Customs/Immigration Control

[bmckim]

Do you go through Customs/Immigration Control when getting off the ship? Particularly on our cruise in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. (Obviously not in USVI or Puerto Rico)

[cherylandtk]

The only place you will notice the customs and immigration inspection is in your final port when you return, but technically there is a customs and immigration procedure for the ship in each foreign port and in any US port after visiting a foreign port.

[CruiserBruce]

In most cases, only when you return to your home port. The ship "clears" everyone on standard port stops.

 

Some exceptions- Tunisa, Russa, Australia, when sailing from outside Australia, although the cruise lines have adapted several procedures to make this very easy there.

[cruisinmimiof3]

There is customs in those ports, but they let you in and out with no issues. They basically "clear the ship" when it ports. Everyone gets off, and when you get back on they want to see a pic id and your ship card. Ship card--sign and sail. Make sure and take both with you whenever you debark the ship!

[maldenmusic]

I've had a customs agent ask me if I bought any alcohol and that's about it.

[maryred]

Getting off the ship in the caribbean almost never, though some European/Asian ports may make you go through some sort of Customs/Immigration Control process. Getting back on the ship is a different story depending on the port and that country's current standards you may need to go back through a security check that includes showing your ID or other documentation along with something to prove your from the ship.

 

2 years ago while reboarding in Canada the lady in front of me was detained by a port's Custom official because her driver's license and her S&S card did not have matching last names. Luckily she was able to call a traveling companion, already back on board, to retrieve her other documents to prove the link between the 2 names. She did not argue w/ the official but did state she was told all she needed to get back on board from this port was her DL and S&S card, when the official asked who told her that she said it was part of a discussion online with other cruisers. The custom's official just smiled and said that piece of advice was as accurate as free online legal advice and that the passenger should of checked the Canadian Immigration Control site for the lastest info. After 10 minutes of holding the line up a 2nd custom's person escorted her somewhere to wait for the other person to show w/ the paperwork.

[smeyer418]

every ship undergoes a customs and immigration check at every port. If you have ever seen this done, there is a comic air around it. The official designated by the port/government to clear the ship comes on board, he is taken to an area where the ship has coffee and maybe breakfast out for him/her. The "papers" are laid out on a table. The official sits down. Coffee is brought for them. Depending on how officious the official is, they may or may not look at any of the papers. They then stamp some paper and the ship is cleared and then they finish breakfast.

If there are disembarking(not just visiting but getting off permanently) passengers or crew those people will be screened more closely either on the ship(sometimes) or a designated place on land.

 

BTW when the advise is to carry a government issued id and the shipboard ID, its always assumed that the names will match- if they don't you have to bring a transition document that shows your shipboard name too...

[MrYellowDuck]

The approach used entering New Zealand from Australia on a cruise ship is to have the NZ officials on-board during the crossing of the Tasman Sea. Over the course of the two days everyone is given a time to go and have a quick chat with the officials.

 

When we did this the officials were set-up with laptops in one of the dining rooms and the process took less than five minutes.

[jmcruisers0630]

It's just when you get back to USA. When my husband & I were going through customs & immigration coming back from the Bahamas, they took my husband aside (I'm a citizen, he was a permanent resident at the time). They asked him a bunch of questions like "Why did you go to the Caribbean? Was it vacation? What company do you work for? Where do you live?" etc. I don't know if it was because he was just a resident or if the official saw his very Hispanic-looking name & face, but we were NOT expecting that at all.

On our next cruise, he was a citizen, & we had no problems whatsoever. :)

[RoofingPrincess]

You *may* have to go through an onboard immigration process if your itinerary has a US port (like San Juan or St Thomas) after it has visited a foreign port. This generally involves standing in a long line that snakes through the dining room and having your passport (or other documents) quickly checked.

[MrYellowDuck]

Immigration the world over targets people based on local prejudices.

 

For us entering the US it works in our favor. We're white, 40 something with young children, and come from a country more desirable to live in than the US - there's not a chance we'll stay beyond on visa waiver limit of 90 days.

 

Our best experience was entering through LAX where we were pulled from a very long line and told "you're not what we're look for, go and stand in the US line". Our worst was standing behind a plane from Mexico - it took three hours to get to the front, and then about 25 seconds to get processed.

 

In Australia, to where I travel quite often, I am almost always pulled from the line for agricultural screening and told I can just go.

 

I once read that you need to display the persona of a comatose bored person to be profiled as not interesting. For years I have put on this act, although frankly it's not an act, and things have generally worked well for me; what I can't tell I guess is whether this would happen anyway.

 

If you are unlucky enough to "look suspicious" then you're screwed frankly. A colleague I travel with occasionally is like this and he gets stopped for a "random" search at every single check point - it's comical really. He's short, muscular from weight lifting, and wears a tweed style jacket that simply looks strange.