Staying off ship/getting back on at the next port?

[NCHPcruiser]

We are looking forward to our next cruise, 16 night Australia/New Zealand leaving from Perth February 28th which was booked almost two years ago. Although we love a nice relaxing sea day this cruise has eight of them! Melbourne is our port on the 8th day, the next day is a sea day (the 5th sea day) and then Sydney. We plan to stay in Melbourne for two nights (using points) and then fly to Sydney early morning two days later and reboard the ship. The flight is only a little over an hour and there are lots of them. On the front end of our trip we will be spending three days in Sydney since that's where we have to fly into so we would rather have more time in Melbourne. We especially want to visit Phillips Island and you really need more time than the ship's stop gives us. Plus we want to do a full day wine tour the next day. Does Celebrity have any rules that would preclude us from this plan? We would of course make Celebrity aware of our plans.

[cruisestitch]

You need to discuss this with Celebrity and/or your travel agent. You wouldn't run into any cabotage laws such as the PVSA which is a law in the US.

[Jim_Iain]

We did something similar in India to visit the Taj Mahal.

 

You need to apply in advance by calling Celebrity or email emergencyteam@celebrity.com or call 1-800-256-6649 prompt 1

 

There is a $65 fee to process.

 

They need to check local regulations and sometime limits on number of people requesting.

 

They collect your sea pass when you depart and give you a transit pass. When you rejoin the ship you get a new seapass.

 

 

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[NCHPcruiser]

We did something similar in India to visit the Taj Mahal.

 

You need to apply in advance by calling Celebrity or email emergencyteam@celebrity.com or call 1-800-256-6649 prompt 1

 

There is a $65 fee to process.

 

They need to check local regulations and sometime limits on number of people requesting.

 

They collect your sea pass when you depart and give you a transit pass. When you rejoin the ship you get a new sea pass.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Thank you for the information regarding the process to go through to "ok" our plan and what to expect. It is good to know who to contact. This cruise was booked on board two years ago and no travel agent is involved. We are booking our internal flights for our pre-cruise time so want to include this additional flight in the plan since we have specific flights in mind.

[Zenica]

Useful information as we've been thinking of doing the same.

I wonder, can this be done if a passenger is late and misses the ship? Just fly to the next port and board then?

[Jade13]

We have done this multiple times on multiple ships.

 

4 days off to go to Machu Picchu, getting off in Lima Peru and meeting the ship in Ecuador, night off in Cambodia flying to meet the ship in Thailand, leaving a ship in Mumbai and meeting up at another port in India....There is a department you contact at Celebrity to give them your plans. It is a downline request.

 

 

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[ShonaTay56]

Useful information as we've been thinking of doing the same.

I wonder, can this be done if a passenger is late and misses the ship? Just fly to the next port and board then?

 

On our first cruise with NCL we went into Rome by train, on our own, and spent the day there. As it was getting near the time to think about heading back we went to board the bus to the train station. The first bus was full so did not pick us up. The traffic then became a nightmare and we were doing about a mile an hour, would have been quicker walking. We just missed the train that would have got us back in time so had to wait for the next one. By the time we got back to port it was at least half an hour after departure so didn't bother going as my wife said she would cry if she saw the ship pulling away. We then caught a train up to Livorno, spent the night in a hotel and boarded the ship when it arrived next day.

 

Our only problem was trying to get through the security gates at the port as we could not find an english speaking guard. Eventually we got through and had no trouble getting back on board the ship. We spent the whole day on board and just thanked our lucky stars that we did not have to organise flights to get to the next port.

 

Guess where we're going in November on the Eclipse! Yes you guessed it Rome and Livorno. If we do our own thing again we will leave Rome much earlier.

 

Alan;)

[Jade13]

We did something similar in India to visit the Taj Mahal.

 

You need to apply in advance by calling Celebrity or email emergencyteam@celebrity.com or call 1-800-256-6649 prompt 1

 

There is a $65 fee to process.

 

They need to check local regulations and sometime limits on number of people requesting.

 

They collect your sea pass when you depart and give you a transit pass. When you rejoin the ship you get a new seapass.

 

 

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We have never had to pay a fee for approval to disembark a ship and re-board at another port. We have done this on Celebrity, Azamara, and Holland America Line.

 

 

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[cruisestitch]

The Celebrity fee is fairly new. Less than two years old, as I recall. That is the fee for downline disembarkation, and it may not be assessed for this trip interruption. Only Celebrity can tell you.

 

As to missing the ship and boarding late, as long as you don't violate the PVSA, it's fairly straightforward. But if you are on a Vancouver - Seward route and don't board in Vancouver, it's a different story altogether!

[Cirdan]

. By the time we got back to port it was at least half an hour after departure so didn't bother going as my wife said she would cry if she saw the ship pulling away.

 

In general, one should go to the pier (or contact celebrity). A representative of Celebrity should be there. He could carry the passports of missing people, e.g. to allow passenger to return home (think about incident or other problems), or it could be required to stay in a hotel (or to reach next port). Your case were easier (same country, and not so strict rules). But so, it is better to let Celebrity to know your intention (answering the original post, I do not think your intention were to miss the train), so that they will not try to "help" you disembarking some of your stuffs.