Itinerary "Arrival Time" vs. when you can leave the ship?

[SouthCaribbean2017]

Are these times one and the same?

 

E.g. if the itinerary says you arrive in St. Thomas at 7am, does that mean you can leave the ship at 7am? Or does that mean the ship arrives at 7am, and it may be a bit later until you can leave the ship itself?

[Sillyjilly]

You can't leave until the ship is cleared by customs. Sometimes it takes longer than others.

[klfrodo]

Depends entirely on when local customs clears the ship.

Also depends on your status. Do you have Platinum or higher status? Did you purchase a "ship excursion"? Etc.

[Nic6318]

Hi there

 

Most important to "debarkation" time is the actual arrival time of the ship.

 

If you look at the itinerary time, needless to say, it is meaningless if the ship hasn't arrived at port yet. Ships can arrive early as well and after clearing customs passengers may be able to get off earlier than the anticipated itinerary time. Remember, in cruising, there are no guarantees.

 

hope this helps

[jsglow]

Generally about 15-30 minutes (ish) after the ship arrives which, unless delayed by some reason like weather is quite close to the actual scheduled time. Remember, it takes many dock workers so they just don't pull in. You'll likely notice very slow travel on the last hour simply to dock on time. Moreover, they get charged for their time at the dock. That's why they arrive (and especially leave) ON TIME whenever possible.

 

Now to the unasked question. No worries if you have a private excursion. The operators know how this works. If they want you off the ship immediately, they understand there's a routine procedure.

 

Hope that helps.

[sanger727]

In my experience the answer is usually. We just had a cruise with 5 ports; and in 4 of them they opened the gangway at the stated arrival time. At one we were in dock but there was a holdup somewhere that cause then to not let anyone off until 45 minutes after, which lead to a big line forming.

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

Depends entirely on when local customs clears the ship.

Also depends on your status. Do you have Platinum or higher status? Did you purchase a "ship excursion"? Etc.

 

Status only matters when there is a tender port and this is not one of those.

[SouthCaribbean2017]

Now to the unasked question. No worries if you have a private excursion. The operators know how this works. If they want you off the ship immediately, they understand there's a routine procedure.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Indeed, that was the unasked question here.