dieseltaylor Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Just goes to show how the " essential" relationship with the UK works in practice. Incidentally the idea that a terrorist would want to infiltrate a cruise ship in order to enter the US is rather fanciful given the age profile of most cruise passengers. You don't mess with US immigration officials. That was the painful lesson learned by passengers on a P&O cruise ship recently as they travelled through the Land of the Free. On a 10-week Alaska Adventure - a rare round-trip voyage from Southampton - the ship had already called at 10 American ports before it arrived in Los Angeles on May 26. But the one-day visit turned into a nightmare when rigorous security checks took seven hours to complete. Every passenger was fingerprinted on both hands, retina scans were taken, and they were subjected to detailed passport examinations and questioned about their background. The passengers, many of them elderly, have claimed that the extra checks were taken by spiteful immigration officials in retaliation to comments made about their over-zealous behaviour. They complained they were left to stand in queues in soaring temperatures, with no food or water, and with limited access to toilets. The ship left Southampton on April 12, and had already visited the Caribbean, Central America and Alaska. It was on its way back to the Panama Canal when it stopped at Los Angeles. Because of the delays the the visit was extended by a day, and a call at Roatan in Honduras was cancelled. A total of 15 stops were scheduled at US ports during the 72-night cruise, and passengers had all completed standard US immigration (ESTA) forms designed for multiple-entry trips. The Daily Telegraph reports that 60-year-old John Randall, a retired dentist from Wigan, wrote to the Captain to complain about the treatment meted out by the US officials. ""We are holiday makers, here to try and enjoy ourselves - we are not potential inmates of Guantalamo Bay, and should not be treated as such." A spokeswoman for P&O said today: "The delay in immigration procedures was largely to blame on issues with the Customs and Borer Protection computer systems, not aided by the verbal approach that a minority of our passengers, clearly frustrated by the delay, took with the local immigration officers. "The US has a record for the most stringent and thorough security and entry requirements in the world, and they felt the need to enhance their security checks further, which they have the power to do. This is something that did not happen on our call in San Francisco, where formalities were completed in an acceptable timeframe. "Whilst the entire process took seven hours, passengers were called in deck order and we estimate the maximum queue length to have been one hour." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie_Oz Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Well you have to handle Tourists, especially British Tourists and doubly so Old British Tourists with the biggest pair of kid gloves you can find. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 I think the thing thta probably riled them was the fact that the same people had already been in several US ports and through the process already - so you would think that the people on-board might already been "pre-vetted" by the time they got to Los Angeles. SO its the illogic that is galling. However to be fair California des seem to excel in bureacracy. The Economist has an article about a small artisan yoghurt maker who was raided for making yoghurt that did not meet code from 1947. Basically she contravened the 1947 treatment requirements for the milk. She pointed out that the regulations pre-dated the arrival of pasteurisation and what they required was met by using pasteurised milk that she was buying in. They required her to basically build a factory to suit the 1947 guidelines for her lbs of weekly produce. The kicker is that she is not allowed to buy pateurised milk and meet the requirements by pasteurising again as that would also be against a law. Land of the free? Incidentally I see that various states have requirments before you can practice your trade. In one state it is required for inrterior designers to be licensed!! WTF. A NY ethnic hair-braider went out to Nevada AFAIR and in order to practice hairbraiding she was required to study to be a beautician and pay for a 2000$ course to be licensed. The course did not actually cover hairbraiding anyway. WTF! It is kind of sad. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 A NY ethnic hair-braider went out to Nevada AFAIR and in order to practice hairbraiding she was required to study to be a beautician and pay for a 2000$ course to be licensed. The course did not actually cover hairbraiding anyway. WTF! It is kind of sad. Hey you wanna be a Federal Republic with anything not specifically allotted to the Central Govt as reserved for the states...or whatever it is... Now see if you'd stuck with a monarchy.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 From my cruise along the coastline of Alaska I remember very well the small raft circling the cruise ship with a manned M60 in the front! Intriguing. Best regards, Thomm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 You got to be careful with those Somali pirates about 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 From my cruise along the coastline of Alaska I remember very well the small raft circling the cruise ship with a manned M60 in the front! Intriguing. Best regards, Thomm Meet Sarah Palin. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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