St, Thomas Customs

[kezz]

Hi All

 

Been reading topics and on a few people have mentioned have to go through customs on the ship B4 being allowed off.

 

Is this right?

 

We have been to St. Thomas quite a few times and never had to do this.

 

Always had breakfast then off the ship for the day.

 

Is this all new then and if so how much of a pain is it.

 

Thanks for the replies

 

 

kezz

[dforeigner]

If your previous port was from the US such as Puerto Rico, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, etc, no you do not need to go through Immigration. If you come from another country, yes you do.

[-Lew-]

It's quite painless. The line moves fairly quickly.

 

Lew

[GloriaF]

It delays getting off the ship a little, but is really done rather quickly.

 

Every cabin is assigned a number or letter, I don't recall exactly even though we've done it, and large groups are called to go thru customs. There are 3 or 4 customs officials located in one of the theaters or lounges, pax form lines, and the line moves through with just a pause for each person to show their passport. It should move much more quickly now that everyone is required to have a passport - there will be no one with the birth certificate/drivers license routine (which is more time consuming).

[-Lew-]

...and the line moves through with just a pause for each person to show their passport. It should move much more quickly now that everyone is required to have a passport - there will be no one with the birth certificate/drivers license routine (which is more time consuming).

Passports are not currently required for US citizens cruising the Caribbean.

 

Lew

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

For UK flying into Barbados, then onto st Thomas etc whole ship will need to go through pass port control as you are entering USA, Princess gets a good number of customs folk, however a few years ago was on a ship where one bloke was sent to do the full ship by 3.30pm he was still stamping away some folk never made it off ship.

 

 

 

yours Shogun

[busterfla]

Two weeks back on the CB, we hit St Maarten first, then St Thomas. The evening before St Maarten landfall, the paperwork for Customs was left with the other notices/ads and it said that the next morning between 7am and 9-9:30am all passengers had to walk thru the Princess Theatre w/ the papers & passport to get cleared for St Thomas. At 7am, the line was quite long, but moving well. We elected to eat breakfast first and when we entered at 8:15 or so it was just a few people outside the entrance. Princess staff take the paperwork to check off and Customs inspectors wait just beyond them to do their thing. After you pass them, another Princes staff gives you a printed pass for St Thomas that you present when walking off and putting your card in the checkout machine. Total time spent get thru the procedure, maybe 2 minutes, we never really broke stride going thru it.

[roe2ship]

Two weeks back on the CB, we hit St Maarten first, then St Thomas. The evening before St Maarten landfall, the paperwork for Customs was left with the other notices/ads and it said that the next morning between 7am and 9-9:30am all passengers had to walk thru the Princess Theatre w/ the papers & passport to get cleared for St Thomas. At 7am, the line was quite long, but moving well. We elected to eat breakfast first and when we entered at 8:15 or so it was just a few people outside the entrance. Princess staff take the paperwork to check off and Customs inspectors wait just beyond them to do their thing. After you pass them, another Princes staff gives you a printed pass for St Thomas that you present when walking off and putting your card in the checkout machine. Total time spent get thru the procedure, maybe 2 minutes, we never really broke stride going thru it.

Thanks, good to hear. A while back there were complaints about how long the procedure was taking no matter what time you went on line.

[Vanilla]

So are you then required to carry your passport into St. Thomas?

[lazygal]

Only if you want to. After the inspection, Princess gives you a landing card. You have to present that to get off the ship.

 

After the inspection, we went to breakfast then to our cabin to gather our things to go ashore. TIP: Don't wait in any long line. Go to breakfast and come back if a line has formed. Bring the papers from your cabin that the room steward places there the day before explaining the process.

 

It was pretty painless on Princess.

[chrysalis]

So are you then required to carry your passport into St. Thomas?

 

no...but you do need to carry photo ID when you go ashore so that the port/pier security will allow you back on to the pier to board the ship

[kezz]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

As said it's a new one on me.

 

Sorry I didn't save the link, but searching internet, found an article from St Thomas, saying how such a waste of time this is and the manpower it takes.

 

So for someone like me from the UK....

 

I'll go through customs in FL

 

Then before getting on the ship

 

Then now at St. Thomas.

 

Then As we're doing a B2B cruise will have to come off ship after first week and go through customs again.

 

My passport will be worn out, LOl

 

Thanks again for your time.

 

Glad to hear it is very (ish) quick.

 

 

Kezz

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

It is a real pain, but every time you leave US islands and re- enter US waters you go through customs again, have done back to back with St Thomas being a port of call on different cruises only a two days apart and had to go through customs again, my passport has more St Thomas stamps in it that any other place in the world.

 

yours Shogun

[BigGuy25]

Just FYI ... the line sometimes does seem long (at least on the Crown) and a few in line get really frustrated and vocal about that ... but you'll find that it really does move very quickly.

[Colo Cruiser]

Just FYI ... the line sometimes does seem long (at least on the Crown) and a few in line get really frustrated and vocal about that ... but you'll find that it really does move very quickly.

 

I agree the line to Club Fusion stretched all the way to the Princess Theater and back around to the Wheelhouse Bar. :eek: But it did move really fast.

 

Strange thing was they gave us a landing card and we got off within 30 minutes of getting the card but they never asked for it or collected it. :rolleyes:

[GloriaF]

Passports are not currently required for US citizens cruising the Caribbean.

 

Lew

 

Hmmmmmmm, I did not realize that passports were still not required for the Caribbean. We have had ours for so long that we really don't pay attention to the details ~ but I thought the deadline had passed where passports were required for all travel outside the US.

[cruisinalong001]

It's quite painless. The line moves fairly quickly.

 

Lew

 

you don't mind getting up early whether or not you want to get off the ship early. February on RCCL all persons were required to have gone through their passport check by 7AM (some earlier) so that the whole ship could be cleared. The line moved very quickly, but I was not happy having up get up early when we had not planned to get off the ship early and had planned to sleep in after being up late..:mad: grumble, grumble. The whole thing seemed rather pointless to me as they had already checked our passport numerous times.

[busterfla]

So are you then required to carry your passport into St. Thomas?

 

Nope, but you are required to carry a ID with your photo on it (driver's licence will do) in case they ask for it at the entry gate to the pier (didn't happen at either St Maarten nor St Thomas, just waved the ship's card and were allowed in).

[sueandkent]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

As said it's a new one on me.

 

Sorry I didn't save the link, but searching internet, found an article from St Thomas, saying how such a waste of time this is and the manpower it takes.

 

So for someone like me from the UK....

 

I'll go through customs in FL

 

Then before getting on the ship

 

Then now at St. Thomas.

 

Then As we're doing a B2B cruise will have to come off ship after first week and go through customs again.

 

My passport will be worn out, LOl

 

Thanks again for your time.

 

Glad to hear it is very (ish) quick.

 

 

Kezz

 

You get a different line up and trust me, it's much shorter. They separate the non-US citizens into a different area. It was really fast. They key is to always remember the paper your cabin steward leaves because you do need that to complete the process.

[AAAAmerican]

Sorry..no not a bump in the tubes...

 

As an American I do have a disdain for paying for a vacation then being made to wake for something which can be done prior and/or aftyer.

 

Even at Airports Accredited Travelers are able to Pay forward there Airport Clearances through Customs ..Immigration... Security.. now why not Accredited Cruisers too..?

I have had a Valid Passport for Decades and not much information has changed.. well except my age and Photo..

If people want to sleep in late and Have that Personal Choice isnt it a valid reason?

 

On a cruise as well stopping in US Ports this a few times being done seems rather unreasonable eh.. IMHO.

 

 

Cant the Cruise Lines then BYPass the US Ports to benefit there paying Cruisers more.

[kezz]

Found the link again. took ages.

 

It's from

J. MICHAEL CRYE

PRESIDENT

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF CRUISE LINES

 

It's a good read but go to page 6 'U.S. In-transit Port of Calls'

 

The if i'm allowed to put it is

 

http://www.iccl.org/pressroom/crye_testimony_07-25-06.pdf

 

If it's removed i'll mail it to ya

 

 

kezz

[m steve]

People are checked at immigration at St. Thomas. Customs checks luggage and purchases made outside continental USA when disembarking. You cruise card is you reboarding ID and has your picture digitized in the stripe for security to match up when you return to the ship.

[A Sixth?]

People are checked at immigration at St. Thomas. Customs checks luggage and purchases made outside continental USA when disembarking. You cruise card is you reboarding ID and has your picture digitized in the stripe for security to match up when you return to the ship.

 

The cruise card alone is not enough ID to return to the ship if additional photo ID is requested. This only happened once when we were B2Bing on the Crown, at St Lucia.

 

Customs in St T it's a pain, but we've learned to simply ignore the process if you aren't in a hurry to get off the ship. Shower, breakfast, stretch a bit and a few hours after hitting port get checked through after the crowds have been processed. There is no penalty.

[m steve]

Otherwise you will go thru CUSTOMS at the point of disembarking. In STT you go thru customs as you leave the airport, not the dock. TSA hasn't screwed that up yet.