How long to clear customs upon arrival in St. Thomas?

[MGoBlue2]

[quote name='ruttie']the Jones Act, a Federal law passed in 1917 by Congress and Pres. Woodrow Wilson, foreign-flagged passenger ships are prohibited from traveling between two contiguous U.S. ports. What that means is only foreign-flagged cruise ships arriving from foreign ports, or arriving from mainland ports which also include a stop in non-U.S. territory, would be permitted to anchor on U.S. soil.
hope this help....
And to the topic of immigration we went towards the end of teh scheduled time it was no wait at all.. the line kept moving and we choose to wait a bit because we did nto have any excursion scheduled so we let those that had to get off get in line first.. it worked great for us as it took us maybe 5 minutes tops to do the whole thing.....[/quote]Actually, it's the Passenger Services Act that covers this, but back to the topic at hand.

If all goes well, immigration in St. Thomas is not a problem, if on the other hand it doesn't...

One time our ship was late due to rough seas, and not only was the queue a mess snaking all around and people cutting in wherever they felt like it, we arrived at a time that was approaching the customs officials morning coffee break time. God forbid that they miss coffee break, so they didn't come out to the ship to start the process until they were done with it.

[Stoodo]

Ok here is my dumb question for this thread....

If everyone has to clear immigration in St Thomas, why isn't that the first stop for a ship like the Mariner and hit Cococay on the way back thus eliminating the need.

Maybe I am missing something.

[Schplinky]

[quote name='Stoodo']Ok here is my dumb question for this thread....

If everyone has to clear immigration in St Thomas, why isn't that the first stop for a ship like the Mariner and hit Cococay on the way back thus eliminating the need.

Maybe I am missing something.[/quote]

I wondered that, too, although I understand that they will be going to San Juan in the future (instead of CC) so maybe that will help, since the ship won't have left the US by the time it gets to ST. That's what happened when we went on Navigator and it was great.

I think that since Majesty and Sovereign each go to CC twice a week, there are not that many days to play with.

[suziehmkr]

[quote name='Nliedel']You needed to bath your plate in ketchup to eat it. Just say, no to the Frisbee.[/quote]

I learn something new every day that I visit here...

*** Is it really called FRISBEE chicken? I didn't see that on the menu. Although, if there is shellfish to be had, nothing else gets my attention. :p

*** I had no idea that you had to clear customs in St. Thomas. This thread didn't make sense until that was explained... thanks! I am appreciative of ALL of the answers.

*** PH - you have been more than helpful to me on these boards, so take the other comments for what they are. :rolleyes:

*** Christie - you and my DH would have gotten along great if we had spent more time together. Except he uses Tapatio or other hot sauce on everything and I wouldn't put it past him to put it on ice cream either! :eek:

[Cuizer2]

[quote name='Stoodo']Ok here is my dumb question for this thread....

If everyone has to clear immigration in St Thomas, why isn't that the first stop for a ship like the Mariner and hit Cococay on the way back thus eliminating the need.

Maybe I am missing something.[/quote]

Not a dumb question at all. I was on Carnival and it took three hours to clear. And what a joke. All they did was look at my passport. The whole thing could have been handled by mail. After that I wondered why St. Thomas was so popular. At least we were there until 8:00pm, so we still had a full day.

Then I found out that you only have to clear customs if you stopped at a foreign port prior to St. Thomas (or San Juan). We spent six hours in Nassau, which is a lot less appealing if it causes a three hour delay in St. Thomas. So I thought, okay, next time I'll check the itinerary and make sure St. Thomas is the first port (because EVERYONE stops there).

Now I see RCI seems to be able to clear customs in far less time than Carnival. I wonder why that is.

At any rate, I should have it covered. My next cruise to St. Thomas is from San Juan, so hopefully I'll avoid all of this.