Sailing out of Port Canaveral this year? You might want to leave a little extra time for boarding.
The Transportation Security Administration plans to beef up the passenger screening process at the world's third busiest cruise ship port -- a change that could mean longer lines and added delays for vacationers waiting to get on ships.
In a story today about the new security measures, the Orlando Sentinel reports that the TSA has assembled a team of security specialists from federal and local agencies who will be randomly deployed at the port to more heavily screen passengers and their bags.
"One day we might have on-site an expert on fraudulent documents and another expert on behavior," a TSA official told the paper. "The next, we might have none or we might have 10 other experts. The idea is to keep things random and unpredictable."
The Sentinel notes that Port Canaveral is the second port in the state where the TSA is upgrading security. The Port of Jacksonville was the first.
The number of people cruising out of Port Canaveral has grown rapidly over the past decade and is expected to continue growing for a least the next few years. Earlier this month the Disney Cruise Line, which has two ships on order, announced plans to base them at the port when they launch in 2011 and 2012. And Royal Caribbean also announced plans this month to base one of the world's largest ships, the 3,634-passenger Freedom of the Seas, at the port starting in 2009.
Yep this should increase the wait time... but honestly, it's always been a very quick boarding process at Pt Canaveral, compared to both Miami and Ft Lauderdale. I imagine that, even if it increases significantly, the time it takes to board there will still continue to be (at most) half that of either of those other two.
I hope we don't have any problems! Our cruise is on May 25th, I just recently found out that there will be a space shuttle launch that day, and now this. I am also glad for the extra security, but now I'm really worried. My flight doesn't arrive until 12:30 p.m. Unfortunately, my friends who are traveling with us can't leave the day before! So I guess we'll have to cross our fingers.And I guess a prayer or two won't hurt either!! lol
We cruised out of Canaveral a couple of weeks ago.
Boarding:
From the time we got out of the car until we walked on board: about 20 minutes.
Disembarkation:
From the time they 'called' us until we were outside waiting for our ride: about 15 minutes.
We do have diamond level prioritiy boarding and disembarkation, and we did carry our bags off, so that probably made a huge difference.
I like the extra security, they say get there 2 hours before the ship is scheduled to depart, and for this reason.
We lack security at our ports across the US, in fact we lack security at the airports too, yes I said it. I saw some pretty scary stuff the other day at an airport in the NY/NJ area I wont say which coughEWRcough one. No screening for the employees, they just walked in slopply flashed their ID and the screener barely looked.. I was like
I like the extra security, they say get there 2 hours before the ship is scheduled to depart, and for this reason.
We lack security at our ports across the US, in fact we lack security at the airports too, yes I said it. I saw some pretty scary stuff the other day at an airport in the NY/NJ area I wont say which coughEWRcough one. No screening for the employees, they just walked in sloppily flashed their ID and the screener barely looked.. I was like ...
Today while driving through Times Square a NYPD Officer pointed me and a few others to the side. The officer walked up to my window and said Drivers License please we are doing random Security checks... I was a bit confused, made a joke that he did not like (I said sure thing I just bought it this AM...) I was laughing.. Anyway, he took my license and came back a minute later and said thank you have a nice day. I sent my friend who is NYPD a text about it asking him what that was all about... No answer yet.
Anyway I am rambling off-topic here, point being, I am glad to see this, we need more stuff like this.. More randomness!
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