The Last Night
If you wish to extend gratuities to those who have served you, this is the
customary night for doing so. Gratuity envelopes are available at the Purser's
Desk, as passengers usually wish to hand tips directly to their serving
staff. For dining room staff, tipping normally occurs at the end of dinner
on the final evening. Stateroom staff are usually working near your stateroom
during the late afternoon and early evening should you wish to say farewell
and thank them personally.
Your stateroom steward will give you colored tags for
each piece of luggage. Please put your name, home address and other information
requested on each tag. Also, remove any old airline flight tags or embarkation
tags. It is advised to carry fragile, valuable items and medication with
you. Before you retire for the night, your locked bags should be packed
and placed outside your stateroom door to facilitate customs clearance
and disembarkation. Make a final check of your cabin and stateroom safe
for any personal items.
Customs Clearance
Due to U.S. and local customs restrictions, passengers may not leave the
ship until all luggage is off-loaded. With this in mind, we suggest that
you relax in one of the many public lounges to wait for customs clearance
and disembarkation by pre-designated groups.
Customs and immigration inspectors will review with you
the customs declarations form upon which you have listed all the dutiable
articles bought in foreign ports or in the ship's boutique. U.S. residents
returning to the U.S. are allowed a duty-free exemption of $400 per person,
which includes the cost of one liter of alcoholic beverages (if purchased
onboard or ashore) for each passenger 21 years of age or older. Canadian
citizens, when out of the country for more than eight days, may bring
back up to $300 (Canadian) duty-free. It is recommended that passengers
keep their sales receipts handy for declaring their purchases. Food items
should not be landed in U.S. ports.
On cruises calling at ports of the U.S. Virgin Islands,
Puerto Rico, or American Samoa, U.S. residents are allowed an additional
exemption of $400 when returning to the U.S., including four liters of
alcoholic beverages provided you have the proof of purchase from the designated
ports. For further customs information, we recommend that you attend the
Cruise Director's disembarkation talk given during the last days of the
cruise.
Disembarkation And Transfer Information
On the majority of our cruises, you will be asked upon leaving the ship
to identify and clear your luggage through customs. Your luggage will
be arranged dockside by color-coded tags which are distributed on board.
If your friends or relatives are meeting you at the pier,
please be advised that disembarkation usually takes approximately 2 hours
after the scheduled arrival of the ship in order to clear immigration
and customs.
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2008
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