San Diego customs

[Tikibear]

How efficient has Customs been on return to San Diego lately? Last year it was very slow and understaffed. Five agents for the whole ship caused a very long wait. Any improvements?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How efficient has Customs been on return to San Diego lately? Last year it was very slow and understaffed. Five agents for the whole ship caused a very long wait. Any improvements?

Our February cruise I don't recall any issues with Customs. We walked off the ship early and I don't remember being held up at any point.

 

[ichoose2believe]

Went in December 2022 and customs was okay. We had a delay in getting off but Customs was the fastest part. Most people didn't have all of their stuff out and ready.

 

[holula]

In December the line to get off the ship was crazy for me. The line went all the way back to Tiana’s.

 

[Nike4000]

At the end of February 2023, we walked off with our luggage and only paused long enough to scan our keycards to get off the ship and then to do the customs scanning before leaving the building. Now, the caveat is that everyone had US Passports and none of us needed to declare any purchases or anything to customs. I'm sure if we had to talk to an actual human the process would have gone much slower, but it was super quick and easy. We went from breakfast in Tiana's to being in a cab heading to the airport in under 10 minutes.

 

[Carohs]

Just yesterday we were delayed getting off the ship (NCL) but I have no idea what caused it. Only the second group had been called by 10am. A little while later they called the third group and we were off the ship and cleared by CBP within 15 minutes. I don't know how this impacted the Wonder, she didn't pull in until about 10am.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

I think if you do express walk off first thing as soon as the ship docks, you'll get off pretty quickly. If you wait a bit..... well.... I stayed on the ship until 10:00am, and the crew was allowing this because the line to get through customs was back up all the way into the ships lobby and down the hall back to Tiana's place. So if your planning to have breakfast in the dining room, or have your luggage hauled off for you the night before, plan on about an hour to get through the entire process. It's just a lot of people wanting to get off, and not a lot of places to process or put them.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

We got off the Wonder in January in San Diego... After breakfast, it was maybe 75m to get off the ship (the line was crazy), then maybe another 20-30 to get through immigration (I'd guess they had 5-7 desks and didn't seem to distinguish between U.S. Citizens and foreign nationals), and I don't recall waiting separately at customs after getting our luggage.