Back-to-Back Cruise: Neeed to Disembark or Not?

[m steve]

and I expect it will run smoother than we had in Lauderdale. When we followed the instructions to disembark and go to a holding area briefly we ended up there for close to an hour as one couple decided to see how late they could stay on the ship and we had to wait until they finally left and the count was zero for immigration. On the other side we did get our duty free delivered on the last night so we had it to enjoy in our cabin on the next leg.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We do B2B cruises on Princess quite a lot, and usually (not always) our ship is docked in Berth 2 at Port Everglades, which is a wonderful location for a quick walk over to Walgreens or Publix. Which berth does HAL us (primarily, understanding more than one HAL ship in port would mean one of them is berthed elsewhere)? Is it close enough for a walk to Walgreens/Publix? Thanks!

 

At least one HAL ship will be docked at Pier #26 -- you will have to take a taxi to go to Walgreens and Publix -- which relocated to the Harbor Shops on Cordova Drive -- a little further away.

Many times when there has been 2 HAL ships in at the same time -- and there are several other cruise ships in -- we have been docked way down closer to Miami.

[Krazy Kruizers]

and I expect it will run smoother than we had in Lauderdale. When we followed the instructions to disembark and go to a holding area briefly we ended up there for close to an hour as one couple decided to see how late they could stay on the ship and we had to wait until they finally left and the count was zero for immigration. On the other side we did get our duty free delivered on the last night so we had it to enjoy in our cabin on the next leg.

 

Tampa -- have several out of there a couple of times -- one was a back-to-back.

We sat in the cruise terminal for nearly an hour -- all 9 of us!!

[sail7seas]

Does anyone know the regulations for Canadian passengers on a b2b from Fort Lauderdale? Will we have to clear customs first? We did a 3 day a couple of years ago from Seattle to Victoria to Astoria to Vancouver. In Astoria, we had to stand in a long line to clear customs which wasted a couple of hours of an already short port day. This may have been because we had been to a Canadian port and back to a US port. (even though we started in a US port)

 

If we have to go through this process, would booking a day tour that leaves at 8:30 expedite the process?

 

 

 

Everyone on a b-to-b has to clear Immigration in FLL whether they wish to go ashore or not. Immigration starts when disembarkation starts and is done in the terminal. An 'in transit' guest can usually go ashore as soon as debark begins and you should be able to clear Immigration and get on with your day.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Does anyone know the regulations for Canadian passengers on a b2b from Fort Lauderdale? Will we have to clear customs first? We did a 3 day a couple of years ago from Seattle to Victoria to Astoria to Vancouver. In Astoria, we had to stand in a long line to clear customs which wasted a couple of hours of an already short port day. This may have been because we had been to a Canadian port and back to a US port. (even though we started in a US port)

 

If we have to go through this process, would booking a day tour that leaves at 8:30 expedite the process?

 

This will vary in Ft Lauderdale depending on how many foreignors there are on the ship. We have seen when they were called to a certain lounge to first check in before having to get off the ship and go through US Immigration.

[Hlitner]

Does anyone know the regulations for Canadian passengers on a b2b from Fort Lauderdale? Will we have to clear customs first? We did a 3 day a couple of years ago from Seattle to Victoria to Astoria to Vancouver. In Astoria, we had to stand in a long line to clear customs which wasted a couple of hours of an already short port day. This may have been because we had been to a Canadian port and back to a US port. (even though we started in a US port)

 

If we have to go through this process, would booking a day tour that leaves at 8:30 expedite the process?

 

We believe your procedures are the same as for US Citizens. There is no customs involved since your luggage just stays on the ship. But you must leave the ship for a passport check and cannot return to the ship until the entire ship has been cleared by the authorities. This is not an issue for those that choose to remain ashore for a few hours and enjoy Ft Lauderdale. In that case you will just get off the ship, have your passport checked, and then you are free to go.

 

Hank

[4friends]

This will vary in Ft Lauderdale depending on how many foreignors there are on the ship. We have seen when they were called to a certain lounge to first check in before having to get off the ship and go through US Immigration.

 

This is what happened in Astoria. All non US citizens had to stand in a loooong line with our passport to have it looked at in the lounge, before we could leave. It was approx. 2 hours before we got through the line and there were many more behind us. We found this very frustrating as we had left from the US and would be returning to the ship that day.

[sail7seas]

Wow.... that sounds awful.

Was this on HAL? What ship? How many non-American guests were there in comparison to American? Half and half? How many people could there possibly be that the line would be so many hours just for non-Americans? :confused: Even Signature Class ships only hold 2300 give or take guests. Would be very rare for a HAL cruise to have less than half Americans.

[4friends]

Wow.... that sounds awful.

Was this on HAL? What ship? How many non-American guests were there in comparison to American? Half and half? How many people could there possibly be that the line would be so many hours just for non-Americans? :confused: Even Signature Class ships only hold 2300 give or take guests. Would be very rare for a HAL cruise to have less than half Americans.

 

It was the Oosterdam. Not sure ratio of guests but maybe more Canadian since it ended in Vancouver. It could be that the whole process was inefficient. There were many complaints. It was very trying for older guests or those with mobility challenges as very few places to sit as we slowly moved along. Hopefully we will not encounter this type of situation again in our travels.

[CruiserBruce]

This very unfortunate situation probably happened because Astoria is a long way from any standard entry place as far as Customs and Immigration is concerned. Not sure where they had to find ICE employees to come from. Probably didn't get very many inspectors.

[m steve]

and 9 of you were left cooling your heels. On my cruise there were 300 passengers doig the B2B and jammed into the holding area. I'm not making fun of your response just that there should be a way to clear the ship faster.

[Krazy Kruizers]

and 9 of you were left cooling your heels. On my cruise there were 300 passengers doig the B2B and jammed into the holding area. I'm not making fun of your response just that there should be a way to clear the ship faster.

 

None of us fussed about the wait.

We have had a lot worse in Ft Lauderdale -- up to 1 1/2 hour wait to get back on the ship -- over 200 of us and new passengers arriving at the same time -- very crowded.

[Hlitner]

The truth for us is we have been so fed-up with dealing with US authorities and their delays that we now avoid any back-to-backs into US ports and also try hard to minimize US ports while in the Caribbean (VI and PR). We were on another cruise that was held for 3 hours (and it was only a 6 hour port stop) in San Juan during a cruise stop (not even an embarkation/disembarkation port) because their computer system was down. We did not care since we had no plans to even get off the ship (another story because they later made us get off the ship) but many folks had tours and plans which were cancelled. Our recent Ft Lauderdale situation with the immigration folks (not too bad) was unavoidable because we boarded the ship in NYC, and then went direct to FLL before crossing the Atlantic. But I did manage to ask the immigration agent if he thought we picked-up some "bad guys" while cruising at 18 knots between NYC and Florida.

 

Hank