Customs in St Thomas

[NOVICE WELSH CRUISERS]

Searched the threads etc but can't find what is a simple answer to this question. I note that each deck is given a time to clear immigration in St Thomas. Some of these are as early as 07.30. So does that mean you have breakfast at 6.30, clear customs as directed and then can't reboard and disembark without clearing customs again ??

Surely, if I chose to leave the liner at 09.30 they wouldn't tell me I'd missed my designated time ?? Or is it just that they specify a time to save the early morning rush to shore ??

I haven't booked an excursion so can step onto St Thomas when I choose ??

All advice gratefully received. Thanks. Paul

[Colo Cruiser]

Searched the threads etc but can't find what is a simple answer to this question. I note that each deck is given a time to clear immigration in St Thomas. Some of these are as early as 07.30. So does that mean you have breakfast at 6.30, clear customs as directed and then can't reboard and disembark without clearing customs again ??

Surely, if I chose to leave the liner at 09.30 they wouldn't tell me I'd missed my designated time ?? Or is it just that they specify a time to save the early morning rush to shore ??

I haven't booked an excursion so can step onto St Thomas when I choose ??

All advice gratefully received. Thanks. Paul

 

 

They do staggered times like that to avoid the initial rush. Once to the front of the line it only takes seconds to complete. Alot of people just circumvent this by going when they want and the lines are still long but they move very fast.

[SueM.]

Hi Paul,

 

Once everyone has been cleared and they allow us to go ashore, we can come and go as many times as we please. Since we don't often wake up early, even on a cruise, we will probably go to immigration, then head to breakfast before going ashore.

 

Looking forward to meeting you at the Mermaid's Tail or whatever that bar is called.lol

 

sue

[vmom]

In St. Thomas you just go to the room that they tell you. Usually one room for US citizens and a different room for non US citizens. You don't get off the ship to go through customs there. You walk through a line, show you passport, and then are given a slip of paper to indicated that you have gone through customs and are cleared for getting off the ship.

 

You can get off and on when ever you want to. When you get off, you give them your card indicating you went through the customs line. After that its the same as in any other port. You put you little cruise card in the machine when you get on and again when you get off.

[NOVICE WELSH CRUISERS]

In St. Thomas you just go to the room that they tell you

So I take it I can go to this room any time I choose and if so would 9.45-10 be a good time ??

[Times Prince]

In St. Thomas you just go to the room that they tell you

 

So I take it I can go to this room any time I choose and if so would 9.45-10 be a good time ??

If you wait that long they will be paging you by name and cabin number.

 

The process for the Emerald Princess went very swiftly (for US citizens). They do give a schedule by deck, and you can be a little outside of that window, but not a lot. We attended church service at 8, leaving about 8:30 and were in the line for passengers from a couple of decks below us. We went directly to breakfast after, and by the time we had food they were paging specific passengers.

 

They will provide a letter with your scheduled time that you must bring with you. These are bar coded. They scan these in and can tell exactly which passengers have not shown up and they will page these people over the ship's PA system.

[SueM.]

In St. Thomas you just go to the room that they tell you. So I take it I can go to this room any time I choose and if so would 9.45-10 be a good time ??

 

They will tell you what room on the ship to go to for imigration and what time you need to go. You should go close to the time they tell you to. I hope that the ship will be cleared long before 9:45.

 

sue

[Nan-L]

Please go at the time they ask you! It takes about 10 min.s

Just throw something on like we do and then we go back to the room and get ready for the day. Having coofee sent to your room about an 1/2 hour before you are suppose to be there helps.

You just show your passport and on you go.

What creates lines is "NOT" going when you are suppose to. As the time goes by ALL those people who feel they don't have to go when asked get into line! It then takes those that are in line as asked a lot longer to get through!! It is very annoying to be one of the last called and the line is 3 x's longer than it needs to be!

[SueM.]

Nan-L, I agree that people should go when they are supposed to and that would help speed things up. There is another reason that there are sometimes long lines for immigration and that is not having enough inspectors on the ship. Paul and I are on the same sailing and there will be 5 ships in port that day. I just hope that they have enough inspectors that day.

 

sue

[BruceMuzz]

A Grand Class Ship can get it's 3,000 or so passengers through US Immigration in about 2 hours. Then they spend an additional hour chasing those who somehow failed to hear or understand the 6 notices and 28 announcements about Immigration.

 

You can get off the ship as soon as you have gone through Immigration, but cannot return until everyone has been seen by the officials.

[negc]

The designated times are set to allow for an orderly processing of all guests and you really should follow their schedule as closely as possible. All passengers have to clear immigration when the ship arrives in a US port after having visited a foreign port and at some point they will page you over the PA system if you have not complied. Once you have been cleared you are stay onboard or get off, whichever you choose. It may be that they will not allow any passengers to leave the ship until everyone has cleared immigration, so your cooperation will clearly be appreciated by your fellow passengers, but you do have to have to clear immigration whether you plan to get off the ship or not.:)

[dolphinkisses]

Make sure to go at your designated time. Last cruise we were on (NCL) the St Thomas stop was our wedding day....I could have went earlier through customs but didnt....SO when I was in the salon chair getting my hair done..I had to go thru the fiasco of rushing to get cleared and then finishing getting ready...imagine that...if I would have known better I would have went earlier when I was supposed to. I guess they put these schedules in place for a reason :o

[DanJ]

Nan-L, I agree that people should go when they are supposed to and that would help speed things up. There is another reason that there are sometimes long lines for immigration and that is not having enough inspectors on the ship. Paul and I are on the same sailing and there will be 5 ships in port that day. I just hope that they have enough inspectors that day.

 

sue

 

Not all 5 of those ships will need to be cleared, as odds are a couple of them won't have visited a foreign port yet, or were in a US port immediately prior to this one.

[Royalpair]

When we were on RCI in Sept, we went to the dining room - one floor for US citizens, one for everyone else. They scan your passport, scan your ship card (RCI marks a smiley face on your card) and off you go. I don't think we paused longer than it took to check the items. It seems like a pain to go so early, but it is not a big deal, then you can get on with your day.

[Times Prince]

It may be that they will not allow any passengers to leave the ship until everyone has cleared immigration, so your cooperation will clearly be appreciated by your fellow passengers, but you do have to have to clear immigration whether you plan to get off the ship or not.:)

On the 12/16/07 sailing of the Emerald Princess they announced that passengers may leave the ship as soon as they received the green paper saying they have cleared immigration.

 

It does not seem to be Princess' policy to hold all passengers captive until the last one has been cleared. They enable those who have been cleared to go ashore and have a great day. I appreciated that on our cruise.

[texreno]

We are sailing on the Crown in April, 2008. The Crown Princess has two different itineraries which both include a stop in St. Thomas.

 

The 1st itinerary sails from San Juan directly to St. Thomas as the first stop. On the 2nd itinerary the last stop before returning to San Juan is St. Thomas. I've read that passengers must clear customs in St. Thomas on this 2nd itinerary because they have been to foreign ports.

 

My question is this.

 

The 1st itinerary sails directly from San Juan to St. Thomas before stopping at a foreign port. I would assume you would not have to clear customs in St. Thomas on this itinerary. Is this correct?

[Times Prince]

My question is this.

 

The 1st itinerary sails directly from San Juan to St. Thomas before stopping at a foreign port. I would assume you would not have to clear customs in St. Thomas on this itinerary. Is this correct?

This is correct - no immigration required as you are going directly from one US territory to another.

 

The Immigration check is only required when one is not coming from a US territory or state.

[A Sixth?]

On the 12/16/07 sailing of the Emerald Princess they announced that passengers may leave the ship as soon as they received the green paper saying they have cleared immigration.

 

It does not seem to be Princess' policy to hold all passengers captive until the last one has been cleared. They enable those who have been cleared to go ashore and have a great day. I appreciated that on our cruise.

 

That is correct. I have been through St T over a dozen times on cruise ships and it has been years since they "held" everyone aboard until each passenger had cleared. They do start calling names as the lines disappear but the last few times it struck me that it was so the Immigration officials could leave the ship. :D

 

BTW for non-US foreigner types, it can be 30-45 minutes average wait at peek disembarkation to pass through Customs and Immigration, longer (I've heard) during "alerts" :(

 

The reports you will get on wait times will be completely different when one source is made up of US citizens and the other source is non.

[DanJ]

We are sailing on the Crown in April, 2008. The Crown Princess has two different itineraries which both include a stop in St. Thomas.

 

The 1st itinerary sails from San Juan directly to St. Thomas as the first stop. On the 2nd itinerary the last stop before returning to San Juan is St. Thomas. I've read that passengers must clear customs in St. Thomas on this 2nd itinerary because they have been to foreign ports.

 

My question is this.

 

The 1st itinerary sails directly from San Juan to St. Thomas before stopping at a foreign port. I would assume you would not have to clear customs in St. Thomas on this itinerary. Is this correct?

 

Your question was already answered, but I wanted to add that on that second itinerary, where St Thomas is the last port before returning to San Juan, clearing immigration at St Thomas means the ship is already cleared when it returns to San Juan, making debarkation a little less of a hassle.

 

We run into this in a couple weeks in the CB, where we go to Princess Cays on the day after departing FLL, then St Maarten, then St Thomas, and back to FLL. We clear immigration in St Thomas and that's it. The regular itinerary has Princess Cays on the last day, meaning the ship has to be cleared twice, first in St Thomas, second back in FLL.

[SueM.]

Not all 5 of those ships will need to be cleared, as odds are a couple of them won't have visited a foreign port yet, or were in a US port immediately prior to this one.

 

 

Very true, guess I will go check who will be there with us and what their itins. are.

 

sue

[Ellan Vannin]

We were on the CB in Juluy'07 and despite going directly from FLL to St Thomas, we still had to go through the immigration rigmarole.

 

Although it was an early start the queue (non US) was only small and the wait was less than 5 minutes to have your passport stamped yet again and then we went for breakfast.

 

We found the immigration staff pretty miserable though, maybe they realised how pointless it all was:)

[West Coast]

I note that each deck is given a time to clear immigration in St Thomas. Some of these are as early as 07.30. So does that mean you have breakfast at 6.30, clear customs as directed and then can't reboard and disembark without clearing customs again ??

 

Paul,

As a non-US citizen you will have the opportunity to attend the Immigration Inspection at any time between the start and finish. Non-US citizens are not called by deck and are not given a specific time to report. On our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess we were advised (as non-US citizens) that we could go anytime before 8:30am.