Just an idea- Why not St Thomas before St Maarten?

[izzinmac]

Our last Eastern was before 9/11. I have seen grumblings here that post 9/11 everyone has to clear customs for St Thomas early on the morning of arrival -even if you don't go ashore. The reason for this is a US Customs requirement that anyone coming from a non US port(ST Maarten) to a US port(St Thomas) must clear customs. Stop at St Thomas first and this could be avoided, since the ship would be going US (Port Canaveral) to US (St Thomas). I see several advantages.
1. Avoid the early morning Customs requirement.
2. More time at St Thomas, making trips to St Johns more appealing. Since St Thomas seems more appealing to most than St Maarten, the extra time at St Thomas seems better.
3. Less time at St Maarten - ship doesn't leave til 10pm now, but would have to leave earlier to make up the 110 miles farther to go to CC.

Just an idea! What do you think?

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Not a bad idea in principle, but I don't think it's feasible. I was told once that the reason they have to leave St. Thomas at 4:45 was that they need that much time to get up to Castaway Cay by Friday morning. Assuming the ship does 25 knots, which it only will do under optimum conditions, it would have to leave Philipsburg at around noon on Wednesday in order to get to Castaway Cay on Friday morning.

I agree that something should be done to avoid the early morning immigration check at St. Thomas. I think that someone in authority needs to realize that it is essentially useless and that the whole thing needs to be scrapped. They don't check your ID that thoroughly when you return to Port Canaveral.