Disembarking one day early ... possible ??

Hi All

We are booked on the 30th June 10 night Reflection cruise from Rome to Greek Islands which arrives back at Rome on Monday 10th July - really looking forward to this cruise and the itinerary

Found out today that our youngest sons University Graduation ceremony will be on .... Monday 10th July back in the U.K. !!!

Now I'm not going to miss his ceremony as it's such an achievement and can't be repeated so we have two options ... (1) cancel cruise and lose our £400 deposit or (2) go on cruise and leave ship on the Sunday (Naples) and fly back to U.K. on the Sunday evening so we can see our son graduate.

Option 2 is what we aim to do but it may seem a stupid question but can we self disembark on the Sunday, a day before the rest of the ship ??

Appreciate advice on any that have had similar experiences or have left a ship early

Thanks

Most likely it will be allowed, but you have to clear it with the cruise line. EM

You need to try and prearrange for your cruise to end a day early. If you try and self disembark with luggage, you may have issues. I believe Italy has some cabotage rules similar to the US PVSA, which could be an issue with your plan to try and make a Rome-Rome cruise into a Rome-Naples cruise. So best to try and pre-arrange an early disembarkment rather than just assuming you can and having issues.

From Celebrity's FAQs:

Can I Join My Cruise After It Starts Or Disembark Before It Ends?

It depends on the specific itinerary of your cruise, your nationality, and various United States and foreign laws. Joining the cruise at one of its ports of call or leaving the cruise prior to its scheduled termination point may be prohibited by law. If you need to join late or leave early, or both, submit your request in advance and we will tell you whether your proposed changes will be permitted.

 

For more information, call 800-256-6649. There is a cut-off date for submitting this information, so make your request early. Please note that no refunds, prorated or otherwise, are granted to customers who join their cruise late or leave their cruise early. Certain governments impose fines or other charges when a guest permanently disembarks from a cruise before its final port of call. The guest will be responsible for those charges.

Hi. I've done this, it's completely dependant on which itinerary and which company as to how difficult it is. I disembarked early in Russia and celebrity where fan at helping me sort it- my advice would be to contact them early though.

Congrats to your son xx

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Keep in mind that the US has a different set of cabotage laws, and should you get advice from cruisers who tried to do this at a US port and were denied, your situation is different. Celebrity can tell you if this can be authorized for you. Have your TA handle it if you booked through an agent, otherwise, talk to your Celebrity vacation planner.

Get the final word from Celebrity, not from here.

Can't imagine why Italy would have any problem. We've done several Venice-Rome trips (Italy-Italy) and the reverse and no problem, but I'm not in charge, =X= is.

TBH I never thought this would/could be an issue .... as a U.K. national being part of the EU (not left through Brexit yet) and theoretically open borders for all EU citizens within Europe I sort of assumed we could just walk off in Naples, show our passports and get on a train to Rome for an early flight ?

With what has been written so far I will contact my TA and see what Celebrity says and if this is possible - if not unfortunately it will mean us cancelling the whole cruise as we will not miss our son's graduation. I must admit I never even contemplated that there would be an issue leaving a cruise in Europe early (as an EU citizen)

... out of interest if we were to be off the ship in Naples sightseeing and misssed the departure of the ship (as happens) what is the difference to early disembarkation ??

Is Naples your first port of call after a non EU port? That's one factor to add to the equation.

If it isn't, then there shouldn't be a problem as you have no reason to go through Customs or Immigration.

But you will want to settle your account on the ship. And there is no price reduction for the missing night.

You really shouldn't have a problem, but it is always wise to check that the deviation you propose is ok.

... out of interest if we were to be off the ship in Naples sightseeing and misssed the departure of the ship (as happens) what is the difference to early disembarkation ??

They'd still have your luggage on board and hopefully assume you didn't do it on purpose. It really is dependent on the laws, though. In the U.S., the cruise line could be fined for allowing you to travel on an itinerary that breaks the law, and the cruise line could theoretically come after you to collect that money if you broke the law knowingly.

Is Naples your first port of call after a non EU port? That's one factor to add to the equation.

 

If it isn't, then there shouldn't be a problem as you have no reason to go through Customs or Immigration.

 

But you will want to settle your account on the ship. And there is no price reduction for the missing night.

 

You really shouldn't have a problem, but it is always wise to check that the deviation you propose is ok.

Every port from first to last is an EU port

Now I know there is the possibility of problems I will contact Celebrity through our TA, I just never considered as an UK. National on a European itinerary there would be an issue

I'd hate to have to cancel, but if there are going to be problems getting off the ship early then cancel we will

Given the cruise line and the ports, you should have little problem arranging the early disembarkation. Notify your travel agent or cruise line ASAP and do it in writing (e-mails are fine). You should receive a response and make sure you print out all the correspondence. During the first days of your cruise, stop at the Guest Relations desk and inform them of your intent to disembark in Naples (we have had situations where the company never notified the ship). You might have to take your own luggage off the ship....but most of the time we have done early disembarkations we also had the option of putting our luggage out the night before...and the staff had it waiting on the pier.

Hank

Hank's advice is spot on AGAIN!!!!

There should be no issue with your early disembarkation.

While we have done it before, with no issue, we were responsible for handling our luggage without any help from the staff.

One additional note...be sure you can take all your luggage at one time because when you leave the ship you cannot reenter. Your seapass card will be collected before you exit.

Enjoy the pomp and ceremony of graduation.

We just did this in Dubai. We were supposed to get off the next day in Abu Dhabi. We were told to contact the Emergency Travel Team. Calling from Canada we had a 18002566649 number but I don't know what the number is from the UK. They emailed us a document if needed (which it wasn't) but better safe than sorry. If you get the document just make sure you talk to someone onboard to make sure they know. No problems with everything for us and I hope all works out for you to be with your son.

Just be aware that no port is guaranteed as one can be missed due to weather or mechanical problems or strikes or ???

Although the chances of not stopping at Naples are very low, it could happen.

Slightly off topic but our last night on Silhouette was spent in Venice.

My OH wanted to take a couple of our suitcases off a day early (we had driven to the cruise and left our car at the port) so that we could self-disembark the following morning as we would then be able to carry off all our remaining luggage.

I remained in our cabin - he was gone for over an hour and I was frantic with worry.

When he finally returned he was hot and bothered and absolutely fuming. The Celebrity staff had refused to let him off with the luggage saying that the Italian officials would not allow it.

He left the ship without the luggage, approached the Italian staff who told him that they couldn't care less if he took some luggage to the car.

On the return to the ship the security staff still refused to allow him to take any luggage off and he had to demand to see a senior officer who agreed immediately that there was no problem and the luggage finally left the ship.

I am sure you can leave ship a day earlier as it is the same country. But also your ta may transfer your deposit to another cruise with no loss. as another option.

The only obstacle that I see would be if the port immediately before Naples was an Italian port. This would then be considered transportation between ports in an EU member state, by a non-EU flag ship, without a call at another EU or non-EU nation. Since it appears this cruise goes from Athens to Naples, there won't be a problem, as long as Celebrity okays it.

The only obstacle that I see would be if the port immediately before Naples was an Italian port. This would then be considered transportation between ports in an EU member state, by a non-EU flag ship, without a call at another EU or non-EU nation. Since it appears this cruise goes from Athens to Naples, there won't be a problem, as long as Celebrity okays it.

I must admit I have no knowledge of maritime laws and what the above means but each port we travel between is an eu port and doesn't Reflection sail under a Maltese flag ? which is also part of the eu ??

I have sent an email to out TA to check with Celebrity and hoping that Hanks earlier comments are correct

If they approve it, get it in writing.....shoreside and ship seem not to communicate very well.

If they let you off a day early, one less to push out of the cabin at 7 am!!

Congrats on the graduation.

My OH wanted to take a couple of our suitcases off a day early (we had driven to the cruise and left our car at the port) so that we could self-disembark the following morning as we would then be able to carry off all our remaining luggage.

 

I remained in our cabin - he was gone for over an hour and I was frantic with worry.

 

When he finally returned he was hot and bothered and absolutely fuming. The Celebrity staff had refused to let him off with the luggage saying that the Italian officials would not allow it.

 

He left the ship without the luggage, approached the Italian staff who told him that they couldn't care less if he took some luggage to the car.

 

On the return to the ship the security staff still refused to allow him to take any luggage off and he had to demand to see a senior officer who agreed immediately that there was no problem and the luggage finally left the ship.

We also learned about this policy on a cruise when we wanted to offload luggage at a port before the final disembarkation port.

Fortunately for us, we had inquired in advance and were informed of the procedures to follow, so it all went smoothly and we had no problem.

The security people who check us out each time we leave the ship cannot possibly be expected to be knowledgeable about the laws for every port.

They are just following orders.

We were told that they are not allowed to let passengers take luggage off the ship at any intermediate port without prior authorization.

If they were to do so, in case of a problem they could be accused of complicity in smuggling, or even worse.

(Obviously there will be some who slip through the cracks, and many times it comes down to a judgment call as to whether or not something like a large backpack is considered luggage.)

To the OP, as others have said, don't just try to walk off with your luggage but instead make the arrangements in advance and obtain the appropriate official authorization.

What you wish to do is called" downline disembarkation. Whoever booked your cruise( your TA) will request a form from celebrity, fill it out, and fax it back. Then you will either be approved or disapproved for downline disembarkation.

Very easy. We did it in Le Havre.nno problems. Quite a few people( at least 50) were getting off. It is not unusual in Europe, but usually not possible inthe US.

As others said, it's likely possible, but only celebrity can tell you. A few people have referenced a US law that often causes problems with this. You cannot start a cruise in 1 US port and end in a different US port without going to a distant foreign port in between (not Canada, Mexico, or Caribbean countries) on a boat that isn't flagged US. So you can start in Florida and pass through the Panama Canal (visiting Central America countries) and end in California. If you have a round trip itinerary out of Tampa that goes to jamaica, Cozumel, and key west. You cannot get off early in key west, but could get off in Cozumel.

So, no idea if any laws like this exist in Italy, but with you wanting to start in Rome and end in Naples, going to all EU ports, it's plausible. So, think contacting celebrity is really the only way to know for sure.

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As others said, it's likely possible, but only celebrity can tell you. A few people have referenced a US law that often causes problems with this. You cannot start a cruise in 1 US port and end in a different US port without going to a distant foreign port in between (not Canada, Mexico, or Caribbean countries) on a boat that isn't flagged US. So you can start in Florida and pass through the Panama Canal (visiting Central America countries) and end in California. If you have a round trip itinerary out of Tampa that goes to jamaica, Cozumel, and key west. You cannot get off early in key west, but could get off in Cozumel.

 

Central American countries do not count as a distant foreign port.

That is why the itinerary will include Aruba (or a sister island) or a port in Columbia as those ports are considered "distant."

Really interested in this thread. We have always thought it would be great on a shorter cruise (like the 10days) to get off at Naples (if it is the last stop) and transfer to Sorrento for 5 days before flying out from Naples. We'd obviously organise it with the ship though in case they wondered where 2 passengers had done and sent out a search parties. Then again the luggage would be a give away.

Let us know how you go on :)

Really interested in this thread. We have always thought it would be great on a shorter cruise (like the 10days) to get off at Naples (if it is the last stop) and transfer to Sorrento for 5 days before flying out from Naples. We'd obviously organise it with the ship though in case they wondered where 2 passengers had done and sent out a search parties. Then again the luggage would be a give away.

 

Let us know how you go on :)

I know the Italian lines routinely handle this request. So in terms of EU regulations, there can be no obstacle.

Annie