hawaiian island cruise and customs question

[here2cruise]

do you have to do the customs thing when taking the hawaiian island cruise?

[Pam in CA]

When you return to Los Angeles, yes. The only cruiseline or cruise you will avoid going through Customs is the NCL U.S.-flagged ships that cruise only in the Hawaiian Islands.

 

All cruise ships embarking in the U.S. *must* go to a foreign port before returning. This is U.S. law. That's why the Island Princess makes a quick stop at Ensenada, Mexico before returning to Los Angeles.

 

So, the bottom line is that yes, you'll go through Customs and Immigration if you return from a cruise where you embarked from a U.S. port.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Besides customs, you may want to be aware of the security with all of the Hawaiian ports. Each time, we needed to take a government issued photo ID and our ship card leaving the ship. When you return, your belongings are searched (or xrayed depending on the port) and your ID checked. That didn't happen in Ensenada.

[JLC@SD]

Besides customs' date=' you may want to be aware of the security with all of the Hawaiian ports. Each time, we needed to take a government issued photo ID and our ship card leaving the ship. When you return, your belongings are searched (or xrayed depending on the port) and your ID checked. That didn't happen in Ensenada.[/quote']

 

If you fly from Hawaii there is also an Agricultural Inspection when you check your bags.

[DanJ]

I don't know if the Island reverses it's itinerary at all, and stops in Ensenada after it leaves LA, before going to Hawaii, but in that case, they would do immigration at the first port in Hawaii, but then not need to back in LA at the end. But I think this would partly depend on what the first port is in Hawaii, and whether they had the facilities there to handle clearing the ship, as to whether they would do it in this manner.

[LisaH]

We did the Honolulu-Ensenada thing in April of 2003. The immigration part in Ensenada at the end was probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Since September 11th all passengers had to get out of the bus. So when all 20 buses show up at the border at the same time, the line is about 1/2 mile long.

 

There is no security and the element around the border area is less than desirable. We literally walked across the border. Even people in wheelchairs had to be taken off the bus. Thank goodness it was not raining.

[holton]

We did the Honolulu-Ensenada thing in April of 2003. The immigration part in Ensenada at the end was probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Since September 11th all passengers had to get out of the bus. So when all 20 buses show up at the border at the same time, the line is about 1/2 mile long.

 

There is no security and the element around the border area is less than desirable. We literally walked across the border. Even people in wheelchairs had to be taken off the bus. Thank goodness it was not raining.

 

Why are people getting off the ship in Ensenada?

[Pam in CA]

I don't believe Princess has any cruise that uses Ensenada as an actual port. They do a quick 30-minute stop on the return from the Hawaii cruise to satisfy U.S. laws that a cruise that embarks from a U.S. destination must stop at a foreign port.

 

There are other cruiselines that do stop and let passengers off in Ensenada.

[LisaH]

We were on a Celebrity cruise...the Infinity. They dumped us off in Ensenada and then the ship was off to San Diego. The ironic thing is we caught our return flight home from San Diego. Imagine our surpise when we saw the ship there on our drive. We were LESS than thrilled. They should have had it somehow where we could have gone through customs on the ship in Ensenada and then cruised to San Diego.

[Cruisin' Chick]

"We were on a Celebrity cruise...the Infinity. They dumped us off in Ensenada and then the ship was off to San Diego. "

 

Do they have passengers going from Ensenada to San Diego? It doesn't make sense that the ship would be empty for that leg.

 

BTW, the Island always goes to Hawaii first, then Ensenada. Unfortunately for our cruise, we had to miss our last port in Kona due to high waves:( and we ended up in Ensenada the last day 9am to 6pm instead of the usual service stop at night. Would rather go to Kona.

[Splinter]

Both times we have been RT from LA to Hawaii on the Island Princess we have stopped in Ensenada for 4 hours, not 30 minutes.

[jbond]

We did the Honolulu-Ensenada thing in April of 2003. The immigration part in Ensenada at the end was probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Since September 11th all passengers had to get out of the bus. So when all 20 buses show up at the border at the same time, the line is about 1/2 mile long.

We did the Honolulu to Ensenada in September 2003, but we got to stay on the bus. Customs boarded the bus and collected the forms, checked ID's and that was it. It was quite painless. They must have smartened up between April and September.

[pegpowell]

We sailed on the Island Princess in Oct. We stopped in Ensanada for 4 hours. Everybody had to go to customs and immagration when we docked in LA. On our particular sailing they (C&I) would not let anyone off the ship until everyone had been cleared. The first passengers off did not get off until 10:30.

[DanJ]

We were on a Celebrity cruise...the Infinity. They dumped us off in Ensenada and then the ship was off to San Diego. The ironic thing is we caught our return flight home from San Diego. Imagine our surpise when we saw the ship there on our drive. We were LESS than thrilled. They should have had it somehow where we could have gone through customs on the ship in Ensenada and then cruised to San Diego.

 

Where did the cruise start from? The only way a ship can disembark in the US is if it does so at the same port it departed from, unless it visits a "distant foreign port", of which there are none on the west coast (unless you are going to sail to Tahiti or something LOL).

[DanJ]

We sailed on the Island Princess in Oct. We stopped in Ensanada for 4 hours. Everybody had to go to customs and immagration when we docked in LA. On our particular sailing they (C&I) would not let anyone off the ship until everyone had been cleared. The first passengers off did not get off until 10:30.

 

They must do it differently for different ships in LA, or maybe it depends on the pier you are docked at. When we got off the Sapphire Saturday, the ship was cleared to disembark, then everyone lined up in the terminal for C&I. As they called your tags, you got off the ship, and went along the elevated level of the terminal building, and went inside where there were half a dozen or so booths with agents.

 

Considering it was only 90 minutes from when we hit the dock until they started letting us off, I thought that worked pretty well. I remember in Floriday having to get up at 530am to clear immigration in the Vista Lounge, and waiting for another 3 or 4 hours before they would let anyone off. And that was only when non-Americans had to present themselves.

[Splinter]

When you return to the US and have been in a foreign port, there are two things that you have to "clear". One is Immigration, the other is Customs. Related, but not the same.

 

On our last two Hawaii trips, on the Island Princess, we had to clear Immigration on board the ship...long lines that lasted 3 hours or more, then go ashore and clear Customs (after claiming your luggage) on the pier. This took another 1/2 hour, plus 30 more minutes to find a porter.