Lots of Action During Turnaround Time in Port

Ever wonder what happens during those two or three hours between the moment your ship comes into port at the end of a cruise and the time you are finally permitted to disembark?

Not long ago we followed Royal Cruise Line’s director of passenger services, Bruce Setloff, behind the scenes at the Port of Los Angeles as he dealt with the turnaround aboard the Royal Odyssey, handling everything from missing baggage to customs officials with canine companions who sniff suitcases in search of contraband souvenirs.

In eight or nine hours he was responsible for disembarking nearly 800 passengers in the morning, giving a ship’s tour and lunch to 250 travel agents, then embarking 800 new passengers in the afternoon.

Setloff, a 38-year-old with dark hair, mustache and horn-rimmed glasses, is a dynamo who tackles problems with as much zest as if he were competing in a particularly stimulating and challenging game.

Missing 60 Bags

“Once, in Alaska,” Setloff says, “when we were missing 60 bags and the United flight from Chicago was an hour late, we hired float planes to meet the ship the next morning at daybreak by Columbia Glacier. The passengers eating breakfast on deck could watch their bags being loaded onto the ship.”

On this day a template with the colors of each baggage section was hung on the wall and corresponding color sections marked for each group of suitcases.

Setloff’s first goal for the morning was to start disembarking the first group of passengers, those with the earliest flights, by 9:30. He watched as the customs officers and their dogs checked every suitcase, and said with resignation: “Now it’s up to a dog to tell us when we can let the passengers off.”

By 9:25 he could radio shore excursions manager Scott Will to announce that everyone with orange tags on their luggage could proceed to customs. At the gangway, cruise director Alan Lloyd was shaking hands and saying goodby to each passenger, not only as a courtesy but also to help control the flow of traffic.

By 9:30 a.m. the first group of passengers arrived in the customs shed. An anxious couple with blue tags (designating a 2:30 p.m. flight) had come down the gangway with the orange group. Setloff shook his head in dismay and said: “Now they’ll have to sit around here and wait until their bus is ready to leave, instead of staying on the ship and being comfortable.”

‘Keep ‘Em Flowing’

At 9:35 a.m. the chief customs officer told Setloff to “keep ‘em flowing a little faster.” Setloff told Will to have the next group disembark.

The peak of the confusion came at 9:50 a.m., in what Setloff calls “the half-hour of controlled chaos.” One man, irate because he couldn’t find his bag, was unable to recall its color, size or shape. Within a few minutes Setloff found it by checking each name tag in the area until he found the right one.

He was eager to have the customs hall clear by 11 a.m., but it was 11:14 a.m. before the customs agents slid the glass doors closed. “I was about 14 minutes off,” he said. “We had a lot of luggage problems today.”

There were still six bags, two boxes and a transparent garment bag unclaimed in the empty customs shed. Two bags he designated as “swaps,” meaning that someone had taken someone else’s bag instead of his own.

Those bags that had flight numbers on their tags were sent immediately to the airport. One piece of hand baggage left behind had no tag on it, but when the staff looked inside, they found bottles of prescription medication with the owner’s name.

By midday the first group of passengers for the evening sailing had arrived at the airport and had been transferred to a hotel hospitality room. By 2:10 p.m. a long line of people were waiting to embark, so an ever-patient, ever-smiling passenger-service representative was sent to move down the line, telling passengers what papers to have ready for the pursers.

Be Realistic

Setloff provided some tips to help passengers in the complicated procedure of disembarkation:

First, be realistic and allow four hours between the time the ship returns from your cruise and the practical departure time for a flight. “Don’t even think about flying before midday,” he said.

Make a final check of your cabin to be sure you’re taking everything with you that you brought. He has had frantic phone calls from passengers who have left everything from a set of dentures to a closetful of formal gowns.

Keep an account of how much you spent on shopping during the cruise, and have the receipts ready in case a customs officer asks to see them.

Pay careful attention to the disembarkation procedures explained by the ship’s staff, and follow their directions exactly.

Take a good look at your bags before setting them outside your cabin door for pickup, so you can describe any that may be misplaced later.

Be sure that the baggage you collect is your own. Check for your own name tag before you take it out of the terminal. Once you leave the customs area you will not be permitted to reenter.