As our first time on a ship designed to carry 4,000+ people on board for a week, we drove the five hours from our home to the port with a certain level of excitement. This soon dissolved upon arrival at the port when the driver from the extended parking lot announced that we could either sit in the van or we could unload and stand in line for an hour or more. We all chose the latter.

Once in the unloading bay, the driver cheerfully asked that we all stay inside until our luggage was unloaded from the trailer. Some left the van early only to be corralled by the porters until their work was done. Then everyone was cleared to leave the van. The porter then announced: “Who wants to show their appreciation for the porters please step forward and identify your luggage” What? This classic shakedown is usually reserved for correctional institutions. I stepped forward while pushing my four-wheel trunk with a small token saying to my new luggage “I hope to see you again”. Couple hours later we were reunited, so the tip worked.

Then we were off to find the end of the line, which happens to be two serpentine columns of humanity over and down to reach the social end of the line. The social end is defined as the far end, an absence of cutting, and cheating-in where most reasonable people go to join the queue. A shout out goes to the majority of the people that respected this social norm. However, a small minority used brazen cutting and a subtle move that was straight out of Oceans Eleven. Feinting to need the restroom they jumped on the elevator away from view to be transported well ahead of the masses below. To say the process was a joke would be an insult to bad jokes. Getting to the ship was a mix of super bowl madness and animal house. Some lines were a simple “L” shaped right to the counters, while another serpentine throughout the too small terminal. For an experiment, I approached one of the line keepers and said: “We are in the Owner’s suite, is there a different line?” He replied, “No, that doesn’t make a difference here”. So, we waited and waited, 120 minutes in all. In it together vibe and positive attitudes of the passengers, we endured together with a shrug and a smile. NCL really needs to look at this as it’s on the cutting edge of their experience. Read more