My husband and I were on the Nautica when the immigration problem occurred on 10 Dec. We docked at 10:00 as scheduled, but the immigration authorities sauntered onto the ship about an hour late. We had periodic updates over the ship's tannoy to say that the authorities were having problems with a piece of equipment used to scan passports and that passengers should get out of line and go and get some lunch. The next announcement was to tell the ship's crew that all shore leave had been cancelled. At that point, my husband said he realized that no-one was getting off the ship. Finally, at 13:00, the captain announced that the problem still had not been resolved and that, even if it were to be fixed, there would not be time to clear the ship and get passengers off on tours before the ship was due to depart that evening. The ship left Maputo without a single person going ashore. We were later told by the Cruise Director that it had taken 5 hours to clear the ship the week previously. This article states that the 7 immigration officials involved will be disciplined for "sabotaging the visit of a cruise ship" http://clubofmozambique.com/news/maputo-port-immigration-officials-to-be-disciplined/
Immigration Issues in Maputo on Nautica 10 Dec 2018
in Oceania Cruises
Posted
My husband and I were on the Nautica when the immigration problem occurred on 10 Dec. We docked at 10:00 as scheduled, but the immigration authorities sauntered onto the ship about an hour late. We had periodic updates over the ship's tannoy to say that the authorities were having problems with a piece of equipment used to scan passports and that passengers should get out of line and go and get some lunch. The next announcement was to tell the ship's crew that all shore leave had been cancelled. At that point, my husband said he realized that no-one was getting off the ship. Finally, at 13:00, the captain announced that the problem still had not been resolved and that, even if it were to be fixed, there would not be time to clear the ship and get passengers off on tours before the ship was due to depart that evening. The ship left Maputo without a single person going ashore. We were later told by the Cruise Director that it had taken 5 hours to clear the ship the week previously. This article states that the 7 immigration officials involved will be disciplined for "sabotaging the visit of a cruise ship" http://clubofmozambique.com/news/maputo-port-immigration-officials-to-be-disciplined/