Customs in St. Thomas?

[Bazel]

Last trip to St. Thomas (a little over 2 years ago) we had to get up at the crack of dawn to go through a comical customs inspection. Are cruise lines still being require to parade all passengers past customs before disembarking? What about in San Juan?

 

Thx,

 

BZ

[Cabin8538]

We just sailed the Disney Magic in October and had to "Present" ourselves for Customs Clearance. It only took a few minutes.

[KenMo]

Last trip to St. Thomas (a little over 2 years ago) we had to get up at the crack of dawn to go through a comical customs inspection. Are cruise lines still being require to parade all passengers past customs before disembarking? What about in San Juan?

 

Thx,

 

BZ

 

Depends on the ship/where you just came from. On Destiny....no customs before St Thomas because we had just come from a US port....San Juan. If your last stop was a non-US island/territory, then yes, you'll have to do the customs thing before getting off in St Thomas.

[Iwanicki]

Yes, any time you arrive in a US port, after coming from a non-US port, you must go through the joy of getting up early, and lining up for 1/2 hour for the 20 second customs and immigration formality.

 

At least in our experience on Princess ships, the time frame your 'appointment' is for, is generally earlier than we would normally get up, and the wait is typically 1/2 hour. They tend to put a lot of guilt on you, as in theory, nobody gets off the ship until everyone has had their 20 seconds with a customs agent, so you are pretty much required to show up when your appointed time is.

 

We have started to look for cruises that don't stop at any US ports, except for perhaps the first/final port. Our upcoming Dec 31 cruise on Sea Princess is such a trip. A 14 day cruise with no US ports, and thus no customs grief until arriving back into Fort Lauderdale on the final day.

 

Although I love St. Thomas, I would rather pick a cruise without it, unless it is the first stop after departure from say Puerto Rico or Florida.