Is this a new procedure?

[barb-ottawa]

My daughter just emailed me from the Sun. She was told that on disembarkation day, all non-US passengers have to be in the Stardust Lounge at 6:30 AM. Anyone know what this is all about? I didn't have to do this on any of my NCL cruises. Not a good way to finish off your holiday and sure makes for a very long day for those who have a long trip home!

[Chipster2]

It has been this was for as long as I have been cruising and that has not been that long. Non US citizens have to go before they can start clearing the ship. I do not recall if it is customs or immigration.

[barb-ottawa]

Hmmm, sailed the Dawn in November in Miami and didn't have to do this. Got up in the morning, went for breakfast, then waited for my color to be called to disembark.

[swedish weave]

My daughter just emailed me from the Sun. She was told that on disembarkation day, all non-US passengers have to be in the Stardust Lounge at 6:30 AM. Anyone know what this is all about? I didn't have to do this on any of my NCL cruises. Not a good way to finish off your holiday and sure makes for a very long day for those who have a long trip home!

 

It depends on how Immigration wants to handle their procedures on any given cruise. I have seen it done this way, and other times they do it on the dock by separating the lines.

 

When they do it on the ship, nobody can disembark until all non-US citizens have been cleared. It is very bad when some do not show up and delay everybody.

 

The decision is not made by NCL. It is US immigration who dictates how they will do it.

[Jokelady]

We sailed last year in Feb. and we were aboard the Star coming back to LA from Mexican Riviera. We had to go to the lounge and see customs as we were Canadians. They told us to go there at a certain time as well. I figured this was standard procedure for NCL. It will be interesting to see how they do it on the Dawn in a few weeks when we go on our 9 day cruise. Thank goodness our flight is late afternoon too.

[faymuiheng]

We did the exact same thing, coming in from Mexico. But not at 630am.

 

That would've been awful.

[aknz]

There was no problem coming into either Miami or New York over the last year or so, just a separate line for non US citizens once off the ship, almost shorter than the US one. Have had far more problems in previous years, having our passports take off us etc but not recently (maybe since ESTA?). :)

[njhorseman]

The bottom line is that there can be different procedures used by CBP in different ports, and the procedures themselves change from time to time.

 

A few years ago, we (US citizens) once had to awaken early for an immigration check when returning to NY while foreign nationals were allowed to sleep late. Now that was bizarre. Nothing like intentionally incoveniencing your own citizens. :rolleyes:

[sverigecruiser]

My daughter just emailed me from the Sun. She was told that on disembarkation day, all non-US passengers have to be in the Stardust Lounge at 6:30 AM. Anyone know what this is all about? I didn't have to do this on any of my NCL cruises. Not a good way to finish off your holiday and sure makes for a very long day for those who have a long trip home!

 

After she had been in the Stardust Lounge, was she allowed to go back to her cabin? When we came back to Hawaii after our visit to Fanning Island a few years ago we had to go to one of the lounges and see immigration but after that we could just go back to our cabin or anywhere we wanted. (That wasn't on embarkation day since we had a stop on Hawaii before our embarkation in Honolulu.)

[FuninWB]

This procedure was also followed when we came back from Bermuda on the Spirit this past fall. Immigration met with non U.S, citizens early on disembarkation morning.

[iheartbda]

The bottom line is that there can be different procedures used by CBP in different ports, and the procedures themselves change from time to time.

 

A few years ago, we (US citizens) once had to awaken early for an immigration check when returning to NY while foreign nationals were allowed to sleep late. Now that was bizarre. Nothing like intentionally incoveniencing your own citizens. :rolleyes:

 

And then there was the time in Phila. when all US pax had to wait a very long time to disembark while all non-US pax were cleared. I watched the disgruntled pax scurrying down the ramp from up on deck.;):D

[barb-ottawa]

Surely she will be allowed to at least go for breakfast after she leaves the lounge and they won't shoo them off the boat at that time! Guess we were fortunate that leaving the Dawn in Miami, we did the immigration stuff after we left the ship.

[Springwater21]

we were on the Star in Feb this year, when arriving back in LA we had to meet immigration at the La Cucina restaurant at 7:25am. since we were suite passengers our butler took us there, we were about 12th in line. It was a fast and smooth procedure. We had breakfast early(in the buffet) but would have like to have eaten in Cagneys one last time..we were almost first off the ship, as everyone still has to go thru customs in the terminal. I would have liked a more leisurely morning, but that was the rules..Dona

[goose30]

The early lineup happened to my cousin's, uncle's, son.

[guyver]

We came off of the Sun a couple weeks ago. We also had the 6:30 am thing happen. It was fairly painless and the lines moved quickly.

 

Once through, you were allowed to go about your business until your tag color was called.

[sverigecruiser]

we were on the Star in Feb this year, when arriving back in LA we had to meet immigration at the La Cucina restaurant at 7:25am. since we were suite passengers our butler took us there, we were about 12th in line. It was a fast and smooth procedure. We had breakfast early(in the buffet) but would have like to have eaten in Cagneys one last time..we were almost first off the ship, as everyone still has to go thru customs in the terminal. I would have liked a more leisurely morning, but that was the rules..Dona

 

So you were not allowed to go to Cagney´s after you met immigration?

[SPMorrissey]

The early lineup happened to my cousin's, uncle's, son.

My Husband too.

[newmexicoNita]

My daughter just emailed me from the Sun. She was told that on disembarkation day, all non-US passengers have to be in the Stardust Lounge at 6:30 AM. Anyone know what this is all about? I didn't have to do this on any of my NCL cruises. Not a good way to finish off your holiday and sure makes for a very long day for those who have a long trip home!

 

not unusual and it has nothing to do with NCL, it is up to customs. Maybe you didn't do this on the Dawn because the ship hadn't been cleared yet or was just docking at that time.

 

Nita

[JohnIreland]

The early lineup happened to my cousin's, uncle's, son.

 

Is that yourself ?

[smeyer418]

it varies by port and sometimes which pier you are at. In NY they are set up just like the airports with immigration lines at pier 88. At pier 90 and 92, I believe they just clear on the ship as described above by others. CBP dictates how this is to be done...not the cruise line. They send immigration inspectors on board. The cruise line picks the venue on the ship. They are clearing you against the manifest that has the nationalities of all the passengers.

 

Occasionally it is customs(different inspectors) who wants to see particular passengers(because of reported purchases), but that is fairly rare.

 

and you should know that CBP has been known to change the flow on the morning of disembarkation without any warning to the cruise line(that is what happened in Philly).

[che5904]

Just got off the Star from MR at Port of LA, Mar 5. We were on a ship tour and given a time to meet in the Stardust. When we arrived we were told we should have received a letter stating to be there 30 minutes prior for Non-US citizens. But was told since we didn't receive the letter it was no big deal. When going through customs there were 2 lines, one for US citizens and one for Non-US. They appeared to move about the same rate and it really was no big deal.

[canpass]

When we came of the Gem in New York you were asked to go to a special area if you had goods to declare in excess other than that it was very routine. Border Protection may be looking for someone in particular because of the pre arrival process