Huge delay in getting off in Galveston

[Bowen]

We stood in line for two hours this morning to get off Allure. They kept making announcement that the ship has not been cleared by local authorities. The rumors were that five people were arrested on drug charges and that they were locking bathrooms down floor to floor because someone was hiding in one of them. I also heard someone died on the ship, and since we heard an “Alpha Alpha Alpha” announcement last night there might be some merit to that. It was a wild morning for sure!

[smokeybandit]

The only time I had an really long time in customs was when they took half the CBP staff to do a crew inspection.

[Bowen]

15 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The only time I had an really long time in customs was when they took half the CBP staff to do a crew inspection.

Might be the same thing then. We weren’t allowed to even walk off the ship. Those poor crew members were getting harried I’m sure.

[smokeybandit]

15 minutes ago, Bowen said:

Might be the same thing then. We weren’t allowed to even walk off the ship. Those poor crew members were getting harried I’m sure.

We left the ship last summer on Navigator when the number hit 100 left. All the luggage tag time slots were delayed being called. And we STILL waited well over an hour to get through customs.

[Bowen]

20 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

We left the ship last summer on Navigator when the number hit 100 left. All the luggage tag time slots were delayed being called. And we STILL waited well over an hour to get through customs.

Oh yeah this wasn’t just us, it was the whole ship. No one was allowed off at all until the cops had come and gone.

[smokeybandit]

The death shouldn't affect disembarkation. But certainly a criminal matter could.

 

 

[Ryan79]

And this is why its always a bad idea to book the first flight out of town on disembarkation day! You NEVER know what delays your can encounter. 

[Bowen]

I was just coming up update, yep!

[SweetPea]

Interesting! Thanks for reporting. Delays like this make me glad we're only driving to the port these days .

[Bowen]

34 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Interesting! Thanks for reporting. Delays like this make me glad we're only driving to the port these days .

Same! And so glad our friends had an 8 pm flight out.

[jbrinkm]

4 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

And this is why isn’t always a bad idea to book the first flight out of town on disembarkation day! You NEVER know what delays your can encounter. 

It was also why I was really nervous to book a pre-arranged, non-Royal shuttle from port to airport. Neither of the usually recommended ones in Galveston had a great reschedule/cancellation policy for situations like this, and I didn't want to be stuck scrambling for a rideshare or taxi along with the other thousands of people if a delay caused the shuttle to not work out for us. 

[smokeybandit]

I got delayed a few hours out of Galveston once due to a medical diversion and the shuttle company just waited. It was a bit chaotic at that point, but we got right on the shuttle and made it.

[SweetPea]

Isn't Galveston notoriously bad for fog delays also, or do i have that confused with another port?

[asquared17]

37 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Isn't Galveston notoriously bad for fog delays also, or do i have the confused with another port?

that's tampa, i believe. @Neesa can confirm (if this doesn't given her war flashbacks )

[twangster]

2 hours ago, asquared17 said:

that's tampa, i believe. @Neesa can confirm (if this doesn't given her war flashbacks )

Galveston has fog certain times of the year.  So does Tampa.  That's Gulf weather.  Different dynamics in play but the impact can be the same.

Neither is a good place to play chicken with early flight times, certain times of the year.

[Neesa]

Thanks for the tag @asquared17! Yes, the Ships Captain the night before scheduled disembarkation announced how he had to go super fast to "beat the fog" as they closed the port if the fog was thick. After dinner we realized it was very quiet, we were just floating, we were to late. Our cabin steward told us this happened frequently in Galveston as well. The ship did their very best to take care of us but you could often hear people's frustration and anger as they had missed their flights as the hours ticked away. We were in a suite and disembarked at around 1700hrs but we heard some could not get off the ship until 1900hrs. This was November 2022

 

[ZBrady]

Always blows my mind when people try to bring up bringing various forms of drugs on board. Sure - I absolutely understand most people may or may not get away with it. But it just takes one time and this may have been it for some folks!

[Cactus527]

...and here I was getting mocked for choosing an 11pm departure from Galveston for this summer. HA! VINDICATION! 

[jbrinkm]

7 hours ago, Neesa said:

Thanks for the tag @asquared17! Yes, the Ships Captain the night before scheduled disembarkation announced how he had to go super fast to "beat the fog" as they closed the port if the fog was thick. After dinner we realized it was very quiet, we were just floating, we were to late. Our cabin steward told us this happened frequently in Galveston as well. The ship did their very best to take care of us but you could often hear people's frustration and anger as they had missed their flights as the hours ticked away. We were in a suite and disembarked at around 1700hrs but we heard some could not get off the ship until 1900hrs. This was November 2022

When we booked transportation through a private company from Galveston port to airport (April 2, 2023 Allure sailing), we asked what would happen if the ship was delayed in docking for any reason, and I specifically mentioned fog, as I had read reports like @Neesa's. The local guy said that the ships all come in at midnight now so there would be no more fog delays. I have no way to confirm if this is true. 

[Ryan79]

31 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

When we booked transportation through a private company from Galveston port to airport (April 2, 2023 Allure sailing), we asked what would happen if the ship was delayed in docking for any reason, and I specifically mentioned fog, as I had read reports like @Neesa's. The local guy said that the ships all come in at midnight now so there would be no more fog delays. I have no way to confirm if this is true. 

I don’t think that is true since my itinerary is still showing a 7am arrival for June. 

[Cactus527]

1 hour ago, jbrinkm said:

When we booked transportation through a private company from Galveston port to airport (April 2, 2023 Allure sailing), we asked what would happen if the ship was delayed in docking for any reason, and I specifically mentioned fog, as I had read reports like @Neesa's. The local guy said that the ships all come in at midnight now so there would be no more fog delays. I have no way to confirm if this is true. 

There IS a way - Cruise Mapper. You could map the ship on a Saturday night/Sunday morning some week and see if it actually is in the position the guy thinks it is.

[Bowen]

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

When we booked transportation through a private company from Galveston port to airport (April 2, 2023 Allure sailing), we asked what would happen if the ship was delayed in docking for any reason, and I specifically mentioned fog, as I had read reports like @Neesa's. The local guy said that the ships all come in at midnight now so there would be no more fog delays. I have no way to confirm if this is true. 

We docked around 5:45 on Sunday morning. You could feel the ship shaking. I got up at 6 to pack and we were in port. 

[Bowen]

5 hours ago, ZBrady said:

Always blows my mind when people try to bring up bringing various forms of drugs on board. Sure - I absolutely understand most people may or may not get away with it. But it just takes one time and this may have been it for some folks!

I do also wonder if it’s people buying narcotics in Roatan. The pharmacy at the port now sells codeine, Valium, etc. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

We are currently on Vision.  It was either night #1 or #2 but we were in the casino and suddenly we got a tsunami of skunky pot smell wafting past our table.  It was very strong so it was close….but we could never figure out where it came from !  The pit bosses were running around trying to find it.  Now, do I think they would hold a ship full of pax hostage trying to find someone who was holding pot ?  No.  I’m just sayin’ that people are getting bolder and bolder with such things.  Not a good trend, IMO

[The Fox]

I would think that the last night of the cruise, the casino would be open well past midnight.

[Pattycruise]

12 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

When we booked transportation through a private company from Galveston port to airport (April 2, 2023 Allure sailing), we asked what would happen if the ship was delayed in docking for any reason, and I specifically mentioned fog, as I had read reports like @Neesa's. The local guy said that the ships all come in at midnight now so there would be no more fog delays. I have no way to confirm if this is true. 

We did not dock at midnight last month, the casino was still open.

[KevinJ]

The way Airlines have been in the last year I've made several changes for traveling to the cruise port. For Florida we drive, 3 days from NH. If I have to fly we go in the day before and out the day after. For our transatlantic out of Barcelona we're getting in 3 days before, partly because there was a direct flight from Boston to Barcelona that left Wednesday night. My son still has to fly, can't afford the extra time off and he has had issues with almost every flight.

[ChessE4]

27 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

The way Airlines have been in the last year I've made several changes for traveling to the cruise port. For Florida we drive, 3 days from NH. If I have to fly we go in the day before and out the day after. For our transatlantic out of Barcelona we're getting in 3 days before, partly because there was a direct flight from Boston to Barcelona that left Wednesday night. My son still has to fly, can't afford the extra time off and he has had issues with almost every flight.

Enjoy Barcelona! We were there late Oct 22. 3 days early is about right for sightseeing. We allowed 2 nights and felt rushed. We did Galveston in December and were greeted by cold weather but disembarkation was fast.

[wordell1]

You have to be a special kind of stupid to try to bring illegal drugs across a border.

[CruiseGus]

@Bowen didn't you have a manual passport check when disembarking because they couldn't get the Facial Recognition system forking on Sunday causing the delay disembarking.

[Bowen]

54 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

@Bowen didn't you have a manual passport check when disembarking because they couldn't get the Facial Recognition system forking on Sunday causing the delay disembarking.

No, we just had facial recognition, two minutes out once we were allowed off the ship.

[Mike n Ky]

Getting off of Liberty last September in Galveston was ridiculous! Understaffed, unorganized and they did not enforce the departure times. It is the only time doing self assist on the early departure we have ever had that problem.

[TXcruiser33]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:41 AM, wordell1 said:

You have to be a special kind of stupid to try to bring illegal drugs across a border.

Yes, this is true, although this is the definition of drug smuggling, isn't it....?!? So LOTS of people try it, and some get caught!