Re first port after transat

our first port was to be St Thomas where I know customs and immigration board to che k crew and pax documents .Now that poor St Thomas is out of commission is there an obligation for ships to arrive at an American port prior to arriving in Miami for clearance by authorities .....not to sure whats left standing there ...does anyone know if that is a rule

Where could we go .....?if its not a rule I guess they will send us wherever its ok

Anyone know what that rule is or even if there is one ?

No requirement.

It just would have made disembarkation easier.

Keith

Passengers still would go have to go thru a full clearance even if stopping in a US port before Miami.

When we stopped in St Thomas , only non US nationals had to see immigration.

our first port was to be St Thomas where I know customs and immigration board to che k crew and pax documents .Now that poor St Thomas is out of commission is there an obligation for ships to arrive at an American port prior to arriving in Miami for clearance by authorities .....not to sure whats left standing there ...does anyone know if that is a rule

Where could we go .....?if its not a rule I guess they will send us wherever its ok

Anyone know what that rule is or even if there is one ?

The ship can go straight to Miami if necessary, especially after a TA there is no legal problem with that, but it may take forever to disembark.

If St. Thomas is out, then your first port into entry to the US would likely be Miami.

Remember the Escape 2 years ago?

Mis-posted. Sorry.

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Everyone will still have to go thru customs and immigration in Miami even if you stopped is St Thomas. Anything you purchase on board before or after St Thomas has to be declared in Miami.

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I think the stop is more for the crew to go thru immigration rather than have to do it on "turn around day".

My solution is to have someone from immigration get on the ship wherever we do stop then they would have over a day to get everyone's paperwork taken care of. Since they are probably not doing much work on the islands now I think it is a good solution.

Don't confuse customs with immigration they are 2 separate functions.

Maybe St Kitts?

Everyone will still have to go thru customs and immigration in Miami even if you stopped is St Thomas. Anything you purchase on board before or after St Thomas has to be declared in Miami.

 

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To make it clearer, if the cruise is a closed loop out of Miami that includes St. Thomas, yes, you need to go thru customs in Miami to declare the goods you purchased in St. Thomas and on ship. Immigration, prolly not.

If it is still a closed loop but includes a distant port (example out of Miami, Cartagena Colombia), you have go thru Immigration in the first US entry port (example, either St. Thomas or the US homeport), and then customs back in homeport.

Immigration = passports

Customs = goods

In OP's case she is on the one-way re-positioning Transatlantic cruise from Europe to US, so Immigration is mandatory for ALL passengers upon arriving at the first US port.

I think the stop is more for the crew to go thru immigration rather than have to do it on "turn around day".

My solution is to have someone from immigration get on the ship wherever we do stop then they would have over a day to get everyone's paperwork taken care of. Since they are probably not doing much work on the islands now I think it is a good solution.

 

Don't confuse customs with immigration they are 2 separate functions.

 

Maybe St Kitts?

Wishful thinking - would be great but prolly not possible. St. Kitts does not have US Immigration Preclearance, unfortunately.

https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/operations/preclearance

Our Getaway TA is going to stop in Bermuda (substituted - original ports were St. Maarten and St. Thomas), so hopefully some US Imm officials can board so we can go thru Imm while on ship enroute to Miami. Otherwise we face hours going thru Imm in Miami!!

Whenever we fly out of Bermuda to USA we go thru US Imm and Customs at the airport. Nice n easy :)

If St. Thomas is out, then your first port into entry to the US would likely be Miami.

 

 

 

Remember the Escape 2 years ago?

Yes, I remember the Escape, we didn't get out of Miami terminal until after 13.00.

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