Boarding in Singapore for an overnight - futile waste of time

[dani negreanu]

It was not the best start to a long awaited cruise.

 

We checked in early afternoon (Saturday) for a sail away on Sunday. Went through Singaporean security line, and then X security line. In my "book", I've "departed" Singapore.

 

Saturday evening there was an announcement about "showing your passport to Singaporean authorities at 11AM the following morning".

 

Hmm, ok, couldn't fathom why we have to go through this again, being already on the ship, but, based on previous cruises where the "authorities" boarded the ship, and all the "proceedings" took a few mins, it is what it is...

The announcement also said that pax wanting to leave the ship to visit Singapore, should do it before 11AM and should not be back on ship before 2PM...

 

A few mins before 11AM we took our passports and our sea passes and proceeded as advised. We found ourselves in a loooong line to "enter" Singapore (???), have our passports checked, and then out to the public terminal, which serves other ships or ferries or else, and submit to another security check... There were people with luggage of all sorts in line with us, while we only had our passports and sea passes to show.

 

After this security line, we were directed to the 1st floor, where we had to pass X's own security line.

 

Then, we were allocated numbers and directed to seat and wait...

 

At this point, pax started to "question" this line of "activity" which was prepared for us in the 1st morning of our (paid) cruise. They were told that the Singaporean authorities demand "0 passengers count"....

Stands to reason that before starting the check in for another cruise, there is always a demand for "0 passengers count" and the check in was yesterday....

 

We waited almost an hour for our #5 to be called, only to find ourselves directed to another line, that one for "departing" Singapore, fingerprinting included....

 

All in all, we spent all the morning in lines, and we, among many others, found this very frustating.

 

I think that Celebrity should have a "say" when involving so much wasted time of our precious vacation, and either ask for a procedure where the "authorities" board the ship, or skip entirely the overnight in Singapore.

[G.M.T.]

I don't know if you realise but Singapore is an independant nation and set their own immigration, customs and security rules.

 

Celebrity or any other cruise line has absolutely NO say in what happens with regards immigration and security checks.

 

Just enjoy your cruise.

[dani negreanu]

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

 

Celebrity or any other cruise line has absolutely NO say in what happens with regards immigration and security checks.

 

 

 

Celebrity can cancel the overnight, and start the cruise right away.

 

My main reason for posting about our wasted day cruise was to inform other potential cruisers, so that they can decide whether they prefer to board in Singapore or else. Plenty of starting ports to choose from....

[Kaylas Mom]

 

I have a question for anyone anyone who has done previous Celebrity cruises out of Singapore.  With this nice itinerary having the first night as an overnight in Singapore, My husband  isn’t planning to fly in until midnight on Saturday/Sunday.   (I will have gone a few days earlier to explore Singapore on my own)   Does anyone know if he will be able to check in/board the ship at maybe 1or 2 in the morning Sunday?  Or should he book a hotel until the morning?  

[Kaylas Mom]

And I agree your on/off situation sounds awful.  Thanks for warning me!!!!

[sailco]

On 2/3/2019 at 9:18 AM, Kaylas Mom said:

 

I have a question for anyone anyone who has done previous Celebrity cruises out of Singapore.  With this nice itinerary having the first night as an overnight in Singapore, My husband  isn’t planning to fly in until midnight on Saturday/Sunday.   (I will have gone a few days earlier to explore Singapore on my own)   Does anyone know if he will be able to check in/board the ship at maybe 1or 2 in the morning Sunday?  Or should he book a hotel until the morning?  

Contact Celebrity to get the correct information. I assume you've already informed them that your husband won't be boarding on Day 1?

 

the easiest way around overnighting in Singapore is to get off the ship early and spend the morning or all day exploring that wonderful city. There's always plenty to do!

[MisterBill99]

On 2/7/2019 at 9:57 PM, sailco said:

the easiest way around overnighting in Singapore is to get off the ship early and spend the morning or all day exploring that wonderful city. There's always plenty to do!

 

Hopefully there isn't a long wait to get off the ship earlier. I agree that you would definitely want to get off the ship early in the morning that second day.

[PCWalton1]

On 1/18/2019 at 7:36 AM, dani negreanu said:

 

At this point, pax started to "question" this line of "activity" which was prepared for us in the 1st morning of our (paid) cruise. They were told that the Singaporean authorities demand "0 passengers count"....

Stands to reason that before starting the check in for another cruise, there is always a demand for "0 passengers count" and the check in was yesterday....

 

This doesn't make sense. They had to "zero" the ship on first day before letting you board. Why did they do it again on the second day?

 

[dani negreanu]

57 minutes ago, PCWalton1 said:

This doesn't make sense. They had to "zero" the ship on first day before letting you board. Why did they do it again on the second day?

 

 

Bill, I couldn't agree more .... and that's what my post is about.... FUTILE exercise in wasting time. 

 

We were given the "shpiel" that that's what the Singaporean authorities are demanding...........

 

As Sailco has mentioned above, the only way to "override" this is to leave the ship early on the second day, and return just before the sail away time 

[Joseph2017China]

So in a nutshell, it would be better to leave the ship, way before 11:00.  Spend a few hours in Singapore, enjoying something.  Than get back to the ship sometime around 2:00 where the lines will be gone.  Sounds like a plan.  No one likes waiting in lines, but rules are rules, and that is the way it is.

[dani negreanu]

Sounds like a plan???

 

My plan was to rest, after flying 24 hours to Singapore. I was done visiting.

 

After checking in, why be forced to leave the ship again?