the terminal to get your luggage.

 

Apparently the facial recognition system is not working at this terminal. 
 

 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

It is a total zoo from all reports.  
 

We’re going to hang out in the lounge for about another half hour and the go get in line. 
 

[cruisestitch]

Worst disembarkation ever for those who needed wheelchair assistance.  Not enough chairs or pushers.  It’s a good thing I hadn’t already filled out the survey because my satisfaction score for Guest Relations just dropped several points.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

Worst disembarkation ever for those who needed wheelchair assistance.  Not enough chairs or pushers.  It’s a good thing I hadn’t already filled out the survey because my satisfaction score for Guest Relations just dropped several points.

Even the Retreat Concierges were having a hard time getting wheelchairs for Retreat guest.

 

[DaKahuna]

We waited until 0945 to walk off the ship. Since my DW travels with her Japanese passport we had to get in that line, even with her having her Green card.

 

Fortunately that was the only queue we encountered and we were through that in about 10 minutes.

 

Our bags were easily located, only had about a dozen bags in that area by the time we got there.

 

Uber / Lyft was a zoo.  Waited over 20 minutes why Lyft tried to find me a ride.  Ended up cancelling the ride request and went to Uber. Took 10 minutes but got a driver assigned and he showed up in under 10 minutes.  Arrived at Long Beach Airport right around 1100.  
 

Checked bags, got through security, hooray for Clear and TSAPre.  We’ve had lunch, a let down after two weeks on Celebrity, and our flight boards in 20 minutes. 
 

[Silkroad]

Wishing you smooth travels home! At least you’re returning to a beautiful day here in the DMV😎

[Fly and Sail]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

If no one is off yet, how are the lines a disaster?

I was asking myself the same thing. They held everyone back and there was a long line of people (as seen in the picture).

[Fly and Sail]

Immigration was manual, no facial recognition as Celebrity has a junk terminal at Berth 93. Out of the building at 8:40 and got an Uber by 8:50. Five minutes later at the rental car station (stay away from Hertz San Pedro - awful!) and in LA now for the weekend.

[mahdnc]

58 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

Immigration was manual, no facial recognition as Celebrity has a junk terminal at Berth 93. Out of the building at 8:40 and got an Uber by 8:50. Five minutes later at the rental car station (stay away from Hertz San Pedro - awful!) and in LA now for the weekend.

 

Thanks for. letting me know how things went.  Your comment about Hertz San Pedro--what was the problem?  Poor service?  Bad area?

 

Enjoy your weekend.

[Fly and Sail]

10 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Thanks for. letting me know how things went.  Your comment about Hertz San Pedro--what was the problem?  Poor service?  Bad area?

 

Enjoy your weekend.

Area is fine. Service and quality of cars the worst. I’m Presidents Circle with them and got a total piece of junk. Swapped it at LAX and they took one day off. 

 

Definitely stick with National/Enterprise.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Fly and Sail

[DisneyJen]

Thanks for taking us along @DaKahuna!

[RTShaker]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Thanks for. letting me know how things went.  Your comment about Hertz San Pedro--what was the problem?  Poor service?  Bad area?

 

Enjoy your weekend.

CBP wanted face to face with every passenger on this cruise. Had nothing to do with facial recognition.

[cruisestitch]

56 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

Area is fine. Service and quality of cars the worst. I’m Presidents Circle with them and got a total piece of junk. Swapped it at LAX and they took one day off. 

 

Definitely stick with National/Enterprise.

 

1 minute ago, RTShaker said:

CBP wanted face to face with every passenger on this cruise. Had nothing to do with facial recognition.

They did tell us that on board, that CBP wanted face-to-face, but they also said that there was facial recognition in LA so it was hard to know what to expect

[hcat]

Top  10 thread!

Will miss all the food porn,..qnd other great photis!

Thanks again!

[CTSandy]

Enjoyed your report and pictures - thanks for sharing!

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, Silkroad said:

Wishing you smooth travels home! At least you’re returning to a beautiful day here in the DMV😎

 

We are not returning to DMV until Tuesday - Spending the weekend with our son, DIL, and youngest grandson in Sacrament.   Arrived here after a thunderstorm and rain and the weather turned beautiful.  

 

[Fly and Sail]

7 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

 

They did tell us that on board, that CBP wanted face-to-face, but they also said that there was facial recognition in LA so it was hard to know what to expect

 

Agreed. However I was impressed how quickly it actually moved once we got off the ship despite only seven officers there. With U.S. passengers (as far as I monitored it) they didn't even scan the passports, just looked at them and waved people through. Foreigners such as myself were scanned, though CBP no longer stamps passports.

[Stratford1950]

On 4/23/2023 at 4:58 PM, Fly and Sail said:

That reminds me, since when did the solarium become a kids zone with “family hours” during specific times?

 

IIRC it was always advertised as adults only.

 

 

WTH…when did this start?

[Jim_Iain]

John, 

Thanks for a wonderful post.  I am relaxing in Amsterdam and enjoying sitting and sipping coffee while reading your post.   Safe travels home.