Key West Confusion

[cruzeluver]

Last year I went on a Carnival cruise that stopped in Key West. We just walked off the ship after showing our i.d., no big deal. Now I'm reading in reviews that passengers on the Majesty are having to show passports/birth certificates etc. and no one can get off the ship till everyone has presented themselves, and that it can take two hours?! Is this something that used to occur and no longer does? We were just in Key West this past September. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[erby2283]

When we were on the Majesty, since it was the first port back in the US, all NON-US Citizens must be cleared before anyone can leave the ship. My BF is Russian and after clearing customs, we were one of the first off the ship. I don't think it should take that long, especially since the Majesty is a smaller ship by industry standards!

[Big Al B.]

If Key West is the first US port you stop at after having been to a foreign port, everyone will have to clear immigration. US citizens will have to take their passports/birth certificate-id to one place to be cleared while non-US citizens will have to collect their passports (collected from them when they board) and then go through immigration (usually different place). The amount of time will depend on how long it takes them to go through everyone on board.

[cruzeluver]

Oh! Forgot about the whole you're-now-back-in-the-US thing! Makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. On our last cruise Key West was the first stop, so that's why we didn't have to go through all that.

[MA 2 VA]

We went through this last year in Miami. Our itineraty had changed and we ended up going to GSC first. Getting off the ship wasn't a problem for us. It was getting back on. Nobody could return back to the ship until everyone got off. Not a big deal though, we went and had a nice breakfast by the marina.:)