Ports of Call

[roebud]

How long after the ship docks do they start letting people leave?

[TravlGrl]

It really depends on where you are. The ship needs to clear customs, so it could be anywhere from an hour to two hours I suppose. We've found that if we are scheduled to arrive in a port at...say...8 a.m., we typically dock around 7ish (well before our itinerary says we'll arrive) and shortly after 8 we're able to leave the ship. There have been times though that they've made announcements that it's taking longer than expected to clear customs. Bottom line is that we do excursions in every port we visit, and have never been late to our excursion even if we didn't dock on time.

 

We've only been on 3 cruises, so it's possible others with more cruise experience may have different experiences than we've had.

[paul929207]

The ship has to be cleared by the local authorities. Sometimes the locals will come on in the previous port & the ship is cleared as soon as it is tied up. Most times, the locals come on with the pilot. Sometimes they are quick, but others it can take an hour or two.

[Fergus]

Sometimes it's the official stuff that takes awhile, but usually it's the hoards of people who are all trying to exit at the same time - it can be extremely chaotic. Seems (to me) like it's never the same procedure anywhere and all the ships do it differently - some are very organized and others let people stand around in hallways, not preventing stragglers from cutting in line, etc. Plus it's hard to plan ahead and be there early because you never know where all the processing is going to take place. The best thing to do is just be ready - have all your gear and paperwork prepared and listen for directions.

[Spikesgirl]

When we docked in Shanghai (our first China stop), we had to queue up for the Chinese government to check our visas (for those who had applied and received visa and were going ashore). We had a group of about five who wouldn't show up for the check and that held everyone up for about three hours. Those government folks don't joke when they say something, they really mean it.

 

Clearing the ship is one thing, clearing the passengers, entirely different. if you want to be among the first to disembark in a port, sign up for a ship's tour. They will usually be taken first from the ship.

[roebud]

Thank-you all for the information, I just wasn't sure how early to line up to leave the ship to start site seeing. Since we are taking private tours we'll just be patient and have all our paperwork with us.

 

Rose

[Morgsmom]

St. Thomas is notoriously a mess, as is Key West if you have been to the Bahamas beforehand.... Other ports are just happy to have passengers with $$$ to spend come offshore.

 

For private excursions, if you are docking at 8am, for example, most won't even tell you to "meet them" until 9am (or 1 hour or 1 1/2 hrs later) as they know that deboarding (and tendering) can be a process. I wouldn't worry about missing them - just find out where & when to meet and you should be fine (they don't want to wait around endlessly either as people meander off the boat.)

 

BTW - if you private tours, confirm WHICH time you will meet them -- most likely it will be expressed in LOCAL time, not ship time.