Allen at the Port of Miami in not a pleasant person

By Bill Peckham

Getting off the Valor in Miami took longer than expected. The porter who helped my Mom and I with our seven pieces of luggage shared that it always took longer when a ship had stopped, as we had, in Belize. The line crawled along in fits and starts and it was just about noon when the eight NxStage Freedom cruisers heading to the LaQuinta cleared customs and were waiting on the curb for our prearranged ride to the hotel.

By this time the next 2,000 people traveling on the Valor were already arriving in mass, so when our driver from the Miami Sunshine Transportation company showed up he was stuck a lane away from the curb. Considering the hundreds of pounds of dialysis machines and luggage I asked him to go around and wait to get in on the curb lane. So we all waited in the cold (it's in the 30s or 40s today in Miami) another long five minutes for him to make a loop.

By the time he made it back around the curb lane was again in use by someone dropping off, so our driver had to wait for the spot to open up. That's when Miami-Dade county employee Allen showed up and decided to teach our driver a lesson, as opposed to being helpful and clearing space on the curb. There would be no help from Allen, she was determined to give our driver a very hard time. She insisted that he had solicited us (which according to her is against Port of Miami rules) but that was not the case, we had prepaid for our transportation back to the hotel before we left because we knew we'd need a van with a trailer to handle all our equipment.

And, as needed, our driver showed up dragging a trailer to handle all our stuff. It was pretty clear that Allan had some preexisting beef with the driver and didn't give a damn if we had to suffer while she got even. She insisted that if he hadn't solicited us on the spot then he should have a manifest with each and every one of our names, first and last ... it didn't matter that, on our inadequately warm coats, we all had little stickers indicating that we were waiting for the Miami Sunshine Transportation company to give us a ride. Allen insisted our driver was suppose to have a manifest that I knew he didn't have.

I knew this because when our 20 person group was organizing our transportation back from the ship I simply wrote: Peckham (2) to indicate the number in my party back to the hotel. Others did the same for rides to the airport or wherever. None of the other drivers got hassled in the least. Clearly this was something between our driver and Allen but because she dismissed our explanation, insisting that he had solicited us, I called bullshit. It was very aggravating and I told Allen what I thought of her. You would think someone in her position, in a tourism based economy, would keep their personal beefs away from the visitors. She was making us pay for something the driver had done previously.

Eventually Allen retreated (we had been out there for about an hour) and another county employee came over and there was no problem. Our driver got next to the curb, we loaded our stuff and we were on our way to the hotel. It took all of about five minutes once Allen left.

So what was the beef? we asked the driver. He was still pretty worked up but eventually it came out. Allen wears those colored contacts - she had green eyes the day we saw her - and once when she was wearing blue contacts our driver suggested she take them off.

Well, I know enough that that is going to cause some hurt feelings but if you're going to go around with unnatural eye colors you should probably expect some feedback and really she made a very poor decision to involve us in her little beef. I called her Sergeant as soon as we were on our way and he apologized but the fact is there are a lot of ports you can take a cruise ship from and people out directing the crush of traffic should be there for the visitors not to salve their bruised egos.

Comments

[M3Riddler]

Despite Tamika, Sounds like everyone had a great time. This goes to show that Anything is possible with NxStage. We have Freedom we would not have otherwise...
Thanks to all who put this cruise together including Bill, Rich, Pat and Nxstage for its Delivery of Supplies.....
Cant wait for the Next Event. As long as its on dry ground and doesnt involve a boat rocking up and down, I will do my best to be there.....

Welcome Back Cruisers.....

Brian

[Rich Berkowitz]

@Brian... we're already beginning to plan the dry ground events. Please give us your 2 cents worth. I was also booked with Miami Sunshine to the airport, but Bill suggested we just take a taxi. Once again his advice war right on! We got to the airport fine, but that's where the trouble began. Bill had his Allen and I had my Luciano DiLorenzo, Badge 1056604. He was an American Airlines supervisor who refused to let our medical equipment go free and insisted we pay for oversized baggage. He would not listen to reason and was incredibly rude. AA will definitiely hear about him from me. Of course I didn;t stop there and saw an AA employee dressed in a sportcoat instead of a uniform. It turned out he was a higher up at the airport. He interceded and we got the cycler and other bag carrying medical equipment and supplies on then. Sorry Luciano, but you will be made an example to other airline personnel that we can fly with our equipment going no charge.