Customs - which to choose?

[magandab]

I'm in the early stages of planning a Panama Canal cruise. Having heard the horror stories out of both San Diego and FLL, is there one better - or worse - than the other for disembarkation? It's one or the other, which would you choose?

[mariner]

Unless Customs has changed recently, mostly it's hand over the declaration, show passports and leave.

 

Im not sure there's an advantage of one port over the other except FLL handles more cruise ships than San Diego.

[Copper10-8]

I'm in the early stages of planning a Panama Canal cruise. Having heard the horror stories out of both San Diego and FLL, is there one better - or worse - than the other for disembarkation? It's one or the other, which would you choose?

 

Since you live down here/in SoCal, I would always make San Diego your disembark port. No flight home to worry about if you were to encounter potential CBP delays

[richwmn]

I got off the Zaandam in San Diego a few weeks ago. Having read the same horror stories about disembarkation there I scheduled a day post cruise there to avoid any problems. I was one of the last groups called, and walked off the ship with very few delays.

 

I have also disembarked in Fort Lauderdale many times without problems.

 

To me, if you allow time for things to go wrong, everything seems to go along without a problem. If you plan such that everything must go according to schedule something (or things) will go wrong and you are scrambling to make things work.

 

Like Copper, I would schedule the end of the cruise for your home area. That way you can walk off the ship with no worries. If, by chance, delays happen it won't bother you.

[magandab]

Since you live down here/in SoCal, I would always make San Diego your disembark port. No flight home to worry about if you were to encounter potential CBP delays

 

That's a good point. However, either way, we fly one way and flying to Florida means getting in a day early or risking the consequences. I guess we pick the one with the dates that work for us and hope for the best. We are 2-1/2 hours from San Diego so will still have to get home from there. Maybe catch a hop from SD to ONT airport.

[Typhoon1]

Customs is fairly routine anywhere. Submit the declaration form, they take a quick look at your passport and you are on your way.

[wonlife64]

I'm in the early stages of planning a Panama Canal cruise. Having heard the horror stories out of both San Diego and FLL, is there one better - or worse - than the other for disembarkation? It's one or the other, which would you choose?

 

Under normal circumstance I would agree that going through Customs runs pretty smoothly. However I came off the Nieuw Amstredam yesterday out of Port Everglades (FLL). It was to say the least a very long process. In the previous cruises I have been on this was by far the longest wait. HAL was kind enough to not even let people off the ship knowing what was awaiting them in the terminal. We were to disembark the ship at 9:15, it was after 11:15 before we were cleared to leave the ship. It was then another hour to and hour and a half of waiting in line before getting out of the terminal. Our hope is this slow down is only temporary and things get worked out to make this process more efficient as it has been in the past.

[DAllenTCY]

Either way you are at the mercy of those non US guests who either don't wish to report to US Customs and Immigration when requested, or they just don't understand due to language barriers.

Until your ship has been cleared, then you wait, and wait, listening to their names being paged over and over again on the public address system.

Personally, I think there should be fines levied against those who are late more than 30 minutes to CBP.

Due to their tardiness, hundreds are inconvenienced at the least. Often flights are missed, and considerable dollars are required for rebooking later flights by the airlines.

David

[SadieN]

That's a good point. However, either way, we fly one way and flying to Florida means getting in a day early or risking the consequences. I guess we pick the one with the dates that work for us and hope for the best. We are 2-1/2 hours from San Diego so will still have to get home from there. Maybe catch a hop from SD to ONT airport.

 

If you find an inexpensive, easy way to get from the IE to San Diego please let us know. We ended up renting a car one-way from Rancho Cucamonga to San Diego airport.

 

Foreign Nationals go thru customs onboard at 'the crack of dawn' in San Diego. At times we have heard the same names announced over and over again on the PA system. Once they are cleared it is a very smooth process.

[sodsmom]

We found San Diego was a much more organized and accommodating port. The porters were handy, pleasant and DIDN'T have their hand out every time we turned around!