Canadians who did a Disney Cruise?

[BLBCB]

There are a few questions I had about the cruise.
- They say that they keep your passport until the cruise is done. How do you get on and off the ship at ports?
- Do you follow the US custom rules because you are getting off the ship in US, or are you different because you are Canadian?
- What time of year did you cruise? Any problems with anything?

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We've now cruised twice on DCL, both times in October.

They take your passport when you check in and give you a receipt for them. In order to get on and off the ship you need your Key to the World Card and photo ID - ie. your driver's license. Both times that we've checked in they have asked if we have photo ID and if we hadn't had any other than our passport we were told that they would have given us a copy of our passport which would have been sufficient. Only those over 18 need the photo ID.

You actually have to get up early the last day of the cruise and pass through US customs and immigration prior to getting off the ship. At this point you get your passport returned to you. You fill out the same form as the US citizens but there is a different box to check off indicating that you aren't leaving anything in the US. You just hand in this form when you leave the terminal but it's already been looked at and approved.

We had no problems at all on the cruise and in fact rebooked for our third cruise in October, 2006.

Any other questions please ask.

 

[Timon]

We cruised Disney in January 2002 and RCCL in November 2003 and had no problems. When you check into the terminal, they take away your passports and issue you a receipt, keep that receipt in a safe place! You need some other photo ID to get on and off the ship, drivers licence works well! About 1-2 days before you re-dock at Port Canaveral, they will return your passport to you.

If you are on an Eastern DCL cruise, you along with everyone else on the ship gets up super early to go through customs on St Thomas day, Canadians go to a separate area but it's the same ordeal.
When you go through customs in the terminal as you are leaving, it's the exact same thing and place as Americans.

We had no problems except that we totally fell in love with cruising and we want to go ALL the time. Now if only I could win the lottery so that I can feed my addiction, then everything in the world would be right!

 

[Cruisin]

We have been on 4, soon to be 5 Disney Cruises in January and 1 in August.

The August one was very hot, so hot it was hard to be out on deck for any length of time because the sun was so strong.

They have always taken our passports away from us and returned them very early on the morning that you are departing the ship. We have never received them back earlier than that.

On the RCCL they were returned the evening before we got off the ship.

No real problems with either of those times of the year, except for the possibility of weather on our end in January causing a problem in getting to the ship.

 

[Scratch42]

If you take an Eastern, you will also have to get up early for St. Thomas. You get up, get your passport, go thru immigration and then hand your passport back to the CM. Painless!

Scratch

 

[mom_rules]

We are planning three days in WDW then 4 day cruise and then another three days in WDW. When you board the plane coming home you get a customs form as well-what are your allowances in this case and is there somewhere you state that you have left the US and returned to the US before coming home?

 

[BLBCB]

Someone said you check off a box saying you aren't leaving anything in the US. What if you are staying in the US for a few days, and consume some of what you brought? Do you bring anything from the customs check at the cruise, to when you enter Canada? I haven't really checked into what we are allowed to bring back to Canada. Where can we find this info out?

 

[mom_rules]

Another 1st timer question-what currency do you use in the Bahamas? What are the price of things like there?

 

[Toad]

Not sure if this is still the case in the post 9/11 world, but I Disney-cruised twice pre 9/11 WITH my passport, and at the check-in I asked if I could hang onto my passport and give them my drivers licence and Birth Certificate instead. I really only asked out of curiosity the first time. Both times, they said yes - so I held on to the passport. I felt more comfortable with it in my possession. But I would have given up if I had to. I still had to get up early to pick up my other documents on debarkation morning.

 

[Cruisin]

Originally posted by mom_rules
Another 1st timer question-what currency do you use in the Bahamas? What are the price of things like there?

You can use US dollars when you are in the Bahamas.

I can't help you with the prices of things because I am not much of a shopper

 

[Meshee]

We are crusing for the first time on the 7 day Western (January 15th to 22nd). Are there any other Canadians crusing on this cruise?