Immigration in St Thomas

[Coolmama_1]

DH wants to do the Helmet Dive at Coral World but the excursion through Princess is in the afternoon. We can do it on our own at 9:30 am. I realize that Princess excursion people clear immigration first. Is it doable to be off the ship and catch a cab to Coral World by 9:00?

 

Thanks

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Should be OK, as cruise will be mainly US folk, sad to say reason Sea Princess does not stop any more is because of high % of non US on board.

 

The worest I have ever had was folk still trying to get through customs at 3.00pm when we sailed at 4.30pm not a Princess ship.

 

yours Shogun

[Colo Cruiser]

Just did that on the Emerald and it is a piece of cake, just be in line early and it only takes a few minutes. The line looks long but it moves very fast. :)

[icemaiden]

hi the princess took st thomas of the itinery for the CP and it only lasted for a couple of weeks as the people on st thomas kicked up a stink , princess have put st thomas back on the itinery for the sea princess and my sister was in st thomas onboard the SEA last week, the US immigrations have put more officals there so that the immigration process doesnt take as long as it was taking before, the reason they stopped it in the first place was because of new customs regulations it was taking up to or more than 4 hours to go thru customs , i know this as i am going to be onboard the SEA princess in april and i had a couple of letters within 3 week period explaining this, and as far as my siter said most people were thru the immigrations and off the ship before 9am, so if theres more officicals any ship coming in with less europeans will get thru the process even quicker

 

linda

[Pythian]

it's stupid, but it is fast. Heck, that is why we have the cruise cards... but, DoC and DHS seem to think only they can ensure who is or is not a terrorist --- even though everyone was pre-screened at boarding. 5 minutes from start to finish, the waiting for your turn takes the longest part of the time. I'ts almost really only a check of the customers agaisnt the boarding lists - and to see if you lost your passport or not. It will not impact your tours or time off-ship.

[fathercop]

We were on the same cruise with CO CRUISER and immigration was fast. I am not even really sure why they bothered. (I do know that they check passenger lists, but as far as us going through immigration, the customs officer looked at my passport and that was it. I was in an out in less than 5 minutes.)

[hooked cruiser]

In and out in 5 minutes it may be, but how long did you have to wait before you got in?

We waited 2 Hours last year and the gentleman in front of us collapsed while waiting. Yet again 2 immigration officers for the Non USA passport officers and the same for the USA holders even though 80% of the passengers were the former. No wonder Princess and Carnival put pressure on the authorities, after all we are the main source of income for the island.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We have been on ships when they call you by deck and others where they called by numbers they gave us, some where quick and some took ages standing in line.