disembarking before final destination

[antarctica]

Help! I am new to cruising and have already booked a cruise for my family on NCL. It is a round trip cruise starting and ending in London. I foolishly thought it would be okay for us to disembark in the second to last city, Stockholm, so that we could spend a few extra days there instead of at sea en route back to London. I even bought the plane tickets arriving in London and departing from Stockholm. Then I found out what you all probably already know, that you can't disembark early. It is going to cost a fortune to rebook the plane tickets. Does anyone know of any way to get NCL to let us get off early? I was told that for security reasons they almost never allow this. Any suggestions?

[JSQ01]

There are several threads on early departures, and a lot of varying opinions. I would say you should contact the cruise line directly and ask them what their policy is. I would hate to give you advice and then it is not accurate! Hope you find a solution.

[paul929207]

Have you checked with your TA or NCL to see if you can debark early? There are restrictions in some countries (especially the US) on this. However, it is fine in other countries.

[AnDeNo.UK]

Help! I am new to cruising and have already booked a cruise for my family on NCL. It is a round trip cruise starting and ending in London. I foolishly thought it would be okay for us to disembark in the second to last city, Stockholm, so that we could spend a few extra days there instead of at sea en route back to London. I even bought the plane tickets arriving in London and departing from Stockholm. Then I found out what you all probably already know, that you can't disembark early. It is going to cost a fortune to rebook the plane tickets. Does anyone know of any way to get NCL to let us get off early? I was told that for security reasons they almost never allow this. Any suggestions?

 

We will be disembarking in Dover instead of Amsterdam this April. (We did the same thing in 2007) I'm not sure where you are from but, there are a few people from our Roll Call that are from the US that are doing this as well. We contacted our T/A to request this, had an e-mail back pretty quick confirming our request. I'm sure you won't have a problem.;)

 

BTW...........welcome to CC.

[spongerob]

Early disembarkations are routinely done, except for US-based cruises where there are laws preventing it. Typically you have to request early disembarkation ahead of time, but it's not a big deal. A friend of ours left a cruise early due to work and it was very easily handled. As long as there are no local laws preventing it, the cruise line shouldn't have a problem with you leaving a day or two early.

[firefly333]

We had someone I knew leave the ship early from Cozumel when they announced they didnt know where we were going to land in the U.S. or what day during the Ike cruise. Carnival allowed it. So, it does happen.

[eurolady]

We are disembarking off an RCL cruise a day early.....we just contacted Guest Services and we then received an email with the info required to be emailed back to request early disembarkation.......ship, cabin number , booking number and date requested to disembark.....it took less than a day to receive a reply via email confirming acknowledgement and approval for early disembarkation which I have copied and plan to keep with me. It was very simple.

[Philip217]

It is not so much the cruise line as the governments you need to worry about. Cruise ship passengers and crew have a different visa status than people who travel via other means.

 

It is usually the local government that will not allow you to disembark a ship early. But there are ways around that problem. You need to speak to some embassies.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Philip217

[CanWeGoYet?]

I am disembarking early from the cruise I've booked - I don't have a travel agent so I just contacted the cruise line directly. There was a special department that handled this sort of request - it's called downlining. I would start there - if it is more complicated due to citizenship issues or how long you are staying, they should be able to tell you if you'll need to go further in contacting the embassy, checking into visa requirements etc.

Edited February 16, 2009 by tink360

[eh2zed]

You should contact NCL directly. You will need written permission. No visa is required for Sweden so I can't see why it cannot be arranged.

[alcpa1]

One cardinal rule for early disembarkation, no matter the port, plan on leaving the ship with your luggage. If you wish to return to the ship at any point that day you will not be permitted to reboard. Some cruise lines even take your seapass.

Be prepared to check with the Purser's Desk starting mid cruise to verify your early embarkation too. Don't presume that they are aware of your departure when you try to exit the ship with your luggage.

Your cabin steward can arrange a cart and may even assist you with your luggage to the pier. A little tip works wonders.

[AnDeNo.UK]

One cardinal rule for early disembarkation, no matter the port, plan on leaving the ship with your luggage. If you wish to return to the ship at any point that day you will not be permitted to reboard. Some cruise lines even take your seapass.

Be prepared to check with the Purser's Desk starting mid cruise to verify your early embarkation too. Don't presume that they are aware of your departure when you try to exit the ship with your luggage.

Your cabin steward can arrange a cart and may even assist you with your luggage to the pier. A little tip works wonders.

 

We have disembarked before the end of a cruise on two occasions, our luggage was picked up by a crew member the night before, (just like you do the last night of your cruise), it was waiting for us in the arrivals hall, along with other passengers luggage.

This was in the UK, not sure of any other country that may do things differently. :)

[boudecca]

Then I found out what you all probably already know, that you can't disembark early.

 

I just saw this and am curious how this worked out for you. If you are late for the cruise, the lines say the will leave without you. So what if you just roll your bags off and don't return?

[paul929207]

If your early departure from the ship is a violation of the law, the cruise ship will be fined. It will pass the fine along to the offending passenger. The main law involved in these questions is the US's Passenger Vessel Service Act. It prohibits most cruise ship from carrying passengers from one US port to another withour stopping in a distant foriegn port.

[CanWeGoYet?]

I disembarked early as well. Notified the department for the cruise line that handles early disembark requests, in fact I checked it out prior to booking since being able to disembark in England was a deciding factor in picking the cruise. No problem for us. I am sure though that if were a cruise from a US port and we were disembarking before we had hit the required foreign port - we would not have been given clearance to do so.

[thinfool]

Then I found out what you all probably already know, that you can't disembark early.

 

Who told you this? Cruise ships are not prison barges.

 

We had one of our party break her leg at a port in Greece. Carnival would not let her reboard. Her son got her luggage off and she stayed in Greece to recover and eventually return home.

 

No charge. ;)

[paul929207]

It is not a simpe rule that you can never leave the ship early or that you can always leave the ship early. It depends on the ports involved. Contact the cruise line to see if what you want to do is possible.

[daisysheridan]

I just saw this and am curious how this worked out for you. If you are late for the cruise, the lines say the will leave without you. So what if you just roll your bags off and don't return?

 

I was thinking the exact same thing!

[Gonzo70]

I was thinking the exact same thing!

 

In general they would not let a passenger leave with their luggage unless it is prearranged. Also in some ports (mainly U.S., but perhaps some others as well) there would be fines involved that would be passed on to the passengers.

[Cruise Junky]

Sweden is in the EU, this shouldn't be a problem at all. Contact the cruise line directly to make arrangements.

[eggypann]

I was on a Greek Isles cruise about 9 years ago and while having lunch at a cafe in Rhodes met a couple from England. They told us that they cruised every year and would pick one of the ports to stay for a week. They would get off the ship when it hit that port and then get back on the following week when it was back again. Said that they'd been doing it for several years as they never felt they had enough time in the ports. Not sure if all cruise lines would accomodate something like this but they said they'd had no trouble arranging it!

[paul929207]

I was on a Greek Isles cruise about 9 years ago and while having lunch at a cafe in Rhodes met a couple from England. They told us that they cruised every year and would pick one of the ports to stay for a week. They would get off the ship when it hit that port and then get back on the following week when it was back again. Said that they'd been doing it for several years as they never felt they had enough time in the ports. Not sure if all cruise lines would accomodate something like this but they said they'd had no trouble arranging it!

I think that is something like EasyCruise. With most cruise lines, if you can get off in the middle of the cruise. You lose the remainder of the cruise. You cannot get back on for the rest of a subsequent cruise.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

We are from the UK and a few years ago did a TA crossing which was supposed to go to New Orleans. It was in fact the first ship back there after the flooding. Many of the passengers got off in the prior port , including us, which was Fort Lauderdale. The reason we did this is it was much cheaper to fly back from there for us. My point is that everything was handled like a normal debarkation by the ship, with no mention of paying anything to cover fines etc. .

Edited June 26, 2009 by WELSH WIZARDS

[DanJ]

I think that is something like EasyCruise. With most cruise lines, if you can get off in the middle of the cruise. You lose the remainder of the cruise. You cannot get back on for the rest of a subsequent cruise.

 

If one was wealthy and didn't care about how much money they spent on a vacation, I suppose you could buy back to back cruises, and arrange with the cruise line that you would like to get off in a port of call on week 1 and reboard on week 2. It would really suck if there was a storm or a mechanical problem that would prevent the ship coming back to that port in week 2 though.

 

Of course, if someone was that wealthy, they could just afford to go to whatever port for however long without needing a cruise ship to get there anyway LOL.

[paul929207]

We are from the UK and a few years ago did a TA crossing which was supposed to go to New Orleans. It was in fact the first ship back there after the flooding. Many of the passengers got off in the prior port , including us, which was Fort Lauderdale. The reason we did this is it was much cheaper to fly back from there for us. My point is that everything was handled like a normal debarkation by the ship, with no mention of paying anything to cover fines etc. .

Ths would not violate US law or any other that I can think of. That is why there were no fines.