Customs procedure Canada cruise out of NJ

[emmy]

We will be cruising out of Bayonne to all Canadian ports on Jewel of the Seas.  The cruise ends in Quebec City.  Our first port of call is in Halifax Nova Scotia.  Will all cruisers have to go through Canadian Customs the day we arrive in Halifax? Do custom agents come on the ship that morning for clearance before going ashore?

 

I am questioning the length of time this will take to try and plan a private tour in Halifax. Port stay is only 7 am to 4 pm

 

any experiences? 

[BklynBoy8]

1 hour ago, emmy said:

We will be cruising out of Bayonne to all Canadian ports on Jewel of the Seas.  The cruise ends in Quebec City.  Our first port of call is in Halifax Nova Scotia.  Will all cruisers have to go through Canadian Customs the day we arrive in Halifax? Do custom agents come on the ship that morning for clearance before going ashore?

 

I am questioning the length of time this will take to try and plan a private tour in Halifax. Port stay is only 7 am to 4 pm

 

any experiences? 

 

We did a 14 day sailing to Quebec and very much enjoyed Halifax our favorite Port of Call.

 

We do not typically see Customs coming in and our Halifax visit. We also come out of Brooklyn, NY on embarkation day.

 

We mostly walk, visit, shop and enjoy a favorite restaurant in Halifax for lunch.

 

Our Port of Call visit is typically 8 AM to around 5-6 PM..

[princeton123211]

On 8/2/2023 at 1:25 PM, emmy said:

Will all cruisers have to go through Canadian Customs the day we arrive in Halifax? Do custom agents come on the ship that morning for clearance before going ashore?

This really doesn't have anything to do with Customs because you aren't going through Customs-- it has to do with Immigration officers. Customs is about declaring the value of goods or money you are bringing into a country- nothing to do with letting people in. 

 

Typically Immigration for a port stop is handled by the cruise line and country and does not require you to be present unless there is an issue they would like to address with you individually about your admissibility to that country. So the short answer is this should feel like any other port stop and you should be able to disembark as soon as the ship is cleared. 

[LHT28]

Being Canadian   she may have to clear Customs if it is the 1st Canadian  port

 

 @emmy  you may get the Customs card in your cabin  before you get to Halifax    we have not done that route  so cannot say for sure

 

 

[emmy]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Being Canadian   she may have to clear Customs if it is the 1st Canadian  port

 

 @emmy  you may get the Customs card in your cabin  before you get to Halifax    we have not done that route  so cannot say for sure

 

 

Thank you   I am just thinking back years ago on sailings in particular a transatlantic out of Florida that customs and immigration came onto ship in Ireland our first port of call and we had to line up, present ourselves with passport in hand in dining room.  It was long procedure.Just curious if this MAY be the case on this cruise 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, emmy said:

Thank you   I am just thinking back years ago on sailings in particular a transatlantic out of Florida that customs and immigration came onto ship in Ireland our first port of call and we had to line up, present ourselves with passport in hand in dining room.  It was long procedure.Just curious if this MAY be the case on this cruise 

We had the same experience  when we stopped in Key West  non US citizens had to line up  and get cleared before  being allowed off the ship

Hopefully  you will not be delayed  in Halifax

Enjoy the cruise

[tring]

8 hours ago, emmy said:

Thank you   I am just thinking back years ago on sailings in particular a transatlantic out of Florida that customs and immigration came onto ship in Ireland our first port of call and we had to line up, present ourselves with passport in hand in dining room.  It was long procedure.Just curious if this MAY be the case on this cruise 

 

My thoughts on reading this were the same as mentioned by LHT28.  If from the UK, we dock in any US port, that is what we experience.  For instance on one cruise stopping at New Orleans in March, immigration was not completed until about 3-4pm on the first day out of two in port.  Apparently some people missed afternoon tours booked through the cruise line.  I did not realise the same may happen the other way around though.

 

I have never heard of this happening in Canada though, or any other country, except for a shorter delay in Russia when ships called there.  We sailed.over to Canada and had no unusual delays at all in Sydney, our first port.  Sydney is also our first port in September and no delays are anticipated there, so it is unlikely you will either.

 

Boston is the first US port on our itinerary and that is something we and our fellow passengers are a tad concerned about, though it does seem immigration does not normally take as long there as it can in some ports, so we are hoping to be cleared before lunch time, but who knows what will happen.  At least we have two days in Boston, possibly because of that need to clear US immigration.

 

Hope all goes well for you.

Edited August 4, 2023 by tring