Leave Cruise Early - SOS Question

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Hello.  I am having a major hiccup with my flights home, and was wondering if it would be possible to leave my cruise the night before, with prior arrangement, of course.  It would be in New Zealand, with no U.S. ports involved, and I would want to leave either in the morning when the ship got to the previous disembarkation port, or else perhaps late afternoon.  If I need to do this, what do I do at this point? Does it take a long time to receive permission (or a "No" answer)?  Thanks for any info you can give me.

[roothy123]

Wanted to ask a question of original poster, but now not necessary. 

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by roothy123
mistake

[StanandJim]

1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Hello.  I am having a major hiccup with my flights home, and was wondering if it would be possible to leave my cruise the night before, with prior arrangement, of course.  It would be in New Zealand, with no U.S. ports involved, and I would want to leave either in the morning when the ship got to the previous disembarkation port, or else perhaps late afternoon.  If I need to do this, what do I do at this point? Does it take a long time to receive permission (or a "No" answer)?  Thanks for any info you can give me.

The  larger issue here is that ships pay User Fee's and Taxes to a Port based on the services which they intend to use.  In other words, a ship pays more to a Port where they intend to embark/disembark than to what is known as a "through Port".

What you want to make sure of is that your actions (i.e leaving the ship early) do not impact the status of the Ship in that Port.

Note:  there is usually some leeway built into the system but who knows how many of your shipmates are also planning to disembark early?  

 

[princeton123211]

You shouldn't have that much of a problem, especially if you are disembarking from a port within the same country as the end of the cruise. The biggest issue you'll run into is if Oceania can, or is willing to, set up a customs officer to process you (if that is even available in the earlier port you are visiting). That will be the only permission you will wait for and they will have to work with the port agent they contract with to see if it can be done. 

 

Of course no one can physically stop you from getting off the ship, but if you aren't properly fully admitted to the country in which you are entering then you might end up with some issues/questions when you get to the airport. 

[Paulchili]

If I understand you correctly, we had a similar situation in Papeete.

The ship was there overnight at the end of the cruise. The flights leave late at night (11 PM-ish). Since we’ve been there before we decided to fly home during the overnight stay rather than hang around the next day till 11 PM, mostly off the ship after morning disembarkation.

We had no problem with prior notification and request from Oceania.

[RJ2002]

We have disembarked early several times, in various parts of the world.  As suggested, the key is to alert Oceania of your intentions and get their acknowledgement of your early disembarkation.  After you get their OK, then you can lock in your air arrangements.

[commodore2010]

Over the years we have got on late and left early on a few cruises.  Got on late on one Oceania. Just get the "OK" and you are good to go. 

[katz]

It has never been a problem with us.  All you have to do is let them know that you are leaving early.  

[ORV]

Are you using Oceania air?  If so this will require a deviation. A little more information is needed. Is the ship overnighting in the disembarkation port? Or are getting off the port before?

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

We are not using Oceania air, and not overnighting at disembarkation port.  We're flying to Indonesia and embarking a cruise there that goes to Australia and then New Zealand.  Disembarkation, the stop the day before and the flight home are all NZ.