Debarkation time for non Americans off of Jewel in Tampa

[cantw8togo]

It is my understanding immigration is handled differently in Tampa and that non US citizens have to clear customs in a lounge on board and then wait until all of the US citizens have gotten off before we can leave. What is the earliest time that foreign nationals can expect to get off barring fog or high seas delaying getting into port?

 

Can you spend this time waiting in the comfort of your cabin or are you expected to vacate it by a certain time and hang out in the crowded lounges?

 

Thanks.

[Langley Cruisers]

...non US citizens have to clear customs in a lounge on board and then wait until all of the US citizens have gotten off before we can leave....

 

Where did you hear or read this?

[hancogran]

:confused: Not sure where that info came from but we've never had to go through that.

 

When you disembark, there is a separate customs line for non U.S. citizens and that's the one you go too. When we sailed Voyager last year, the U.S. customs lines were all very busy, but there was only one other couple in front of us in the non U.S. line. :D

 

Also, we've always just received our numbered zone departure ticket along with everybody else...U.S. and non U.S. all together. We've never had to wait until U.S. citizens were all off.:confused: You will be told what time to vacate your cabin, and assigned a waiting area to go to until your number is called. Normally, they use the lounges, etc. for waiting.

[tahqa]

This appears to be something that ONLY happens at Tampa. When I was trying to disembark Radiance out of Tampa last year all of the foreign nationals were supposed to clear customs in the Bombay club first. Unfortunately the American citizens were not allowed to disembark until after all foreigners were cleared and we were delayed for about an hour because of this. We were waiting in the main dining room and there were about five announcements for foreign nationals to go to the Bombay club to be cleared and then they started calling for them by name. I don't know why it's done this way in Tampa, but that's the only port that I've had this happen. :confused:

[babette95]

This appears to be something that ONLY happens at Tampa. When I was trying to disembark Radiance out of Tampa last year all of the foreign nationals were supposed to clear customs in the Bombay club first. Unfortunately the American citizens were not allowed to disembark until after all foreigners were cleared and we were delayed for about an hour because of this. We were waiting in the main dining room and there were about five announcements for foreign nationals to go to the Bombay club to be cleared and then they started calling for them by name. I don't know why it's done this way in Tampa, but that's the only port that I've had this happen. :confused:

 

We were on that same sailing! What a mess that was! And that was our first time sailing RCL. I wonder why Tampa does it this way? It doesn't seem very fair. It only takes 1 person to hold up the entire ship.

[Bobal]

We recently disembarked Jewel in Tampa (we're UK citizens). We got off the ship with everyone else and just entered a different line once we were off the ship. We all remarked that for once it was nice to be at an advantage being a non-US citizen :) as the lines were much smaller

[tahqa]

We were on that same sailing! What a mess that was! And that was our first time sailing RCL. I wonder why Tampa does it this way? It doesn't seem very fair. It only takes 1 person to hold up the entire ship.

Dunno... but all other things being equal I'd rather make the drive down to Port Everglades or PoM than go through that at Tampa again.

[tahqa]

We recently disembarked Jewel in Tampa (we're UK citizens). We got off the ship with everyone else and just entered a different line once we were off the ship. We all remarked that for once it was nice to be at an advantage being a non-US citizen :) as the lines were much smaller

Maybe Tampa has gotten their act together. :)

[cantw8togo]

We recently disembarked Jewel in Tampa (we're UK citizens). We got off the ship with everyone else and just entered a different line once we were off the ship. We all remarked that for once it was nice to be at an advantage being a non-US citizen :) as the lines were much smaller

 

This is reassuring to hear as we are sailing out of Tampa on the Jewel in January.

 

I had read about this on a thread in the Florida Departure Ports section, and admittedly the thread was predominantly about Carnival's Legend, but someone mentioned that it was an immigration issue, not a cruiseline issue and I thought all cruiselines might be handled the same way. As well, in a recent review, someone mentioned that his Canadian wife was delayed debarking, but the US citizens were off quite quickly.

 

Thanks for clarrifying this.

[sergeant655]

This appears to be something that ONLY happens at Tampa. When I was trying to disembark Radiance out of Tampa last year all of the foreign nationals were supposed to clear customs in the Bombay club first. Unfortunately the American citizens were not allowed to disembark until after all foreigners were cleared and we were delayed for about an hour because of this. We were waiting in the main dining room and there were about five announcements for foreign nationals to go to the Bombay club to be cleared and then they started calling for them by name. I don't know why it's done this way in Tampa, but that's the only port that I've had this happen. :confused:

 

It is the sqme in San Diego and San Paedro (L.A.). The line for non us citizens usually runs to the other end of the ship and can take an hour. San diego did not allow disembakation untill tje last person cleared customs causing chaos in the atrium as people were going to miss thier plane. Luckly for me i was staying onboard for the next cruise

[niagaracris]

Is a Tampa thing....

Not the cruiseline.

Have experienced it Twice in Tampa. Not out of Port Canaveral.

[negc]

We were on that same sailing! What a mess that was! And that was our first time sailing RCL. I wonder why Tampa does it this way? It doesn't seem very fair. It only takes 1 person to hold up the entire ship.

 

The same process took place in Boston on the Transatlantic cruise and debarkation of all passengers was delayed at least half an hour while they repeatedly called for all non-US citizens to report to the Safari Club to be processed by US authorities. Those passengers were scheduled to report to Customs at 6:30 am but it was after 9:00 am when the announcements finally ended. We were still off the ship by 9:30 and simply had to turn in our customs declaration as we left the ship.

I don't recall any inordinate delays last year when we arrived in Tampa. Our flight home is around 3 pm so we wlll not be in a rush to disembark.:)