Disembarking BEFORE the last port

[aztravels1]

SO in theory I am thinking of trying to get off in Paris where I have family rather than riding on until London ( I am doing the Barcelona to London Cruise) HOW can I do this? Has anyone done this before and has a trick or advice? are there reprocussions if I just walk off in Paris with my luggage? I want to do it the right way but have been trying to figure that out and can't find much info to help me move forward. I have until June....

 

[nwcruiselover]

Carnival doesn’t allow this.  They call it a “down line debarkation,” and they stopped allowing it quite a few years ago.  I don’t know the repercussions if you try to walk off in in Paris with your luggage, but if it were me I wouldn’t try it.  Their passenger manifest must agree with the actual passengers onboard.  I tried to arrange this in advance several years back and was given a blunt NO.  I even pursued it all the way to the president’s office, and that answer was always no.  I would recommend getting back to Paris after the ship arrives in London.

[Purvis1231]

Read your cruise contract first before you decide how to proceed. I know my contracts always said this was provided and would result in a fee being assessed. Plus you might have some trouble with the French authorities.

Edited February 2 by Purvis1231
typo

[stobe1]

I would call Carnival and ask it straight from the source. You can get a lot of bad information here on CC. 10 different people will say 10 different things. Granted, you can get bad info from a Carnival rep also, but at least in that situation you can point back and say "this person on this date told me this". 

[theckenlady]

The train from London to France is very quick. I'm pretty sure they won't allow you to walk off with your luggage without questioning you about what you are doing. 

[ontheweb]

There are posts in the forums for other cruise lines where this has been allowed. But it is only allowed when it is approved in advance. And the advice is always to get it in writing and bring that along with you to the ship. 

 

Without this being taken care of in advance, there will be problems with immigration as that will not be set up in advance. Also, be aware of the fact that a port can always be missed due to weather. And one last thing, do not expect any return of any part of your cruise fare because you did not do the entire cruise.

[Essiesmom]

Chances are the port before Le Havre will be a Schengen port, as will many before that, so there would not be any immigration hangups.  Open borders and all that.  EM

[StephPS79]

I definitely would not do this without proper authorization.  I would contact Carnival to see if it is allowed.  As mentioned, previously it hasn't been, but sometimes policies change.  Some lines to authorize this.  If they authorize it, great!  If not, 100% I would not attempt it.

[TrqoisWtrs]

I was on a south pacific cruise in Sept.  We left from Seattle and were supposed to have three stops in Alaska and then on to Japan.  When checking in to board, we were handed a letter that all stops in Alaska were cancelled due to a storm, and so we had 9 days at sea to Japan with pretty rough waters going around the storm.  We also found out our stop in the Philippines was cancelled due to weather too, so when we reached Tokyo, some folks were just over the cruise already and got off to go home. 

 

Then a bunch of people wanting to experience the bullet train were able to get off and met us at the next Japanese port. 

 

The one thing I kept hearing about getting permission to leave the ship was to make sure you talked to Guest Services once you got on board.  So it is possible, doesn't hurt to ask.

 

  

[Earthworm Jim]

Besides, you can't walk off the ship in Paris anyway. Paris is over 100 miles from the ocean. Unless your cruise is going up the River Seine.

[CruiseCoupleFlorida]

Leaving the ship early in Europe is entirely different than leaving the ship on a closed loop US cruise.  It is doable in Europe depending on the countries you are visiting.   Call Carnival and ask.