xfer

I'm curious about this too. We were on a Norwegian sailing that stopped at Norfolk coming back from the Bahamas. They made us exit the ship, walk a short loop on the pier and then get back on the ship. The customs officers were in the theater and there were long lines as we walked this odd loop through the theater, off the ship and then back on. But it didn't take that long, since the line kept moving. It was very fast getting off the ship once we were back in New York. Since a lot of passengers hand carry their luggage in New York, it probably saved us time overall.