Getting Off a ship early

[Traveling Sue]

Has anyone every gotten off a cruise ship early, before the end of the cruise? We were planning on taking a cruise that departs from Santiago, Chile and ends in Philly, Pa. The ships stops at Costa Rica and we wanted to terminate our cruise there. We have friends in Costa Rica and wanted to visit with them for a week or so. We contacted the cruise line and asked if we could disembark the ship at Costa Rica instead of Philadelphia. They refused our request stating security reasons and “they are not running a bus service”.

Does anyone know the proper way of obtaining permission to disembark early from a cruise without medical reasons?

[chasetf]

Has anyone every gotten off a cruise ship early, before the end of the cruise? We were planning on taking a cruise that departs from Santiago, Chile and ends in Philly, Pa. The ships stops at Costa Rica and we wanted to terminate our cruise there. We have friends in Costa Rica and wanted to visit with them for a week or so. We contacted the cruise line and asked if we could disembark the ship at Costa Rica instead of Philadelphia. They refused our request stating security reasons and “they are not running a bus service”.

Does anyone know the proper way of obtaining permission to disembark early from a cruise without medical reasons?

The reason you got that reaction was probably the cruise line is not set up for you to immigrate and go through customs entering Costa Rica. I do not know the consequences if you just departed the ship because it might differ country to country, but I would imagine it would be significant for the cruise line at a minimum and probably for you too.

 

How would you plan on leaving Costa Rica, seeing as you propose to enter it without going through their immigration ? I have read some of the reports of people "left" in port and what they have to deal with. First thing is to get them out of the port area and then out of the country.

[Big Al B.]

I think there is a large fine placed on the line (then passed on to you) for doing something like this.

[tinkerbell1951]

If they don't let you disembark for good, then you are stuck in Costa Rica without your passports. Not a pleasant thought. :(

[TrinaLC]

I would expect your basic customer service person could not answer this question.

 

If you really want to pursue it, try writing corporate. You might also call the embassy and ask what the local requirement would be.

[gxchan]

If they don't let you disembark for good, then you are stuck in Costa Rica without your passports. Not a pleasant thought. :(

 

I've only cruised in Alaska. Do they take your passports when you board a cruise out of the US?

[johnql]

I've only cruised in Alaska. Do they take your passports when you board a cruise out of the US?

As far as I can tell, it depends on your itinerary. I've never heard of passports being collected in the Caribbean, but it certainly happens in the Mediterranean, for instance. (P.S. I'm assuming you're an American citizen because the rules differ for non-Americans.)

[gxchan]

Yes, I'm a U.S. citizen but it just never occurred to me that my passport would be held. Alaska was my first cruise--it was 11-nights. I wasn't sure I could actually cruise for that long so the backup plan was to get off if I got "ship-fever" (I get "island-fever" after 4-5 days). Turned out I was fine but was ready to get off the ship on the last day. I'm now booked for the Panama Canal on a 14-night cruise and, again, planned to go to my back-up (getting off) if that was too long for me. I know, I could take a shorter cruise but . . . I like longer vacations and found I LOVE cruising.

 

In any case, I'm glad I ran across this thread. Thanks for the input.

[Traveling Sue]

Thanks for the reply. I did call the cruise line a number of times and each time got the same answer. I also asked to speak to a supervisor but instead of speaking to a supervisor I was directed to fax a letter to the supervisor. I did fax a letter explaining what we wanted to do and that we took full responsibility in our safety and would book our own flights back to the US. I am still waiting for a reply. I guess I will have to call or fax again. I have been to Costa Rica before and Visas are not required.

I know people have gotten off ships early on other cruises that I have been on. I was recently on NCL sailing from Buenos Aires to Santiago and a couple that we meet on Cruise Critic did get off the ship in Puerto Montt. So, I do know it can be done just do not know how. Thanks all for your responses.

Sue