Yesterday cruise passengers at Port Everglades waited for up to four hours in long lines to be processed by customs and border protection officials.
Due to budget cuts caused by the federal budget sequester, there were only three U.S. Customs Border Protection Officers working.
There were also long lines of passengers waiting to board the cruise ships in port.
WSVN-7 interviewed a number of passengers from the Carnival Freedom cruise ship.
Carnival has become under criticism of late for paying less than one percent in local. state and federal taxes on its billions and billions collected from cruise passengers over the years. Last year, Carnival collected over $15 billion dollars alone.
Most cruise passengers take for granted the enormous costs associated with funding the federal agencies which provide services to the cruise lines free of charge.