Customs Alert!!!

[Apex Cruiser]

Low declareations will sometimes get you searched too. We were searched coming back from our last cruise as we only had bought about $150 worth of items for a party of four. I do not know if it was random or not but it was funny that this was the lowest total we ever had and we had never been searched before. We always have receipts ready so it was easy and after searching three of our bags they waved us through and apologized. They are just doing their job and I'm sure they have some guidelines they use to check on things. Probably couldn't believe we had a college age daughter with us and got away for less then $1,000 in purchases. :rolleyes:

[Schplinky]

Hmmm...this is very interesting. Thank you for this thread, I had no idea about any of this. So...I will be sure to keep my receipts in a handy place. Just one question...I don't understand the confiscation thing. So, say you buy a watch and don't declare it...then they just take it from you forever and you're out the money that you used to buy it? Or do they take it from you just until you pay the import duty? I'm not planning on doing a whole lot of shopping or lying about it but I'd hate to get something confiscated for good just because my paperwork isn't in order.

 

They have the discretion to take it from you and keep it, take it from you until you pay the customs plus a fee which can be much more than the customs, or to just allow you to pay the customs. Their call is usually based on whether is seems a real oversight or your trying to avoid pating.

[bucsat1]

I don't recall going thru customs where they have a computer to look up your name. The first place you go thru after leaving the ship is immigration, and they're not checking for customs items. The second place AFTER you've picked up your luggage, is customs - which is just before you walk out the door, and I don't recall them checking names against a computer.....maybe I'm just not remembering right....??

 

Michele

 

The customs agent that takes your declaration form in Miami is sitting in a booth facing you, with a computer facing him (and away from you). This is the first time I recall this setup but it does indeed exist now.

[Andipanda1]

Am I the only person here that doesn't wear expensive jewelry/watches on a cruise? I keep my good jewelry at home with the exception of my wedding ring; I keep my engagement ring at home; my husband and I also have a pair of plain, cheap gold bands to wear instead of our wedding rings when we go swimming (our wedding bands are one-of-a-kind); I go to Imposters or a similar store for nice spaarrrkly stuff to wear on formal night; anything of ANY value gets locked in the safe. As for watches, we keep the good ones at home and wear the not-so-expensive ones we have.

 

We also keep our reciepts in a separate envelope and tuck that away with our cruise documents.

[Schplinky]

We don't own any flashy jewellry [yet] but I do keep my receipts in the same place all week. It just makes thing easier to account for. We usually use the wallet the tickets came in or a brightly coloured envelope. You might misplace a white envelope but you will rarely lose a hot pink or green one.

[masterbaker]

Am I the only person here that doesn't wear expensive jewelry/watches on a cruise?

 

You aren't alone. I leave the good stuff at home too, although that didn't stop customs from questioning us after returning from a cruise. I had bought DH a nice looking cheap watch ($19.99) at our local store. It is nice and shiny, gold but not real of course and looks very expensive. Customs asked him to remove the watch for inspection and wanted to know how much he paid for it. I pulled the reciept from my purse. The customs man was a little embarassed when he let us go. They aren't as all knowing as some may think they are.:rolleyes:

[lauram]

Am I the only person here that doesn't wear expensive jewelry/watches on a cruise? I keep my good jewelry at home with the exception of my wedding ring; I keep my engagement ring at home;

We do the same thing. I don't wear much jewelry but make sure to leave my engagement ring at home and travel with just my gold band. I do this, pretty much whenever I travel. I've known a few people who have taken good jewelry on vacation and been robbed. It isn't worth it to me to take a chance.

[A J Theodore]

Yes, Customs does have the power to confiscate undeclared items, undervalued or underdeclared items, and items that may not be lawfully imported (eg, Cuban cigars). There are also some serious criminal penalties for some of this if you are caught. In my opinion, if I have the money to buy the item, then I don't sweat the money. I declare it and pay the duty. I just consider it a kind of sales tax and, in any event, import duties are at historic lows, usually about 1-2 percent ad valorem though sometimes a little higher.

 

Customs personnel know quite well the kinds of items that are likely to be imported from each destination and are be looking for them. They also have undercover agents walking through the crowds on the lookout for things and listening.

 

If you take the item out of the US on your cruise, be ready (as posters above have noted), to prove that you owned the item before it left on the cruise with you. This is especially important for more expensive items (jewelry, camera equipment, etc.) Good ways are: original receipts; copies of insurance policies showing coverage of the item; copies of insurance appraisals. (This also has a collateral benefit - you have a detailed description if something is stolen or lost.) If you do not have a receipt or appraisal, then take the item into a Customs office at the place where you are leaving the US and have Customs prepare a form for you that lists the items.

 

During your cruise, have one place to keep all receipts for things purchased, including things purchased on the ship, and keep all receipts in that place. When coming back through Customs into the US, have a fully filled out declaration (the more detailed the better) and have the receipts at hand.

 

The Customs web site has useful information on what can and cannot be brought it and other helpful information (such as how some duty rates vary by country where you acquired the item and which places have a higher duty-free exemption).

[ducklite]

We travel to and from Canada at least a couple times a year. We almost always bring home a case of wine (or more!) plus several cases of beer when we are driving. We keep the receipts handy and hand them over with our passports as we are rentering, and immediately tell them "we know we are over the limit and are more than happy to pay the duty". We haven't been asked to yet!

 

The only time we were given a second glance was driving in with a four foot long inflated "Bruce the Shark" from the movie Finding Nemo in our back seat. (Don't ask...)

Oh, and they have also looked at my wine to be sure it wasn't "homemade". (?)

 

Anne

[sandyneck]

If you have expensive jewelry you already own, usually you have an appraisal or receipt, just make a copy and bring it with you to avoid any problems. I always think my husband and I are the only people who actually claim everything we buy, but I think I was wrong, seeing this post. Last cruise my husband bought me over $5000.00 in jewelry (awesome husband!) and we declared it all. We were led over to a table and they asked to see all the jewelry and the receipts which I had handy. We owed some duty, but the customs agent said it was fine and let us thru without any additional payment. I thought this was very nice. Other times when we have declared expensive jewelry, they have never even looked at the form. Once I was stopped because I had an emerald necklace on. I pulled out the receipt and they let me thru. Bottom line, have all your receipts and all your jewelry in a easy to reach place in case you have to show it.

[1corona4u]

You can print this from the website. I decided since I would be traveling with a lot of jewelry, laptop, 2 cameras, etc. that I would look into it, and I found it online. Apparently, all you have to do is fill it out, and see a CBP agent at the port to validate it.

 

 

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/forms/4457.ctt/cbp_4457.pdf

[Denise Ann]

When we travel, I take a picture of my jewelry on a piece of white paper set on newspaper with the date clearly shown. Then I don't have to bring appraisal papers.

[ckrobyn]

Before my cruise in February, I went out to a nice costume jewellery store and purchased what I refer to as my "decoy" ring :o It is a lovely 1.5 carat cubic Zirconia......but ssssshhhh.....don't tell anyone! ;)

 

I left my good stuff at home!

[1corona4u]

Before my cruise in February, I went out to a nice costume jewellery store and purchased what I refer to as my "decoy" ring It is a lovely 1.5 carat cubic Zirconia......but ssssshhhh.....don't tell anyone!

 

I left my good stuff at home!

 

Why bother to have nice jewelry if you don't wear it? I have no intention of leaving mine at home. I wear it everyday...diamonds and gold, lots of them. :D

 

From my toes to my ears.:) I even have a gold and diamond toe-ring with 3/4 ct. in it.:rolleyes: I spent a lot of hard earned money on all of it, so I have no intention of leaving it in a drawer or safe deposit box.:)

[PhinsAndGills]

DH and I like our exotic liquors. We understood that you get so many in EACH port of call. Toward the end of the cruise, we got VERY mixed replies from MANY different cruise staff members. Some stated that there was a "whole-cruise" limit that way VERY low (only 3 litres per person) and some stated that it was so many per port of call and then some on ship (which was more like what we had on us.)

Anyway, we had recipts just in case and were ready to pay duty if they questioned because we HONESTLY didn't know who was right and who was wrong. We packed all of our treasured bottles in my carryon and went for disembarkment in Ft. Lauderdale.

Customs went flawlessly (even with two new watches and a new (but not from the cruise) diamond, and about 12 :eek: bottles of liquor. The ONLY mention of the liquor we had was at the airport.

While gingerly placing my HEAVY carry-on on the x-ray machine and walking through the metal detectors, the man running the baggage machine STOPPED the belt quick, backed it up so MY carry-on was dead center in his screen, he called another guard over, they pointed at the screen, then us (two young Ohioians OBVIOUSLY on honeymoon) and BUSTED out laughing. The guard walked over, and asked me if we were just married (I had on a shirt that said Bride...) I smiled and said "Yessir, were are" he laughed, handed me my bag and said "you must be expecting it to be pretty rough..." and walked back to his machine laughing the whole way...

 

We still giggle about that one.

[Coralc]

That is very funny, P&G! :D

I like the idea that someone else posted about a photo on newspaper.

Many years ago we were flying to Mexico and I had just purchased a very expensive (at the time) brand new camera. I stopped by the customs office at SFO to pre-register the purchase. The customs agent looked at me dryly, and said, "Ma'am, Mexico is not known as the place to buy fancy electronic photo equipment, I don't think you'll have a problem".

The agents do know what common purchases are, from different countries. And it wouldn't surprise me a bit, if they have a record of your onboard purchases. Thanks for starting the thread though, I have gotten rather lazy with my receipts, and it is a great reminder! :)

[dougp26364]

I guess I'm glad I declared everything when we came back to port in Miami. We hadn't bought much. Mostly T-shirts and a few trinkets. The one big purchase was in St. Maartin were I bought my wife a pendant for around $400. In St. Thomas we bought a gold chain for about $30.

When we hit customs, he looked at our form, which was accurate to within a dollar or two and well under the limit, then asked if we had declared everything. I told him yes, mostly T-shirts and the one big item of the pendant my wife was wearing and how much it cost. He waved us on through.

If they had wanted to inspect it wouldn't have been a big deal. I had seperated out our reciepts and had them in an envelope in my carry on. We had just purchased a laptop the week before we left for port. The old laptop had one to many issues and I was fed up with it. We had spent the week before in Palm Beach, FL. I actually had both laptops with me. I had the receipt for the new one and if they had wanted to keep the old one, they could have had it. No questions were asked so it wasn't a big deal.

With laptops, I'm sure you could document ownership by just looking at a few of the registration dates on software put on the computer or the computers registration itself. I've never had a problem with our photography equipment and we generally take 3 or 4 camera's plus a digital video camera. We've never been questioned so far. All have the original registration on file so proving when we purchased it wouldn't be a huge problem.

In the past, we were told we would have to go to the nearest customs office to declare items before we traveled. For us we were told that was in Chicago, IL. Just a short 14 hour drive away. It's nice to know there is a site where the form can be downloaded. Now all I'll have to do is find a customs agent at the airport to have it punched, signed, stamped or whatever they do with them.

[BobandBrenda]

If its true the customs agent can confiscate your items maybe that agent was trying to get some items for herself. Didnt it seem odd the baggage guy knew to get another agent as if he knew the customs agent action were incorrect.
Then another agent could value the watch. This all seems very odd to me.
If I was that couple I would report that agent just so customs could know how people are being treated.
What do the rest of you think?

This declaration form you can use to declare items with you , where do you get this? Can you get it ahead of time so you can take time to fill out?

Brenda and Bob
Peoria AZ
Diamond Member C&A

[Schplinky]

I think there are very formal procedures for when customs confiscates items that have not been declared and they are required to inventory these items. I don't think it's at all likely that they would be able to keep anything. It's not as though she could drop it into her pocket.

[jbond]

[quote name='BobandBrenda']If its true the customs agent can confiscate your items maybe that agent was trying to get some items for herself. Didnt it seem odd the baggage guy knew to get another agent as if he knew the customs agent action were incorrect.
Then another agent could value the watch. This all seems very odd to me.
If I was that couple I would report that agent just so customs could know how people are being treated.
What do the rest of you think?

Brenda and Bob
Peoria AZ
Diamond Member C&A[/QUOTE]

If you are talking about the OP not being able to produce the receipt for his watch, I think the Customs Agent was correct. As for his attitude, if he was rude it was unacceptable, but he just appeared to be a little terse and we do only have one side of the story. To suggest that the agent could be dishonest is a major leap in the wrong direction, in my opinion.
If you purchase anything of value abroad, be prepared to show proof of purchase price. Those are the rules. Check the US Customs webpage at [url]http://www.customs.treas.gov/xp/cgov/travel/[/url]

[arrow3]

So does this mean that I should register my laptop, camera, and other electronic items before I board the ship? I find all of this stuff quite ridiculous.

[Coralc]

I don't think the Caribbean is known for fancy electronic equipment either. But you know what? It is a great idea to have a photo record of the expensive items that you are taking with you on vacation, if only for insurance purposes. You'd have to use someones digital camera to take a photo of your own. But you could include a newspaper or date stamp, and just print it out and throw it in your carryon, just to have a record of the item. I may think about doing it, I have a couple shots left in my print camera. :)

[Iamthesea]

[QUOTE]When we travel, I take a picture of my jewelry on a piece of white paper set on newspaper with the date clearly shown. Then I don't have to bring appraisal papers. [/QUOTE]
I see a flaw with this. Why not take the newspaper with you on a trip and then buy lots of expensive new jewelry, whip your old newspaper out and take photos...throw newspaper away.:rolleyes:

Really, none of this has ever occured to me. I don't have a lot of expensive jewelry, but do have a couple of diamond rings that I wear all the time...even snorkeling. We never buy much, declare everything, but don't always have the receipts for small cash items.

[dc-snoopy]

[quote name='BobandBrenda']If its true the customs agent can confiscate your items maybe that agent was trying to get some items for herself. Didnt it seem odd the baggage guy knew to get another agent as if he knew the customs agent action were incorrect.
Then another agent could value the watch. This all seems very odd to me.
If I was that couple I would report that agent just so customs could know how people are being treated.
What do the rest of you think?

This declaration form you can use to declare items with you , where do you get this? Can you get it ahead of time so you can take time to fill out?
[/QUOTE]

First, that kind of theft is not that common. There is paperwork that must be signed off on to confiscate items. Since there is a system of checking between employees, you need to have collusion before they can circumvent the rules (not impossible, but improbable). Second, the item has to be of especially high value since a single infraction can result in termination with cause which would make them ineligible for unemployment and severence *AND* could be used to file criminal theft charges. Once you have termination with cause and criminal theft on your record, your chances of getting reasonable jobs goes down the toilet. How many career government employees want to risk that? Would you risk a $30-50K annual job for a couple hundred or couple thousand dollars worth of jewelry?

Second for those who take photos of their items, that is not sufficient for claiming prior ownership. There are many ways to fraud the system and most will not hold water. There are official forms for declaring prior ownership and most of them require proof to a customs agent prior to receiving the documents (usually requiring that you bring said items to the customs official for verification). The form can be found[url="http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/travel/clearing_goods/certificate_of_registration.xml"] here[/url]. Use the "forms" menu on the right for either an on-line Java version or a printable copy.

[Coralc]

I respectfully disagree with those of you that say that a photo taken on your kitchen table with date is not enough to provide proof of prior ownership. We are not talking about ways to defraud customs. I am an Agricultural Inspector, and if you have sufficient proof, or the forethought to provide documentation that the item was purchased from a reliable source, such as a receipt; your commodity will probably be allowed entry.

I am an inspector and regulatory official, and we generally believe that people are honest. It is really deception or ignorance that will get you into trouble. Most people on a cruise are not going to have the means or facilities to falsify documents.

Snoopy, your writing style, at times sounds a little arrogant. You are indeed prolific, with only 2 cruises under your belt. :)