Immigration procedures in Tampa for non USA passengers?

[Tigers Cruiser]

Just a quick question about immigration procedures.

Is Tampa different from Fort Lauderdale and Miami?:confused:

 

As a Canadian are we expected to line up like we used to have to do at the crack of dawn on disembarkation day? Last 3 cruises from Ft. Lauderdale, Port Canaveral and Miami...........no need for this procedure.

If so.................any particular reason that this port ( Tampa) is different?:confused:

 

Thanks for any information.

[Tigers Cruiser]

A few people are looking...................can anyone shead any light on this question? :confused:

 

Thanks for any help or comments.

[AandBmom]

I believe that we had to go to one of the lounges very early in the morning around 6:30ish and meet with the Customs officer there. I might be mistaken though b/c that was a few years ago. I know for sure we had to do it like that in Port Canaveral last month and one previous time we did too and I think it was in Tampa coming off the Legend.

[AandBmom]

I must be remembering correctly, b/c here's a post discussing this topic and people complaining about sailing in/out of Tampa for this reason.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=27536988&highlight=customs+tampa#post27536988

[smallworldtraveller]

Hi i am the orginal poster of the thread that you were directed to. There are no plans to change the process for us aliens to disembark. I called Carnival and was told that this is a customs issue and they can not do anything about. You do have to meet in the lounge for customs if you are an alien, if even one person does not show up for this process it holds up the whole ship for disembarkment. Just a word of caution: aliens must show up at 6 30 in morning, this includes all your young children.

Before i ever book another cruise i will research customs disembarkment process, now that this cruise is booked and paid for it was to late to cancel. Our last day to come home -- arrival time back to our home will be 9 at night, it just make for a very long and lousy last day.

 

Looking forward to this cruise just not the last morning.

[Jolimont]

I would just like to say, as an American citizen, that people from outside the US being called "aliens" is just silly. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

[kerrytens]

Well, I've just dropped any ship that sails from Tampa from my list of future cruises now with this not so great customs news:(:mad:

 

On the bright side, I love sailing out of Miami so I'll be fine:D

[AandBmom]

I've had to do it now on two different cruises and really, it's not that big of a deal. First of all, you don't have to be right on time, there are lots of people lining up to clear customs so if you come 20 minutes or so late you're not going to miss anything, you'll just be a little further down the line. You also don't need to be all dolled up to meet with a customs officer - toss on a ball cap and some shorts of course :D and go. On one of our cruises I believe we had to report for customs at 6:30, we slept until about 6:45 then brushed our teeth, threw on some sandals and went down to customs around 6:50. We then returned to our cabin to shower, dress, and get ready for the day. Since you have to be out of your cabin fairly early anyway on the last day you wouldn't be able to sleep much longer even if you didn't have to meet w/ customs. I actually find it easier to sit in a theatre enjoying a coffee while waiting for customs than to stand in a long line in a terminal holding all my stuff waiting.

[Tigers Cruiser]

:D

I've had to do it now on two different cruises and really, it's not that big of a deal. First of all, you don't have to be right on time, there are lots of people lining up to clear customs so if you come 20 minutes or so late you're not going to miss anything, you'll just be a little further down the line. You also don't need to be all dolled up to meet with a customs officer - toss on a ball cap and some shorts of course :D and go. On one of our cruises I believe we had to report for customs at 6:30, we slept until about 6:45 then brushed our teeth, threw on some sandals and went down to customs around 6:50. We then returned to our cabin to shower, dress, and get ready for the day. Since you have to be out of your cabin fairly early anyway on the last day you wouldn't be able to sleep much longer even if you didn't have to meet w/ customs. I actually find it easier to sit in a theatre enjoying a coffee while waiting for customs than to stand in a long line in a terminal holding all my stuff waiting.

 

 

Thanks to everyone that replied.

I'll bet it's been at least 8 cruises since we've had to do this procedure.

I was just wondering why Tampa seems to be the only one that still uses it. Seems a little outdated to me.........we're still going to have to go through the line once we get our luggage........unless we get some kind of sticker that says we've been OK's in the lounge area.

Two steps forward and one step back...............:cool:

[misguidedangel]

I have sailed out of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Galveston, and Long Beach and my last cruise was just over 2 months ago out of Miami. I have never had to go to a lounge on debarkation morning and clear customs, never.....The one time that it was done was in September 07 when we were in St. Thomas and customs wanted to check everyone before they could get off the ship.

 

In all but one of my 11 cruises, only one cruise did I wait in line for around 45 minutes and that is because I had a really high tag number and didn't mind waiting to get off the ship cuz my flight left at 130pm......

[smallworldtraveller]

LOL it is not carnival that calls us Aliens, it is US customs. I go over the USA and Canadian border weekly and get kidded by US customs asking me "Alien do you have your passport" the agents know me by name but sure love saying it. But it is the correct term.

Miami was a very fast customs clearing as we have a seperate line and you leave the ship with everyone else. Tampa is another story, this port will prevent me from taking another cruise out of that port unless the customs clearing is made easier.

 

I was told when i called carnival that the issue is, the port does not have the big numbers of passengers as other ports and there is not the number of customs agents to do the clearing of people as other ports. This is why the customs clearing is done the way it is. It is really to bad that it is what it is,

 

I feel for the passengers with very young children as they have to present for the clearing of passengers, I feel for the rest of the passengers if one person is missing as they start using the broadcast sytem to get the passenger to come down to be cleared.

[klmorg]

I love sailing out of Tampa, but not particularly this part. We nearly missed our 11:55 am flight due to a few people not showing up for the immigration/customs process. We were already delayed getting in by an hour or so due to weather, then there were 3-4 people whose names they kept paging over and over and over and over. This delayed us another hour or more.

[robvan]

We were on the Legend in April and yes, this is still the procedure. Two years ago we had to be in the theatre at 6:30 am. This year it was 7:30. It ran quickly. It would not stop me from going out of Tampa.