Customs in St. Thomas?

[momdabomb]

I read somewhere that getting off the ship in St. Thomas can take quite a while due to slow customs. How does it work if you've booked an excursion, but not through the cruise line?

[enchic21]

When I went, getting off the ship was quick. We got off probably around 9am and was off in about 10 minutes. There were no customs checks or anything. I think it's only if St. Thomas isn't your first port that there is a customs check, but I'm not 100% positive about that. If St. Thomas is your first port, then you are fine. Swipe your room key in and off you go!

[wrp96]

Whether or not you have to go through Immigration in St. Thomas depends on what your previous port was. If the last port you visited before arriving in St. Thomas was in the US (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, San Juan) then you won't have to go through immigration. It will be just like getting off the ship in any other port.

 

If your previous port was a foreign port, then you will have to go through Immigration. How it's done will depend on your cruiseline. Some require everybody to visit Immigration before anybody gets off, some allow you off once you've gone through Immigration. When I did it on Voyager, they had you line up on the Promenade deck, pass by Immigration officials with your passport open, and then they handed you a ticket to get off the ship. The earliest spots in line were for those people with early excursions (if you had a private excursion you brought proof of that), after that they went by decks. As soon as you were cleared by immigration, you were allowed off the ship.

[calij11]

If I have an excursion that leaves at 8:30, what time do you suggest we go to get in line? And do we have to go somewhere to show them we have proof of an early excursion? Thanks.

[98Charlie]

If I have an excursion that leaves at 8:30, what time do you suggest we go to get in line? And do we have to go somewhere to show them we have proof of an early excursion? Thanks.

 

You will not know what time to line up for immigration until you are given directions on your ship. Info is usually distributed the day or evening before you arrive in St. Thomas.

 

If you have an early excursion that is not booked through the ship contact the Guest Relations or Purser's desk the day before arriving in St. Thomas and ask what time you should ``line up'' for immigration.

 

As said before, each cruise line handles immigration procedures separately and even ships within a cruise line may have different methods of processing the immigration procedure.

 

Dianne

[momdabomb]

Thanks everyone for the info. I booked through Sunny Liston with a 9:00 a.m. pickup and was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it. St Thomas is our second stop (after Half Moon Cay) on the Carnival Elation. Glad to know that I should be able to get through customs earlier even with doing a private excursion.

Thanks for your help!

 

BTW...has anybody ever done the Sunny Liston tour?

[divepal]

If you go through immigration on St. Thomas and it's the last port before returning to San Juan, do you need to go through immigration again in San Juan? I would assume since they're both US you probably wouldn't but it never hurts to ask.

[Elizabeth27]

BTW...has anybody ever done the Sunny Liston tour?

 

We just did his tour the first week of May...he was fabulous! We had the 2-hour shopping option. We came in on the Carnival Valor and docked at 9:00...we didn't get off the ship until almost 10:00 (we did have a bit of a customs nightmare), so we had to pick one less hour of shopping in town. You can select one, two, or three hours to shop, depending on when you arrive in port and how much time (and money!) you have to blow in port!!

 

He met our entire group at noon, took us on a fun ride up into the mountain, made a few stops along the way with some beautiful vantage points, then took us to Sapphire Beach. Some of the folks stayed about a half hour, and then he took them back to their ships. We stayed for about 2 1/2 hours and he returned to get us then.

 

He and his wife Angela are both class acts and run a great operation. I don't think you could go wrong with his tours, or Godfrey's, because they were both on the same path and seemed very similar. Sunny is very flamboyant and will have your group singing on the way down the mountain! :)

[m steve]

you will be asked to go thru immigration on the ship early in the morning and once everyone is cleared you can depart. You will go thru customs when you arrive in US or PR. There isn't customs for ships in STT as they want you to shop there. If there is a stop before STT you will probably have an immigration check in STT.

[cpcruiser]

It was mentioned above that all you had to do was show your passport. We have passports but were told to leave them on the ship in our safe. Now I am confused as to what to do? We want to go to trunk bay. How do we keep our passports safe while in the water? Is there a way to get off the ship and keep our passports on the ship? As you can tell this will be our first crusie and I have no idea what I am doing! Sorry if this seems to be a dumb question.

[gizmo]

cpcruiser,

 

Immigration officials board you will go through immigration on the ship. You will be notified where to go. Enjoy your cruise. :)

[Froufie]

I agree - I certainly don't want to be touring the island with my passport around - esp as I am planning to go swimming/snorkeling, etc.

 

We will be on the Valor and as we are arriving from Nassau I understand we will have to go thru Immigration and they will want to see our passports! Can we then return them to our cabin safe? and disembark? (I believe we will be given stickers with our name and birthdate on them to 'wear' in port - ya like I want everyone to know how old I am! ha ha ha:D )

 

Anyone info from someone who has experienced this would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,