Leaving a Cruise early

[newbe dave]

I am helping a group cruise on the Jewel early next year. One couple has their cruise booked (deposit only, no final payment yet) and has had a family wedding come up the following weekend. They want to still go on the cruise but leave the ship in St. Thomas to fly to the wedding. This would be Thursday of a cruise that started on the previous Sunday.

 

Is this something that the cruise ship will allow? They are not looking for any discount. They just want to leave the ship with their luggage prior to the ship leaving St. Thomas. Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation to help give me some advice? How would they let the cruise ship know about this situation. Thanks to everyone for their help.

[shoreguy]

I Believe that will be a problem. Not worried about the discount but the extra they will have to pay to get off in another US port. Others will give you the details of the "Jones Act" but it would require NCL to pay a fine if those folks get off in St. Thomas. Guess who NCL will pass that fine on to:rolleyes:

[smeyer418]

I Believe that will be a problem. Not worried about the discount but the extra they will have to pay to get off in another US port. Others will give you the details of the "Jones Act" but it would require NCL to pay a fine if those folks get off in St. Thomas. Guess who NCL will pass that fine on to:rolleyes:

 

No fine in St Thomas.I believe(not 100% sure).only Continental US Alaska and Hawaii. You can not be legally thransported between two US ports unless you go to a distant foreign Port the closest of which is Aruba/Bonaire/Curaczo I believe. You can get off in any foreign port wirh no fine BUT you need to let NCL know as they must make arrangements with the local authorities. and as we all know its the Passenger Services Act( returning to the same port is ok you are not being transported between ports) The fine which NCL makes you pay is $300 per person.

[electricron]

As I recall the Passenger Service Act, the US Virgin Islands are considered an American port. About the only US possession/territory I am certain about that isn't, is Puerto Rico.

 

I would double check with your travel agent. The fine is $300 per person.

[Cosmopolitan]

I'm learning alot from this ...thanks:)

[garycarla]

Maybe some of you already checked this out, but if the ship leaves Miami and goes to a foreign port, and THEN goes to St Thomas, the Jones Act is no longer an issue, right? No longer matters if ST Thomas is a US port of not.

[smeyer418]

Maybe some of you already checked this out, but if the ship leaves Miami and goes to a foreign port, and THEN goes to St Thomas, the Jones Act is no longer an issue, right? No longer matters if ST Thomas is a US port of not.

 

Only if its a distant foreign port--(like Aruba- or South America)...going to the Bahamas, as example doesn't count as a distant foreign port. if St Thomas is considered an American Port...

[smeyer418]

The Virgin Islands are exempt so getting off is ok--no fine. although this is not completely up to date. It doesn't recognize the changes for the NCLA fleet.

 

http://www.marad.dot.gov/Publications/primer_laws.html

[KeystoneCruiser]

But the bottom line is, the passengers in question need to let NCL know now so that arrangements can be made.

 

Obviously if they take their luggage off the ship and formally disembark in St. Thomas, they will have to go through Customs and probably have their luggage inspected by St. Thomas officials.

[newbe dave]

I have contacted the travel agent (no response yet) and will make sure that NCL is aware of this situation and approves of it. We will have visited San Juan, PR and St. John Antigua prior to the day that the couple would leave the ship. But I will let the couple know that this situation has to be completely ironed out prior to them making their final payment (thus committing to go on the cruise).

 

A huge Thank You to everyone that helped. I was not sure how to proceed with this odd situation. Your responses were great and they let me know that this is not a small deal and that we need to make sure that NCL and everyone is on board with this situation. I will try to post what we are told to do in case someone else ever encounters a similar situation.

 

Again, thanks for the help.

[packercruising]

What's your cruise date? We are going Feb 25 :)

[newbe dave]

We are also on the Feb. 25 cruise on the Jewel. I have 16 rooms in my group (I think 33 people). A lot of this group went on a cruise on the Sun in 2005. We had so much fun that we are cruising again on the Jewel. It should be a great time.

[7SeasLover]

I wanted to get off the cruise ship in Cabo San Lucas and NCL would not allow it. I was trying to arrange this in advance of booking and would have booked had they allowed me to disembark 2 days early. They said absolutely not.

 

I was bummed. I ended up not going on the cruise, but flying to Cabo instead of tacking it on to the end of a cruise. :(