Can A Passenger Board The Ship In One Of Its Ports

[aqualojoy]

Can a passenger join the cruise once it leaves? There is a possibility my husband would be able to join us once the ship leaves Miami during the first week of a b2b and then stay through the second week rather than just joining us for the second week. The only catch is he would need to board say in St. Thomas. Is this ever possbile. Has anyone had experience with this type of situation?

[ruskatab]

I would call Carnival and ask. I think ive seen posts on here where people did this but it might of been before 9/11 but would hurt to ask.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

Here are the rules as I know them for passenger movement:

 

As of March 1, 2003, all cruise lines must electronically report a manifest of all passengers on each cruise prior to their arriving at the port on embarkation day. This manifest includes personal information about each passenger including name, gender, birth-date, residency, citizenship, and passport data (if applicable).

Restrictions: Certain countries, such as the U.S., Italy and Norway, have cabotage laws affecting passenger movements. These laws restrict foreign flag passenger vessels (such as those operated by Royal Caribbean) from transporting guests from one port to another port in the same country. In the U.S., the cabotage law applicable to the cruise industry is commonly called the Jones Act but is legally titled the Passengers Services Act. A brief summary of this U.S. law follows:

 

If a passenger (as listed on a vessel passenger manifest) embarks in a U.S. port and the vessel calls in a nearby foreign port (such as Ensenada, Grand Cayman and Nassau) and then returns to the U.S., the person must disembark in the same U.S. port. A passenger who embarks and disembarks in two different U.S. ports (such as Los Angeles and San Diego) would result in the carrier (not the violator) being fined. The vessel must call in a distant foreign port before the U.S. embarkation and disembarkation ports can differ. The nearest distant foreign ports are in or off the coast of South America. If either the passenger's embarkation port or disembarkation port is in a foreign country, then the provisions of this cabotage law do not apply. Nor do they apply in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

Similar passenger movement restrictions exist for cruise vessels calling in Italy and Norway.

.

[jwlnroe]

ok this might be a stupid question but I know people can miss the boat for different reasons.. if he is booked on the first cruise and has filled out his funpass, etc. . can he board in st thomas if he has gone through that process? a question i wouldn't mind knowing the answer too as well. we missed the boat back in 95 and joined up with it 2 days later. . so just wondering if it would work for him even though he really isn't missing the boat just not being able to get on with the rest of his group.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

ok this might be a stupid question but I know people can miss the boat for different reasons.. if he is booked on the first cruise and has filled out his funpass, etc. . can he board in st thomas if he has gone through that process? a question i wouldn't mind knowing the answer too as well. we missed the boat back in 95 and joined up with it 2 days later. . so just wondering if it would work for him even though he really isn't missing the boat just not being able to get on with the rest of his group.

 

I would call Carnival because he is boarding the ship in St Thomas which is a U.S. Territory. If the above applies then he may have to debark in St Thomas unless there is some exception to the rule for a territory.

 

Say you boarded the ship in Miami and then miss the ship in St Kitts. Then you catch up to it and debark in Miami that would be fine. You embarked and debarked in the same U.S. city after visiting a foreign country.

 

I just read it again and it looks like the verbage says there is an exception for the U.S. Virgin islands. So it looks like he should be fine.

[Dave85]

Yes -- we had an ill (extended) family member in the hospital when we had to leave for a Carnival Legend cruise back in 2003, and one of our family members had to stay behind in New York for a couple extra days. She them flew to San Juan to meet the ship there and it wasn't a problem. Be sure to contact Carnival beforehand though... they made the accommodations for us.

 

Only hassle was that she had to go through immigration with non-US citizens when we returned to New York (she is a U.S. citizen) because of the odd boarding.

[aqualojoy]

We found out yesterday that Carnival will let my husband join us on the first leg of our b2b on the Valor in either St. Thomas or Nassau, or on the Glory in Cozumel. We have pretty much decided to do the Valor with him joining us in St. Thomas.

 

When I called our PVP at Carnival and asker her, she told us it could not be done because of the Jones Act. However, when the travel agent that I have been in contact with called her rep at Carnival she was told they would allow it and that would be clearly stipulated on our reservation. She told us that Carnival wanted us to be clear that the price would not change because he was not there for the first days. Pricing was never a question, we just wanted him to be able to join us. We now should be able to stay in the same cabin both weeks because we will have three in the cabin. I will be using this agent because she is willing to go the extra step.

[funship freddy]

Makes me wonder why the PVP would not know CORRECT answer...... Training ????

[Trekker954]

carnival pays the fines, not the private TA. Just call Carnival again and see what a different PVP says. Just so you have no surprizes when the actualy day arrives.

 

Although I'm pretty sure there is no penalty if a cruiser misses boarding day and catches up somewhere else (like st. thomas). I would state it like that, you aren't sure your husband will get to the board in time.

[aqualojoy]

I was thinking maybe we should see if Carnival will make the flight arrangements and transfer from airport to ship for all of us? That way there should be no questions. My son and I would fly in to Miami together and they would do my husband's ticket to St. Thomas and arrange for him to get on the ship and then make arrangements for all of us to fly home together.

[cathyz]

One of our group on the Pride last year had flight problems getting from NY to LA and missed the ship. Carnival helped her get to our first stop, Puerto Vallarta (on her own nickel), to meet up with us. There was a person at the PV pier waiting to check her in. They were very accommodating.

[Marie51]

A friend of ours joined us in Grand Cayman when she was unable to leave on the cruise with us due to a family issue. It was not a problem. She flew to GC, stayed overnight in a hotel there, and boarded the ship the next morning when it arrived. This was on a Norweigan cruise but it should be the same for any, shouldn't it?

[cherylandtk]

1) St. Thomas (and all of the USVI) is exempted from the PVSA (also sometimes called Jones or cabotage laws). TA is right, PVP is wrong. Do not use this PVP.

 

2) It is unlikely that Carnival will arrange flight for DH, as they purchase consolidator space to and from their embarkation ports only. St. Thomas is not one of them, but you can ask. You are better off to have your TA do this for you; you will probably get both a better price and time.

 

3) Your TA can arrange to get written confirmation from Carnival that your hubby is allowed to join you in St. Thomas, but I would not worry excessively about it. This sort of thing happens frequently by accident, and a good TA will take care of the advance details for you. There is nothing illegal nor is it against policy.

[fllady61]

Our last cruise, a family missed the ship in Port Canaveral. they flew to Nassau and boarded the ship there.

[cruisnpat]

Yes if you miss the ship you can fly to the next port and board their. Don't know if you can do it at all the ports or not.