Can you leave the ship before last day of sailing?

[Middleager]

A friend is thinking to join us for a 11day  2022.11.15-26 Haifa - Rome cruise later this year.  She has a friend who might join as a roommate, but cannot get the last 2 days off work.  So the friend is thinking to just cut the cruise short, and leave the ship at the port on 11.24.   She called NCL and was told no you cannot leave the ship early, got to stay till the end.  Called again, another agent said the same thing, need to stay till 11.26 end of that sailing.

 

But sometimes people are late getting back to port, and effectively leave the ship early (ok they still have luggages onboard and it's a little more work to sort out).  Sometimes people have family/work situations and nwant to leave early.  If someone is getting off a port and takes their luggages with them, can the ship really banned them from leaving?

 

Can someone enlighten me.  Thanks.

[julig22]

Yes, under certain conditions people may be allowed to leave early - but it needs to be coordinated with the ship.  She will need to contact NCL corportate, not rely on information from a random NCL agent.

 

Can the ship ban them - probably not. Will your friend have issues beyond luggage?  Most certainly.  For starters they have probably entered a foreign country illegally.  So off the ship, stuck in a foreign country.  

 

[CaptainBazz]

Sorry...but it seems to me, that you do not want to believe the NCL agents that have told you no...and now you want someone here to say yes you can leave.

[casofilia]

If you leave the ship without NCL's authority their manifest is then incorrect.   If they arrive in a port with an incorrect manifest they are liable for a fine.   In that case NCL will just pass that fine on to you.

[hallux]

34 minutes ago, casofilia said:

If you leave the ship without NCL's authority their manifest is then incorrect.   If they arrive in a port with an incorrect manifest they are liable for a fine.   In that case NCL will just pass that fine on to you.

That fine is the LEAST of worries.  The immigration issue mentioned by @julig22 is of bigger concern.  Is it an issue when sailing from Israel to whatever country that port is in?  Maybe not, but it's worth asking someone familiar with regulations in that region to be absolutely sure.  I checked - Israel is NOT part of the EU, which may result in an immigration issue if not managed properly.

 

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

But sometimes people are late getting back to port, and effectively leave the ship early

This is a different situation, and the cruise line will leave at least the documents and possibly the responsibility of guiding the passenger through the immigration issue with an agent on the ground at the port.  Planning to intentionally leave the ship is totally different.

[Middleager]

We all know NCL agents can be wrong, especially in uncommon questions. 

 

The lady is a Canadian citizen, and no problem to go to any of the EU countries in the EU ports, especially the last few days (Patmos, Piraeus, Greece; Naples, Livorno, Italy, ending in Rome, Italy).

 

Leaving the ship through ship security would leave record that she is not on the ship, so there won't be an issue of manifest being wrong.  It's different than she got back on the ship, and disappeared, then the manifest shows she's supposed to be on, and is not there.

 

There are always people coming on the ship and leaving mid-way, especially performers, or park rangers in Alaska cruise that got on in one port to give seminars and leave the next port before the final destination.

 

Of course she'll let the ship know she's leaving, not just jumping off the ship without telling security and therefore leaving manifest wrong.

 

So what is the way to do this right?  (The NCL agents don't seem to know.)

[hallux]

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

The lady is a Canadian citizen, and no problem to go to any of the EU countries in the EU ports, especially the last few days (Patmos, Piraeus, Greece; Naples, Livorno, Italy, ending in Rome, Italy).

That may be the case, but if she goes to the airport to fly out and hasn't properly immigrated from Israel to Italy there are going to be questions.

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

Leaving the ship through ship security would leave record that she is not on the ship, so there won't be an issue of manifest being wrong

It's not that simple.  She needs to go through immigration to properly enter the country as more than a transient cruise passenger.  Does Italy do this at the first port if the cruise visits several ports in the country before disembarking in the country or does it happen on disembarkation day?  It's questions like these that require the expertise of someone beyond NCL agents.  A GOOD travel agent may be able to answer the questions, or find the answers.

 

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

There are always people coming on the ship and leaving mid-way, especially performers,

This is arranged in advance, though USUALLY performers will change on turn-around day if sailing closed-loop cruises.

 

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

or park rangers in Alaska cruise that got on in one port to give seminars and leave the next port before the final destination

TOTALLY different.  These are US government employees, and they're usually going to be sailing between ports within Alaska, not going from one country to another.

[debenson0723]

I sort of did this on a Baltic cruise a few years ago.  The cruise had two embarkation ports...Copenhagen and Warnemunde.  I wanted to spend a week in Luxembourg and Germany before getting on board so I embarked in Warnemunde.  But I had no reason to go back there so wanted to disembark in Copenhagen, as I was flying to Norway the next day.  I had to go thru a chain of command at NCL to get permission to do this, with the final approval coming from the GM on the ship. 

 

I had to sign a document prior to boarding and scan it to NCL Corporate and also have it with me when boarding. One of the caveats was that if for some reason the ship could not stop in Copenhagen, I would not hold NCL liable for transportation back to Copenhagen nor expect any type of compensation for additional airline fees, cancellations of hotel rooms, etc.  I did not have the immigration issue since a large number of passengers were getting off in Copenhagen and there were already immigration officials at the port.

[Middleager]

37 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

I sort of did this on a Baltic cruise a few years ago.  The cruise had two embarkation ports...Copenhagen and Warnemunde.  I wanted to spend a week in Luxembourg and Germany before getting on board so I embarked in Warnemunde.  But I had no reason to go back there so wanted to disembark in Copenhagen, as I was flying to Norway the next day.  I had to go thru a chain of command at NCL to get permission to do this, with the final approval coming from the GM on the ship. 

 

I had to sign a document prior to boarding and scan it to NCL Corporate and also have it with me when boarding. One of the caveats was that if for some reason the ship could not stop in Copenhagen, I would not hold NCL liable for transportation back to Copenhagen nor expect any type of compensation for additional airline fees, cancellations of hotel rooms, etc.  I did not have the immigration issue since a large number of passengers were getting off in Copenhagen and there were already immigration officials at the port.

Thank you.  So it can be done and has been done, just need to some chain of command in NCL and have some paperwork done.

I can let the friend know, so her friend can try to find out what needs to be done in her case.

[Middleager]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

It's not that simple.  She needs to go through immigration to properly enter the country as more than a transient cruise passenger.  Does Italy do this at the first port if the cruise visits several ports in the country before disembarking in the country or does it happen on disembarkation day?  It's questions like these that require the expertise of someone beyond NCL agents.  A GOOD travel agent may be able to answer the questions, or find the answers.

Good point.  The ship goes from a non-EU country to a EU country (Greece, then Italy) for several ports.  People would need to be properly immigrated into EU.  I don't know how that's done, but NCL has done that many times, and hopefully it won't be too difficult to find out how.

[em-sk]

9 hours ago, Middleager said:

A friend is thinking to join us for a 11day  2022.11.15-26 Haifa - Rome cruise later this year.  She has a friend who might join as a roommate, but cannot get the last 2 days off work.  So the friend is thinking to just cut the cruise short, and leave the ship at the port on 11.24.   She called NCL and was told no you cannot leave the ship early, got to stay till the end.  Called again, another agent said the same thing, need to stay till 11.26 end of that sailing.

 

But sometimes people are late getting back to port, and effectively leave the ship early (ok they still have luggages onboard and it's a little more work to sort out).  Sometimes people have family/work situations and nwant to leave early.  If someone is getting off a port and takes their luggages with them, can the ship really banned them from leaving?

 

Can someone enlighten me.  Thanks.

 

I did this a few years ago on NCL.  It was a cruise that started in Rome and originally planned to end in Venice.  I was then going to fly to Paris for some business meetings.  

 

My business meeting were moved up at the last minute.  I had to shorten my Vacation.  Learned of the change about a week before the trip.  Called NCL to ask if I could leave in Istanbul instead of returning back to Italy.

 

NCL rep basically said, they did not know and it was subject to local immigration rules; it is discouraged.  They would need to relay the question to the ship pursers office. No one at corporate is going to answer the question, it would need to come from the ship.  A few days later NCL got back to me and said it could be done, but I would need to call down to the purser office as soon as I got on the ship.  

 

I was traveling on a Canadian passport, Turkey at the time required a visa for Canadian's entering the country unless they are part of an organized group such as a cruise ship.

 

The day before we entered Turkey, I needed to provider the purser with my passport and the $50 visa fee in cash.  She indicated they had quite a few people leaving in Istanbul. Some were crew, there was a group from the insurance company on the ship doing a safety inspection and a few passengers.  She would be presenting all the passports that required specially processing to the authorities when clearing the ship. I would be able to pick it back up from her office later the following day.  

 

 

Spent the day in Istanbul, came back to the ship before disembarkation to settle the account, pickup my bags and leave the ship.  When ship security scanned my room card it showed that I was leaving in Istanbul and they just asked if I had everything and had settled my account.

 

That was it, I was done.  

 

P.S. One item to note, is Itineraries are not guaranteed.  The start and end port are fixed to the extent they can be, but everything else is subject to last minute adjustment.

Edited July 30, 2022 by em-sk

[em-sk]

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

Good point.  The ship goes from a non-EU country to a EU country (Greece, then Italy) for several ports.  People would need to be properly immigrated into EU.  I don't know how that's done, but NCL has done that many times, and hopefully it won't be too difficult to find out how.

 

That is done by the ship purser.  When a ship enters a new country and local authorities come abord the ship they meet with the purser and ships port agent who presents all the paper work required to clear the ship and any passports that need to be stamped etc.

 

 

[zackarykeef]

What most of these people are saying is correct. I just went through this with my parents in St. Maarten, as my father had a medical emergency and needed to fly home.

 

When you’re on a cruise, you’re an “in transit” passenger. You don’t technically “enter” each country. This means you can’t just show up to the airport and leave, as there will be no record of you ever entering the country.

 

We had to discuss with the documentation officer on the ship, who then had to rush visas for my parents via local authorities and get their passports through immigration. When they gave my parents’ passports back, they were stamped as they had then officially entered St. Maarten. They were then able to disembark and fly out via SXM.

 

So yes, it can be done. It’s unlikely to be arranged in advance, especially if the only reason is “just because.” Since it’s subject to the ship, local laws, timing if everything can get done, etc, it’s likely to be a last-minute decision.

[1025cruise]

My understanding is that due to current Covid protocols, this type of thing is not allowed. 

[razor7_us]

It’s called a downline disembarkation.  It can be done, in the past, if the country your friend disembarks to allows it.  Covid protocols have mucked up many of travel plans and what was once commonplace is no longer allowed. RCI suspended this practice on all ships a couple of years ago.  If NCL allows this and a fee is involved from the pending country, you can bet that fee will be passed down to your friend.  You won't get a definitive answer on this forum.  Call NCL for guidance.  Can you post the progress/answer for your friend back on this forum?

Edited July 30, 2022 by razor7_us
Added info

[em-sk]

6 hours ago, razor7_us said:

It’s called a downline disembarkation.  It can be done, in the past, if the country your friend disembarks to allows it.  Covid protocols have mucked up many of travel plans and what was once commonplace is no longer allowed. RCI suspended this practice on all ships a couple of years ago.  If NCL allows this and a fee is involved from the pending country, you can bet that fee will be passed down to your friend.  You won't get a definitive answer on this forum.  Call NCL for guidance.  Can you post the progress/answer for your friend back on this forum?

 

Interesting. I googled it and there are a number of articles about the change. 

 

https://cruisefever.net/royal-caribbean-stops-downline-embarkation-early-disembarkation/

 

What is more concerning is that the RCI will not allow you to join the cruise downstream as well if your flight is delayed unless you purchase your flight from RCI.  

 

That tells me the reason they give "COVID restrictions" is simply not genuine.    If it were joining the cruise late due to airline issues would be treated the same if you booked your flight through the cruise line or not.