Chaos at the PR Port

[kmitchel]

We're getting ready to board the Magic here in Puerto Rico. They had the doors open for a couple of hours and then closed them again until 1:00. There are hundreds of people standing outside in the heat. Ugh, at least I'm going on a cruise!

Hopefully they will have all the kinks worked out for the next cruise.

Don't rush to get to the terminal!

 

[kmitchel]

Disney staff just came out and offered everyone in line bottles of water!

 

[kmitchel]

Hooray, made it inside the terminal and the finally are letting people board! It is really hot inside the terminal!

 

[Justacruiser]

We're getting ready to board the Magic here in Puerto Rico. They had the doors open for a couple of hours and then closed them again until 1:00. There are hundreds of people standing outside in the heat. Ugh, at least I'm going on a cruise!

Hopefully they will have all the kinks worked out for the next cruise.

Don't rush to get to the terminal!

our plane lands at 3:30 next Saturday for our cruise, hopefully the lines will be clear when we board. Happy Cruising!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We're getting ready to board the Magic here in Puerto Rico. They had the doors open for a couple of hours and then closed them again until 1:00. There are hundreds of people standing outside in the heat. Ugh, at least I'm going on a cruise!

Hopefully they will have all the kinks worked out for the next cruise.

Don't rush to get to the terminal!

Hope you have a good cruise now, assume the ending of the transatlantic, long cruises always have issues, and Also the first time as a home port.

My Panama crossings had delayed disembarkation by an hour,

 

[Justacruiser]

did anyone on todays sailing come straight from the airport via DCL? how was that process? how long was your wait for a ride? how long from the airport to the terminal? thanks in advance!

 

[LoveToCruiseDisney]

We have an 11:00 flight home from PR in a few weeks....should we change to a later flight

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Seems there having the sailaway party in the Atrium, assume bad weather....

 

[kmitchel]

Captain just came on the intercoms to apologize for the inconvenience at embarkation. He offered everyone a free drink at dinner tonight to apologize for the delays.

Disney is first class!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

We have an 11:00 flight home from PR in a few weeks....should we change to a later flight

I would it took most of us 2 1/2 hours+ to get off the ship and go through immigration we were told on the ship this port always takes a long time to process. It may also depend on how many ships are in port
Some people in our cruise group were concerned they were not going to make there 3.00pm flights.
Our stateroom host told us he got off the ship to go through immigration as soon as they cleared and he did not get back on till after 7.00am was over 2 hours for them as well.

 

[Lorraine]

We have an 11:00 flight home from PR in a few weeks....should we change to a later flight

We had a 1.45 flight and made it by the skin of our teeth. We had booked and paid for Disney transportation, but had to ditch that and jump in a cab. We had $35 to our name. Taxi was $25 plus tip which left $5 for a porter at the airport - probably not enough for 4 bags but all we had - I think he took pity on us. I ran into the terminal and did the check in while he was still getting the bags sorted. All bags have to go through a scanner when you arrive at the airport - if I could do it again I would leave it til the next day!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[woody73]

We have an 11:00 flight home from PR in a few weeks....should we change to a later flight

We got off the Magic yesterday, 9/20.

Express walk-off was scheduled for 7:00am. The ship was not cleared until 7:40am.

Breakfast times were 7:00am for main seating, and 8:15am for late. We had late seating and got in line to debark at 9:15am. The gangway was on deck 4. The line wrapped around deck 4 to the WD Theatre. We waited in line for about an hour before walking off the ship and entering the terminal. The lines for passport control/customs took another 45 minutes.

We took a taxi to the airport, arriving at 10:50am.

YMMV

Woody

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just to underline the point, for future "Repo" cruisers, -Repositioning, from one home port to another. That in my experience disembarkation and border control have always been far worse than closed loop cruises, - the ones that start and end in the same port.

I think customs are more interested in these cruises as people may not start their cruise for example in the USA but end up there, hence more airport style checks.

For my Panama crossings disembarkation started at 8.20am, whereas my other Port Canaveral cruises were all circa 7.30am .

Those 50 odd minutes are important if your clock watching for flights or have arranged private transfers.

Also everyone is up by then, on more normal cruises people say on LATE rotation may have a lay in whereas others get up early spreading the pressure on exit, by 8.20 etc everyone is up and wants to go.

 

[woody73]

I just read Lorraine's post above.

I should clarify that the line for Passport Control would eventually split into two lines: "US and Canada," and "other." There were four Passport Control booths, each with two agents. Two booths (four agents) were used for US and Canada, and two booths for other.

The line for US and Canada passports took us 45 minutes. The line for other passports appeared to take longer. We had friends in the other line, which moved much more slowly.

YMMV

Woody

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

DCL booked six port agents but there were only four terminals in operation. Add to this as the Magic has been in the Med all summer and not in the USA for months, all of the ship had to be cleared, that is everyone CMs servers officers etc. so that's why there were delays.

 

[cris0809]

We were in boarding group 1 and did not walk onboard until 1:30. Saw the captain on the way up the gangway next to a massive line of crew going through immigration. He said at that time that there were over 600 left to process. Of course he inquired as to how we were and apologized as well. I mentioned that the terminal was very warm and perhaps some water would be good. Glad to hear that those still waiting got some!

 

[CastMember 02]

We were on the WBTA and the immigration lines were horrid and ALL staff had to clear immigration too! We waited inside the ship till the officers came by and said "get out" The Magic left at 930pm due to many late flights into the island which is supposedly normal? Can anyone confirm?

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We were on the WBTA and the immigration lines were horrid and ALL staff had to clear immigration too! We waited inside the ship till the officers came by and said "get out" The Magic left at 930pm due to many late flights into the island which is supposedly normal? Can anyone confirm?

The ship did leave at 9.30 pm, and at 1.30 when boarding group one went on, 600 crew still had to go through border control.

 

[BearFan]

We were on the WBTA and the event which will forever hence be called the "Great Disembarkation Fiasco of 2014". A catastrophe was actually averted when the throngs of passengers getting off the ship were halted at the top of the escalators. I was fearing a pile up of people coming down the escalators into the herd of us down below in the cue for immigration with no place to go. Several people hollered at a port employee to stop anyone else getting on the down escalator when a pile up was apparent. Thank goodness it didn't happen. That's all they need a lot of tourists with broken legs.

Our tablemates did back-to-backs and had to go through the non-citizen lines in immigration before touring San Juan. They were told to be back on the ship before 9PM as it was going to pull out shortly thereafter so I think it must have left close to on schedule.

We had a great time despite our ordeal getting to and from the ship. Can't wait to do the next one. DH and I are a hearty lot, living though this year's disembarkation Fiasco and the "Near Riot at the Dessert Buffet" in '10. Bring it on Disney!
Lisa Marie

 

[SillyInventor]

This isn't the first time DCL does a TA. How was this previously in PC/Miami? Is the American Border control more efficient? And how about the Spanish? Was the arrival in May in Barcelona a comparable mess? Just curious as these stories compare to the San Diego mess when the Wonder arrived there for the first time.