Joining ship Mid-Cruise

[lcp9984]

Good afternoon,

 

Just curious if anyone has had a sitution similar to this: Cruise for family of 5 is booked for 10/18 sailing out of Miami. The father may have to stay behind due to the sickness and possible death of a family member. Is it possible for him to join us a few days in to the cruise either in St. Thomas or San Juan? He would be responsible for his own flight of course and has a passport!! I have emailed my PVP and waiting on his response. LP:confused:

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[Herbaltees]

I think its possible, I remember reading a thread entitled "Chasing Victory" about a passenger who missed his cruise and ended up embarking later in the journey.

[chengkp75]

Good afternoon,

 

Just curious if anyone has had a sitution similar to this: Cruise for family of 5 is booked for 10/18 sailing out of Miami. The father may have to stay behind due to the sickness and possible death of a family member. Is it possible for him to join us a few days in to the cruise either in St. Thomas or San Juan? He would be responsible for his own flight of course and has a passport!! I have emailed my PVP and waiting on his response. LP:confused:

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While the PVSA allows for passenger carriage between PR and the US, I'm not sure about the USVI, so that may be a problem. While it used to be common for cruise lines to allow this, recently CBP has tightened up the passenger manifest regulations, so most cruise lines are disallowing late joining or early leaving of a cruise. When the passenger count changes, as when a passenger joins late, the ship must prepare a complete new passenger manifest, and submit this to CBP for screening. The manifest created at embarkation is used by CBP to screen passengers during the cruise, so that when you disembark, CBP screening is cursory. When a passenger joins late, this changes the voyage from a closed loop cruise to an open jaw cruise, which has different CBP screening procedures, which can cause delays in disembarking, and also will cost the cruise line in extra processing fees.

 

You can ask, but the trend recently has been, especially for Carnival, to deny late joining.

[cherylandtk]

The USVI would constitute a coastwise transport and is not allowed. San Juan, however, is specifically exempted under the law, so could be an embark port IF Carnival will allow it. Do note that missed embarkation still occurs all the time, it is worth asking.