Liberty Eastern Itinerary Customs Question

[Chef P]

this question is for non US citizens who have recently sailed the Liberty to Half Moom Cay St, Thomas etc..

 

With St. Thomas being the second port after a foreign port of call, do all non US citizens have to present themselves to Customs and Bordor Patrol who board the ship when it arrives to St. Thomas

 

a few years ago we had to do this after we docked, and it took about an hour before we could get off the ship..

 

I am wondering if this is still the protocol ? As we are sailing the Liberty Feb. 4th but we go to Nassau ( HMC got cancelled on us ) before St. Thomas and would like to make shore excursion plans...

[pghsteelerfan]

this question is for non US citizens who have recently sailed the Liberty to Half Moom Cay St, Thomas etc..

 

With St. Thomas being the second port after a foreign port of call, do all non US citizens have to present themselves to Customs and Bordor Patrol who board the ship when it arrives to St. Thomas

 

a few years ago we had to do this after we docked, and it took about an hour before we could get off the ship..

 

I am wondering if this is still the protocol ? As we are sailing the Liberty Feb. 4th but we go to Nassau ( HMC got cancelled on us ) before St. Thomas and would like to make shore excursion plans...

 

I am a US citizen but we did the same Eastern itinerary last year on Carnival Glory (Miami, HMC, Sea Day, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk, Sea Day) and I don't recall anyone having to go through customs again in St. Thomas. We were scheduled at 9AM, but didn't arrive until 11AM due to a medevac the 2nd night of the cruise. That was in May 2010, so I don't know if anything has changed since then or not. I have seen posts where everyone, including US Citizens, have to go through customs on the ship once they arrive in St. Thomas before getting off the ship if the previous port was a "foreign" port. It may be because HMC is a "private island" owned by Holland America/Carnival, but not sure of the reason.

 

Hopefully someone who has cruised this itinerary recently can add some input.

[BlueJacketsFan1]

My wife and I are booked for this cruise for this October. We sailed on a cruise a few years ago which went to Nassau and then St. Thomas. All U.S. passager had to go to deck 5 and go though a line to clear customs. It was a pretty quick process all and all. The line never stopped, you just walked a long slowly and were though it in just a few minutes. Non U.S. passagers reported to the main Lounge to go though their process. We had met a Canadian couple from our MDR table and they never said anything bad about the process. I hope this helps you a little.

[kybowler]

I sailed this ship and itnerary (HMC not Nassau) in June 2011 with 2 family members who were German citizens. They carried their passports at every port. We were never separated for customs until we got to Miami (and they actually go thru quicker than us). As for the other ports, we did not go through custom lines to exit or board the ship.

[MamaParrotHead]

No. We sailed a similiar eastern route on Valor in 2005 and back then we had to do Customs rigamarole. This past January we sailed that exact itinerary and no, we did not. I was told there was a procedural adjustment in Customs of some sort that prevented us from having to go through that anymore.

[elcuchio24]

No. We sailed a similiar eastern route on Valor in 2005 and back then we had to do Customs rigamarole. This past January we sailed that exact itinerary and no, we did not. I was told there was a procedural adjustment in Customs of some sort that prevented us from having to go through that anymore.

 

We did this itin in April. Just walked off the ship in St. T.....

[Chef P]

Thank you for the replies.... :)