Disembark a day early?

[RD64]

14 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

My PCC told me they don’t allow this but they don’t hold you hostage. I take that as we can do it unofficially. Our plan is to walk off with all our luggage. 
 

In our case, we are getting off at the same place we would the following day. I don’t see how that could be an issue. Is your case the same?  

Walking off with all your luggage? Are you sure that once you scan your card - with all of your luggage present - they will just allow you to walk right off? European rules are far different from North American rules. You stated that this is your plan - best to have a backup “plan”. There is that old proverb about the best laid plans of mice and men…

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 minute ago, RD64 said:

Walking off with all your luggage? Are you sure that once you scan your card - with all of your luggage present - they will just allow you to walk right off? European rules are far different from North American rules. You stated that this is your plan - best to have a backup “plan”. There is that old proverb about the best laid plans of mice and men…

We’ll, that’s what my PCC said. I also plan to go to customer service once on the ship to try to prearrange 

[RD64]

With all do respect I would not take anything a PCC who quite possibly has never even been on a ship as gospel. This is definitely something that needs to be arranged once on board.

 

Case in point - this past spring on an HAL transatlantic, I wanted to disembark the day the ship arrived in Rotterdam. Official disembarkation was the next day in Rotterdam. I tried for a month to arrange this but nobody could officially confirm or deny if I could disembark the day before. As a transatlantic flight was involved - I just changed my plans - spent the overnight on the ship (which I am glad I did), spent an extra night in Amsterdam, then flew home. It was a lot less stressful than wondering if / when I could get off the ship and back home. 
 

Also - being Italian - I can tell you that Italian bureaucratic rules can and do change every five minutes. Nothing is guaranteed - whether it is in writing or not.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by RD64
Additional

[FastShip24]

On 7/6/2023 at 8:04 AM, Pptarmigan said:

I'm trying to figure this out for a cruise coming up in a couple of weeks. Want to do the same thing in Venice that you do.  So far, I can't get anything out of NCL except that it "isn't possible".  Seems odd since you could just not catch the transfer back to the boat and I don't know what they'd do about it.  For a cruise that starts and ends in EU countries, do you even go through immigration when you disembark on the regular day?

Where is your luggage? Still on the ship?  You might be entering that country illegally

[Pptarmigan]

59 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:
 

In our case, we are getting off at the same place we would the following day. I don’t see how that could be an issue. Is your case the same?  

Exact same. We arrive in at Trieste on Thursday morning and they’re transporting us into Venice by bus and back. Then would have to take the bus the next morning to the airport on disembarkation day (Friday). I want to take my stuff into Venice on Thursday and be done with the cruise. Seems crazy that it wouldn’t work. I’m going to ask when I’m on board and will let you know what I find out. Would just “miss” the transport back to the ship, but expect we’ll get questions taking all of our stuff off on Thursday. 

[Pptarmigan]

22 minutes ago, FastShip24 said:

Where is your luggage? Still on the ship?  You might be entering that country illegally

Yes, still on the ship, but not sure how it would be illegal. We are in the same port the day I want to get off and the disembark day the next day (Trieste outside Venice) and are in the EU the entire time. I could take a private boat on this itinerary and not be questioned anywhere. There are also a lot of cases of people missing the boat in a port and not being illegal. 

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Indeed Canada does have such a law, the Coasting Trade Act, which governs the transportation of both cargo and passengers.

Thanks, I knew it existed, but did not know the name of the law.

[SimplyAlbert]

I asked this recently for our upcoming POA cruise.  Last port is Kauai and we're spending a week there post-cruise.  Seemed like it would be easy to disembark in Kauai on the last day rather than spend the night sailing back to Honolulu just to catch a flight back to Kauai.  No customs to worry about as we're both US citizens.   We were told no.  We were also told that we could only disembark early for an emergency and we'd have to prove it.

 

While there's nothing to stop us from leaving the ship with all of our belongings, we cruise NCL a lot and decided we didn't want to get put on a "naughty" list and be unable to book with them again so we just sucked it up and will fly back to Kauai the following day.  Had enough points on SW for a free flight so other than the time it really isn't a big deal.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 7/6/2023 at 1:54 PM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I don’t know why it wouldn’t be possible. People miss ships all the time. If it’s not, it’s not the end of the world. I just hate the idea of wasting 4 hours traveling back and forth with our short amount of time there. Please report back on your experience!  
 

Me too!  I wouldn’t have even thought of it if someone here didn’t suggest it. 

It’s not an NCL thing, it’s an immigration matter.  It can be done in certain instances but it has to be arranged in advance.  Unless it is an emergency and then a different protocol is followed.  Hope it works out for you.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

3 hours ago, SimplyAlbert said:

I asked this recently for our upcoming POA cruise.  Last port is Kauai and we're spending a week there post-cruise.  Seemed like it would be easy to disembark in Kauai on the last day rather than spend the night sailing back to Honolulu just to catch a flight back to Kauai.  No customs to worry about as we're both US citizens.   We were told no.  We were also told that we could only disembark early for an emergency and we'd have to prove it.

 

While there's nothing to stop us from leaving the ship with all of our belongings, we cruise NCL a lot and decided we didn't want to get put on a "naughty" list and be unable to book with them again so we just sucked it up and will fly back to Kauai the following day.  Had enough points on SW for a free flight so other than the time it really isn't a big deal.

That’s really surprising! 
 

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

It’s not an NCL thing, it’s an immigration matter.  It can be done in certain instances but it has to be arranged in advance.  Unless it is an emergency and then a different protocol is followed.  Hope it works out for you.

 

We would be getting off in the exact same port though, just a day early. I would think the Italian government would be happy because we’d be spending more money this way. 
 

I really don’t know how to go about getting this approved since my PCC can’t help me. 

[julig22]

I find it interesting that NCL is saying no with early disembarking early when you are already in port.  I did a NZ/Aus cruise several years ago and we had an overnight in Sydney.  They were fully set up for customs/immigration the day we arrived so people could leave either day.  There was a time-frame however, so you had to leave by a specified time in the morning.

 

For those wanting to disembark early I would send very carefully worded inquiry to kbyrd @ ncl.com 

If you are already in port, I would suggest you put that information first as from my experience the bots that seem to read the messages will take your first statement and run with it - and they will not respond again.

If you aren't already in port, then the info like citizenship etc might be the important info to put first.

[njkate]

I’ve read on these boards of people disembarking in Le Harve rather then Southampton to spend a few days post cruise in Paris but it needs to be coordinated with the cruise line

[jdvmd]

Found this just now from another thread. As I mentioned yesterday, the terminology is downline.

Cruise Wonderland

• 
• • 978
• April 8, 2014
• Hong Kong

• #5  

Posted May 9, 2022

The official terminology is called "downline". 

 

Before the pandemic, cruise lines may allow you to do so. You need to make the downline request in advance (prior to departure) and complete some paperwork. Cruise lines may charge a fee (for example, Royal Caribbean / Celebrity Cruises was USD 65 per person).

 

After the pandemic, some cruise lines no longer approve downline, even if you are willing to pay for a fee. 

 

Here is the reply from NCL previously:

 

Approval to embark or disembark mid-cruise may be allowed ONLY in cases of emergencies, for example:

1.     Guests miss the ship and wished to embark in the next port of call.

2.     Once onboard, a guest becomes ill or has a family emergency and needs to disembark the vessel.

No refunds or adjustments will be made for unused portions of a cruise. If any of our guests for any reason wish to not conclude their cruise, they may address this onboard.

 

With valid reason(s), you may embark or disembark at ports of call other than original ones. Please note that you MUST have valid travel document or Visa required for the country that you would like to embark/ disembark. Norwegian Cruise Line will not be responsible for any loss associated with itinerary change such as hotel, transportation or entertainment onshore which is not arranged by NCL directly.

 

And also be aware that even NCL approves it immediately on Day 1 of your cruise, there may be a chance that the ship cannot enter the port of Naples on Day 5 because of various unforseen situations (e.g. bad weather). If you have booked any hotels or air tickets from Naples, NCL will not be responsible for your loss.

[Pptarmigan]

48 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I find it interesting that NCL is saying no with early disembarking early when you are already in port.  I did a NZ/Aus cruise several years ago and we had an overnight in Sydney.  They were fully set up for customs/immigration the day we arrived so people could leave either day.  There was a time-frame however, so you had to leave by a specified time in the morning.

 

For those wanting to disembark early I would send very carefully worded inquiry to kbyrd @ ncl.com 

If you are already in port, I would suggest you put that information first as from my experience the bots that seem to read the messages will take your first statement and run with it - and they will not respond again.

If you aren't already in port, then the info like citizenship etc might be the important info to put first.

Thanks for this.  Whose email address is that? 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Pptarmigan

[julig22]

7 minutes ago, Pptarmigan said:

Thanks for this.  Whose email address is that? 

Katty Byrd, VP Guest Services

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

I find it interesting that NCL is saying no with early disembarking early when you are already in port.  I did a NZ/Aus cruise several years ago and we had an overnight in Sydney.  They were fully set up for customs/immigration the day we arrived so people could leave either day.  There was a time-frame however, so you had to leave by a specified time in the morning.

 

For those wanting to disembark early I would send very carefully worded inquiry to kbyrd @ ncl.com 

If you are already in port, I would suggest you put that information first as from my experience the bots that seem to read the messages will take your first statement and run with it - and they will not respond again.

If you aren't already in port, then the info like citizenship etc might be the important info to put first.

 

44 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Katty Byrd, VP Guest Services

Thanks for the information! It gives me a place to start. 

[Pptarmigan]

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Thanks for the information! It gives me a place to start. 

I sent her an email earlier today since we're leaving in a couple of weeks.  I'll let you know what (if anything) that I hear back.

[The Traveling Man]

On 7/4/2023 at 9:26 AM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We have a cruise booked on the Pearl exactly one year from today, Athens to Trieste. I see we are in Trieste our last port day until 11 PM and then disembark there the next morning. We would like to disembark the day prior so we don’t waste all those hours going back and forth to Venice. How do we arrange this?  I’m sure there’s more to it than just bringing our stuff and just not showing back up. Lol

My wife and I did something like this on the Getaway in May 2022.  Your circumstances are somewhat different than ours, since you simply want to exit the ship at the scheduled port of departure, only a day earlier than planned.  In our case, we exited several days early in a different city.  The key is to obtain permission well in advance.  Contact NCL Senior Vice President for Guest Services Katty Byrd kbyrd@ncl.com.  The ship's manifest needs to reflect your intended travel plans so the passenger count checks out.  They also need to arrange to have passport control officers on duty on the day you plan to exit your cruise.  It should be possible for you to do this without any penalty, but contact NCL in advance and don't try to spring it on the crew at the last minute.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

11 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

My wife and I did something like this on the Getaway in May 2022.  Your circumstances are somewhat different than ours, since you simply want to exit the ship at the scheduled port of departure, only a day earlier than planned.  In our case, we exited several days early in a different city.  The key is to obtain permission well in advance.  Contact NCL Senior Vice President for Guest Services Katty Byrd kbyrd@ncl.com.  The ship's manifest needs to reflect your intended travel plans so the passenger count checks out.  They also need to arrange to have passport control officers on duty on the day you plan to exit your cruise.  It should be possible for you to do this without any penalty, but contact NCL in advance and don't try to spring it on the crew at the last minute.

Thank you!  I just sent her an email.  I will update if and when I get a reply.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

17 hours ago, Pptarmigan said:

I sent her an email earlier today since we're leaving in a couple of weeks.  I'll let you know what (if anything) that I hear back.

Great!  I just sent one as well.  Fingers crossed we both get the response we want!

[Pptarmigan]

Well, no response.  Not even an automated one.  Guess I'll try to figure it out with someone once we get on the boat.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Pptarmigan said:

Well, no response.  Not even an automated one.  Guess I'll try to figure it out with someone once we get on the boat.

You really should get it approved before the sailing. There has to be an immigration agent to approve your disembarkation.

[Pptarmigan]

Just now, ontheweb said:

You really should get it approved before the sailing. There has to be an immigration agent to approve your disembarkation.

I understand that I should get it approved before the sailing, but no one from NCL will engage me on it. My PCC  said it isn’t possible, I sent a message though the contact form, and an email directly to Kathy Byrd with no reply to either. Hard to get anything approved when it’s a one sided conversation. Pretty disappointing to just be totally ghosted by NCL on this. My only hope at this point is that someone on the ship can help me. 

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, Pptarmigan said:

I understand that I should get it approved before the sailing, but no one from NCL will engage me on it. My PCC  said it isn’t possible, I sent a message though the contact form, and an email directly to Kathy Byrd with no reply to either. Hard to get anything approved when it’s a one sided conversation. Pretty disappointing to just be totally ghosted by NCL on this. My only hope at this point is that someone on the ship can help me. 

Good luck, but this does sound problematic.

[Pptarmigan]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Good luck, but this does sound problematic.

Not really. Worst case, no one on the boat can help me and I’ll just go along with their stupid transport three times. I’m not going to break any laws or anything. I just think it’s dumb that they don’t have this as an option for those that want to do it.