Quebec disembarkation

[rafinmd]

I have a rather strange itinerary.  I sail QM2 from New York to Quebec September 29 to October 6.  I am also booked on Crystal Serenity October 5-13.  Serentiy is in Quebec October 4 to 6 with turnaround on October 5 while QM2 is there October 5 to7 with turnaround October 6, and I am trying to figure out what my options are for making the transition.  It looks like the larger ships are berthed at Pier 30 and Pier 22, not exactly adjacent.

 

This would be my idea:

October 5--

1. Leave QM2 noonish with a large carryon and check into Serenity and getting my first lunch, then start setting up my Serenity cabin.

2. Return to QM2 for final packing and a final dinner with my wait staff.

3. After dinner put my large bag in the hallway to be collected by the luggage crew.

4. Head to Serenity for my first night.

October 6--

1. After breakfast go back to QM2 and pick up my big bag.

2. Final setup of my room on Serenity.

 

Questions:

1.  If necessary, am I allowed to take a large bag off QM2 the day before disembarkation?

2. If I spend the night off QM2 am I correct I cannot reboard on disembarkation day.

3. If I let the porters take my big bag off QM2 can I getting into the luggage hall to pick it up?

4.  Does anyone know anything about a shuttle from Pier 30?

 

Thanks

 

Roy

 

[LHT28]

you are making things more complicated than need be

 

 Usually when you off load your bags  your  ship card is deactivated 

 unless you can make special arrangement to stay on the QM2

 

Choose what line you want to be on for dinner  & do not look back

JMO

[GTJ]

2 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Questions:

1.  If necessary, am I allowed to take a large bag off QM2 the day before disembarkation?

2.  If I spend the night off QM2 am I correct I cannot reboard on disembarkation day.

3.  If I let the porters take my big bag off QM2 can I getting into the luggage hall to pick it up?

4.  Does anyone know anything about a shuttle from Pier 30?

1. People routinely take things off and on vessels at all ports. At some ports much is taken off the vessel when some type of celebration is planned (e.g., wedding). Is there anything that makes you believe that there is something distinct about the port of Québec in particular that it would disallow passengers from bringing things with them as they explore the city for a day? In the absence of any such special provision, I would not anticipate passengers not being permitted to visit the city with whatever it is that they will be utilizing that day.

 

2. I expect the answer is that you are wrong. I would anticipate that many people will have spent the night ashore, perhaps overindulging themselves and not returning the vessel until the morning. Holly Golightly would not return to vessel until day break the next morning (see opening scene, Breakfast at Tiffany's). It is not expected that Cunard Line would impose a curfew on its passengers, that they all have to return to the vessel that same night by some particular time.

 

3. I imagine that there are going to be some people who have forgotten one of their pieces of baggage, and have to return to baggage claim to retrieve it. Do carriers routinely disallow passengers to retrieve their forgotten baggage so that such baggage may be discarded and destroyed? You will have already cleared immigration and customs in Halifax, so there should not be any issues with returning to claim forgotten baggage and clearing it through customs.

 

4. I think you answered your question with your first sentence: "I have a rather strange itinerary." That is to say, no one else has your itinerary. No one else has a need for a shuttle. I am quite confident that no shuttle will be provided just for you. Moreover, given that the vessels are operated by competing corporate owners, Carnival and Abercrombie & Kent, there is likely little desire to cooperate with one another in organizing a joint shuttle operation (in another context, Southwest Airlines purposefully avoids interlining checked baggage with competing air carriers). I think you have an ingenious plan, traveling on a vessel that "arrives" in Québec the day after your connecting vessel "departs" Québec, an itinerary one that could confound even some travel agents and confuse the computers that search out "impossible" itinerary connections. But with ingenuity comes self-reliance.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, GTJ said:

You will have already cleared immigration and customs in Halifax

One would clear immigration in Halifax (assuming that's the first port of call in Canada) but technically you don't clear customs until you disembark at the final port, in this case Quebec City...even though clearing customs is likely to be perfunctory.

[GTJ]

9 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

One would clear immigration in Halifax (assuming that's the first port of call in Canada) but technically you don't clear customs until you disembark at the final port, in this case Quebec City...even though clearing customs is likely to be perfunctory.

I am a bit unclear of the exact details of the working of customs clearing. The entirety of the vessel is not going to be unloaded at any given port (e.g., foodstuffs, items for sale in stores), but is going to be exported back into international waters and elsewhere. So it is really only those things that are unloaded for which customs examination is required. But things can be unloaded and imported into the country at any port. Additionally, I recall seeing for many years on the timetables of the Washington State Ferries that, for the M.V. Chelan, which operated between Sidney, B.C., and Anacortes, Wash., and which for some journeys would make an intermediate stop at Friday Harbor, Wash., passengers traveling exclusively between Friday Harbor and Anacortes without ever leaving the United States, would be subject to customs examination. The sum of all of this seems to be that there is a mixing of goods while onboard a vessel engaged in international commerce, and for that reason anything coming off the vessel is subject to customs examination at the port at which it is being removed. Yet, performing customs examinations at every port visited by a cruise vessel--looking into every purse, satchel, etc. being carried by alighting passengers--would seemingly not be practicable, and thus "perfunctory."

 

I have not seen anything written on this, but I suppose that if I were to peruse the CBP regulations I might (possibly) find something. But is this your understanding?

[njhorseman]

14 hours ago, GTJ said:

I am a bit unclear of the exact details of the working of customs clearing. The entirety of the vessel is not going to be unloaded at any given port (e.g., foodstuffs, items for sale in stores), but is going to be exported back into international waters and elsewhere. So it is really only those things that are unloaded for which customs examination is required. But things can be unloaded and imported into the country at any port. Additionally, I recall seeing for many years on the timetables of the Washington State Ferries that, for the M.V. Chelan, which operated between Sidney, B.C., and Anacortes, Wash., and which for some journeys would make an intermediate stop at Friday Harbor, Wash., passengers traveling exclusively between Friday Harbor and Anacortes without ever leaving the United States, would be subject to customs examination. The sum of all of this seems to be that there is a mixing of goods while onboard a vessel engaged in international commerce, and for that reason anything coming off the vessel is subject to customs examination at the port at which it is being removed. Yet, performing customs examinations at every port visited by a cruise vessel--looking into every purse, satchel, etc. being carried by alighting passengers--would seemingly not be practicable, and thus "perfunctory."

 

I have not seen anything written on this, but I suppose that if I were to peruse the CBP regulations I might (possibly) find something. But is this your understanding?

Obviously customs officials can conduct inspections of anyone leaving the ship in any port and once in a while they do...whether by random selection, a tip from a source or because of suspicions aroused by a persons behavior or how much they are taking ashore.  My statement about customs inspection taking place at the final (disembarkation) port arises because that is the place where every disembarking passenger is taking all their belongings ashore, thus making it the port where officials would have the most concern about contraband  being smuggled or even dutiable items that may be in a passenger's possession but not declared by the passenger. On garden variety cruises calling on North American and Caribbean ports those inspections are now relatively rare and passengers entering the US rarely have to complete a customs declaration..

 

I doubt there's anything specific in CBP regulations, but rather I suspect this is a procedural matter that can be easily changed by internal memoranda not normally subject to public view. In general law enforcement would be unable to effectively investigate suspicious activities if they had to expose their procedures to the eyes of the public.

[GTJ]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

I doubt there's anything specific in CBP regulations, but rather I suspect this is a procedural matter that can be easily changed by internal memoranda not normally subject to public view.

I think that there are a number of these types of situations, where things are done less formally, possibly through internal memoranda, because of the particular circumstances involved. A few unusual circumstances, involving cruise lines, did come to my mind. There is Waterton Shoreline Cruise Co., where passengers on a round-trip cruise excursion are brought from Canada to the United States, and landed, but no passports are required, and there is no immigration or customs examination unless passengers plan to remain in the United States and not to return to the vessel. Yet persons on other round-trip cruise excursions that bring passengers from Canada to the United States, such as Rockport Boat Line, are subjected to immigration and customs inspection upon landing. Then there are the round-trip cruise excursions provided by Sea Watch Tours, embarking passengers in New Brunswick, and Bold Coast Charter Co., embarking passengers in Maine, both destined for Machias Seal Island, where passengers are landed, no passports and no immigration or customs examinations (sovereignty over Machias Seal Island is disputed by Canada and the United States, so that, too, may play a role). It would be nice to think that CBP is adequately addressing all of immigration and customs concerns, even in unusual circumstances, effectively, consistently, legally, and accountably.

[rafinmd]

With regard to the shuttle it is run by the port, not by the cruise lines.  Here's the response to my query from a port official:

 

"

Bonjour Roy,

 

You are right about the location of each ship at the Port of Quebec for these dates. There will be a shuttle on Pier 22 parking lot that can bring you to the Pier 30 terminal. Otherwise, there will be taxi and uber drivers available on those dates that can bring you to Pier 30 from Pier 22.

 

I hope I did answer mostly of your questions.

 

Have a nice day !

 

Superviseur des opérations croisières et événements"

 

Roy