Arriving in Port:

Generally when the ship arrives at an island, they fly a yellow flag. This means the ship is under quarantine, and no one is allowed off the ship except for a designated few. Once the ship clears customs, the flag is lowered and passengers are allowed to go ashore. Most of the time, the customs process is simple; however, depending on the island, especially if a US territory (and if the ship has already visited a foreign port), you may be asked to show your passport to a custom official. Again, this changes all the time, but this has been the case each time we have visited the US Virgin Islands.

One advantage the islands have is Duty-Free shopping, which generally means you do not pay any taxes on merchandise. This goes further than sales tax; for instance, liquor is significantly cheaper as you don't pay those luxury and excise taxes. However, there is a limit to how much you can return to the United States. Generally you may bring $800 worth of items back into the United States duty free. If any of the items are from the US Virgin Islands, you are allowed a bit more. When you return to the US, each person must declare any items they purchased and are bringing back into the US, which includes items purchased on-board the ship as well as the islands. If you exceed the limitation, it simply means you will have to pay a tax on the additional amount. Therefore, you need to keep recepit for each item you purchase as you will have to fill out a CBP Form 6059B upon returning to the US. The cruise line will generally provide you with that form on your last night aboard the ship.

You should also know that you are prohibited from bringing some items into the US from abroad, or for that matter, even on-board the ship. These generally include food items, fruit, plants, vegetation, and similar items that might pose a risk to the domestic ecosystem within the US. The cruise line typically makes this policy well known before you depart the ship.

If you buy alcohol in port, you will have to surrender it to the cruise line upon boarding. There it will be kept for you until the night prior to arriving at the home port at cruise end. This even includes alcohol you buy on-board. The last time we went on a cruise (Dec 09) the ship would price-match the pricing for any alcohol you find in port. You can really get a 40% to 60% discount on your favorite libation from what you would pay for in the US.

Notwithstanding that T-shirt, each island really does have a different personality, and that is reflected in the excursions that are available. Some excursions are really a once-in-a-lifetime experience; such as swimming with Stingrays (my wife even had one put on her head), Dolphin encounters, scuba, snuba, and snorkeling, sailboat racing, fishing, shopping, helicopter rides, "submarine" rides, climbing a waterfall, or simply relaxing on a beach. OK, maybe some of those are not unique, but some are pretty hard to duplicate anywhere else. For instance, in St. Maarten, the 12 Metre Sailing Challenge is likely one of the best excursions in the Caribbean; well - at least my wife and I thought so. Virgin Gordon's Bath area in the British Virgin Islands is also very unique. Its a collection of huge boulders on an isolated shoreline, and is an incredible experience. One of the hardest things to decide on your cruise is going to be which excursion to take.