EWR Flight Time Post MSC Meraviglia Transatlantic

[tnt10]

Hi Everyone,

We will be traveling on the Transatlantic Meraviglia September 2020, arriving into Manhattan port on Sept 21, staying overnight, and departing the ship on Sept 22, 2020.

We will be Yacht Club guests, so assuming (I know-could be bad!) we will be the first off on the 22nd.

What time is suggested for a return domestic  flight out of EWR on Sept 22?  This will be a Tuesday.

Is 12:00 noon too early?

Thanks for all your help.  I'm hoping since the ship will be in port on the 21st, and we will be departing on the 22nd, that may be a good thing??

Advice please.

Thanks to all you experienced cruiser!!

[princeton123211]

On 10/12/2019 at 9:30 PM, tnt10 said:

We will be Yacht Club guests, so assuming (I know-could be bad!) we will be the first off on the 22nd.

The first off will be the self help group-- so if you can carry or wheel your luggage off without assistance you can disembark before everyone. Otherwise you'll be called with your group to disembark at a certain time (which very well may be priority in the Yacht Club) but the self help passengers will be off before that. 

 

On 10/12/2019 at 9:30 PM, tnt10 said:

Is 12:00 noon too early?

Most likely manageable. Midtown to Newark will be in the opposite direction of traffic. If you are off the ship by 8:30 a flight at noon should be fine. I would just get an Uber or Lyft from the terminal right over to Newark. 

 

We've found that in these situations, where the ship arrives the day before final disembarkation, getting off the ship is slightly less hectic because a handful of passengers get off the day of arrival, customs is already handled, and the baggage is offloaded quite a bit earlier than if the ship had just arrived. 

[tnt10]

Thanks for the info-packed reply princeton123211.

Very much appreciated!!

[tnt10]

By the way, how do some people get off the cruise one day earlier?

[princeton123211]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:12 PM, tnt10 said:

By the way, how do some people get off the cruise one day earlier?

Once the ship is cleared by Immigration you can leave it for good. A lot of people do get off when the ship docks a day early while some will use the extra night as a floating hotel. 

[tnt10]

On 10/20/2019 at 8:59 AM, princeton123211 said:

Once the ship is cleared by Immigration you can leave it for good. A lot of people do get off when the ship docks a day early while some will use the extra night as a floating hotel. 

so, do you have to leave by a specific time the day earlier, or can you leave anytime after the ship is cleared by immigration, say 5 am to catch an early plane home?

thanks for the info....

[princeton123211]

14 hours ago, tnt10 said:

so, do you have to leave by a specific time the day earlier, or can you leave anytime after the ship is cleared by immigration, say 5 am to catch an early plane home?

My experience with this has been mostly on smaller ships so I would definitely check with MSC but once the ship is cleared by Immigration on arrival it essentially functions as a floating hotel that first day-- come and go as you please. Then you are required to be off the ship the next day earlier in the morning just like you would on a normal disembarkation day. 

 

If you were taking your own luggage off you could most likely leave whenever you would like. If you need assistance, MSC might provide times that you can do that early if you didn't want to spend the last night on board. You would most likely be able to leave at 5am the next morning but I would double check with MSC to make sure that it works if you need assistance. 

[tnt10]

But don't you have to go through customs any time you leave the ship?

If the ship is cleared the first day, then when a passenger leaves the ship, whether to disembark or to sightsee, don't they have to go through customs?  In other words, won't passengers have to go through customs every time they leave the ship?

[princeton123211]

50 minutes ago, tnt10 said:

But don't you have to go through customs any time you leave the ship?

No-- just once when officially entering the country which would be the first time you leave the ship once it docks. Thats it. 

 

You arent leaving the country again when you reboard the ship. 

Edited October 22, 2019 by princeton123211

[njhorseman]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:12 PM, tnt10 said:

By the way, how do some people get off the cruise one day earlier?

 

On 10/20/2019 at 11:59 AM, princeton123211 said:

Once the ship is cleared by Immigration you can leave it for good. A lot of people do get off when the ship docks a day early while some will use the extra night as a floating hotel. 

 

19 hours ago, tnt10 said:

so, do you have to leave by a specific time the day earlier, or can you leave anytime after the ship is cleared by immigration, say 5 am to catch an early plane home?

thanks for the info....

 

5 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

My experience with this has been mostly on smaller ships so I would definitely check with MSC but once the ship is cleared by Immigration on arrival it essentially functions as a floating hotel that first day-- come and go as you please. Then you are required to be off the ship the next day earlier in the morning just like you would on a normal disembarkation day. 

 

If you were taking your own luggage off you could most likely leave whenever you would like. If you need assistance, MSC might provide times that you can do that early if you didn't want to spend the last night on board. You would most likely be able to leave at 5am the next morning but I would double check with MSC to make sure that it works if you need assistance. 

 

3 hours ago, tnt10 said:

But don't you have to go through customs any time you leave the ship?

If the ship is cleared the first day, then when a passenger leaves the ship, whether to disembark or to sightsee, don't they have to go through customs?  In other words, won't passengers have to go through customs every time they leave the ship?

 

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

No-- just once when officially entering the country which would be the first time you leave the ship once it docks. Thats it. 

 

You arent leaving the country again when you reboard the ship. 

This is not just an overnight port call, it's also the disembarkation port for the cruise, so I think the responses given to this point have overlooked an important consideration . While a ship is normally  cleared for disembarkation soon after arrival in port, at a disembarkation port in the US individual passengers have to be cleared by US CBP for both immigration and customs purposes upon final disembarkation with their belongings. This is not at all the same as someone just disembarking on the first day to go sightseeing, eat dinner, going to a show, etc. but then returning to the ship, which would require an immigration check but not require a customs check. Permanently disembarking the cruise would require  CBP officers to be on hand to carry out whatever customs checks they may deem necessary on the disembarking passengers as they will be taking their luggage off at that time, even if it's deemed that no further immigration check is required beyond the first clearance . CBP officers might not be on hand at all hours of the night to perform those duties.

 

So...princeton123211 you are overlooking the fact that customs clearance is different than immigration clearance.

 

I wouldn't make any arrangements for a very early flight unless and until I got written confirmation from the cruise line about permissible disembarkation times.

 

[princeton123211]

21 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Permanently disembarking the cruise would require  CBP officers to be on hand to carry out whatever customs checks they may deem necessary on the disembarking passengers as they will be taking their luggage off at that time, even if it's deemed that no further immigration check is required beyond the first clearance .

To your point there is no standard operating procedure here-- it will be up to Homeland Security and the cruise line and can vary even from sailing to sailing. I said a few times in that thread that they would need to directly confirm with the cruise line.

 

We've been in this situation twice-- once in New York and once in Ft Lauderdale. In New York all passengers were required to disembark before being allowed back on-- this was a giant PITA given it was a large ship. No customs procedure was completed with your bags-- just in person with the officer in the terminal with passports. In Ft Lauderdale there was a window of time given to clear customs the first day and then a more traditional disembarkation procedure the next day. 

 

In terms of cruise ships it seems like the immigration process has really taken a front seat to the customs inspection in the past couple years. CBP has now denied the ability to come ashore to any crew members who haven't completed at least 5 contracts-- essentially making them captive aboard on these port overnights unless they are US or Canadian citizens or from a country with under the visa waiver program (of which few are). There have been quite a few desertions (with MSC ships actually being the main culprit). 

 

21 hours ago, njhorseman said:

So...princeton123211 you are overlooking the fact that customs clearance is different than immigration clearance.

I travel outside the country 2-3 times a month-- quite aware of the differences. The original question was around catching a flight at noon on the second day of this port stay which would be very achievable. The OP needs to confirm anything outside of that with MSC to make sure its feasible (which I'm fairly confident it will be). 

[tnt10]

Thanks everyone for your input!

At this point, I'm actually only confident in reserving a later flight on the second day in New York.  Don't want to get into anything too involved or complicated, which could obviously go awry... 

Don't need the stress... LOL

Thanks again!

[tnt10]

Hi everyone,

Was able to book a 4:00 PM flight from EWR on the second day out of New York.

Am very comfortable with this, and confident that there should be no  problem making this flight....

Thanks everyone!!