Immigration in St. Thomas???

Do you have to go through immigration in St. Thomas if you've stopped in Princess Cays first? Or, any other foreign port first? This was true a number of years ago and wondered if it were still the case.

Jane

Yes, you sure do, just had to do it last week on the Sun Princess.

Tahitian October 14th,2004

Yes - pretty painless.

They give you a time period in which you need to report to a lounge. The line may look long but it goes very quick and only took about 10 minutes. If you have an early tour, you can go earlier then your designated time slot.

On the Golden they had two lines, those with Passports and those with birth certificates - the passport line was real fast, you never stopped just kept walking - the agent looked at you and your passport and off you went. I saw the other line, they examed each document and ID. So, as has been mentioned many times on these boards - it pays to have a Passport.

Grand Princess 03/19/05 Western Caribbean

Island Princess 06/26/04

Alaska

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Golden Princess 03/20/04

Eastern Caribbean

Star Princess 10/11/03

Mexican Riviera

How early does this happen? We're due in St. Thomas at 7 AM. Thanks.

You will get letters for each passenger in you cabi, in the mailbox outside your door, that tells you what time to go. You don't have to be exactly on time. there will be a line. Take the papers with you with your documents. If you don't take them, it will slow you up. They will pull you out of the line to get the info they want thats on the papers.Other than that the line moves very quick.From your cabin, to off the shp in about 20 min.

Sue

7 days on Star Princess 10/24

They changed it on the Sun this year from last year. Now, once you get your little card saying you have been through immigration, you are allowed to leave the ship. Last time the entire ship had to clear before you were allowed off. Much easier this way.

Tahitian October 14th,2004

Our experience on the Golden last month was the same as Sues and others above.

It was so easy it made me wonder why they don't do it in a similar manner at other ports....like Miami or Ft Lauderdale.

Happy Cruising

Chris

www.LifeIsCruising.com

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Carnival Victory 12/19/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

Toto -

I had forgotten about that - on the Golden in November, we could leave the ship once we had the green card. Previously, the whole ship did have to clear before we left. Definitely a much better system.

It sure was Coral. It also stopped the growling waiting for those few people that had not planned on going ashore so they stayed in bed that morning which held up the entire ship with the immigration officers.

Definitely a better system.

Tahitian October 14th,2004

Does this mean you have to take your passport ashore with you and show it on your return as well?

No bucky, it does not. After you show your passport in the lounge to immigration, you will be given a small card saying you have been through which you present as you leave the ship. Then you can put your passport back in your safe and gather your things to go onshore.

Tahitian October 14th,2004

Princess and US Customs have tried to make this process as painless as possible. We did have a strange occurance in March. My husband who had been traveling on his current Passport for the last three years had never bothered to sign it. Go figure, he's a man and subject to overlooking details. Anyway the agent who looked at it, simply remarked 'this is not valid without a signature' and then waved him through. Needless to say when we went back to the cabin to put them in the safe I made him take time to sign it first. But I still wondered why it took three years for an agent to look at it carefully enough to notice that the signature was missing. Less than a warm fuzzy feeling!

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