| The Day Will Come When You Have To Get Off The Ship |
Early flight back home?
There are two ways to insure you get off in enough time; “Early-off tags” for your luggage or “Self-Disembarkation”.
“Early-off tags”
The normal disembarkation procedure is to set your luggage outside of your cabin before Midnight, the night before you get off the ship. You will have been given a certain color luggage tag for your “color group” on the ship. In the morning, after the ship has been cleared by US Customs, they start calling color groups one by one. When your group is called, you proceed to the gangway, off the ship and into a big warehouse-like room to find your luggage, arranged by color group. After you have found your luggage you proceed off through Customs and you are on your way.
Early off tags allow you to be in the first color group off the ship after it has been cleared for disembarkation. You will gather in a predetermined area of the ship and once it has been cleared you will be in the first color group off. You get these tags by visiting the Pursers Desk sometime before the last day. If you are going to go this way I suggest dropping by the Pursers desk sometime early in the cruise. The Pursers desk is centrally located in the lobby of the ship. You will pass by many times just in the course of going from place to place within the ship. I suggest stopping by whenever you happen to be in the area and there is no line. To qualify for early off tags your flight must leave before 1PM so you surely do qualify.
“Self-Disembarkation”
This is the easiest and simplest way. If you can carry all your luggage off the ship yourself, as soon as they announce that the ship has been cleared for disembarkation, off you go. This saves you time in two ways. You get to leave before the first color group; you are the first off the ship. You also don’t have to wade through the warehouse full of luggage, hunting for yours. Check with the Pursers Desk on this too, a phone call will do, because if they have a lot of people wanting to do this they may set them up in “waves” to avoid congestion at the gangway. This is the way we do it every time. I recommend this way if you can do it but with baby in tow that might not be possible. Think about it though because it really is the best way to do it. Very painless. In fact, you can gather in an area just short of the gangway and wait for them to say its ok to leave and be off even earlier,
I mention that only because your timing is tight. The ship gets back at 7am but on a normal day they won’t start letting people off the ship until 8 or 830am. If Customs, the Coast Guard or Immigration hold the ship for a full inspection, you might not get off until Noon. That rarely happens but it does happen so it’s wise to check your airlines flight schedule to see when later flights in the day are in case you miss yours. Armed with complete flight information you can call your airline from the ship, explain your situation and arrange to be on a later flight out if needed. It probably won’t be. You’ll probably get off and get to the airport in plenty of time but you’re wise to be thinking about this now. You can maximize your chances of getting from the ship to the departure gate for your flight on time by doing a few things will help:
- Check-in and print boarding information/cards for your flights the night before. You can do this online in the ships Internet Café. It’s a good idea to do this as far ahead as the airline will let you because sometimes (often enough to mention) the unattended printer in the Internet Café is either out of paper or having stubborn technology issues.
- If you are setting out your luggage the night before to be claimed on the morning of disembarkation, grab a porter when you get to the warehouse to help you with your luggage. They will help you find it and expedite leaving the terminal as there is a special line for guests with porters handling their luggage that is way shorter. You just have to identify your luggage, point it out the the porter and they will take it from there. Tip $1-$2 per bag.
- Take a cab to the airport. You do NOT want to take the cruise line transfers, they are way too slow and could blow the whole plan
- Check your luggage at curbside with a generous tip, say $20. I’ve never lost luggage and I think that is why.
- Bring liquids with you. When you leave your cabin, regardless of which way you go, bring bottled water. You may not have a chance to stop for some until you are in the departure lounge at the airport.
Variables you can’t control so don’t worry about it:
- What time you actually walk off the ship. There is just so much you can do. Customs ultimately decides when the process begins
- Traffic between the pier and the airport. Finding a cab is easy, there will be a whole line of them waiting after you claim your luggage and make it out of the terminal.
If you get caught in a traffic jam that’s going to make you miss your flight just be glad you thought ahead and have back-up flight information so you can talk to the airline intelligently about what your options are.
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For your ship to be registered in a foreign land (i.e.Panama) it must visit a foreign port on it's journey. Since you've visited a foreign port on your journey, when you return you must pass through US Customs. You're "allowed" to bring certain things into the United States, others you are not. Generally, no country wants the other country's fruit or animals, they just don't mix. While your ship will tell you the very latest customs information here are some guidelines:
Duty-free allowance on ships that call at any of the U.S. Virgin Islands ? $1,200 (retail) of duty-free purchases per adult, including 5 liters of liquor per adult, of which at least one must be a product of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of the $1,200, no more than $600, including 1 liter of liquor, 1 carton of cigarettes and 100 cigars (non-Cuban) may be purchased in other ports or on board.
Duty-free allowance on ships sailing EXCLUSIVELY to Mexico, Alaska and/or U.S. Ports ? $400 (retail) of duty-free purchases per adult, including 1 liter of liquor, 1 carton of cigarettes and 100 cigars (non-Cuban) per adult.
Duty-free allowance on all other ships - $600 (retail), including 2 liters of liquor per adult, depending on the port of purchase.
ATF regulations -According to the ATF, cigarettes and other tobacco products made in the U.S. for "Export Only" may not be returned to the U.S. under any circumstances. Cigarettes that note "Tax Exempt - for use outside U.S." or "U.S. tax exempt - for use outside U.S." will be seized and a potential $1,000.00 penalty may be imposed. This includes cigarettes and tobacco products purchased in the U.S. Virgin Islands and San Juan. This new federal regulation went into effect January 1, 2000 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Foreign-made cigarettes and tobacco products may be brought into the U.S. in personal use quantities (Example: 1 carton per person).
| Tips For Clearing Customs |
Be polite and cooperative!
When asked for citizenship, say "US", rather than California, etc.
Have your picture ID/passport in your hand, ready to show!
Don't make jokes about contraband or illegal activities!
Retain receipts in case customs requests them.
Know what is prohibited or controlled!
No photos are allowed of the border crossing areas
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| What To Expect At Disembarkation |
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Then night before you'll pack up and set your luggage out in the hallway. The ship's crew will take it away and the next time you'll see it is after you get off the ship. Be sure you have anything you need out of it before you set it out in the hallway. All you should be left with is your carryon stuff, just like when you came onboard
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After dinner tonight check your shipboard account either via your cabin's television (if available) or by going to the Pursers desk. Be sure there are no mistakes and if there are, get them settled now.
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If you purchased liquor ashore or onboard during your journey it will be packaged and brought to your cabin tonight- I suppose you could have one heck of a party if you wanted to
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Before going to bed you may want to order some sandwiches or snacks to take with you off the ship in the morning- that's what the ziploc bags and plastic wrap on the packing checklist were for. But be aware, this is a big no no, authorities do not want anything brought off the ship. That BLT you take to the beach could start a chain reaction of horrors resulting in the world coming to a complete stop
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Sometime in the night you'll get a copy of the accounting of your shipboard account and its settlement- look it over for mistakes and get them settled at the Pursers desk right away. Actually you should have been keeping up on this throughout your voyage by checking your account at least halfway through and again a day before the end of your cruise.
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In the morning breakfast will be served in much the same way as usual, perhaps starting earlier than normal.
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You can sleep in or get up early and watch your ship come into port. The docking back into port is just as fascinating as when you left. I suggest getting up a good two hours before your scheduled time to dock. It takes a long time to bring your ship to a standstill and it's a great time to reflect on your vacation, remembering all the great moments you've had at sea.
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After the ship has docked but before any passengers can get off, US Customs and Immigration Agents will take control of the ship. Only after they have been satisfied that all is in order with the ship will they allow you to get off. A common hold-up in this process are passengers with foreign passports who have not reported to Immigration or passengers who have issues to be settled with their shipboard account (like their credit card was declined)
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When the ship has been cleared they will start letting passengers get off in some pre-determined order that will not make any sense to you. You'd think they'd let people off from the top to the bottom of the ship. This is something that is beyond the comprehension of mere cruise passengers.
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If you have an early flight you should be in the first group off the ship see "How To Get Off Early" on this page
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When it is time for your group to leave you need to be sure you have both your Customs Declaration Form (one for each family) and your Identification. You will be asked for both.
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You'll be led to an area I call the "Sea of Luggage" where you will find yours, sorted by ships deck, color group or some other organization. This is why it's a good idea to mark your luggage to somehow make it stand out among the crowd. In writing, this is a heavily guarded secret, nobody wants you to copy them for obvious reasons. I suggest something from where you live, something unique. Maybe bumper stickers from a local restaurant, social club or "Gore/Lieberman 2000"
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This place looks like a madhouse and it pretty much is. There are two things you need to do here. Get your luggage and get a porter. You need the luggage so you won't be missing stuff when you get home and you need the porter to get out of there in the most efficient manner.
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Believe that porters know the layout of the land and where to lead you to get out with the least amount of hassle. In addition, if you need a cab they can take you right there. In fact, tell them your ground transportation plans and they'll take you there. You may have been here before but leaving is a whole different ballgame than coming. Tip $2.00 per bag just like at embarkation.
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On your way out you will pass through customs and hand the customs agent your customs card (actually a piece of paper). If you have nothing to declare you'll no doubt smile at them and they at you and keep walking. This is not a time to be thinking about anything dishonest. They'll smell it and pull you off to the interogation room where you may never be seen again. (Not really)
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So now you're on your way home and the reality sets in that it's really over. Go to "End Here" on this site right now!
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| What You'll Get The Night Before You Get Off The Ship From Royal Caribbean |
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