Disembarking a day or two before cruise ends in Europe

[hammsbear]

Looking at Getaway this Fall from Southampton , but need to disembark in Amsterdam on day 8 to continue my month long vacation. Will there be any issues with this if I bring it up to them right away? Also if I can’t , the itinerary shows arrriving in Southampton at 5 am. What time there do you think would be earliest to get off?

[KeithJenner]

I expect that it won’t be easy. It is complicated by the fact that you would be getting off in a different country.

 

In Southampton you should be able to get off very soon after arrival time. Disembarkation is very quick (assuming you have just been on a fairly local trip like a round UK).

[hammsbear]

I appreciate it. I guess it will be more difficult than I planned for!

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, hammsbear said:

Looking at Getaway this Fall from Southampton , but need to disembark in Amsterdam on day 8 to continue my month long vacation. Will there be any issues with this if I bring it up to them right away? Also if I can’t , the itinerary shows arrriving in Southampton at 5 am. What time there do you think would be earliest to get off?

 

52 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I expect that it won’t be easy. It is complicated by the fact that you would be getting off in a different country.

 

In Southampton you should be able to get off very soon after arrival time. Disembarkation is very quick (assuming you have just been on a fairly local trip like a round UK).

Actually it can be quite easy to do.  We did exactly the same thing on the Getaway last year.  You'll need to contact NCL in advance to make the arrangements.  We wrote to NCL Senior VP Katty Byrd (kbyrd@ncl.com).  She set it up, offered us a discounted price since we would only be on board for just a portion of the itinerary, and contacted the Customs / Border agents in both Southampton and Amsterdam so the info on the manifest would be correct.  In our case the itinerary was a 10 day cruise from Southampton to Copenhagen.  We got off in Amsterdam after just three days.  It might be more difficult for you if you already have made final payment on your cruise, but if you contact NCL before then you should be able to work it out.

[hammsbear]

THANKS FOR THE INFO!!!

[insidecabin]

In Europe it is fairly common and some itinerary are set up to make it an attractive option for Americans.

 

The common one is round trip Southampton with Le Havre as the last port, people jump ship and head to Paris.   

 

you need to see what NCL say

 

Southampton has been a bit messy recently border force and customs have been causing delays.

 

With a 5am that is usually close to the early disembark time, should be no later than 6am.

That would be fine for the KLM 9:20 direct flight to Amsterdam if that's where you need/want  to be

 

Another option is Eurostar from London.

   

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

 

Actually it can be quite easy to do.  We did exactly the same thing on the Getaway last year.  You'll need to contact NCL in advance to make the arrangements.  We wrote to NCL Senior VP Katty Byrd (kbyrd@ncl.com).  She set it up, offered us a discounted price since we would only be on board for just a portion of the itinerary, and contacted the Customs / Border agents in both Southampton and Amsterdam so the info on the manifest would be correct.  In our case the itinerary was a 10 day cruise from Southampton to Copenhagen.  We got off in Amsterdam after just three days.  It might be more difficult for you if you already have made final payment on your cruise, but if you contact NCL before then you should be able to work it out.

That is the first I have ever read of someone's fare being discounted due to disembarking early. I have always read that the fare is still the full amount.

 

One hint, after getting approved, make sure you have it in writing and take that with you onto the ship.

[hammsbear]

I appreciate all the advice from everyone. Thanks!

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

That is the first I have ever read of someone's fare being discounted due to disembarking early. I have always read that the fare is still the full amount.

 

One hint, after getting approved, make sure you have it in writing and take that with you onto the ship.

NCL quoted us a special rate because we were only going to be on board for three days of a ten day cruise.  It was about $1000 less than the average rate paid by others in similar staterooms who stayed on for the entire cruise.

[The Traveling Man]

6 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Southampton has been a bit messy recently border force and customs have been causing delays.

 

I can attest to that!  We were on the Prima last September.  It took us more than 90 minutes to get off the ship, through the terminal, and to the taxi stand in Southampton.

[ontheweb]

27 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

NCL quoted us a special rate because we were only going to be on board for three days of a ten day cruise.  It was about $1000 less than the average rate paid by others in similar staterooms who stayed on for the entire cruise.

OK, I guess how short your cruise became made a difference as opposed to this thread which was about getting off a day or 2 early. Though they still have the cabin for the days past day 3 producing no income.

[The Traveling Man]

14 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

OK, I guess how short your cruise became made a difference as opposed to this thread which was about getting off a day or 2 early. Though they still have the cabin for the days past day 3 producing no income.

I think the metrics NCL used were something like this:  We were already booked on the Getaway for it's Transatlantic cruise which ended in Southampton.  They had some available staterooms on the following cruise from Southampton to Copenhagen that they were still trying to fill.  When I proposed the possibility of our sailing with them for just a part of that cruise, I also mentioned that we had the alternative of making our way from Southampton to Amsterdam by plane, train, or ferry.  Traveling that way would also require an expense of three hotel nights, meals, any entertainment we might choose, plus the actual cost of transportation.  I offered NCL my estimate of what I thought those alternate travel arrangements might cost.  I guess the way I worded it came across to them as a challenge for them to meet or beat the price.  They chose to offer me a fare which I found more acceptable than the alternatives, so I agreed.  It was a win-win solution.  We got to Amsterdam for a bit less money than we would have spent on another means of transport, and with a great deal less stress or inconvenience.  We paid about $1000 less for the three nights on board than other passengers paid for similar staterooms for the entire ten day cruise.  Even so, NCL received more revenue from the cruise than they would have if our cabin had remained vacant, even taking into account the food and beverages we consumed.  YMMV.

[DCGuy64]

I can see why NCL accepted @The Traveling Man's suggestion. I'm not sure how often that particular scenario would apply to others, though. He was essentially (almost) doing a B2B cruise. IIRC the OP of this thread is just doing 1 cruise and hoping to leave early, so it's unclear whether NCL would discount the cruise or not based on that. (It would certainly be nice, don't get me wrong!)

[Greener123]

Getting it $1000 less is only really a good deal if the full 10 days was more than 3x that… if not your 3 days cost more per day than anyone else on the ship was paying. 
 

you could have got a flight from Southampton to Amsterdam and had 3 extra days there?

[SimplyAlbert]

I recently contacted NCL about disembarking early in Hawaii.  No customs or border control to clear.  DH and I are spending a week in Kauai after the cruise and it's our last port of call.  We're there on Friday and back to Honolulu early Saturday morning.  We were told no, not possible.  They will only allow early disembarkation in the case of an emergency and we would need to prove it.  

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

We were on the Prima last September.  It took us more than 90 minutes to get off the ship, through the terminal, and to the taxi stand in Southampton.

 

i was on the may 25th prima sailing, disembarking in southampton on june 9th. on that cruise, three of four days earlier, they did an onboard "oversea enroute" UK immigration inspection/clearance. so when we arrived in southampton, there was no local inspection as the immigration requirement had already been met. the only bottleneck was the usual queue of passengers clamoring to get off. once in the terminal, you walked straight through. of course, the inspection was kind of mishandled by NCL, and they ran considerably behind schedule, so it might take the better part of an hour to get processed through. the inspection was done in the observation lounge.

 

also relevant to this discussion... the UK immigration clearance letter they sent out said that it was mandatory, unless you were disembarking in amsterdam or zeebrugge. so, clearly, there were people onboard that cruise who were getting off prior to the last port.

[The Traveling Man]

20 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

Getting it $1000 less is only really a good deal if the full 10 days was more than 3x that… if not your 3 days cost more per day than anyone else on the ship was paying. 
 

you could have got a flight from Southampton to Amsterdam and had 3 extra days there?

We figured that if we got the cruise fare for less than the total cost of alternate transportation then we were getting a bargain.  By staying on the ship, we got a day in Le Havre (we took a tour of Honfleur), a day in Zeebrugge (we took a tour of Bruges), plus we had a day in Southampton when we didn't have to worry about schlepping our bags.  When we got to Amsterdam, we still had to get a hotel for one night, as our riverboat cruise did not depart until the following day.  We have been to each of those cities before, some of them multiple times, so we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything.  The biggest plus for us, however, was not having to pack, take a taxi, schlep our bags, get on a train, take a taxi across London, schlep our bags, get on the Chunnel train, take a taxi, check into a hotel for two nights, unpack, pack, take a taxi, schlep our bags, get on another train, take a taxi, and check into another hotel. Whew!  Instead, we just walked back to our floating hotel, had dinner, took in a show, went to bed, then woke the next morning in a whole new world.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Easy peasy.  And BTW, that was $1000 pp cheaper than the full ten day fare.

[The Traveling Man]

32 minutes ago, SimplyAlbert said:

I recently contacted NCL about disembarking early in Hawaii.  No customs or border control to clear.  DH and I are spending a week in Kauai after the cruise and it's our last port of call.  We're there on Friday and back to Honolulu early Saturday morning.  We were told no, not possible.  They will only allow early disembarkation in the case of an emergency and we would need to prove it.  

Glad to hear it worked out well for you.  Didn't you post a question about this on CC a few weeks ago?

 

OOPS.  Sorry, I misread your post.  Sorry they did not allow it.

Edited June 13, 2023 by The Traveling Man

[The Traveling Man]

26 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

i was on the may 25th prima sailing, disembarking in southampton on june 9th. on that cruise, three of four days earlier, they did an onboard "oversea enroute" UK immigration inspection/clearance. so when we arrived in southampton, there was no local inspection as the immigration requirement had already been met. the only bottleneck was the usual queue of passengers clamoring to get off. once in the terminal, you walked straight through. of course, the inspection was kind of mishandled by NCL, and they ran considerably behind schedule, so it might take the better part of an hour to get processed through. the inspection was done in the observation lounge.

 

also relevant to this discussion... the UK immigration clearance letter they sent out said that it was mandatory, unless you were disembarking in amsterdam or zeebrugge. so, clearly, there were people onboard that cruise who were getting off prior to the last port.

Glad to hear that they straightened up that mess that we encountered nine months ago.  We had anticipated that the UK agents would be in the terminal, and that there would be enough of them to handle the 3000 passengers in an efficient manner.  Instead, they posted one agent on the ship.  He checked everyone's papers before they were allowed off the ship.  Picture a couple of thousand passengers standing in line for well over an hour, shuffling their feet at a snail's pace through the atrium and hallways, trying to get off the ship and meet their prearranged bus or shuttle service.

[Greener123]

17 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

We figured that if we got the cruise fare for less than the total cost of alternate transportation then we were getting a bargain.  By staying on the ship, we got a day in Le Havre (we took a tour of Honfleur), a day in Zeebrugge (we took a tour of Bruges), plus we had a day in Southampton when we didn't have to worry about schlepping our bags.  When we got to Amsterdam, we still had to get a hotel for one night, as our riverboat cruise did not depart until the following day.  We have been to each of those cities before, some of them multiple times, so we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything.  The biggest plus for us, however, was not having to pack, take a taxi, schlep our bags, get on a train, take a taxi across London, schlep our bags, get on the Chunnel train, take a taxi, check into a hotel for two nights, unpack, pack, take a taxi, schlep our bags, get on another train, take a taxi, and check into another hotel. Whew!  Instead, we just walked back to our floating hotel, had dinner, took in a show, went to bed, then woke the next morning in a whole new world.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Easy peasy.  And BTW, that was $1000 pp cheaper than the full ten day fare.

Makes sense like that… if it was value to you then it’s worth it… the $1000 saving still needs more context to be considered a good deal… if the full cruise was $1200 and you knocked $1000 off then great… if the full was $12,000 and you got $1000 off then not so much 🤣

[The Traveling Man]

1 minute ago, Greener123 said:

Makes sense like that… if it was value to you then it’s worth it… the $1000 saving still needs more context to be considered a good deal… if the full cruise was $1200 and you knocked $1000 off then great… if the full was $12,000 and you got $1000 off then not so much 🤣

In any event, if the cost of alternative transportation, housing, food, and entertainment for the number of days you would otherwise be on a cruise comes out to being more than the total cost you pay for a cruise, even if you jump ship and skip a day or more on board, then it's worth it to take the cruise.  It really doesn't even matter if the cruise line offers a discount for departing early.  If the cruise costs less than the alternative, then it's a bargain.  And that's not even taking into account the added convenience of unpacking only once and not wasting time waiting for a taxi or spending daylight hours on a plane or train instead of exploring a new town.

[RB9643]

5 hours ago, SimplyAlbert said:

I recently contacted NCL about disembarking early in Hawaii.  No customs or border control to clear.  ...  We were told no, not possible.  They will only allow early disembarkation in the case of an emergency and we would need to prove it.  

 

I am curious how NCL (or any cruise line) can force you to get back on the ship.

 

If you tell someone with authority (so they don't call your name 20 times at all-aboard time) "Frankly, no, I will not be returning." What are they going to do? Have you arrested? On what charge?

 

 

 

[The Traveling Man]

15 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

I am curious how NCL (or any cruise line) can force you to get back on the ship.

 

If you tell someone with authority (so they don't call your name 20 times at all-aboard time) "Frankly, no, I will not be returning." What are they going to do? Have you arrested? On what charge?

 

 

 

They can't really force you to get back on.  If they see you leaving with your suitcases at an intermediate port, however, they likely will stop and question you.  It happened to us on a Celebrity ship when we were carrying a duffel bag of soiled clothing to take to a self-serve laundry near the port.  They thought we were jumping ship.  It was easy enough to explain our plan to them, but they did question us.

 

There are certain regions in the world where local regulations prohibit ships or planes which are registered in a foreign country from transporting passengers between cities within another country.  As an example, Air France can't board passengers in LA and fly them to NYC.  A foreign flagged ship can't board passengers in Miami and transport them to LA, unless they stop somewhere en route in a foreign country.  So, if you board an NCL ship in Seattle and try to disembark somewhere in Alaska without having first stopped in another country, such as Canada, the cruise line will be facing a fairly stiff fine for violating the Passenger Vessel Service Act (PVSA).  They, of course, would want to pass that fine on to the passenger.  There are exceptions, of course, for medical emergencies and other possible reasons.  There are comparable laws with similar fines in European countries, as well.  So no, they probably could not prevent you from disembarking early, but they could assess a fee, and you might get caught up at the Passport control office in the terminal.

[RB9643]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

So no, they probably could not prevent you from disembarking early, but they could assess a fee, and you might get caught up at the Passport control office in the terminal.

 

 

I would certainly never consider it on a "normal" cruise without permission. I was specifically quoting the guy on the NCL Hawaii cruise -- American flagged, no foreign ports, no passport needed, etc.

 

[SimplyAlbert]

14 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

I am curious how NCL (or any cruise line) can force you to get back on the ship.

 

If you tell someone with authority (so they don't call your name 20 times at all-aboard time) "Frankly, no, I will not be returning." What are they going to do? Have you arrested? On what charge?

 

 

 

 

I really don't think they could stop us from disembarking, but we cruise a lot (2-4x a year) and NCL is our preferred cruise line (although we will sail with others depending on price and itinerary) and don't want to be put on a "naughty" list and be banned from cruising with them.  While it would have been easier to just disembark early, it's not hard to just get a puddle jumper from Honolulu to Kauai.  We had plenty of Southwest points so we booked pretty much free flights and it's only about a 30 minute flight.