Carnival indicates special docs for Mexico - Does it apply?

[jdcml]

So... Poking around on the Carnival site I saw this : "To debark for more than 24 hours in Mexico, guests must have obtained a Mexican Tourist Card from either a travel agent or a Mexican consulate prior to their departure."

 

We are on a special itinerary on the Conquest from 8am until 3pm the following day. That is of course greater than 24 hours. We don't have any plans to stay off the ship overnight. Just wondering if anyone has done something similar. Just want to make sure we can get off since they won't have any way of knowing how long we plan to be gone and return. Make sense?

[DebJ14]

So... Poking around on the Carnival site I saw this : "To debark for more than 24 hours in Mexico, guests must have obtained a Mexican Tourist Card from either a travel agent or a Mexican consulate prior to their departure."

 

We are on a special itinerary on the Conquest from 8am until 3pm the following day. That is of course greater than 24 hours. We don't have any plans to stay off the ship overnight. Just wondering if anyone has done something similar. Just want to make sure we can get off since they won't have any way of knowing how long we plan to be gone and return. Make sense?

 

Usually in a case like this the ship makes special arrangements.

We took cruises in the past where we overnighted in Mexico and we did not get the tourist cards. We also cruised to Mexico long before it was very popular and back then the cruise line sent us a tourist card to fill out with our documents. They collected the completed cards at check-in and we never saw them again.

 

If you do need them, the ship will give them to you. It is really nothing to worry about.

 

 

When you fly to Mexico the tourist cards are given out on the plane and you fill them out along with the Mexican customs declaration. The fee for the card is included in the air ticket cost. You fill them out and present them with your passport. The Mexican immigration officer writes down the number of days you can stay, stamps it and stamps your passport and gives it back to you before you proceed to customs. You must present it on the way out of the country. It is proof that you entered the country legally and have not overstayed your welcome.

When checking in for your return flight the airline employee checks that you have it and that it is not expired and then staples it to your boarding pass. It is collected a the door of the jetway as you board the plane. We go down to Mexico often. We take paperclips so that the Tourist card is clipped into our passports and doesn't accidentally fall out.

 

If you lose your tourist card you have to go to the specified bank and make a payment for a lost card (fine) and for a new one and take the receipt to a migration office. You have to do this before you are allowed to fly out. You can't pay the Mexican migration officials directly.

 

Don't worry, if you need a card the cruise line will tell you, provide the cards and will take care of it for you.

Edited October 19, 2014 by DebJ14