What is procedure for continuing passengers upon arrival in Ft.lauderdale

We are traveling from Manaus to Monte Carlo. Can anyone tell us if we have to leave the ship in Ft.lauderdale and if so, what is the process? When can we re-enter the ship?

We are traveling from Manaus to Monte Carlo. Can anyone tell us if we have to leave the ship in Ft.lauderdale and if so, what is the process? When can we re-enter the ship?

We are doing the same itinerary next March (3/15/16 - 4/15/16) so are interested in the response to your question.

I did notice that there were two tours offered, one to Miami and one to the Everglades.

Other times that we have done 'back to back' cruises we did not have to leave the ship.

Yes - in Fort Lauderdale you will have to leave the ship as U.S. Immigration requires the ship to be "zero'd out". Typically you are assigned a meeting time (with other back to back guests), are escorted off the ship, through Immigration and into a waiting area. The wait can be as short as 5 minutes or much longer if there is a problem with the ship "clearing". You can leave all your belongings in your suite (assuming you're not changing suites) and are allowed to go back to your suite immediately after getting back on the ship - even if all other suites aren't ready yet.

Thanks Floris! Very helpful!

Just to add.

Yes, before the ship can be cleared all guests must be off the ship including those who are disembarking as well as those continuing on who are known as in transit guests.

Having done many cruises as an in transit passenger in the USA I can tell you that it can go quick or sometimes take quite a long time as it is up to the immigrations people in terms of signing off on the paperwork to say the ship is cleared.

Now you don't have to stay around so if you would like to just go into Fort Lauderdale you don't have to wait while the ship is being cleared. Rather you can just leave and go into port and then come back later.

Keith

All this good advise ONLY applies if Miami is your first US port. If you have stopped in St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Key West immediately prior to docking in Miami it is much easieri. I have been stuck as long as 2 hours for the "15 minute" in transit inspection. Usually Lord and Lady Gotrocks from the owner's suite cause the problem.:)

All this good advise ONLY applies if Miami is your first US port. If you have stopped in St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Key West immediately prior to docking in Miami it is much easieri. I have been stuck as long as 2 hours for the "15 minute" in transit inspection. Usually Lord and Lady Gotrocks from the owner's suite cause the problem.:)

Even if you stop at another USA port directly prior to a final stop in the USA while I agree it makes getting everyone through immigration quicker you still must get off the ship as an in transit guest and you cannot get back on the ship until the last guest has gotten off and the immigration people have cleared the ship. If one person doesn't get off the ship (it happens) it will slow the process down no matter whether everyone went through immigration in a prior port or not. You are also at the mercy of whomever is in charge of immigration on the particular day while you are in port and some like to throw around their weight and show their power. Silly but true.

Keith

We did Manaus to Lisbon in 2013, we left the ship as soon as it was cleared, minimised any immigration delays, and took a cab to one of the malls for a walk round, change of scenery, shopping etc.

On our return we could join a separate line to re board and retire to the Colonade for lunch.

It was interesting to watch the supplies being loaded, including crates and crates of bottled water that were stored outside.

As a final note we had a flat calm crossing.

I have no idea why the picture has rotated, sorry

Thank you everyone!