When should the online Immigration Form be completed?

[duck tune]

Just wondered how far in advance before a cruise you fill out the online Immigration form for HAL. Does anyone do it 3 or more months in advance of departure or do most complete and submit 2 - 4 weeks from the cruise? Do you think it has any bearing on how HAL assigns cabins when a "Guarantee" is booked instead of a specific cabin number?

I'm daydreaming about my December cruise - can you tell?:D

[lougee1043]

i do it asap --print out my copy and put it with the rest of the cruise docs and that way i dont have to remember to do-- there really isnt any reason to wait

[RuthC]

I do it when I have time, sometime after my documents have come in.

I doubt very much that submitting the information has anything to do with when/where a guarantee cabin is assigned. After all, there are people who don't complete the on-line Immigration Form and they still get their assignments, too.

[a1moty]

From the Holland America Web Site:

 

Save time at the pier and expedite your embarkation by filling out the immigration form online. For best possible results, complete and submit at least 30 days prior to departure.

 

On the next page it mentions that you can complete the Immigration form up until 5 pm on the day before sailing.

 

We completed our forms about 3 weeks from sail date.

[GarySuzy]

I believe HAL requests that they be completed 30 days before sailing. We usually do it about 2 months out just to make sure we don't forget.

[Copper10-8]

You can pretty much do it whenever you want (considering you have to be able to access the on-line form). If it gives you a thrill to do it early because it makes you think about your upcoming cruise (be that one, two or three months from that date) and it puts you "in the mood", hey do it! More power to you and have fun! I personally don't think it has any bearing on the type of cabin you will wind up with but you never know and you can always dream!

 

Have an awesome cruise! :)

[xeena]

i did ours this w/e....we leave for the panama canal Dec 9th....why wait?

[Aussie Gal]

I also get to it early. I filled ours out in April for our departure in 3 weeks time. It is just one less thing to worry about before we leave home. It always makes me feel that we will be on that cruise in the not too distant future.

 

Jennie

[BJHOOSER]

I agree with Lougee, John, Aussiegal and a few others. I filled mine out at the end of May for a Mid-Oct cruise. I filled it out as soon as i received confirmation of my booking. First timer can you tell? LOL. Abby:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

We usually do ours about 6 months in advance - like to get those things out of the way.

[EngineerDel]

We filled out our immagration forms last week for our December 3 Volendam cruise. It was right after we were able to book our flight from St. Louis to Ft. Lauderdale for a reasonable price. The flight information was required to complete the form. It was SOOOOOO GOOD to see that page say: "You have successfully completed the on-line registration process".....and then receive that... EXPRESS BOARDING PASS to the ship!

Now all we have to do is wait patiently for the big day! :)

 

Del

[earl_m]

Do you not have to wait for your Docs before you fill the forms.

You usually don`t know your stateroom number until you get the Docs.

[Copper10-8]

Do you not have to wait for your Docs before you fill the forms.

You usually don`t know your stateroom number until you get the Docs.

 

That's totally up to you. You can wait for your docs and then send in the form. You can also leave that box blank, if you wish, and send the form in without it - HAL will have the # in their computer(s) whey your cabin is issued to you

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We have had our docs for a few weeks but I did do our on-line immigration for on-line a 2 weeks ago. When I did it it still showed GUAR for our guarantee but since the HAL website does recommend doing the immigration for 30 days or more prior I did it. We are less than 4 weeks and it still shows GUAR for cabin number. We may not have a cabin number till the week we leave. The only hold up I see to this is I cannot get out my Sharpie to fill out my luggage tags yet.:D

[Copper10-8]

We have had our docs for a few weeks but I did do our on-line immigration for on-line a 2 weeks ago. When I did it it still showed GUAR for our guarantee but since the HAL website does recommend doing the immigration for 30 days or more prior I did it. We are less than 4 weeks and it still shows GUAR for cabin number. We may not have a cabin number till the week we leave. The only hold up I see to this is I cannot get out my Sharpie to fill out my luggage tags yet.:D

 

That's actually good stuff Lisa! Means you're still in the running for an upgrade:)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

That's actually good stuff Lisa! Means you're still in the running for an upgrade:)

 

John, Oh Yeah I am holding my breath for an Upgrade to the Penthouse:D Since we already have a S GUAR there is really not too many place to get moved to unless the Captain wants to share his cabin;) Actually the PH was available up till last week, now per the HAL website the cruise no longer shows, meaning it is totally sold out. I know I will end up some where on the Navigation Deck:)

[earl_m]

when I try to fill out the forms , they ask for a booking number, without your Docs, is there a way to get your booking number?

[EngineerDel]

As soon as we booked our cruise with our on-line TA and gave them a credit card number for deposit, we were given our Booking Number and our Stateroom Number which we selected from the "available rooms" shown on the Deck Plans.

 

After you have this information, you can then go to the HAL web site and select "Booked Passengers". Type in your Booking Number and YOUR NAME will automatically show in the next box. The form will then show your Stateroom Number and allow you to fill in your Immigration form. The Booking Number will allow you to enter the form even though you have a Guarantee room. You just won't have the number of your room.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Del

[duck tune]

Another thing to remember is that you can edit your Immigration Form so if something changed you can update later. I went ahead and did our forms today for our 12/16 Mexican Riveria cruise. DH and I are staying in San Diego a couple of days after the cruise so even though we have our airline reservations the form didn't ask for any specific flight information since we are not going directly to the airport. When I printed out the forms there was also a message that said if the forms got lost we can always reprint! We have a Guarantee SY so I'll have to wait and see if a cabin number shows up with the documents. If not we'll be surprised at the Pier!