Arriving in St. Thomas AFTER Antigua?

[Elizabeth27]

I have experienced (on other lines) standing in the long, winding lines for over an hour to show ID/passports and obtaining a sticker before we are allowed to go ashore in a domestic port such as St. Thomas, after having been to a foreign port like the Bahamas, Antigua, etc. I have seen folks miss their privately booked excursions due to these lines........

 

My Eastern Carib itinerary on my November Jewel sailing stops in San Juan, then Antigua, before heading to St. Thomas. I want to begin making my own tour plans for St. Thomas, (we are in port from 8-4) but want to know how NCL handles this process, and if it is any more streamlined and less painstaking than other lines might be? Am I safe making plans for 8:30-9:00, or is that too risky?

 

Thanks in advance.........looking forward to our first NCL cruise. :)

[unclepaulie]

We haven't done this itinerary since 2004. Back then, there wasn't anything of the sort to contend with. The only hold up we had in St. Thomas was a port full of ships. We had to tender ashore in our lifeboats!

[Welove2cruise2]

When we sailed on the Dawn in '04, our itinerary was changed for one reason or another, and we went to foreign ports before St. Thomas. We waited about 45 minutes to go through C & I before getting off the ship. We didn't think it was bad under the circumstances, but some passengers were highly po'd and downright rude to the poor people working...:rolleyes:

[unclepaulie]

Ah, how quickly I forget!......I will admit we had to do so in San Juan last November after being to a foreign port, so since St. Thomas is a U.S. possession I would assume that is the procedure now. I forgot in '04 we didn't have any foreign port preceding St. Thomas.

[RichardK]

To the OP......think of it kinda like "lifeboat drill". It's pretty much the same on all ships, takes about the same amount of time, and they don’t become more efficient at it, the more times they do it!!