recent west coast cruisers...passport/debarkation question

[rsjj]

did you take a passport? was there someone in your party who didn't? and no problem? or problem?

i will have a passport...but DH & 2 DSs (3 & 6) will not. was wondering if it'll be a "problem" for us, when we get off the ship. i know we'd have to get in the bc line, which is long? is the passport line, really that short? we don't need to be at an airport, at a certain time, so having to be in line really wouldn't be a major problem for us...

i read else where that if both parents have passports, the whole family can be in the passport line. (is that still true?) and in that case, DH will go get one. but if everyone (including children) must have passports to go in that line, then, DH won't get one...cuz we don't plan on having our DSs get one yet.

thank you in advance for any info/tip you have observed! really appreciate it!

 

[webray]

There are two separate lines..passport people on one side, birthcert people on the other side. Since only one of you has a passport..you may just want to use birthcert and stay with your family. The birth cert line is much longer than passport line.

 

[challada]

We were on the first WC cruise and found that bc and passport lines were equivalent in processing time. My parents had passports, but I and my kids did not...we got in separate lines and finished at exactly the same time. Of course, we did NOT get off when our color was called but waiting a while and leisurely strolled off b/w color announcements...hint,hint.

 

[carriep1657]

When we got off the ship, there was one very long line. When we got to the end, a woman asked if we had passports for every one in our party. I told her we did. She said, "Everyone in your party has passports. Is that correct?" I said, "Yes". She said, "You go in the line to the left." The passport line was so short that you couldn't even tell it was there. We were the second family in that line. I'm sure there were at least 100 people, probably closer to 150, in the birth certificate line.

We also did not get off when our group had been called and were on the same cruise as Challada. It sounds like you could get lucky and it make no difference but in our case the passport line was much shorter. The funny thing is that Challada and I ran into each other outside waiting to be picked up. So we couldn't have gotten off the ship very long after one another.

 

[KKB]

DH & I sailed the Star Princess to W. Carib. last Oct. We took BC/DL and had NO delays at ANY time. The fact that we used a porter upon disembarkation in FLL seemed to have the greatest bearing on how quickly we got out--literally 5 minutes!!! (LONG LONG lines for those w/o porters!)
Maybe this explains why I am dragging my feet about getting the family passports for our Dec. Magic cruise (12/31 disembarkation--same as proposed activation date to require passports); that and the $500 price tag!
Unfortunately, it looks like I need to get that ball rolling.
From all reports, you will have few, if any, delays w/o passports.
Happy cruising!
Kristin

 

[challada]

Carrie...we were probably a bit ahead of you as we ended up having to wait for our luggage area to clear customs (it was the last one). I was really glad we did not get off an hour earlier at our 'color' time or we would have been sitting on the concrete floors for an hour and a half.

It seemed that there were two different issues on the line cuing when we got off...one person was on the outside of the port building to assign people to the correct line, but she seemed to end up having a line just to get told what line to get in. Once inside, it is CLEAR which line you should be in, so people cue to whatever is shortest for their documentation...they also opened another line next to the one we were in which helped w/the birth cert people. We did watch the line get longer behind us, but it was equivalent to the line for passports the whole time we were lined up.

Therefore, my advice would be...don't get off w/the first rush of people getting off and don't get off w/the last bunch either.

Carrie- say hi to Mattie and Sammy for Emi! I look at our door hangers from the family craft and think of you guys!
Take care
Chris

 

[pppiglet]

The line for passports was shorter, but when you get to the next part of going into the terminal, the passport line had 2 windows open and the BC line had 5-6 windows open. So even if you are in the long BC line, don't worry that you'll have to wait too long.

 

[JanetMB]

We were in the first group off the June 11-18th West Coast cruise (with pppiglet!). We all have passports and the lines were about the same at the time we got in line but the birth certificate line went much faster! The guy that started next to us in the birth certificate line got through maybe 15 minutes before us.

Our situation might have been because we were the first group off and the bc line just hadn't gotten too long yet.

-Janet

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

Because we had the late dinner seating, we were in a later group to disembark on the 6/11 Magic. I believe we began disembarking (our color group) about 9:45. At this time the passport line was very short and the BC line was very long. I had a passport, my sister & her son were in the BC line. It took them about 30 min. longer than I to get out. I got a porter, got my bags, took the shuttle to the car, loaded my stuff, called a friend and chatted for awhile and still had to wait around before they were out to meet me. They had a 12:30 flight from Orange County airport and we made it to the airport by about 11:40, but they almost missed their flight due to long lines at security.

 

[rsjj]

thanx for all the info! so here's what i've gather, from all of you...please correct me if i'm wrong...

if you get off, right when your color is called, bc line is shorter...wait around a bit, and bc line gets longer, with more people...

ok, now, will someone please explain the color calling thing? step by step description would be appreciated. again, thank you all in advance!

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

On disembarkation day, you go to breakfast in the same restaurant you had dinner in the night before. If you have 6:00 dinner, you go to breakfast at 7:00 a.m. (I think) and if you have 8:30 dinner you go to breakfast at 8:30 a.m. (that's what we had). When you enter the restaurant, you are given a colored Disney character sticker (we got Timon/purple). This is the group you will disembark with. Over the P.A. system, they call out when it is time for the different groups to disembark. We couldn't really linger in the dining room as they were cleaning up and setting up for the next group, so we sat in Preludes until we heard our color called. You go up to deck 4 to exit the ship. When we got up there, we got into the line that was there, but then realized that the people in line were people whose color HADN'T yet been called (they were lining up ahead of time), so we bypassed them and went on to a shorter line. After you leave the ship, you then get into either the BC line or passport line.

 

[pppiglet]

WE had last breakfast time of 8:55 in Lumieres. We didn't get in the long line inside. We just waited til everyone was through the door of the ship then got up from our chairs and got in line.

 

[rsjj]

On disembarkation day, you go to breakfast in the same restaurant you had dinner in the night before. If you have 6:00 dinner, you go to breakfast at 7:00 a.m. (I think) and if you have 8:30 dinner you go to breakfast at 8:30 a.m. (that's what we had). When you enter the restaurant, you are given a colored Disney character sticker (we got Timon/purple). This is the group you will disembark with. Over the P.A. system, they call out when it is time for the different groups to disembark. We couldn't really linger in the dining room as they were cleaning up and setting up for the next group, so we sat in Preludes until we heard our color called. You go up to deck 4 to exit the ship. When we got up there, we got into the line that was there, but then realized that the people in line were people whose color HADN'T yet been called (they were lining up ahead of time), so we bypassed them and went on to a shorter line. After you leave the ship, you then get into either the BC line or passport line.

this is great info! thanx for the detailed description!