Not allowed to disembark a port early

[Tiggertastic]

The first epic cruise we did, we knew one of the ship Director and he told us about a $10k fine the ship received on the previous cruise because someone disembarked early without permission. He said that the port had no disembarkation staff, therefore customs not in place and they were classed as illegal aliens. He said that the guests would be getting the bill. He said if they'd asked at guest relations they could have organised it. Expensive mistake.

 

 

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[Jacques Turboux]

It's better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

[Velvetwater]

We heard of a few cabins doing it on both of our Med cruises (CCL and X) where some left permanently and some caught up with the ship after their hotel stay in Italy. One couple said their family member was in hospital so they could stay in Sardinia (at least thats what was flying around).

 

The US customs folk fine way more heavily than the European Customs folk according to an officer on the above cruise.

 

Remember in Europe you can sometimes (rare because they aren't the most exciting I guess) still see 'cruises to nowhere' and cruises that just visit ports in the embark port country. I almost booked the Escape's Inaugural period 1 day cruise but had a wedding.

 

I believe you cannot do this in the US?

[chengkp75]

We heard of a few cabins doing it on both of our Med cruises (CCL and X) where some left permanently and some caught up with the ship after their hotel stay in Italy. One couple said their family member was in hospital so they could stay in Sardinia (at least thats what was flying around).

 

The US customs folk fine way more heavily than the European Customs folk according to an officer on the above cruise.

 

Remember in Europe you can sometimes (rare because they aren't the most exciting I guess) still see 'cruises to nowhere' and cruises that just visit ports in the embark port country. I almost booked the Escape's Inaugural period 1 day cruise but had a wedding.

 

I believe you cannot do this in the US?

 

Not a total expert on EU cabotage, but from my studies, I don't think that a cruise that only visits one country (the embarkation country) would be allowed for a ship that is not flagged in an EU nation. So, perhaps a Costa ship (Italian flag) could call at only one country, but an RCI ship (Bahamian flag) would have to visit at least two countries.

[hawkeyetlse]

It must be something like that, otherwise I would expect to see a lot more cruises like that in Europe (and even Costa doesn't offer any Italy-only sailings, so the rule may be even stricter than what you described, or maybe there would be inconvenient tax consequences for such itineraries). I see that a few German cruiselines offer Germany-only cruises on non-German/non-EU flagged ships (for example this one from Hapag LLoyd), but they all seem to stop in Heligoland, which has VAT-free status.

[chengkp75]

It must be something like that, otherwise I would expect to see a lot more cruises like that in Europe (and even Costa doesn't offer any Italy-only sailings, so the rule may be even stricter than what you described, or maybe there would be inconvenient tax consequences for such itineraries). I see that a few German cruiselines offer Germany-only cruises on non-German/non-EU flagged ships (for example this one from Hapag LLoyd), but they all seem to stop in Heligoland, which has VAT-free status.

 

One of the interesting points I've found in researching EU cabotage laws is that it is up to each member nation to determine how they want to handle "island commerce", i.e. passenger and cargo traffic between the nation's islands and the nation's mainland. Perhaps Germany allows these German owned companies to operate non-EU ships in "island commerce". This is somewhat similar to the PVSA exception for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as there is no US flag service to these places from the mainland, so until there is, foreign flag ships can operate there.

[Velvetwater]

The NCL escape is Bahamas in its registry but did the 1 day cruise to nowhere?

 

There has also been British Isles cruises that have operated without visiting France, Ireland or Belgium in the last few years. I believe these voyages were various cruiselines. I think Fred Olsen has a cruise coming up that just goes around Scotland as my family almost booked it.

 

Maybe there is a UK thing only.