Jump to content

Leaving the cruise ship


Recommended Posts

My spouse and I will take a HAL cruise from Copenhagen Denmark. It's a 12day cruise with many ports. A stop in Edinburgh Scotland will only be for 8hours since tender services back to the ship end at 5:00pm. We are considering staying in Glasgow Scotland and avoiding a sea day to have more tour time. Does anyone know if this is possible and how is it done. Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rules on leaving a ship early differ in the US and Europe. You or your TA would have to arrange this with HAL. Are you permanently leaving the ship in Glasgow? If so this would have to be cleared with immigration authorities in Scotland. You would no longer be "in transit" as are the other passengers but arriving in Scotland.

 

If the ship tendering into Greenock at the Forth Bridge there's absolutely no immigration or any other services there - just a concrete pier for the tenders. (At least that was the situation in 2011.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're both US or Canadian citizens there's no immigration problem, if you're citizens of another country tell us which one - or better still check for yourself with that country's UK embassy/consulate.

But you are also bound by the cruise line's rules, so as others have said, you need their OK (do get it in writing, so by e-mail rather than by phone), though that will very probably be given.

 

One other thing to bear in mind, especially if Edinburgh is tendered rather than berthed at Rosyth, is the risk that for whatever reason such as weather or mechanical issues the ship doesn't stop at one of those ports.

If it misses Glasgow you may have simply wasted money that you've committed to a hotel, car rental, etc.

But worse, if the ship misses Edinburgh you may be marooned & have to make your way to its next port.

So do figure now how you'd do that if your plans go belly-up.

Where is your next port after Edinburgh? If it's somewhere like Newcastle or London, that's simply more expense. But if it's not in the UK, this is one occasion when I'd very strongly suggest you take your passports ashore with you at Glasgow.

 

JB :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you to all who posted. This will be very helpful in making a decision on staying in Glascow and picking up the cruise in Edinburgh. I did not consider the issue of the tenders in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. We have been on about 15 cruises over many years. We have tendered in only two ports as we usually sail on smaller ships that can manuver into the ports. We would be in a real pickle if we missed the ship in Edinburgh as the next port is in Norway. May have to adjust to seeing a few brief sights and come back for more land action in the future. Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...