Partial cruise…..leaving ship one day early….and charged for it

[Rogueperson]

The situation you're describing sounds like a PVSA violation, which is was a $300 fine (supposedly now $750). That's a fine imposed by CBP on the cruise line, which is then charged by the line to the passenger.

 

I don't think the PVSA is applicable here. They are on a transatlantic, with what appears to be the first stop in Port Canaveral. If Port Canaveral is the first stop in the US, then they're not violating it as they are not boarding in one US port and disembarking in another.

[chengkp75]

I don't think the PVSA is applicable here. They are on a transatlantic, with what appears to be the first stop in Port Canaveral. If Port Canaveral is the first stop in the US, then they're not violating it as they are not boarding in one US port and disembarking in another.

 

Paul was responding to the scenario put up by denamo, not the OP. You are correct, that the OP's scenario does not have anything to do with PVSA. Denamo mentioned that someone got off a Disney cruise and paid "a considerable amount". This is what Paul was responding to.

[billsgal]

We live in the Boston area. A few years ago we took a transatlantic cruise that left for Europe from Tampa, with the first stop being Boston. We spent a day or so in Tampa prior to the cruise. I planned on taking off a small suitcase with my warm weather clothes that I needed for Tampa, some laundry to be done at home (we live about 1/2 hour south of the port, so we are going home, doing laundry, and then reboarding for the transatlantic portion. We were not allowed to take the suitcase off, something to do with the fact that it was only a port of call, not a debarkation port. So, we went home, and picked up another suitcase with the stuff we needed for the transatlantic and we had to go through a hassle bring that garment bag onboard.....it was opened and searched. We were told it had something to do with Customs, as it was only a port of call. I know Guest Services called the Port Authority and tried to get permission for us to take off the suitcase, but they were denied, so our dirty clothes went to Europe with us and it cost us $100 extra to take the extra suitcase home.

[tlatrice]

Wow! That was an expensive lesson.

 

So did you leave the stuff for your transatlantic at home because you figured you'd pick it up on the way, thus avoiding the baggage fee?

[payitforward]

In April, I had a large group on a cruise. We had arranged in advance to donate specific items in Roatan. However, in order to get off of the ship with suitcases, we had to have a form from the ship and some other government agency. Without it, they would not let us off of the ship. Once off the ship, we needed it to get off of the pier as well.

[xpcdoojk]

OP

 

There is a roll call for the Symphony TA, please join us.

 

That said, that is the cost of doing what you are wanting to do. I would suggest you coninue on to Miami, which has a lot to offer and rental cars in South Florida are inexpensive and the drive to Orlando is not that bad, about 3-1/2 hours tops.

 

JC

[nolimits]

All Royal stuff aside the OP is not a American citizen, No you can't just show up at a port where you want. 65$ or pounds May just keep us all Safe.Customs is not just there to create lines for people getting off a ship,They have a responsibility to keep us safe.

No insult intended to OP just in Today's climate We all have to be aware

[lbjen]

I don’t know how much you had planned to spend on the car rental but Port Canaveral isn’t that close to Orlando and there’s no public transportation to speak of, plus you’d have to pay for an extra night’s hotel. I’d just stick with the original plan if I was you.

[fishtaco]

65 quid must be less than the car would cost.

 

Not if hired from UK with Travel jigsaw,they are a booking agent who source hire cars and they are really cheap compared to walk in or direct hire. I have used them a few times for USA and they include insurances.

 

You cannot use them to book a car for your own country, the hire companies let them go at very low prices because of pre booked bean counting of huge US hire car fleets.

[Saab4444]

All Royal stuff aside the OP is not a American citizen, No you can't just show up at a port where you want. 65$ or pounds May just keep us all Safe.Customs is not just there to create lines for people getting off a ship,They have a responsibility to keep us safe.

 

No insult intended to OP just in Today's climate We all have to be aware

 

 

 

Customs checks only goods someone brings into a country, people that come in are checked by immigration and border control. Two different organizations.

 

They never charged anything for leaving early. It is a little extra work for Royal and local authorities but common practice anyway as there are always some crew members, entertainers or family members of the crew coming and going at most ports. The ship manifest is updated on a daily basis.

 

Bottom line this is just another way to charge something extra ( like e.g. the new fee for room service, adding tips on top of special restaurant charges and increasing gratuities on a regular basis).

 

 

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[navybankerteacher]

Customs checks only goods someone brings into a country, people that come in are checked by immigration and border control. Two different organizations.

 

They never charged anything for leaving early. It is a little extra work for Royal and local authorities but common practice anyway as there are always some crew members, entertainers or family members of the crew coming and going at most ports. The ship manifest is updated on a daily basis.

 

Bottom line this is just another way to charge something extra ( like e.g. the new fee for room service, adding tips on top of special restaurant charges and increasing gratuities on a regular basis).

 

 

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What s lot of misinformation: “there are always...coming and going at most ports”; “ship manifest updated on a daily basis”; “just another way to charge something extra” — BULL!

[The_Big_M]

What s lot of misinformation: “there are always...coming and going at most ports”; “ship manifest updated on a daily basis”; “just another way to charge something extra” — BULL!

 

Except he's completely right, and all those points are true.

[papaflamingo]

Except he's completely right, and all those points are true.

I doubt that all those points are true. However we really don't know. So.... yet another conspiracy.... of course. But here's the bottom line. For whatever reason, Royal Caribbean doesn't want to offer early debarkation as a free service. So, it's their cruise line, their pricing rules. That's how it goes. If the OP wants off, pay the 65 pounds and get off the ship. But since NONE of us really know, and we can speculate all we want. But it's what it is.

[Biker19]

However we really don't know. So.... yet another conspiracy.... of course..

We do know and it's no conspiracy. Up till about two years ago downline embarkation or debarkation was free - since then it's $65 pp. As was mentioned, RCI charges for it now because it can.

[chengkp75]

Customs checks only goods someone brings into a country, people that come in are checked by immigration and border control. Two different organizations.

 

They never charged anything for leaving early. It is a little extra work for Royal and local authorities but common practice anyway as there are always some crew members, entertainers or family members of the crew coming and going at most ports. The ship manifest is updated on a daily basis.

 

Bottom line this is just another way to charge something extra ( like e.g. the new fee for room service, adding tips on top of special restaurant charges and increasing gratuities on a regular basis).

 

 

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Couple of things. Crew are on a separate manifest from the passengers, since they are treated differently in regards to documentation, restrictions, etc. Crew are also on C1/D crew visas, and when leaving the ship they do not clear customs and immigration, but have a bonded escort from the ship to the airport, where they will clear immigration. Finally, it has been my experience that entertainers and crew family members are listed on the crew manifest as "supernumeraries" and not on the passenger manifest.

 

Further, both the customs procedures and the immigration procedures are carried out by CBP agents. There are no separate customs agents and immigration agents anymore. CBP now even has "agriculture experts" who do the work of the old Department of Agriculture agents at borders, and Public Health inspectors to do this function as well. CBP has become the umbrella organization for processing people at borders.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Customs checks only goods someone brings into a country, people that come in are checked by immigration and border control. Two different organizations.

 

They never charged anything for leaving early. It is a little extra work for Royal and local authorities but common practice anyway as there are always some crew members, entertainers or family members of the crew coming and going at most ports. The ship manifest is updated on a daily basis.

 

Bottom line this is just another way to charge something extra ( like e.g. the new fee for room service, adding tips on top of special restaurant charges and increasing gratuities on a regular basis).

 

 

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You are disturbing the fans! :p

[ChinaShrek]

Unrelated to immigration or customs, you are making a deviation to the norm. When this happens there is paperwork and logistical work involved. You are paying for that privilege.

 

And when the cruise lines change the itinerary, that is deviating from the planned norm. The cruise lines should be treated the same as us. If we are charged for deviating then they should be too. Everyone seems to think it is OK for a cruise line to charge the passenger and change its itinerary at will. They added a port that wasn't originally planned. Why no outcry about that?

[harry0]

I don’t know how much you had planned to spend on the car rental but Port Canaveral isn’t that close to Orlando and there’s no public transportation to speak of, plus you’d have to pay for an extra night’s hotel. I’d just stick with the original plan if I was you.

 

I totally agree-car rentals are cheap too.

[Ocean Boy]

Since it will be your first US port, you will only be clearing Immigrations, not Customs.

It does seem like an easy way to smuggle items into the country though. Carry stuff off in a typical carry on and have no worries going through customs at the final port of debarkation. Is there anything in place to protect against this type of activity?

[lbjen]

When you fly in from overseas, you have to clear customs at the first US airport you reach, even if it’s not your final destination. I’m kind of surprised that it’s not the same for cruises arriving from overseas (ie not closed loop cruises).

[Ocean Boy]

When you fly in from overseas, you have to clear customs at the first US airport you reach, even if it’s not your final destination. I’m kind of surprised that it’s not the same for cruises arriving from overseas (ie not closed loop cruises).

So everyone should pack their suite cases and be prepared to have them searched and then get back on the ship and unpack again? The only way for your scenario to work efficiently would be to have a law that all cruises must terminate on arrival at their first US port.

[NJ&Ozzie]

So this isthe scenario.

We’re doinga transatlantic cruise this year, on the Symphony of the seas. Originally wereonly stopping at Miami, where we’d be disembarking, then hiring a car to driveup to Orlando for a few days before flying back to the UK.

RCI have nowadded an extra port to this itinerary, stopping at Port Canaveral the daybefore we go to Miami. Now I was thinking…cool, save myself the hassle of hiring acar and driving back up, we’ll disembark here, we’ll make your own way to Orlando,and have an extra day there….all good.

My TA hasmade some enquires, and been informed if we want to do that we’ll need to pay£65. I’m thinking why?

I’ve alreadypaid for the night…I won’t be eating or using any of the facilities on board,and making my own way off the ship…..allowing our cabin steward in early toclear it for the next cruise.

If was in ahotel, and paid up front, then left one night early I won’t expect to becharged again.

 

Anyone hadthis experience, and how did you get on?

 

Hi,

Last April, we booked a cruise Tampa to Barcelona. The cruise port on the 4th day from Tampa was Puerto Rico. Since we were already in PR we decided to get on the ship there. Surprised when our TA said there would be a charge of $65 (for both of us). RC had just implemented the fee two weeks before. So even those we were missing three days of the cruise, there was still a fee. But we did not have to pay the tips for three days. When we boarded in SJ we anticipated some special process, etc. There was nothing - no customs, etc. just a guest services officer handed us our seapass cards. The year before this we had done the same thing & there was no charge.

NJ

[nealstuber]

RCI has implemented this "service charge" for downstreaming (boarding late or leaving early) for a year or more. This covers the cost to have CBP agents clear you for disembarking at a port where they normally would not have anyone to clear you, and for the cost to prepare and submit a new passenger manifest to CBP for the PC to Miami leg of the cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks for this and your subsequent posts on this thread. It makes me wonder if the lines charge passengers a fee when they truly miss the ship by accident (as opposed to accidentally on purpose).

 

There’s also a bit of dichotomy of opinion here where the consensus is that OP should not walk off as it would cause undue hardship and delays to the line and fellow passengers. Yet; when someone can’t make the cruise in the first place they are routinely told to be a no show to avoid fees.

 

 

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[Saab4444]

Couple of things. Crew are on a separate manifest from the passengers, since they are treated differently in regards to documentation, restrictions, etc. Crew are also on C1/D crew visas, and when leaving the ship they do not clear customs and immigration, but have a bonded escort from the ship to the airport, where they will clear immigration. Finally, it has been my experience that entertainers and crew family members are listed on the crew manifest as "supernumeraries" and not on the passenger manifest.

 

 

 

Further, both the customs procedures and the immigration procedures are carried out by CBP agents. There are no separate customs agents and immigration agents anymore. CBP now even has "agriculture experts" who do the work of the old Department of Agriculture agents at borders, and Public Health inspectors to do this function as well. CBP has become the umbrella organization for processing people at borders.

 

 

 

Ok, but most of this details are the American view. I know the OP asked for a US port early disembarkation so this applies. However the charge has been implement by Royal globally. It is on different lists but family members and entertainers have similar procedures and visa requirements as regular guests. The paperwork is still easy to do for the pursers office assuming the guest have proper documents and visa for the applicable country on hand. Agents for immigration, however they might be called, are always on stand-by in ports. If you leave early you lose a part of your cruise and still pay for it. The ship can use this cabin for other guests or entertainers or family members of crew, an option they need on a regular basis. So no refund is reasonable as well as a No if it is not possible due to local immigration law or missing legal documents on the guests side but an additional charge is simply for making extra money.

 

 

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[Saab4444]

What s lot of misinformation: “there are always...coming and going at most ports”; “ship manifest updated on a daily basis”; “just another way to charge something extra” — BULL!

 

 

 

Can you imagine that there are people around who work on cruise ships or for cruise lines in related positions? How often have you seen a ship manifest or do you even know how it looks? How often have you organized a change of crew including making respective visa and travel arrangements? I have many people around me who do it on a daily basis for ships all over the world and for crew and relatives from countries around the globe. Each country and especially the US is slightly different but crew management is a global function and not a secret.

 

 

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