Get off ship at a port, get back on when it is thru again?

So do any cruise lines allow a couple to book a cruise then get off at a port and pick up the ship next time it comes thru the port? Or do they sell one stop passage? We would enjoy staying at a port for a week or as much as a month or more then moving on to another port and do the same thing. If they have space available is this possible with any cruise lines? Anyone ever done this type of trip? We have the time, would like to spend a week to a month in a country and would prefer not to fly. Would be looking at doing this out of a US port in TX first choice , perhaps FL or New Orleans.

IF (and I stress IF) you find a cruise line that will allow you to do this, you'll pay in full for both cruises.

This was from a similar question a while back that mentions the 'red tape' created when the passenger list is different at the beginning and end of a cruise from a US port:

I think the problem here would be more the WHTI and CBP regulations than the PVSA. Remember, the ship clears immigration with CBP every time it returns to a US port from a foreign port. Whether or not you have an interview with CBP like at disembarkation, at the first US port of return CBP will clear the ship, at least via the passenger manifest. If you leave the ship in Tortola, a new passenger manifest must be prepared to present to CBP when entering St. Thomas, showing you as not onboard. The WHTI is the CBP regulations that allow travel on closed loop cruises using the BC/DL form of documentation. This is because the passenger manifest, with your documentation, is submitted to CBP at the start of the cruise, and allows CBP the full duration of the cruise to investigate all passengers. Each time a new passenger manifest is presented, this must start all over again. For this reason, and the fact that CBP has a fee for clearing a ship, many cruise lines have stopped or restricted the late embarkations or early disembarkations that used to be common (non-flight delay). Additional to the cost, since the passenger manifest changed during the voyage, at disembarkation CBP can require a full passenger interview (more like an international flight clearance) than the cursory closed loop cruise interview. NCL experienced this last year in Tampa when they had a Tampa-Cozumel-Tampa cruise that they also marketed to European cruisers as a Cozumel-Tampa-Cozumel round trip. This caused massive delays in disembarkation because CBP had to handle the clearance differently since some passengers "embarked late" in Cozumel.

This has been discussed before and I remember reading that if you were willing to pay for BOTH cruises, it might be able to be done, but most people here said no. There were many factors - weather (what if weather prevents a ship from tendering, or even making the port stop due to a hurricane), mechanical problem en route, medical emergency onboard and the ship never makes it to the intended port... all kinds of things "could" happen.

I'm hoping someone else will find the thread(s) which discussed this.

For a while, it was possible to do this with EasyCruise in Europe. Passengers could get on or off wherever they pleased. It was slightly less nice than a ferry from what I heard, and everything was charged a la carte - meals, coffee, fares between ports, etc. It wasn't very successful, apparently, as EasyCruise is no longer sailing.

You could sail Disney Wonder out of Galveston TX 4 Jan 2016 to San Juan and stay there until then 7 Feb 2016 and then sail to Miami FL 7 Feb 2016.

This thing happens once in a while but there is not a lot of merit in it as far as I can see. The cruise industry does not focus on this type of plan but you might get a better itinerary if you involve New York as it has a lot of Transatlantic and other traffic so to speak.

Regards John

Another consideration - Ships occasionally have to skip a port. Usually due to weather.

In addition to the US CBP problems this would cause, as quoted in my post above, you would need to set up customs and immigration clearance at the port you are disembarking at, since cruise ship passengers are cleared as "transit", so there may be a visa involved as well.

And, since your cabin would not be able to be resold for the remainder of the first cruise, and for the first part of the second cruise, you would definitely have to pay for two full cruises. This compensates the cruise line for the lost onboard revenue of you missing parts of the cruises.

You could do the Alaska Marine Highway. People do that all the time on their ships. We did it.

DON

You can do it on Hurtigruten (Norway), as there's a ship through each port in each direction every day. You'd be more likely to get on a different ship of the same line rather than the same one. Doesn't sail out of the US, though! ;)

You could sail on the Alaska State Ferry System

ships departing from US ports are most often on 'closed loop' cruises and occasionally one way trips (east coast to west coast canal transit for example) but in any case they are 'cruises' for enjoyment.

Some other places, ships sail primarily for 'transportation'.

On our recent QM2 westbound crossing we came away with the impression that over 50% of the passengers were not 'cruising' but taking the ship as an alternative to flying.

{good thing ... as 'cruises' go, it was damn DULL!}

So, outside of the US this can be found but you are looking at ferry systems, and transport systems ... NOT "cruise ships".

Costa used to do something like this. Not certain if they still do.

Another option is to simply do local ferries. We have done this for Croatia and are doing in the Greek Islands in Sept.

The ferry service in the Med is excellent and it will allow you to visit the places on your list and spend a reasonable amount of time vs the short cruise ship stops.

Thank you everyone for the fast response and wealth of info. Will look into some of the suggestions.