Passengers aboard a cruise ship that docked in San Francisco Tuesday morning said they endured a nightmare experience.

Instead of spending the day touring the city, they were stuck on the ship, waiting for hours to go through customs screening.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Encore arrived in San Francisco from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at 7:30 a.m. It took nearly nine hours for some passengers to process through customs before they could get off.

“What was supposed to be a wonderful vacation in San Francisco has turned into a nightmare,” passenger Ginger Rolf said.

Rolf said all 3,100 passengers and 1,700 crew members had to disembark and get screened by
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but the process took all day.

“I’ve been on five cruises and I’ve never had a problem, ever,” passenger Arthur Morrisette said. “I’ve never gone through this anywhere.”

Passengers said some people were stuck on the ship the entire day, and those who did get off couldn’t get back on until the screening was complete.

In a statement, Norwegian Cruise Line said, “As per federal regulation, all passengers are required to go through an immigration screening at the first U.S. port when returning from an international destination.”

CBP cited several reasons for Tuesday’s delays, including the ship docking three hours late and a deceased passenger needing to be processed by the coroner’s office before screening could begin. CBP also said half of the passengers were foreign nationals who require biometric screening, including an interview and fingerprinting. Additionally, the facial recognition technology used to screen U.S. citizens was broken, so everyone had to undergo the biometric screening usually reserved for foreign nationals.

Experienced cruisers said the level of screening was something they’ve never experienced before. They said most passengers were fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed before being allowed to disembark.

“They asked you questions,” passenger David Jones said. “I showed him my driver’s license, my veteran’s card, showed them everything.”

The Norwegian Encore is scheduled to depart San Francisco Wednesday evening.