Forced to get off in Miami

[FireFishII]

10 minutes ago, nferr said:

What caused the problem is too many people and not enough organization.

I partially disagree.  While there were too many passengers and not enough terminal personal, how long did the terminal personal had to wait while the ship was looking for all the missing people.  IF the passengers got off when they should have, MAYBE the waiting passengers could have gotten back on sooner BEFORE the passengers on shore excursions got back.  The fact that they wanted everyone off by 12 noon and they were still looking for people at 1 pm?  That is part of the problem.

 

[nferr]

11 minutes ago, FireFishII said:

I partially disagree.  While there were too many passengers and not enough terminal personal, how long did the terminal personal had to wait while the ship was looking for all the missing people.  IF the passengers got off when they should have, MAYBE the waiting passengers could have gotten back on sooner BEFORE the passengers on shore excursions got back.  The fact that they wanted everyone off by 12 noon and they were still looking for people at 1 pm?  That is part of the problem.

 

How could they be looking for people when they had a giant line of people waiting? Clear most of the line and then make an announcement for the five that they're missing would make a lot more sense IMO. If they know they're missing five they know who they are.

[FireFishII]

11 minutes ago, nferr said:

How could they be looking for people when they had a giant line of people waiting? Clear most of the line and then make an announcement for the five that they're missing would make a lot more sense IMO. If they know they're missing five they know who they are.

The difference is the giant line of people waiting are the people waiting to get back on the ship.  This is because the government makes the cruise ship to be TOTALLY empty before allowing anyone else back on.  So those few people are holding up the process to get everyone back on board.  Hey, I don't make up these silly rules and neither does RCL.  If all would just follow the stupid rules, then there would be less waiting for all overall. 

[Adriana]

The last call was actually at ten in the morning. Looong after that, they announced that there were still 624 passengers on board. If everyone did get off on time, it would have shaved a few hours. However, it still would have required a three to four hour get off/get on process. I do think they learned a lesson. Too bad we were the ones who had to take the lesson instead of management figuring it out (or maybe did and went for it), but God willing will not happen to others. @Aggravation and @Al Miller, I really feel for you. I was inside, I cannot imagine how you dealt with being outside and if you have migraines or dehydrated now. 

[PurdueFlyer]

1 hour ago, karl_nj said:

No, they didn't *have* to have everyone disembark.  This has been handled in other ways in the past (e.g. do it onboard, as they have done in Bar Harbor)

Seems like someone in CBP in Miami decided that this was the way to handle it in this particular case.

 

THIS 

These CBP directors operate in their own little fifedoms, and handling of various situations often devolves to the local level rather than some over-arching national policy.  20 years in the airline industry here.

[TXcruzer]

33 minutes ago, nferr said:

I realize everyone had to disembark. I would have tried to stay on board until they kicked me off.  Of course hindsight is great.

That makes you the problem that screwed everyone over.

 

Congratulations, you are "that guy"

[nferr]

12 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

That makes you the problem that screwed everyone over.

 

Congratulations, you are "that guy"

If you read the posts you would realize you're wrong as it still would have been three or four hours in line.  Have fun!

It was poor planning all the way but I know some look for  other passengers to blame.  Thankfully I wasn't there and never will be until they fix that issue.

 

[TXcruzer]

12 minutes ago, nferr said:

If you read the posts you would realize you're wrong as it still would have been three or four hours in line.  Have fun!

It was poor planning all the way but I know some look for  other passengers to blame.  Thankfully I wasn't there and never will be until they fix that issue.

 

sorry pal, but had everyone got off at 10:00, then people could have IMMEDIATELY gotten back on the ship and not have to wait another 4 plus hours while inconsiderate cruisers enjoyed their morning slumber.

[Al Miller]

15 minutes ago, Adriana said:

The last call was actually at ten in the morning. Looong after that, they announced that there were still 624 passengers on board. If everyone did get off on time, it would have shaved a few hours. However, it still would have required a three to four hour get off/get on process. I do think they learned a lesson. Too bad we were the ones who had to take the lesson instead of management figuring it out (or maybe did and went for it), but God willing will not happen to others. @Aggravation and @Al Miller, I really feel for you. I was inside, I cannot imagine how you dealt with being outside and if you have migraines or dehydrated now. 

My two cents... They severely overestimated how many people would get off in Miami. Basically having 2 hours for the few who wanted to go into port and 30 minutes for what had to be at least 3000 passengers.

Also, and I have nothing to back this up, but I got the impression that they needed to get everything done by 10:30 because the terminal staff was then needed elsewhere. At one point when we were still on the ship at about 10:45 they anounced that they were waiting for word from the terminal when they would "restart" the immigration process. Like they stopped at 10:30 to go do something else. And then not until they realized what was going on at our terminal did they start getting staff back to our terminal. I wonder just how quickly the 5 missing passengers were actually accounted for and how long we simply had to wait for staff to get back to our terminal. I was nowhere near the front of the "last call" group and they were still scrambling to open up more facial recognition scanners when I came through.

[karl_nj]

16 minutes ago, Al Miller said:

My two cents... They severely overestimated how many people would get off in Miami. Basically having 2 hours for the few who wanted to go into port and 30 minutes for what had to be at least 3000 passengers.

Well doesn't *everyone* in NJ have family in Miami they might want to visit? lol

 

[Pattycruise]

I think this is where they round up the 5 strays and have them walk the plank......or perhaps disembark them in Miami-throw their luggage from the ship and sail away.  

[nferr]

55 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

sorry pal, but had everyone got off at 10:00, then people could have IMMEDIATELY gotten back on the ship and not have to wait another 4 plus hours while inconsiderate cruisers enjoyed their morning slumber.

Then they should have got everyone off. It's not rocket science. But blame passengers. And no way they were going to get 4000 passengers off, in line, and right back on. We don't know what they did do we?  Sure sounds to me like they screwed the whole thing up.

[Ampurp85]

Its people always people.  During my Navigator sailing in Sept. We waited almost 2hrs longer to do our disembarkment and embarkation for the B2B because people waited until almost 9am to start to leave. The ship has to hit a zero guest count. New crew told guest as long as they are off by 10am they are fine. That was the problem. People went to the WJ at close to closing. Causing more delays. Then you have huge line from customs that still extends to the ship.

I am sure that is what happened.  Lots of people eating and drinking until noon instead of following the rules. The actions of the few can affect the many. 

[Atlantix2000]

Unless those 5 people decided to spend the day in their cabin, they should have noticed that there was no one around and realized something was weird.  Then again, if they were in their cabin, they should have been easy to find and escort off the ship.  Hopefully, Royal, the port, and customs learned something from this and will do better in the future.

[twangster]

The choice to do the CBP thing on the ship or on shore is in the hands of CBP.  They don't tell a cruise in advance, the ships finds out when CBP tells them that morning.  

[fireclan]

When it happened on the cruise I was on, there was information left in our stateroom the day before (the fiasco) telling us what time we were supposed to disembark. 

[drjohn4]

If this happens again, I would suggest any passengers left to wait out in the hot sun make the short walk to Royal Caribbean Group's corporate headquarters on the other side of Doge island.  Politely explain the situation to the receptionist and ask if it would be possible to get a glass of water and wait in their air conditioned lobby until they are ready to let passengers back on.

[Adriana]

@fireclan, I don’t think they expected any of this to happen. Over 600 people remained on board after last call and about a half dozen had to be found hours after last call. Then, thousands needed to be brought back on board. 

[Al Miller]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

The choice to do the CBP thing on the ship or on shore is in the hands of CBP.  They don't tell a cruise in advance, the ships finds out when CBP tells them that morning.  

It was in the CC on Monday or Tuesday and the CD had an instructional video up Tuesday as well. I'm sure they do the surprise ones, but they knew about this one for several days. They just had a poor plan and the terminal was not prepared.

[smokeybandit]

[Adriana]

We received our letters and are receiving on board credit. I also received a voucher for the spa, not sure if part of that, because I have the thermal suite or everyone received it. I really was not expecting anything so this was def nice. 

[Pattycruise]

1 hour ago, Adriana said:

We received our letters and are receiving on board credit. I also received a voucher for the spa, not sure if part of that, because I have the thermal suite or everyone received it. I really was not expecting anything so this was def nice. 

personnally I find it an insult to give a different OBC based on cabin type.  As if Suite Guests were more put out than anyone else LOL
Geez.    

[Aggravation]

Personally I find it perfectly logical to base OBC on cabin type.  Suite guests paid 2 or more times as much to be put out than everyone else did.  Do the math and you’ll  see suites were actually reimbursed at a lower rate than other cabin classes.  Everyone was denied a significant portion of their cruise day but not everyone paid the same for those days - Royals gesture isn’t some elitist conspiracy, it’s just arithmetic.  
 

 

[twangster]

8 hours ago, Al Miller said:

It was in the CC on Monday or Tuesday and the CD had an instructional video up Tuesday as well. I'm sure they do the surprise ones, but they knew about this one for several days. They just had a poor plan and the terminal was not prepared.

That is the default plan but CBP can surprise them and do the inspection on the ship.  It probably depends on how many "interesting" people are on the manifest.  

Terminal contractors are used.  Royal doesn't have employees in the terminals.  

[memebag]

8 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

personnally I find it an insult to give a different OBC based on cabin type.  As if Suite Guests were more put out than anyone else LOL
Geez.    

Yeah, that seems wrong. And $100-$200 per room seems like a crazy low price for stealing most of a day from your vacation.

[Vlad]

11 minutes ago, memebag said:

Yeah, that seems wrong. And $100-$200 per room seems like a crazy low price for stealing most of a day from your vacation.

Yes, that's better than nothing... 

And I feel the same way... That's a ripoff... 

Most on the ship have balconies, so they will only receive $125 for 2 people? That sounds like a joke... From 8 cruise days, 1 day costs at least 200-300 a night on average... And inside cabins will receive even less... 

They ruined most of the day, except for the evening. 

But the stress of all of it, just killed vacation vibe for most of the people!!!

They should had refunded full day worth of cruise fare, plus that incentive! 

That would show the people that Royal Caribbean really believes it's there fault and stands for it's customers! 

[Xaa]

8 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

personnally I find it an insult to give a different OBC based on cabin type.  As if Suite Guests were more put out than anyone else LOL
Geez.    

I think maybe it isn't necessarily based on how put out each person is, but instead, it's perhaps an acknowledgement of the value of being put out being greater for someone whose cruise cost per day was greater.

Sort of like this, you and I both paid for dinner and we were denied our dinner.  We're both hungry and put out the same in the sense that we missed our chosen dinner, but you paid for Filet Mignon and I paid for McDonalds so the value of that amount of "put out" is less for me because of my chosen level of participation.

I get where you're coming from and I think it would have been more elegant not to put each rate on everyone's letter and instead only the rate applicable to their situation, but I also get where Royal is coming from with the tiered approach and the need to expediently provide some compensation quickly vs elegantly.

[smokeybandit]

It's really no different than the OBC promos that give more OBC to higher tiers of cabins

[Carlos A.]

Would technology like Princess Medallion help in this scenarios? 

I understand that they can track you anywhere on the ship, with this tech they would be able to quickly track down any passenger still left on the ship.

[twangster]

48 minutes ago, Carlos A. said:

Would technology like Princess Medallion help in this scenarios? 

I understand that they can track you anywhere on the ship, with this tech they would be able to quickly track down any passenger still left on the ship.

Yse!  You could order a drink and have it delivered to you while standing in line for four hours.   

[twangster]

6 hours ago, Aggravation said:

Personally I find it perfectly logical to base OBC on cabin type.  Suite guests paid 2 or more times as much to be put out than everyone else did.  Do the math and you’ll  see suites were actually reimbursed at a lower rate than other cabin classes.  Everyone was denied a significant portion of their cruise day but not everyone paid the same for those days - Royals gesture isn’t some elitist conspiracy, it’s just arithmetic.  
 

 

I agree!  No mention at all about higher compensation for Pinnacle members!  Do they not know who we are?!?!

[Pattycruise]

27 minutes ago, twangster said:

I agree!  No mention at all about higher compensation for Pinnacle members!  Do they not know who we are?!?!

Pinnacle members, elderly who had to sit /stand in the outdoors, mothers of young children…all should get higher compensation! ..not necessary in that order.

[teddy]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I agree!  No mention at all about higher compensation for Pinnacle members!  Do they not know who we are?!?!

Gotta wear the name tag 

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I agree!  No mention at all about higher compensation for Pinnacle members!  Do they not know who we are?!?!

Don't you make enough money renting out your pins to Pinnacle groupies for photo ops?

 

[Ampurp85]

Something is better than nothing, but I also agree that it should have been a day's refund of cruise fare plus OBC. 

From a logistic standpoint it would be hard to try to offer mothers, the elderly, those differently abled.......and the all-important pinnacles a different amount of compensation. But it would have been easy to do the OBC as nonrefundable and a day's worth of cruise fare back.

[need2cruz]

I wonder if they gave out the OBC to the people who slept in and weren't  out in the hot sun?  or the people who went on excursions and weren't waiting around either?

[Pattycruise]

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

Something is better than nothing, but I also agree that it should have been a day's refund of cruise fare plus OBC. 

From a logistic standpoint it would be hard to try to offer mothers, the elderly, those differently abled.......and the all-important pinnacles a different amount of compensation. But it would have been easy to do the OBC as nonrefundable and a day's worth of cruise fare back.

I was sorta kidding on that (pinnacle anyhow).  However it goes to my personal belief that OBC should have at least been equal across the board. Compensation on money spent on a cabin vs personal suffering to me are 2 different things.  It’s as though those in “steerage” have no value.  (Less value)  

I acknowledge what’s been said about the suites costing more, but disagree in the OBC amounts based on cabin type   To me, This is about all the inconvenience.  My inconvenience is not any more valuable than yours.  (And those poor elderly  and  moms of babies/toddlers!  And those who feinted,  Likely no amount of OBC can make that feel better!

[Adriana]

@need2cruz, all were given the OBC, even if they went on excursion. I believe that the final few who were refusing to leave actually were escorted off with luggage and not allowed back. Not sure about the other stragglers. 

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, Adriana said:

@need2cruz, all were given the OBC, even if they went on excursion. I believe that the final few who were refusing to leave actually were escorted off with luggage and not allowed back. Not sure about the other stragglers. 

I really hope this was the case as they were the reason for children, mothers, the elderly, etc. being forced to wait in the Miami heat.

[nferr]

7 hours ago, twangster said:

I agree!  No mention at all about higher compensation for Pinnacle members!  Do they not know who we are?!?!

Did you wear your pin???