Canada to NYC cruise: where do U.S. passengers deal w Customs & Immigration?

[jeph]

I've booked a Quebec City to NYC cruise for August.  I took a similar cruise on HAL's Maasdam back in 2006, but I don't recall how and where U.S. Customs & Immigration paperwork / inspections were handled.  Our first U.S. port of call after several Canadian ones was Bar Harbor, as will be the case for this upcoming trip.  Would be the details be dealt with there in Maine, leaving us free to exit the ship with a minimum of fuss in NYC?

[skynight]

38 minutes ago, jeph said:

I've booked a Quebec City to NYC cruise for August.  I took a similar cruise on HAL's Maasdam back in 2006, but I don't recall how and where U.S. Customs & Immigration paperwork / inspections were handled.  Our first U.S. port of call after several Canadian ones was Bar Harbor, as will be the case for this upcoming trip.  Would be the details be dealt with there in Maine, leaving us free to exit the ship with a minimum of fuss in NYC?

We took this trip in August. Our first U.S. port was Portland and that is where we were processed through immigration. If Bar Harbor is your first U.S. port, then that is where you will go through immigration. There was no immigration in Brooklyn, but there were agents at the gate which I expect were there in case they had to inspect luggage. We just walked right out, no delays.

[Oak City Man]

We just did a Canada cruise RT out of NYC last month.  Customs in Canada consisted of filling out a form and leaving it for the steward.  It took maybe five minutes.

 

Coming back, NYC was our first US port.   When we disembarked we showed our passport to an agent and walked on.  It was all quite simple.  There wasn't any "fuss" at all.

[amypete]

We just did this in September. The day we were at Bar Harbor, we had to go down stairs early and do a quick process with medallion and passport. Our excursion left around 845 so we had to get in line around 645. Took a bit to get it started (and the line was LONG!) but it moved fast and they looked at your passport and logged you in. When we got to NYC it was another line, quick glance at passport and paperwork and out the door. The line took much longer than the second it took to look at the passport! 

[Kartgv]

Interesting discussion, leaving me a bit confused.     We just did a 14 night RT cruise (on Celebrity) - Bayonne>Quebec>Bayonne (ending 10/6).    On our return trip, there were several stops in Canada ports before ending in Bayonne, our 1st US port.    Disembarking consisted of walking off, scanning our cruise card, spending about 30 seconds at a facial scanner in the terminal, then we were out the door.    At no point did we have to fill out Customs paperwork or show our passport of even give a number.    We were amazed but very happy with the process.    The only problem was that we then had a 5 hour wait at the airport for our flight!    

[skynight]

20 minutes ago, Kartgv said:

Interesting discussion, leaving me a bit confused.     We just did a 14 night RT cruise (on Celebrity) - Bayonne>Quebec>Bayonne (ending 10/6).    On our return trip, there were several stops in Canada ports before ending in Bayonne, our 1st US port.    Disembarking consisted of walking off, scanning our cruise card, spending about 30 seconds at a facial scanner in the terminal, then we were out the door.    At no point did we have to fill out Customs paperwork or show our passport of even give a number.    We were amazed but very happy with the process.    The only problem was that we then had a 5 hour wait at the airport for our flight!    

The facial scanner probably was connected to your passport information and substituted for an immigration agent looking at your face/passport. Did you take on new passengers in Canada?

The OP is boarding in Canada and Bar Harbor is the ship's first U.S. port of call. This is where they will have to go through immigration. Once the OP reaches Brooklyn they will have already gone through immigration, no further process is required. CBP still has the right to inspect baggage if they wish to do so.  

[jeph]

Okay, that's pretty much what I figured...Thanks to all for the prompt replies & info! 👍

 

My train home out of NYC won't leave until after 11:30 am, so even if there were to be some delay at the pier, it wouldn't matter...but it's nice to know that's one less thing to get in line for! 🙂