Poll: St Thomas customs

[aan1701]

I was just wondering if there were anyothers like me who will nor do a traditinal DCL eastern because of the early wake up in St. Thomas. Me personaly if I ever went, they would have to come to my cabin and get me out of my bed at that hour in the middle of my cruise. This is why I am going to St. Croix

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I am doing it next year and personally do not think its a major issue over and done with quickly....

I do not like it last morning for non residents as it makes that day far too long with airports etc, but in port you always have the day to look forward too and relax....

 

[aan1701]

I am doing it next year and personally do not think its a major issue over and done with quickly....

I do not like it last morning for non residents as it makes that day far too long with airports etc, but in port you always have the day to look forward too and relax....

Even as a resident I hate the early wake up on the last day. So here we differ. I am a late to bed, late to get up type of guy.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Even as a resident I hate the early wake up on the last day. So here we differ. I am a late to bed, late to get up type of guy.

St Thomas imo is a minor inconvenience but quickly forgot in the excitement of the day and the speed of the check...Now might change my mind if they mess it up in August 09, but the annoying one is 6.00am roll call disembarkation day, now hopefully they will not do that on my next cruise!!

*Minor disclaimer, I am in a Cat3 next cruise so read concierge will make it easy for us?

I always feel worry or get annoyed about the things you can influence or change, but don't worry about the things you cannot change, St Immigration will not change so, why worry about it,

 

[aan1701]

St Thomas imo is a minor inconvenience but quickly forgot in the excitement of the day and the speed of the check...Now might change my mind if they mess it up in August 09, but the annoying one is 6.00am roll call disembarkation day, now hopefully they will not do that on my next cruise!!

*Minor disclaimer, I am in a Cat3 next cruise so read concierge will make it easy for us?

I always feel worry or get annoyed about the things you can influence or change, but don't worry about the things you cannot change, St Immigration will not change so, why worry about it,

I guess I should have put a disclaimer in myself. See once I am up I have a very had time getting back to sleep. I will give a slight example. I went to WDW on Tuesday. My flight was at 8:45 in the morning. I only have 1.5 hours of sleep the night before. Because of dome weather Delays in Houston I got to MCO at 9:45 at night and to my room at SSR about 11. Now I an so tired by now, but guess what, I did not get to sleep till 3 A.M. So I hope this explains why I would hate this "minor inconvenice"

 

[CruisinEars]

We do have an Eastern booked for next August and I am not thrilled about the early customs either. I think it is ridiculous. But, we will just plan for it and just deal with it. I really wanted to see these islands so I am stuck. I think it helps that we do know about it ahead of time. I have a feeling there are some surprised people on those mornings and that could cause some major grumpies.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I would rather have the minor inconvenience of custom on an Eastern than get stuck going to a worthless port like Key West on a western

Rob

 

[Poohbug]

It is a pain. And it took forever. At least the tour had to wait for us because everyone on it was stuck in the same place.
If I can avoid this in the future, I will.

 

[aan1701]

I would rather have the minor inconvenience of custom on an Eastern than get stuck going to a worthless port like Key West on a western

Rob

Now here us one I really disagree with. For me St. Thomas is the worthless port as I have been there like 7-8 times. I like Key West because of it's laid back bars.

 

[don8life]

Could some one explain this in more detail. Why do you have to get up early when in St. Thomas? Only if you are goiong ashore? You can't go ashore whenever you feel like that day?

AANS1701

Are you just not going ashore on St. Thomas becasue you are going to St. Croix instead? Becasue I am on the Jan 3 to St. Croix and it stops at St. Tomas also.

 

[aan1701]

Could some one explain this in more detail. Why do you have to get up early when in St. Thomas? Only if you are goiong ashore? You can't go ashore whenever you feel like that day?

AANS1701

Are you just not going ashore on St. Thomas becasue you are going to St. Croix instead? Becasue I am on the Jan 3 to St. Croix and it stops at St. Tomas also.

See when a ship comes to the US from a forgein port of call then everyone must present them selfs to a customs agent. Now on this cruise since the only non US port is Castaway no need for any customs untill the return to PC

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Now here us one I really disagree with. For me St. Thomas is the worthless port as I have been there like 7-8 times. I like Key West because of it's laid back bars.

We do not drink during the day so bars are out for us. There is nothing to do in Key West, no real beaches ,once you have walked the town that's it , not much into the sex shops Seen the cats and done the museum. Pretty much a worthless stop for my family.

To each their own

Rob

 

[aan1701]

We do not drink during the day so bars are out for us. There is nothing to do in Key West, no real beaches ,once you have walked the town that's it , not much into the sex shops Seen the cats and done the museum. Pretty much a worthless stop for my family.

To each their own

Rob

That is so right. To each their own. I have only been to Key West once so I am looking forward to the next visit on Oct. 18. Also another small discaimer from the guy from Los Angeles. If a beach does not have at the very least body surfing size waves then that beach is not worth it.

 

[HallsofVA]

It is a pain. And it took forever. At least the tour had to wait for us because everyone on it was stuck in the same place.
If I can avoid this in the future, I will.

Wow. Our experience was very different. We just got off the Eastern and it only took us a couple of minutes to get through the customs check. We only had enough time to walk into the theatre, sit down in a row, and open our 4 passports to the picture page before we were up and walking to the official. Then it was out the back door and through the lounge heading to breakfast.

I will say that it makes for a very long day for the little ones. Our kids are 2 and 4, and after the early wake up call and then the excursion in St. Thomas, they both took long naps that afternoon, and still went to bed early that night.

 

[itutorfortravel]

how early do you have to get up for this? and is it done in shifts? could someone please explain the process to me in detail...i know that happens on the eastern but i don't really understand the process in detail.

 

[msmayor]

Its a shame that DCL doesn't do St. Thomas first...before St. Maarten. That would eliminate the need for this check completely.

We did an Eastern on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas and our first two ports were San Juan and St. Thomas. Because we had come initially from a US port (Miami) we hadn't yet been to a 'foreign' port and had no need to clear US customs. We did St. Maarten after St. Thomas.

 

[aan1701]

Its a shame that DCL doesn't do St. Thomas first...before St. Maarten. That would eliminate the need for this check completely.

We did an Eastern on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas and our first two ports were San Juan and St. Thomas. Because we had come initially from a US port (Miami) we hadn't yet been to a 'foreign' port and had no need to clear US customs. We did St. Maarten after St. Thomas.

I agree with you %100. I do beleive I was reading somewere once that someone was told the Magic could not do St. Marrten to Castaway with only one sea day.

 

[Davids-Coco]

I too would love more details about what happens. I am confused about what this means. And is it different for Cat3/Concierge guests?

 

[giljr]

Here's what happens. On the morning the Magic docks in St. Thomas, everyone onboard must present themselves to customs. It does not matter if you are getting off the ship or not, you have to present yourself. All US citizens go to the Disney Theater and I think all this happens sometime between 6am and 6:30 am since some excursions leave at 7am. How long the process takes depends on how many agents are on board. We have had it take anywhere from 15 minutes to 45, which was the difference between 1 and 3 agents. Each person gives their documents to an agent and has their hand stamped. No one can get off the ship until everyone clears customs. If you do not present yourself, you will be paged, and then the crew will come find you. Non US citizens meet in one of the nightclubs.

It is very important to understand that Disney is not in control of this operation. They are at the mercy of customs and immigration. Any other cruise ships docking in St. Thomas coming from a non-US port has to do th same thing. On our last cruise, we heard some cruisers from RCI complaining about the same thing. While we were eating breakfast, we could hear the intercom on the RCI ship paging passengers.

Since St. Croix is also a U.S. port, cruisers will not have to clear customs on the St Croix cruises.

 

[lbgraves]

It's really not an issue to us. We don't have to get up extra early. The last one we went on in 2005 we didn't have to go down to the theater until around 8:30 because we were not booked on a DCL excursion. We are usually up by then anyhow. Our favorite ports are on the Eastern too.