Immigration wake-up: Noordam

[stellasue]

Would someone who has been on the 11 day Noodam recently please tell me what the routine is re the early wake-up for immigration/presentation of passports? Is it done twice - St. Thomas AND San Juan? Is it really at 7:00 am? :eek: Many thanks!

[bepsf]

Would someone who has been on the 11 day Noodam recently please tell me what the routine is re the early wake-up for immigration/presentation of passports? Is it done twice - St. Thomas AND San Juan? Is it really at 7:00 am? :eek: Many thanks!

 

Yes, all pax are required to go through US immigration at both ports.

(the one major downfall of the 11-day itinerary, IMO)

Although it is scheduled at 7am, both of ours were delayed - one due to the great number of ships in port at St Thomas (8 ships were in port - we and Century tendered in), the other due to the Port of San Juan being closed for some unknown reason until @ 8am.

Your mileage may vary...

[RuthC]

Yes, and yes.

You must clear Immigration in two ports on the 11-day cruise because you are coming to a US port from a foreign port twice.

You don't have to clear in NYC as the San Juan clearance does the trick.

Both times we were called in alphabetical order. The first time the first call was at about 7:45. I was ready for 7:30-ish so headed up to find the line was already almost to the aft of the deck. The line started moving a couple of minutes later and was cleared a bit before the first call.

The second time was to have started at 7:00, but there was a 1-hour delay entering the harbor. IIRC the first call was also around 7:45.

[RuthC]

It's the WSOD!

[RuthC]

It's nice to see the recent upgrades didn't eliminate some of our "favorite" features. :rolleyes:

[sail7seas]

It surprised us how smoothly the Immigration Call went both times. We passed our Room Service Steward in the corridor on the way to our cabin. We let him in; he left breakfast on the keep hot plates; we went to Immigration and breezed right through. We came right back to our cabin and our omelettes were still hot and delicious.

 

While it is a bit of a nuisance it truly is not a big deal. We've had far worse in the past than we experienced on Noordam. It was fast and very organized.

[Navy_Chief]

At least on the 10 day we only had to do it once. With that said, I have to agree how smooth the thing went. We got lucky because our last name begins with T :D all said, it took less than 5 minutes to do. I would say it took us longer to walk forward to the Queens Lounge than it did to go through the process.

[stellasue]

Thanks so much! I guess we'll grin and bear it!!:)

[barbels]

Actually I don't think you really have to get there immediately even if your name begins with A. My last name is earlier alphabetically than my husband's and I went with him and there was no problem. There was basically no line when we got there.

[GMoney]

Actually I don't think you really have to get there immediately even if your name begins with A. My last name is earlier alphabetically than my husband's and I went with him and there was no problem. There was basically no line when we got there.

 

That was my experience on the 11 day Xmas cruise. I went down when they started calling and walked right through. Completely painless. Even later on there was little to no wait. Don't give it a second thought.

 

Very different experience for non US folks though...

[hammybee]

It's nice to see the recent upgrades didn't eliminate some of our "favorite" features. :rolleyes:

 

Made me laugh. And let's not forget the page break situation and the opportunity to bump each other along.