Hobart. Immigration after Tasman crossing.

[Tranquility Base]

Has anyone recent experience of immigration procedures on the Westbound crossing from NZ with the first Australian port as Hobart ?

Cruise line is Celebrity in case that makes a difference.

 

Just trying to plan the day taking into account any possible immigration procedures.

 

 

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Tranquility Base said:

Has anyone recent experience of immigration procedures on the Westbound crossing from NZ with the first Australian port as Hobart ?

Cruise line is Celebrity in case that makes a difference.

 

Just trying to plan the day taking into account any possible immigration procedures.

 

 

There would be limited customs/immigration facilities at Hobart, but saying that, Australian Border Force might put on officers at your last NZ port to do the processing enroute ye olde Hobart Town.  As happens in other areas.  Enjoy your cruise.

[SinbadThePorter]

I assume that it would be the reverse of going in the other direction.

 

From Hobart to NZ, the NZ Customs and Immigration folks jumped on at Hobart and a day before arriving in NZ, they got us to file through one of the dining rooms for a quick document check.

 

I can't quite remember how it was arranged, but I think that we were allocated times based on deck number.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On the last two cruises we have done on Celebrity, NZ to Australia, passport control has been done onboard on one of the sea days crossing the Tasman. I expect it will be the same on our current cruise and should be able to confirm that in another 4-5 days time.

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[Tranquility Base]

Thanks everyone.

 

43 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I expect it will be the same on our current cruise and should be able to confirm that in another 4-5 days time.

That would be great; thanks.

Also would appreciate knowing how efficient tendering is for independents in Akaroa if you wouldn't mind.

 

cheers.

 

 

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

No worries, I'll report on the tendering tomorrow. We probably won't go ashore until late morning though, we usually wait until the rush is over as we just enjoy pottering around Akaroa and having lunch somewhere. 

 

Also I won't be able to report on the passport control issue until we reach Hobart as I don't have internet on the ship, so 6 days for that!😉

Edited April 2, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[Russell21]

How come on Princess I've never had to go through immigration procedures before entry into NZ or on the way back from NZ, and we've done the trip twice. The only immigration procedures have been before the initial boarding in Sydney.

[phoenixx]

Coming from NZ we had to do immigration at Hobart on my recent Cruise on Majestic Princess.

[Tranquility Base]

34 minutes ago, phoenixx said:

Coming from NZ we had to do immigration at Hobart on my recent Cruise on Majestic Princess.

Thanks for that info. 

Did you hear of any significant delays during this process for passengers doing independant tours ?

[phoenixx]

8 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks for that info. 

Did you hear of any significant delays during this process for passengers doing independant tours ?

Sorry can't help with that.

[MicCanberra]

As mentioned, there is minimal disruption to your cruise with the officers normally doing the processing on board during the crossing.

[MargoK]

When on the Majestic Princess arriving in Hobart on 26th December, Immigration was done on the pier. Somewhat slow for able-bodied but very speedy for us in wheelchair. One bonus! Our friend was on the pier in the queue outside the building. We called to him from our cabin on deck B to wait on the 'other' side. In casually made our way done, whizzed thru and we walked passed our friend being processed. We waved!! 😁 Our friend was about to shout at us then remembered he was facing an Immigration Officer 😉

[mr walker]

Not from NZ and not into Hobart, but on our Sun Princess Aus circumnavigation in 2017, our first port back in Australia after our international port of call (Alotau, PNG) was Brisbane. No on-board processing, and in Brisbane all passengers had to get off & pass thru immigration, even the ones travelling thru to Sydney, and no-one could re-board until all passengers had been processed.

 

Similar happened ie no on-board processing between NZ and Sydney on our recent Radiance cruise, which led to long delays upon arrival into Sydney. I was told that ABF only elect to provide on-board processing for 'larger' ships.

 

So just saying, in our experience, it can vary.

[NSWP]

I bet the Americans don't put border officers on halfway to Hawaii.  They could get on in Fiji and do the processing.

Edited April 4, 2019 by NSWP

[MicCanberra]

No, for  Hilo, Hawaii, they came on board but only after we arrived, took to 10am to clear the ship.

[lovestx]

I am currently on Celebrity Solstice cruising towards Hobart.  We received our immigration cards in our cabins last night in preparation for our arrival in Hobart tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.  We have been assigned group numbers and will be called to meet with immigration by group number.  I'm guessing it will be a slow process...will try to update actual process after tomorrow.

[Beanb41]

The So

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 3:54 PM, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks everyone.

 

That would be great; thanks.

Also would appreciate knowing how efficient tendering is for independents in Akaroa if you wouldn't mind.

 

cheers.

 

Solstice is not known for being particularly great for teners. If one is not on the priority list be prepared for a long wait to get ashore unless you get up very early and get to the front of the queue for TEnder tickets. For popular ports passengers have been known to queue up for over an hour before tickets were issued. The following people have priority tendering before others: Those on ships tours, suites, Captains club Elite and above, certain high rollers from Casino, crew in some instances. This list is not extensive but gives you a pretty good idea what to expect. Akaroa uses ships tenders only

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, lovestx said:

I am currently on Celebrity Solstice cruising towards Hobart.  We received our immigration cards in our cabins last night in preparation for our arrival in Hobart tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.  We have been assigned group numbers and will be called to meet with immigration by group number.  I'm guessing it will be a slow process...will try to update actual process after tomorrow.

Cheers, they obviously have cut back on having officers on board. Hopefully you will not be delayed to long.

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, lovestx said:

We have been assigned group numbers and will be called to meet with immigration by group number.  I'm guessing it will be a slow process...will try to update actual process after tomorrow.

Appreciated.

Am now planning my day there with onshore immigration being required with the associated delays.

Thanks.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We're on Solstice at Hobart sitting and waiting for our group to be called. They started calling the groups at 8:30am and there has been roughly a 10 minute gap between groups. It's now 9:30am and they have just called group 8. We're in group 11. 

 

I think Celebrity etc could have handled this  better by giving approximate timeframes for groups, something like "we expect groups 1-3 to be called between 8:30am and 9am, groups 4-6 between 9am and 9:30am ...". There were quite a few people who were annoyed yesterday as they were meeting friends or doing a private tour and didn't have a clue what time they would get off the ship. It didn't bother us that much as we hadn't intended getting off until 10am or later but it would have been nice to have some idea of timing to plan breakfast.

 

The process seems to have sped up, they've just called group 10 at 9:38am.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Our group was called at 9:45am and we emerged from the passport control area nearly 25 minutes later at 10:08am.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Is this all a cost cutting exercise, and if so is it the cruise lines or the Immigration Dept trying to cut costs?

[MicCanberra]

I would say the later, but it well may be both.

[MicCanberra]

23 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Our group was called at 9:45am and we emerged from the passport control area nearly 25 minutes later at 10:08am.

Enjoy Hobart.

[Aus Traveller]

37 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Is this all a cost cutting exercise, and if so is it the cruise lines or the Immigration Dept trying to cut costs?

My guess is a cost-cutting exercise by the cruise line. I think it is likely they would have had to pay the costs of having Immigration officers fly to the 'previous' port, then of course they have to have a couple of cabins available to accommodate them.