Disembark Early from NCL Cruise

[mizkambi]

Just wondering if anyone has been allowed to disembark a few days early on a NCL cruise.  We have a long cruise planned and have found out that there might be a family event the last day of the cruise that we would like to attend.  Really don’t want to cancel the cruise and have known other cruise lines to allow passengers to disembark before the final port but not sure about NCL.  We realize that maritime laws cannot be broken and we would not want any refund or reduced fare.  If anyone has done this, would you mind sharing how you went about getting the needed approvals?

[Turtles06]

There was just a very recent discussion about the same subject in this forum, at the link below.  For further advice here on CC, it would be helpful for you to post your itinerary, and which port you are thinking about disembarking at.  That way, at least folks might be able to help you spot a legal problem, such as a violation of the PVSA. 

 

 

 

 

[Outerdog]

Looks like OP is on a Bliss 21 day Panama Canal itinerary, westbound.

 

[Turtles06]

25 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

Looks like OP is on a Bliss 21 day Panama Canal itinerary, westbound.

 

 

Thanks, I agree. 

[smplybcause]

So assuming that's the cruise OP is long at, if they want to disembark at a non US port then there's a chance. It'll depend on the country and NCL though. 

[salty dingo]

The way I see it, if your cruise was booked before the "family event" you should be good to go if you decide to skip the family stuff and just cruise to the end.

 

In general if you will disembark outside the USA and fly back home, there would be no issue. Just do not plan to end your cruise in USA.

[mugtech]

Could end the cruise in the USA having visited a distant foreign port before say getting to LA while the cruise was scheduled to end in SF.  Everyone would have to do the first USA port after foreign ports routine anyway.

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, smplybcause said:

So assuming that's the cruise OP is long at, if they want to disembark at a non US port then there's a chance. It'll depend on the country and NCL though. 

 

It's the other way around.  Assuming the OP is on the Bliss's April 19, 2020 full transit of the Panama Canal  (as their posts on the Roll Call for that cruise indicate), which is sailing from NY to Seattle, the easiest place it will be (legally and administratively hassle-wise) to disembark "early" will be in a U.S. port, not a foreign port. 

 

The first U.S. port after the Canal and the port calls in Central America and Mexico will be L.A.  At that port, as @mugtech notes above, everyone on the ship will have to clear U.S. immigration anyway.   There would be no PVSA violation for disembarking in L.A. (since the Bliss leaves from a different U.S. port and will, by then, have visited a "distant foreign port" as that term is defined in the PVSA).   The OP would need to get this okayed by NCL in advance, so they can go through customs as well as immigration.   

 

Cruise lines, including NCL, routinely sail full transits of the Panama Canal from the east coast that end in L.A.  If that is the port on the Bliss cruise at which the OP would like to disembark, that will be the easiest place for the OP to do so. 

 

(This is not to say that someone on such a cruise could not arrange for a legal disembarkation in, say, Mexico, but if you see the recent thread about someone wanting to do that, which I linked in comment 2 above, you'll see the enormous hassle involved.)

Edited November 23, 2019 by Turtles06

[Turtles06]

7 hours ago, salty dingo said:

In general if you will disembark outside the USA and fly back home, there would be no issue. Just do not plan to end your cruise in USA.

 

Your general advice would be good if a person were on a closed loop cruise, leaving from and returning to the same U.S. port, since there would be a PVSA violation if that person were to disembark in another U.S. port, unless the ship had called at a "distant foreign port" as defined in the PVSA.   But the OP is on the Bliss's full transit Panama Canal cruise, from NY to Seattle, so her issues are different.  Ending her cruise in the U.S. (Los Angeles) is just where she should get permission to do. (See my comment [no. 8] above.)

Edited November 23, 2019 by Turtles06