No matter what cruise line you sail with there are three basic steps you must perform to get off the ship and return home.
- Get off the ship
- Collect your luggage
- Pass through customs
The specifics vary slightly by cruise line, and knowing these slight differences in procedure can be the difference between a smooth departure from the port and wandering the terminal for hours in search of your luggage, or a long and uncomfortably in-depth interview with customs. Carnival is the world’s largest cruise line and in some ways it sets trends and the other cruise lines follow. Often because Holland America, Cunard, and many other cruise lines are in fact owned by the Carnival Corporation and policies and procedures tend to fall in line within a corporation.
Disembarking the Ship
On a Carnival ship disembarking starts the night before you return to port. You’ll find colored and numbered tags for your luggage waiting for you in your room. You tie these onto your luggage and set your bags outside your room for the steward to collect that night. In the morning you wait for your color to be called, leave the ship, collect your bags in the terminal and take your luggage and your traveling party through customs. While it is fairly rare, bags can and do get misplaced. Even if they don’t the whole process can take some time and if you have an early flight (before noon) it is possible to miss it.
Carnival, and the rest of the cruise lines, are aware of this and do make the effort to accommodate the needs of their passengers. If you have an early flight home you can inform the front desk and they will make the effort to put you in the first group debarking. No one wants to be kept waiting though, and it seems like everyone wants to be the first off the ship when it returns to port. You will need to have a boarding pass, or some other evidence of your departing flight as proof in order to get into one of the early groups. Even then there is only so much room in each group and you may end up cutting things closer than you like.
The second option is a self-assist debarkation. Essentially you keep your bags with you and walk them off the ship yourself. This group is always the first group to leave (around 6:30) and they skip baggage claim entirely and head straight to customs. A step-by-step breakdown of the process is included below.
Self-Assist/Express Debarkation
- Pay off any outstanding balances you have with the ship.
- Be prepared to pay off any duty owed on purchases that exceed the allowed amount. Carnival maintains guideline here, and Customs and Border protection offers a free booklet in PDF format for download.
- Properly fill out the Declaration Forms. One per family and have it ready to show Customs and Border officials. The family must present themselves together to customs officials. Guidelines can be read here, and a copy of the form itself can be seen here.
- Those wishing to self-assist/express disembark must be able to handle their own luggage. This includes being able to manage it in tight confines and difficult areas, such as stairs and escalators. If you have an early flight out its important to plan ahead, pack a manageable load, and not purchase more than you can carry off the ship.
- In order to disembark early you will need to retain your luggage the night before. As a courtesy you should inform the ship’s staff so the porters are not waiting for your luggage.
- In the morning you and your party will need to assemble with all of your belongings and make your way to the gangway. Be ready to present your customs forms to Customs and Border Protection Officials.
- Disembark the ship
The self-assist program is available on Carnival ships at Port Canaveral, and it is not limited to US citizens. At present (October 2, 2015) the only port where self-assist/express disembarkation is limited to US Citizens is San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Passing through Customs
The key things customs is going to look for is whether or not you’re smuggling something illegal like drugs, exotic animals, or foreign plants. Do not try to bring fruit or produce back from your vacation. Even if it is just a piece of fruit from the breakfast buffet you will not allowed to bring it through customs. The second thing customs will be concerned with is whether they can charge you taxes on your purchases. Alcohol and tobacco are subject to taxes if you’ve bought quantities that are greater than what is considered reasonable for personal use. A vague definition that the customs officers may define differently than you. Some guidelines have been included below and more information is available at the know before you go guide linked to previously.
• $1,600 may be spent per person on duty free purchases
• No more than $800 can be spent outside of the US Virgin Islands or aboard ship
• 1 liter of alcohol per person (must be 21 years of age or older)
• 1 carton of cigarettes (200 cigarettes)
• 100 non-Cuban cigars
Before leaving home it’s recommended that cruise passengers register the valuables they will be bringing with them at their local customs office. Expensive objects like laptops, cameras, optical equipment, and watches may be subject to import duties if the owner cannot prove they owned the item prior to their cruise. When returning the head of household must fill out a declaration form for any items purchased during their cruise. There are exceptions for where items were purchased. Something purchased in the US Virgin Islands is subject to different rules than something purchased in Jamaica. It is strongly advised that you keep track of your receipts in order to make filling out the form easier, and to ease your way through customs.
A lot of what makes a cruise great or terrible depends on things that aren’t in the hands of Carnival. Airline schedules and the weather are entirely outside of their control for instance. Customs or the Coast Guard having an issue is going to frustrate the captain and crew as much as it frustrates cruisers. What you can do as an individual cruiser is be well informed in regards to policies and procedures aboard the ship.
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