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Has anyone purposefully taken a cruise and flown home from one port?


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I don't think the issue is if carnival will let you off the ship. The issues might arise at customs and immigration at the airport. I don't think they will jail you like the USA authorities would do, if the roles where reversed, but you might be fined or detained so long you miss your flight. Don't think that just because you hold a US pass port you can go where you please.

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Most mid voyage departures happen because of emergencies. I was traveling with someone that had to leave in St Thomas due to a medical emergency at home. There was no problem doing so, just took some arranging.

 

Grand Turk is not a US possession, so there should be no US legal issue disembarking there.

 

One needs to contact the cruise line and make arrangements to leave the ship mid voyage. There is likely going to be a bit of paperwork. The ship needs to know so it doesn't have to page the passenger(s) and check the cabin safe for passports. It also needs to inform the local authorities of passengers staying behind.

 

Turks and Caicos may have different requirements for cruise visitors and others. One should check with the appropriate authorities to determine if additional paperwork is needed. This is particularly important since an additional stay is contemplated.

 

Passports will definitely be needed.

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I don't think they will jail you like the USA authorities would do, if the roles where reversed, but you might be fined or detained so long you miss your flight.

 

Huh? :confused: What are you talking about?

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1. Carnival may or may not approve it because I think that if people leave mid-cruise it complicates customs on the return because the passenger manifest has changed.

 

2. I don’t think carnival can stop them if they choose to do this, however, they may get questioned at the airport for not having been through customs on the way in.

 

3. Unless this cruise is dirt cheap, I would have to assume that flying to grand Turk and staying at a resort for a few days would be cheaper and more enjoyable with less hassle

 

4. The downside to this whole plan is that no port is every guaranteed to happen. If weather issues occur, a medical evacuation requires ship to go off course, or any mechanical issues occur; there’s always a chance you will miss the port. I assume the wedding is planned through carnival so if your entire cruise party is on the ship, I would suspect they will reschedule as a wedding at sea in this scenario. But if some of your wedding party is already on grand Turk; then for them it will be a trip for nothing.

 

 

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I assume you are NOT on the cruise, but are staying in a resort on Grand Turk, since the chance of the ship missing port would be too much risk for a wedding.

 

However, the crew has no issue with guests leaving early. They just request to be informed so they do not have to look for them at departure.

 

I and 40 guests are on the cruise, but I hope we don't miss the port since it is not a tender port. That would make things a little messy - although our reception is on board and it is just a 30 minute ceremony. I would work it out - it is not a legal wedding ceremony, more for our kids to make us an official family in their eyes.

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Why don’t they just fly into Grand Turk for your wedding, and then fly home?

 

 

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That is what I am thinking they will do, but the reception is on the ship. I am just trying to convince them to take the entire cruise and invite the rest of their family to come along too.

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I and 40 guests are on the cruise, but I hope we don't miss the port since it is not a tender port. That would make things a little messy - although our reception is on board and it is just a 30 minute ceremony. I would work it out - it is not a legal wedding ceremony, more for our kids to make us an official family in their eyes.

 

Not to make you stress but you'd be surprised how many times a ship couldn't dock in Grand Turk because of weather,

 

Couldn't dock December 2016 on the Vista.

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and...... if you took your baggage and passport and went to the airport? Do you really think you broke any laws? You are not writing in advance if you just do not like the experience, someone at home fell ill, you got injured on the ship, you think you have to write in for a request?

 

Just an interesting side note. I met an expat cruiser last fall from Cozumel. The cruise wasn't originally scheduled to stop in Cozumel, but due to the hurricanes, it did. She tried to drop off her laundry at her house, but they wouldn't let her leave with the suitcase of dirty clothes. We were laughing about it by the pool, how she had to go back to FLL and fly back home with them.

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I and 40 guests are on the cruise, but I hope we don't miss the port since it is not a tender port. That would make things a little messy - although our reception is on board and it is just a 30 minute ceremony. I would work it out - it is not a legal wedding ceremony, more for our kids to make us an official family in their eyes.

 

Grand Turk has been missed due to high winds. The island is not very high above sea level and there is no harbour, so there is nothing protecting ships from the wind.

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I don't think the issue is if carnival will let you off the ship. The issues might arise at customs and immigration at the airport. I don't think they will jail you like the USA authorities would do, if the roles where reversed, but you might be fined or detained so long you miss your flight. Don't think that just because you hold a US pass port you can go where you please.

That raises a good point... sometimes there are special rules for cruise passengers, who are only there for a short time. When someone exits a cruise unexpectedly, they assume responsibility for presenting themselves to the immigration authorities. Carnival does not want that hassle, and I don't blame them.

 

However, if the passenger leaves the cruise, then checks in with the local port agent, they should be directed to the proper authorities to clear the immigration hurdle.

 

One last point: although the cruise line will let you cruise with a birth certificate only, it's a bad idea to not have a passport, because if you need to leave the ship you will need one. The immigration in other countries will not accept a birth certificate like the cruise line will. If you miss the ship with a birth certificate, you will be in a world of hurt.

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We had to leave the ship in Nassau in December due to a medical emergency. To accomplish this, Carnival completed all of our immigration paperwork and took us and our luggage to be inspected. We had passports, so there were no issues there. When we left Nassau to fly home, we had to present this paperwork to check in for the flight. So, just jumping off the ship without completing a proper entry could put you into the country illegally, which could certainly cause issues when trying to depart.

 

And we too have missed a port call in Grand Turk due to high winds. We had a private snorkeling excursion booked and lost a $10 deposit. We could have claimed it on our travel insurance, but it just wasn't worth the time to gather the paperwork.

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Huh? :confused: What are you talking about?

 

Just saying hypothetically if a non American got off a cruise in an American port, to later show up at the airport to fly home, with no visa or entry stamp, there might be a lot of issues! With customs, immigration, DEA, and maybe homeland security:o

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I and 40 guests are on the cruise, but I hope we don't miss the port since it is not a tender port. That would make things a little messy - although our reception is on board and it is just a 30 minute ceremony. I would work it out - it is not a legal wedding ceremony, more for our kids to make us an official family in their eyes.

 

 

 

While I hope everything goes as planned, make sure your have a backup plan that you can live with if your ship can’t dock that day. It does happen with Grand Turk, due to high winds. Best of luck.

 

 

 

 

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has Carnival told you they will allow non cruising guests aboard the ship? I don't think so.

Don't know if it is still allowed, but weddings performed on the ship at one time were the one exception that Carnival would make to letting non-cruisers onboard as guests.

 

I'm pretty sure that was only done at the port of embarkation also.

 

Now, if the wedding is on shore, there is no way anyone not cruising is going to attend that reception on the ship!

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Doesn't their 110% guarantee allow for this? They'll fly you home from your first port?

I don't think Grand Turk is the first port on any CCL itinerary. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

 

But assuming it was, the complaint has to be filed before arrival in the first port, which means the guest would be kicked off as soon as the ship docks, and they would not be around to attend the on board reception.

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Just saying hypothetically if a non American got off a cruise in an American port, to later show up at the airport to fly home, with no visa or entry stamp, there might be a lot of issues! With customs, immigration, DEA, and maybe homeland security:o

 

 

not plausible as they would need a passport if they were not American and what does the DEA have to do with anything?

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Just saying hypothetically if a non American got off a cruise in an American port, to later show up at the airport to fly home, with no visa or entry stamp, there might be a lot of issues! With customs, immigration, DEA, and maybe homeland security:o

 

There would not be an entry stamp on the passport anyway. Ours never gets stamped. Also, the only ones looking at the airport are the airline check-in people, We have never had to show our passports to US Customs, immigration , DEA, or Homeland security when leaving at an airport.

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There would not be an entry stamp on the passport anyway. Ours never gets stamped. Also, the only ones looking at the airport are the airline check-in people, We have never had to show our passports to US Customs, immigration , DEA, or Homeland security when leaving at an airport.

 

When flying out of Toronto to US destinations one has to clear US CBP. The agent will examine one's passport and depending on circumstances may add a stamp.

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I’m not 100% sure, but I recall wanting to vacation in Grand Turk once because we absolutely loved it as a port stop. There is no international airport on Grand Turk. You’d have to take a much smaller plane into Providenciales in order to catch a flight home, which could cost an extra $100-200 per person. Have they factored in this cost?

 

 

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There would not be an entry stamp on the passport anyway. Ours never gets stamped. Also, the only ones looking at the airport are the airline check-in people, We have never had to show our passports to US Customs, immigration , DEA, or Homeland security when leaving at an airport.

 

 

 

flying to a foreign port? of course you have to show your passport

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I’m not 100% sure, but I recall wanting to vacation in Grand Turk once because we absolutely loved it as a port stop. There is no international airport on Grand Turk. You’d have to take a much smaller plane into Providenciales in order to catch a flight home, which could cost an extra $100-200 per person. Have they factored in this cost?

 

 

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Hi

 

I thought the same thing, but I checked and they now have and international airport. A small one, but there are flights that fly to/from U.S. airports.

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