Disembarking at Singapore

[Orlando57]

Hi all,

This is only our second cruise, so excuse the newbie question. We're disembarking at Singapore 28 November and plan to fly out to Thailand that same day. The cruiseline (Princess) is recommending not booking any flights until at least 6 hours after the ship docks (7am) and I'm wondering how conservative this advice is. Singapore customs and immigration won't be too onerous I imagine, and Princess will be dead keen to get us off the ship, so does anyone have any experience of disembarkation at Singapore, and can offer advice?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[Northern Aurora]

We disembarked in Singapore in 2016.  We were on a Celebrity cruise.  Since we were staying in Singapore for a week we were not in a hurry to disembark, but my memory is that it was a quick and efficient process.  There were also a number of taxis waiting so we were quickly delivered to our hotel.  While I we didn't disembark recently, I hope this helps and also hope that someone with more recent experience can chime in.

[Tranquility Base]

Your are scheduled for Marina Bay Cruise Centre I assume ?

It is efficient there, but everyone going ashore has to process through immigration there, even those on a port transit day.

 

When we were there about a year ago they had about 8 immigration booths operating, so the wait was about 20 - 25 minutes in that line for us.

Once downstairs with your bag there is a security scanner to go through at customs.

Once outside keep walking to the front of the terminal & roadside for taxis.

If you see a queue there, don't worry too much as taxis will be pulling in regularly.

There is a helper there to keep the queue orderly.

Drive time to Changi about 25-30 mins...it would be unusual to be over 40 minutes.

About SGD 25-35 fare.

I would suggest having SGD cash with you as not all taxis take cards.

 

If you can do self disembark that will be the quickest.

 

What time does the flight depart you are planning ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by Tranquility Base

[Orlando57]

Thanks for your info. I've played conservatively and we're not flying until 4pm, so lots of time at Singapore Airport I suppose, which is OK because it's pretty nice as an airport, and I know where the staff get their meals...

[UK Cruiser2]

The cruise specialist company we booked through gave us a departure flight time of 2:15pm from Changi flying to Krabi so there should be plenty time.

 

[Tommy_dbt]

On 10/24/2018 at 9:43 PM, Orlando57 said:

Thanks for your info. I've played conservatively and we're not flying until 4pm, so lots of time at Singapore Airport I suppose, which is OK because it's pretty nice as an airport, and I know where the staff get their meals...

 

7am disembarkation and 4pm flight is totally fine! ☺ 

 

From 🇸🇬 with love. 

 

Tommy 

[no fuss travel]

Make sureifyour cruise called intoMalaysia you do not bring any liquor with you. They will charge you duty even if you are flying out to another country. Very expensive.

[compozer]

On 11/2/2018 at 5:18 PM, no fuss travel said:

Make sureifyour cruise called intoMalaysia you do not bring any liquor with you. They will charge you duty even if you are flying out to another country. Very expensive.

 

Confused?    Our cruise will be stopping in Malaysia ending in Singapore.   We have the drink package and are in a suite and elite so we will get many small liquor bottles that we probably will not consume on the cruise.  .   In the past, we save the bottles to enjoy at our post cruise hotel.   We will be staying in Singapore four or five days before we fly out.   

 

 So, who charges you this duty?   Are you talking about liquor purchased in Malaysia or on any liquor?      thanks

[Betty in Cozumel]

On 10/24/2018 at 8:43 AM, Orlando57 said:

Thanks for your info. I've played conservatively and we're not flying until 4pm, so lots of time at Singapore Airport I suppose, which is OK because it's pretty nice as an airport, and I know where the staff get their meals...

 

We were on the Celebrity Millennium in January and disembarked in Singapore on the 22nd.  We were spending an extra night and weren't in a hurry.  The card we got the night before asked what time we wanted to disembark and we picked the last one 10:45-11am.  BUT we were called to disembark at 9am.  We were in the taxi headed to the hotel at 9:40am so pretty fast.

[no fuss travel]

9 hours ago, compozer said:

 

Confused?    Our cruise will be stopping in Malaysia ending in Singapore.   We have the drink package and are in a suite and elite so we will get many small liquor bottles that we probably will not consume on the cruise.  .   In the past, we save the bottles to enjoy at our post cruise hotel.   We will be staying in Singapore four or five days before we fly out.   

 

 So, who charges you this duty?   Are you talking about liquor purchased in Malaysia or on any liquor?      thanks

Yes it applies to all liquor even if it was not bought in Malaysia. The customs people charge it and they do X-ray your suitcases

[compozer]

WOW,     so if I understand this correctly, we will need to drink up all of our little bottles of booze on the ship and not take any with us to our Singapore hotel.   This is a b2b2b and we will have the drink package so we really have no use for our 6 bar setups.   Or will be taxed if we take them to the hotel!!       

 

Guess our cabin steward will have a party in his cabin after we leave.

[BBWC]

If you are not arriving from Malaysia, you can bring one liter of spirits duty free. Look at the web page for Singapore customs.

[Orlando57]

Hey so I'm the original poster of this question and now that we're off the cruise I thought I'd let you know our experience. Princess gave us three options for disembarking (all involving luggage) and we could select a time to disembark.

We chose 9:30 as we wanted to catch up with a few people, and 9:30 came round, we were ushered off the ship, and done with immigration and in a taxi by 10am.

Very easy.

Also, I've noticed some comments re liquor here. We were told that cigarettes (any cigarettes) were a non-no. We've flown into Singapore with half-packets on us before and never even thought about it, but the ships advice was be very careful. Anyhoo, I bailed up a customs officer, whipped out a packet, and he said "That's OK." 

Thanks all for your responses.