Refusing to do 5.30am disembarkation mtng

[susieh]

Just a question....

My DH has agreed to the Disney Cruise under suffrance! It's me that wants to do it, he loves cruising, but thinks a DCL surrounded by kids is not his cup of tea.

There is nothing in the literature that says we have to get up at 'stupid o'clock' for a disembarkation meeting on the last day. And I know already that when I tell him his first reaction will be "I'm not doing that".

Are there options to do a later meeting?
What happens if you are late?
What happens if I go to the meeting alone?

Any help or advice anyone can give me please do as I am now desperately worrying about whether I should cancel the cruise part of our trip and re-book with one of the other cruise lines instead.

 

[GilesFamily]

All non-US residents MUST attend. No one can get off the ship until all non-US residents are cleared of immigration. If you don't show up..or if all members are not there, they will come and get you. I think you would be rather embarrassed having several crew members at your stateroom door escorting you down to immigration.

We had a 6 year old who was very unhappy having to get up at 5:30 am, but we had to do what we had to do. It really does'nt take that long...fifteen minutes max. Then you can always go back to your stateroom and sleep for an hour.

 

[patsy13]

Hi sorry to tell you but all passengers even children have to be present for immigration at 6am so you have to be up at 5.30am but you can always go back to your room for a nap no one can leave the ship untill everyone has been through immigration but i am sure you will have a marvelous time tell your DH that the chldren are no problem we did the 4 day Wonder cruise in May just me and my husband no children but we had no problems at all so please have a great time it is a wonderful cruise.

 

[susieh]

Thanks folks - I told him and he moaned (a lot) but said he'd live with it. So one hurldle overcome.

But he is not prepared to hand over his passport to the ship to keep while we are on board, we'll have them with us of course and realise we need to show them to get back into the US after the cruise but see no reason to hand them over to Disney while we are on board. Does everyone have to do this or can you have them back if you insist?

 

[patsy13]

Hi yes you have to give in your passportswhen you check in you have no choice you get them back when you go through immigration on the last day at 6am hope your husband will still be happy tell him he will have a great time.

 

[susieh]

Hi yes you have to give in your passportswhen you check in you have no choice you get them back when you go through immigration on the last day at 6am hope your husband will still be happy tell him he will have a great time.

Going to have to cancel.

He said no way will he give his passport up for 3 days (to be honest I can't say I'm too keen on that idea either - don't trust even Disney enough to do that.) Guess the only thing I can say is that it is better to find out now than at the time. Maybe Royal Caribbean have different rules and we'll be able to do a 3 day with them instead.

 

[patsy13]

Sorry you have to cancel but really there is no need to worry your passports are safe any cruise line is the same i have been with Royal Caribbean and you have to surrender your passports it is the same for all non US residents please try and change his mind you will have a wonderful time

 

[helenk]

We gone on Celebrity cruise line, and they have non US citizens give up their passports for holding .

 

[susieh]

We gone on Celebrity cruise line, and they have non US citizens give up their passports for holding .

We've been to Europe with P&O and they check them when you get on and then give them back to you. They take a photo of you and give you a cruise card with that on which you have to have scanned as you go off and on the ship. You then hand that in at the end - we naiively assumed that Disney and other cruise lines would be much the same.

I'm going to try and persuade him to change his mind but I'm not too optimistic.

 

[MazdaUK]

Europe is different, because of free movement for EU members.

Remember the US is convinced you are trying to sneak in and live there

At least if the passport is in a safe its not going to get nicked on a day trip - one less thing to worry about! And Disney can - er.. - jolly well sort it out if anything does go wrong - not that a two-week trip would bribe you to keep away from journalists

 

[jjpenguin]

If it's any help, your passport is on board with you, at guest services. We needed a photocopy of our passport for one of the shore excursions and got one made at guest services.

I don't think it's different on any of the cruises as it is a US immigration thing. I'm willing to bet that all cruises do it. I admit the photo card would be a good idea, here you need your cruise card and a photo id. But if you came from a country that needed a European visa would your cruise also be so easy in Europe, I don't think so!

It's not my thing either, but it's the law of the land I'm afraid. It's the same as the photo/fingerprint thing, you may not like it but the only thing that you can do is not go to the US. 06.30 is a pain in the you know what... I was so sleepy I spilt my coffee! but even the non - US crew members have to be there. And they have to wait for all the guests before it's their turn!

 

[Scotfan]

When we did a Princess cruise out of Ft Lauderdale we had to do early immigration and give over our passports - its a rule full stop, I think it was 6am for the Princess cruise too but we had to do it twice - once at St Thomas and once reentering mainland US. It was a pain but Disney was a bit better organised I think.

If you want away from the kids on the Disney ship be sure and take 2nd sitting dinner and eat breakfast in the dining room. I love my kids and my cruises but there were just too many kids for me. My boys wouldnt go in the pools as it was so busy, wouldnt go to kids club as it was so loud - even though one of the councellors was from the next town to us. They keep asking to go back on the Princess ships.

 

[susieh]

Well the Disney cruise is now cancelled and we've booked with Royal Caribbean. It's still not 100% clear to me whether we have to hand passports in - 3 phone calls and 1 email to RC all said we don't but folks on here who have cruised with them say we do.

DH has accepted that in the end they may get taken off us and we will take photocopies with us just in case. He has also agreed that if they do take them away he'll live with it and won't make us get off the cruise ship but I will take a print of the email with me so he can make his point He flatly refuses to go on the Disney cruise though as he now knows how much cheaper RC is (I had managed to keep it from him up til now as he hadnt asked the price difference) )

At least I still get to cruise , I really want to do this as a taster for a 2 week cruise in the Bahamas or Caribbean. We have done a 2 week cruise in the Med but that was to cities (eg Rome, Barcelona) and we arent sure how different it will be visiting islands in the sun or if we'll like it.

 

[fizz13]

Well susieh, I know this cruise won't be as pixiedust filled as the other one, but I'm sure you will have a good time all the same. have fun,

Claire xx