AboutDebbie Smith Expertise I can answer questions about cruises worldwide. Alaska, Antactica, Asia, Australia, Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, South Africa and South America. I can answer any questions regarding cruising. With your family, bride, wife of 50 years or all the relatives for a reunion.
Experience I have over 27 years experience and over 100 cruises. I love to cruise, I love riverboat cruises and adventure cruises to Borneo to see the Orangutans or the Amazon to see the natives and the piranha.
Organizations ARTA (Association of Retail Travel Agents), Have a Heart Project (a non-profit charity for children)
Publications Your hub
Education/Credentials Completed courses in travel relating to international ticketing, cruise sales, gay and lesbian travel, CLIA, specialist for France, Scandinavia and Spain travel.
Expert: Debbie Smith Date: 6/9/2008 Subject: Cruise in US
Question QUESTION: Hi Debbie,
Firstly, thanks for volunteering your time to this site.
I am eagerly wanting to go on a cruise but had a few questions that I was looking forward to get your advice on...
Almost all the cruises I have look at(from the east coast) have the destination port in another country (carribean or Canada or bahama or mexico etc). I am a non-resident in US and am here on a work visa and wanted to know if there are any cruises that we can take where the port of departure and arrival are both in US on the east coast? (since I want to avoid taking another visa from another country and go through the process of getting the US visa again on return to US) Also what time of the year would you recommend to take a cruise?
many thanks!
Shivom.
ANSWER: You are welcome. Unless you do a river boat cruise on the Mississippi River. Other cruises that do the Caribbean have to go to a foreign port it's U.S. Law. So with a work visa you can't leave the U.S.? How about Hawaii. Stays in the U.S. and has wonderful ports.
Good ouck with your search.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for your reply Debbie, I'll try the mississippi option, actually we can travel out of US but every exit and entry requires a slightly elaborate procedure with the customs dept which I want to try to avoid if possible and also the visa requirements for the port of destination are different for US citizens and non-US citizens working in US, hence I was looking for an option that starts and ends the cruise in US itself.
Thanks for your help, and I'll appreciate if you have any other suggestions for me on the choice of the place and time of year for the cruise.
thanks again!
Shivom.
Answer One other thought. There is a riverboat cruise out Portland Oregon.
You also might check repositioning cruises when they're moving the ship from one location to the next. So in the fall when the discontinue the Canadian cruises and move the ships to the Caribbean.
