Customs at Hawaii

[timinstcloud]

After a Hawaii inter-island cruise, do I need to clear customs to fly back to New York or is the entire cruise considered domestic travel? Thanks!

[zqvol]

There are no customs or immigration involved on an NCL Pride of America Hawaii cruise. It never leaves the US.

[farmersfight]

1 hour ago, timinstcloud said:

After a Hawaii inter-island cruise, do I need to clear customs to fly back to New York or is the entire cruise considered domestic travel? Thanks!

 

By the way, welcome to Cruise Critic (and the NCL forum)...

[hallux]

The entire trip can be completed with just a driver license valid for air travel (EDL from NY would qualify)

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, timinstcloud said:

After a Hawaii inter-island cruise, do I need to clear customs to fly back to New York or is the entire cruise considered domestic travel? Thanks!

Welcome to CC. You never leave the United States, so there are no US Customs or Immigration involved. 

 

However, as you fly into Hawaii, you are required to complete and sign an Agriculture declaration that you are not carrying any plants, fruits, vegetables, or animals (i.e., don't carry that banana or orange onto the flight with you). If the Ag dogs sniff out anything, you may be fined. 

 

On your return trip, you will be required to have your checked luggage scanned by the Agriculture department prior to going to your airline check-in counter. They are checking for plants, fruits, vegetables in your checked luggage. Your handcarry will be scanned by Agriculture at the security checkpoint.  

 

If your cruise is in the near future, you are required to pre-register with the Hawaii Department of Health before your flight and upload your COVID test results. Everyone is temperature screened as they deplane and are required to check-in with the Dept of Health desk to determine if your documentation has been accepted or if you are quarantined to your hotel room.

[complawyer]

was this question really serious?  it's the united states, there is no customs to get back to your own country from the same country. and just so you're not confused, you can even use u.s.currency.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

was this question really serious?  it's the united states, there is no customs to get back to your own country from the same country. and just so you're not confused, you can even use u.s.currency.

Seems to be a fair question given that every other NCL itinerary involves an international port call to enable duty-free shopping (on some itineraries) and gambling. On the Pride of America, you will pay Hawaii's general excise tax (not sales tax) on all purchases and you won't find a casino onboard. And until recently, there were no adult beverage packages.... but NCL found a loophole in Hawaii laws and treat the cruise as one long dinner cruise/party.  

[njhorseman]

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Seems to be a fair question given that every other NCL itinerary involves an international port call to enable duty-free shopping (on some itineraries) and gambling.

The foreign port call is needed to satisfy the requirements of the Passenger Vessel Services Act and has nothing to do with duty-free shopping or opening the casino. Even if a foreign-flagged ship had no duty-free shop or casino the foreign port call would still be required on a US-based itinerary...at any foreign port for a closed loop cruise, or a distant foreign port for an open jaw cruise.

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by njhorseman

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

 

 

 Duplicate post.

Edited November 9, 2020 by njhorseman

[chengkp75]

10 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Seems to be a fair question given that every other NCL itinerary involves an international port call to enable duty-free shopping (on some itineraries) and gambling. On the Pride of America, you will pay Hawaii's general excise tax (not sales tax) on all purchases and you won't find a casino onboard. And until recently, there were no adult beverage packages.... but NCL found a loophole in Hawaii laws and treat the cruise as one long dinner cruise/party.  

An international port call is not required for gambling or duty-free.  Otherwise, the small gambling boats out of Texas and Florida would not be able to operate.  All you have to do is get outside the 12 mile limit, and gambling is permitted.  Same with duty-free.  And, for the POA, once the ship is outside the 3 miles limit, the POS registers are reprogrammed to not charge Hawaii GET (I know, the bridge had to notify the Purser whenever the line was crossed).  The lack of a casino on POA was an agreement with Senator Inouye, because other ships that call in Hawaii have casinos, but they have to close and seal the casino when in Hawaii.  The beverage package was disallowed since Hawaii state law precludes "unlimited" drink packages, so there is wording in the POA package that there is a limit, not specified, based on Hawaiian state law.

[dockman]

18 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Welcome to CC. You never leave the United States, so there are no US Customs or Immigration involved. 

 

However, as you fly into Hawaii, you are required to complete and sign an Agriculture declaration that you are not carrying any plants, fruits, vegetables, or animals (i.e., don't carry that banana or orange onto the flight with you). If the Ag dogs sniff out anything, you may be fined. 

 

On your return trip, you will be required to have your checked luggage scanned by the Agriculture department prior to going to your airline check-in counter. They are checking for plants, fruits, vegetables in your checked luggage. Your handcarry will be scanned by Agriculture at the security checkpoint.  

 

If your cruise is in the near future, you are required to pre-register with the Hawaii Department of Health before your flight and upload your COVID test results. Everyone is temperature screened as they deplane and are required to check-in with the Dept of Health desk to determine if your documentation has been accepted or if you are quarantined to your hotel room.

Just flew into hawaii last week...did not see anyone being temp checked at all....however u do need to have negative covid test within 72 hours prior to arrival from trusted hawaii partner and upload test results to hawaii gov website....they then read a barcode on your phone and if all in order no problem....line was fairly long but once to front it took less than a minute to read phone scan, check a pic id and on the way

[AmazedByCruising]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

The beverage package was disallowed since Hawaii state law precludes "unlimited" drink packages, so there is wording in the POA package that there is a limit, not specified, based on Hawaiian state law.

 

IIRC the last two packages (X and HAL)  I bought were also "limited" and specified (15 drinks/day IIRC). While specialty coffees were meticulously registered, it seemed nobody really cared about the number of drinks that did have alcohol once the waiter knew you had a package. And that was no secret, think waiters making a show of pulling the card through an imaginary machine.

 

Maybe the lines have adopted a one size fits all rule for selling packages that fits every country's law, that also serves as a simple way to stop serving drunks without having to argue, and by openly "forgetting" to register also makes the customer a happy cruiser who thinks he struck gold. The package itself costs a multitude of a bottle of fine tax free bourbon every day so the line won't care much about actual drinks being poured, and much more about the number of packages being sold. Win-win-win for everybody except for the voters in Hawaii who apparently hoped that enforcing a limit on the number of drinks a package offers on a ship filled with non-Hawaiians would solve one of their problems. 

[complawyer]

the drinks, gambling and duty free are all irrelevant responses. and its not a fair question, bird travels.

 

how can someone who lives in new york (or anywhere in the united states) think they need to clear customs when they dont leave the country. they may be leaving the continental u.s. but come on, hawaii is a state just like the other 49. would the same question be asked if they lived anywhere on the west coast, im not trying to belitte the person who asked this question, just want them to think about what they are asking.  

[Norseh2o]

On 11/8/2020 at 10:38 AM, timinstcloud said:

After a Hawaii inter-island cruise, do I need to clear customs to fly back to New York or is the entire cruise considered domestic travel? Thanks!

We traveled round trip from San Diego, CA to Hawaii in April, 2019 on a HAL ship.  We live in San Diego County and used a Lyft to take us to the Port of San Diego and embark on the ship. We did not stop before our Hawaii stops yet we, and all of the passengers on board, opened and had all of our luggage examined before debarking at the first Hawaiian Island stop. The procedure pretty much resembled a customs inspection. 

[chengkp75]

10 minutes ago, Norseh2o said:

We traveled round trip from San Diego, CA to Hawaii in April, 2019 on a HAL ship.  We live in San Diego County and used a Lyft to take us to the Port of San Diego and embark on the ship. We did not stop before our Hawaii stops yet we, and all of the passengers on board, opened and had all of our luggage examined before debarking at the first Hawaiian Island stop. The procedure pretty much resembled a customs inspection. 

That was most likely a Hawaii Department of Agriculture inspection for plant material or some food products. Since POA never leaves the state, the only time this would happen for someone cruising on POA would be on arrival of the flight from the mainland.

[BirdTravels]

57 minutes ago, complawyer said:

the drinks, gambling and duty free are all irrelevant responses. and its not a fair question, bird travels.

 

how can someone who lives in new york (or anywhere in the united states) think they need to clear customs when they dont leave the country. they may be leaving the continental u.s. but come on, hawaii is a state just like the other 49. would the same question be asked if they lived anywhere on the west coast, im not trying to belitte the person who asked this question, just want them to think about what they are asking.  

You are belittling the OP. Repeatedly. 

[complawyer]

dear bird travels, no im not, i just think people should think things through before posting a question, especially one with an obvious answer.

 

if you choose to disagree, that's ok. 

[ColeThornton]

31 minutes ago, complawyer said:

dear bird travels, no im not, i just think people should think things through before posting a question, especially one with an obvious answer.

 

if you choose to disagree, that's ok. 

 

Perhaps not intentionally, but you were.   The OP knows it is a domestic cruise.  It's their first post so they may be an inexperienced cruiser/traveler. 

 

Sometimes our words don't come across the way we intend them to on message boards.

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by ColeThornton

[complawyer]

ok to cole thornton and bird travels, and any others that may have taken offense, please accept my apologies. most of my threads are meant to enlighten, evoke a small chuckle or simply respond to a question. never been my intent to insult or belittle anyone.

 

i always live by the words my mama taught me: " if you cant say anything nice, dont say anything at all"

[farmersfight]

3 hours ago, Norseh2o said:

We traveled round trip from San Diego, CA to Hawaii in April, 2019 on a HAL ship.  We live in San Diego County and used a Lyft to take us to the Port of San Diego and embark on the ship. We did not stop before our Hawaii stops yet we, and all of the passengers on board, opened and had all of our luggage examined before debarking at the first Hawaiian Island stop. The procedure pretty much resembled a customs inspection. 

 

Wasn't this a closed-loop cruise? And per the PVSA, required a stop at a foreign port? I remember before the POA started cruises around Hawaii, I think it was NCL that was operating one of their foreign flagged cruise ships RT (closed-loop) out of Honolulu and stopping at the different Hawaiian islands. However, to keep it legal (PVSA) this foreign flagged cruise ship had to make the run south out to Fanning Island to meet the required foreign port stop.

[hallux]

2 hours ago, farmersfight said:

had to make the run south out to Fanning Island to meet the required foreign port stop.

That, or I hear Ensenada (Mexico, on the Baja Peninsula) is a popular stop for some cruises needing a foreign port stop.

[farmersfight]

8 hours ago, hallux said:

That, or I hear Ensenada (Mexico, on the Baja Peninsula) is a popular stop for some cruises needing a foreign port stop.

 Yeah, thanks. After posting, I remembered that cruises from the U.S. (namely San Diego or LA/LB) will stop in Ensenada, Mexico to meet that required foreign port stop for the PVSA. And vice-versa, cruises departing Hawaii for the U.S. mainland.

 

I've also seen some cruises that originate (depart) Ensenada for Hawaii. Similar situation for Vancouver, BC. And again, vice-versa on both.

[Oviedo32765]

18 hours ago, complawyer said:

how can someone who lives in new york (or anywhere in the united states) think they need to clear customs when they dont leave the country. they may be leaving the continental u.s. but come on, hawaii is a state just like the other 49. would the same question be asked if they lived anywhere on the west coast, im not trying to belitte the person who asked this question, just want them to think about what they are asking.  

 

I think you answered your own question. 

[Norseh2o]

15 hours ago, farmersfight said:

 

Wasn't this a closed-loop cruise? And per the PVSA, required a stop at a foreign port? I remember before the POA started cruises around Hawaii, I think it was NCL that was operating one of their foreign flagged cruise ships RT (closed-loop) out of Honolulu and stopping at the different Hawaiian islands. However, to keep it legal (PVSA) this foreign flagged cruise ship had to make the run south out to Fanning Island to meet the required foreign port stop.

Of course the bag check was for agriculture!  I need to get out more (and sharpen my memory!). The last stop of the cruise was in Mexico. Did not leave ship, dropped some people and things at port, traveled home to San Diego. The less than nice response to the question could have been delivered in a kinder manner. I hope the OP does not abandon cruise critic boards. 

[farmersfight]

1 hour ago, Norseh2o said:

Of course the bag check was for agriculture!  I need to get out more (and sharpen my memory!). The last stop of the cruise was in Mexico. Did not leave ship, dropped some people and things at port, traveled home to San Diego. The less than nice response to the question could have been delivered in a kinder manner. I hope the OP does not abandon cruise critic boards. 

Thanks. As I mentioned in a previous post, I did remember that these Hawaii cruises out of San Diego would stop at Ensenada, Mexico to comply with the PVSA.

 

I agree, a certain response to the OP should have been in a kinder manner.