How long should I allow to go through customs, etc. in Miami?

[Bailey & Sophie]

We just got off the Equinox last Friday. Disembarked with Royal Caribbean. Talk about a LOT of people and even more chaos. The customs area did not seem to be equipped to handle that many people. I think the line was a least an hour long.

[wurmine]

We arrived on the 7th of january and it took us 2 hours to pass customs after we grabbed the luggage... Not much fun with two little children :cool: But the majority on the ship was european- maybe that was the reson?

[Trekker954]

Huh? The OP is inquiring about clearing customs when getting off the ship in Miami.

 

To the OP: I'm sorry to say that my one experience with getting off a ship in Miami wasn't too good. We stood in line forever to clear customs. At least an hour. Apparently the TSA couldn't be bothered to send enough agents for the amount of passengers arriving. And they apparently haven't grasped the concept used in Europe: one line for residents of the country and one line for nonresidents. That would speed things up considerably for residents.

 

Once through customs, we had no problem finding our bags and getting out of there.

 

Let's hope you have a better experience!

 

P.S. Passengers are asked to vacate their cabins by 8:00 a.m. The crew needs to get them ready for the next occupants.

 

You correct a poster that the OP was asking about customs in the port and not the airport, yet you put Customs and TSA same sentence. They are not the same. Clearing customs, actually CBP - customs and border protection is what you will do during disembarkation. TSA is not even the security you go through on embarkation day. They are located at the airports. Port security handles the security lines we go through at the seaports, but we do not go thru them on disembarkation, only customs and border protection.

 

The terminals that I have used in the port of miami did have a seperate lines for US residents vs. non residents, just like at the airport. I find disembarkation in Miami easier than Port Everglades (except for the Oasis/Allure terminal which is sooooo easy.

 

Depending on how many ships are in port determines how many CBP officers (not agents) they send to clear passengers. Most officers work those ships on overtime, as once the ships passengers are all cleared normally by 10 or 11, they return to the airport for passenger processing or seaport for cargo clearing.

 

If you want to clear early, my suggestion is to disembark as early as possible.

[jimbob622uk]

Came off Eclipse 25 Feb.Had a time to be in MDR of 07:15.Had breakfast at 06:30 in Oceanview,in Mdr at 07:10 and was through customs and on our way at 07:45.