Cruise Ship Early Tour Departure

On Nov 25 2009 2:27 PM, Nonny wrote:

"Observant Lurker" wrote in message
...
On Nov 24 2009 3:51 PM, Nonny wrote:

"Jeff Gersten" wrote in message
...
(Rosalie B.) wrote:

In Russia they tried to say that no one without
a visa or a ship's tour could get off, and it
wasn't true. At the last minute they said
everyone that had a visa and wasn't on a ship
tour should get off right away, and we did
even though we had a private tour and didn't
have a visa.

I'm sure you did, or else the Russian immigration authorities
would not
have let you off the ship.


Ermalee got ashore and into the souvenir store all by herself
in
St. Petersburg.


--
Nonny

What does it mean when drool runs
out of both sides of a drunken
Congressman's mouth?

The floor is level.

Question for nonny. When a cruise ship returns to the U.S. how
do they run
all of those passengers through U.S. customs without making it a
3 hour
adventure?
At airports, I know how they check incoming flights, but cruise
ship have
a lot more passengers than a few aircraft.
OL

It's a PITA, but at least the lines move pretty quickly. You fill
out your declaration card the night before and hold onto it when
disembarking. The Immigration lines are the long ones: a person
scans your passport and compares the information against some kind
of database. I've never had more than a cursory review of the
passport, but wonder what'd happen to someone who got "caught"
previously trying to pull something off.

Once clear of the Immigration folk, the next step is to locate and
claim your luggage. It's sorted into the tag colors assigned to
you aboard the ship. For instance, you might be Yellow, and all
the luggage with Yellow tags would be in one bunch to make
locating them easier. The customs folk have already had the dogs
sniffing the luggage, so I'm sure that anything that got sniffed
out would be pulled aside and they'd have questions to ask of the
folk who claimed it.

Once you have your suitcases, the next line is for the customs
folk, where you hand somebody your declaration and keep moving.
Since we typically spend well, well under a hundred dollars or so
on souvenirs, there's nothing to pay. Again, though, I suspect
that the customs and immigration folk know each other well and if
you get caught trying to bring in a Rolex you bought in St. Thomas
for $85,000 without paying Uncle Sam tax. . . well, refer to the
first paragraph about the database for future returns.

The next line is the accursed one for taxis. . . that is if you
aren't taking the cruise line's transfer bus. I've posted enough
about taxis, especially when anyone has a mobility problem, so I
won't go into that again.

When you arrive at the airport, there is the line for TSA, of
course, and be sure to wear slip on shoes.

--
Nonny

What does it mean when drool runs
out of both sides of a drunken
Congressman's mouth?

The floor is level.

thanks nonny. I appreciate the info. I assumed customs would have to be a
"well oiled machine" to take care of so many people in short order.
JP

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[Default] Thus spake (Jeff Gersten):

(Rosalie*B.) wrote:



But generally if there aren't tenders, I just walk
off as if I had the right to do so. Which I do.

Absolutely correct. The only time the ship can control this is when
there are tenders. In that case they can give priority to their tours.

The last time we had to hustle off the ship for a private tour, I just
went to the "appropriate" gathering area for an early debarking tour
and said "oops, I think my wife has all of the paperwork." "That's
okay, how many stickers do you need?"

And then we spent over an hour at the port waiting for some people
from the Glory, who either didn't do that or just plain lolly-gagged
along.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

"Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to
let you make your second shot perfect."

-- Lazurus Long