Clearing customs in Port Canaveral

[mek]

Any recent experiences on clearing customs in Port Canaveral?  Have the lines been long or is it quick?  We will be on Elation, so a much smaller ship. We have a shuttle scheduled for 9:30 am so just trying to work backwards to determine the time we need to leave the ship

[dbrucern]

Jut completed cruise from there and we were in our car and on the way home by 8am.  We did do self assist and it was a breeze thru customs

[Djptcp]

Recently sailed on the Liberty out of Port Canaveral in Nov. and Dec. and we always get a porter to take our luggage (on every cruise line and port) as there is a special line for porters and we just breeze through Customs while the regular lines are long. We always  have too much luggage to handle it ourselves anyway so this isn't a ploy to skip the regular lines. I also need a wheelchair to embark and debark the ships.

[stellarose]

arrived dec 30th to Port Canaveral. EASY PEASY

[Bostwick girl]

If you are Diamond or Platinum, you will be first off the ship if you do self assist. There's no line at Customs then. If you check your luggage, you are called by zone (after the Diamond and Platinums) and the line can get long.  It is faster if you have a porter since they have a separate line for customs.

[mek]

We are Platinum but don't do self assist - we don't like to mess with our bags and being first off isn't important.  We always get a porter, so that will be the way to go for us.

[Bostwick girl]

10 hours ago, mek said:

We are Platinum but don't do self assist - we don't like to mess with our bags and being first off isn't important.  We always get a porter, so that will be the way to go for us.

 

We are Platinum also. Most of the time when we do checked luggage, we're off the ship no later than 9:00 so your 9:30 shuttle should be fine. 

 

 

[13cheermom]

This past November walked right on through customs didn't even have to stop with our luggage.  We are Platinum, and do travel with passport and don't carry off our luggage.  We ended up off the ship around 8.15 and this was a Journey's cruise with a lot of Diamonds & Platinums onboard.  So you should be good even with some delays.

[mek]

Thanks to all for the replies.

[RWolver672]

This was posted in another posting on that subject.  "In December,  Port Canaveral had facial recognition IPad like things stations that people with passports were able to go through. You just stood there and the machine would beep and you were off. No customs officer. I don’t think you’d be able to use these if you don’t have a passport." 

[tlreze]

just got off Jan 5th. grabbed a porter and we flew through

[stellarose]

4 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

This was posted in another posting on that subject.  "In December,  Port Canaveral had facial recognition IPad like things stations that people with passports were able to go through. You just stood there and the machine would beep and you were off. No customs officer. I don’t think you’d be able to use these if you don’t have a passport." 

yes the iPad recognition was working in December off  of Carnival breeze.

[Garf]

Port Canaveral is one of the best ports for cruisers around, easy getting on and off.

[Butterbean1000]

34 minutes ago, Garf said:

Port Canaveral is one of the best ports for cruisers around, easy getting on and off.

I agree.  Port Canaveral and Charleston are our favorites.  Charleston because our daughter lives there.  No expense for hotel and parking. 😉