Customs in Brisbane?

[Nanner]

For those who have cruised to Australia before and had Brisbane as your port of entry into Australia, how did they handle customs? We have our electronic visas set to go, but with only 8-5 in port and some people to visit in Brisbane, we wondered how much time might be lost waiting to clear customs. I really wish we had a later departure, but at least if I have a clue how long it might take us to get off the ship I would be able to make better plans.

[CruiserBruce]

Customs will not be a factor. Immigration might be. HAL will do everything it can to acquire and transmit your passport and visa info to Australia. Its been a while, but we have sailed from NZ to Australia, and there were no Immigration delays.

[terrydtx]

34 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Customs will not be a factor. Immigration might be. HAL will do everything it can to acquire and transmit your passport and visa info to Australia. Its been a while, but we have sailed from NZ to Australia, and there were no Immigration delays.

Thank you we go from NZ to Sydney in January and I wondered the same thing.

[WisRiver]

We cruised to Australia last October on the Noordam and Brisbane was our first port of entry to Australia.  It did not take much time to clear immigration, 10 minutes or so.  We did not do an excursion and we walked off the boat about an hour after docking.  We took a taxi into the city center, toured the City Museum, did some shopping, walked down to the riverside and took a boat cruise.  We had a nice dinner along the river, and took an Uber back.  Our departure was not until midnight.  It was about a ½ hour drive from the cruise terminal to the city center.  

[Nanner]

Did the ship offer a shuttle into Brisbane (assuming you were docked at the BICT)? If so, where did it drop people off?

Edited December 6, 2023 by Nanner

[WisRiver]

I do not remember if there was a shuttle.  We were a group of four so we took an Uber to the Museum of Brisbane in City Hall.  After shopping, sightseeing and a river cruise, we had a delicious dinner along the river and took another Uber back to the ship.