One way ticket to St. Marting - customs clearance hassles??

[CharlesM]

Hello All

We had various thoughts about how to do the flights. Returns to St. Martin and then a 'local' from Trinidad to St Martin at the end of the trip, or single to St. Martin and single from Trini etc.

I now think either is roughly the same price in the end, and it is probably better to buy the return once we have reached Trini and the boat is stowed safely. That will give us more flexability.

BUT - I have heard problems about arriving in St. Martin with a one-way ticket.

Can anyone suggest what I should do to ensure no problems on that side? Write to customs? What is or where could I find their address?

Anyone?

Cheers
Charles

 

[Jeannius]

Charles,
I don't think you'll have a problem arriving in St Maarten without an onward ticket as long as you have your ships papers with you. Actually I don't think there'll be a problem anyway. I've never been asked to show a return ticket (although I've always had one with me) and I've been many times. You can always buy a £30 ticket on LIAT to Antigua just to make sure.

 

[tcm]

DIY ticket

the £30 quid ticket is an option - but is there a cheaper way? I think there is.

I mean, any ticket on any ole airline is fine, even JuststartedYesterday Airways or even LIAT (luggae in another terminal, haha) - they're all just commercial orgaionsation giving you a receipt or ticket to make you feel ok that everything going to plan, and to keep customs people happy that you aren't going to sponge benefits or violate visa regulations or whatever. You have to help them verify the same but it needn't cost £30.

So, i reckon you could copy/paste an existing airline e-ticket and muck about with it to make it into a ticket for a ship going to venzuela or whereve it is you plan to go. The name of the vessel is whatever your boat is called and there can be validity dates, departure schedules, port of departure, terms and conditions, booking reference numbers, more reference numbers and all those things that all officials just love to have and copy out onto lists.

Best of all the tickets is "real" - not a scam or a swiz - you're issuing a ticket for your own boat, which might seem a bit bonkers but so what? If it was your own airline you'd still have a ticket. If you owned wightlink ferries and biught a ticket that would be effectivbkley the same thing.

A ticket is a piece of evidence that you booked outward passage, that's al. It's not a government document. If you're the skiper/owner, you can most definitely produce tickets.

okay - No - i haven't tried it....

 

[bobgosling]

Re: DIY ticket

Of course the downside of producing your own tickets is that you are then a commercial venture and need 3rd Party Liability Insurance plus Ships Master Qualifications plus Full Safety Equipment , etc. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[tcm]

Re: DIY ticket

Picky! anyway - why so? Wouldn't need a price on the ticket and usually don't get one either. Deep inside the terms and conditions it could say there is no charge for the ticket anyway. No charge for ticket means no commercial venture. Receipt is usually quite different cos lots of people pay different prices. YM commercial is enough up to er about 200grt i think.

 

[ChrisE]

Don't think that you'll have a prob, friends of ours flew out to meet us in the Carib and flew all over the place on one ways from island to island. A rtn to Trin from the UK might be worth tho' the cost of rtn flights from Trin - UK was roughly twice the cost of a flight from UK - Trin.

 

[CharlesM]

Chris_E said
>>A rtn to Trin from the UK might be worth tho' the cost of rtn flights from Trin - UK was roughly twice the cost of a flight from UK - Trin


Erk!! thanks for the heads up - I will check it out.

Charles

 

[jeremyshaw]

I would be surprised if you have a problem arriving in St. Maarten without an onward ticket. I guess it depends on whether you are flying into the French or Dutch side. The French side is a Department so part of France and as an EU citizen you are entitled to visit. The Dutch side might be more tricky. On some Caribbean islands you definitely have to provide crew with a skipper's letter to overcome this, and I would have thought you would be fine flourishing boat papers showing you as owner/skipper etc.

Re costs for my upcoming trip to Trinidad then return from Venezuela it has worked out cheapest to buy a Gatwick-Trini return and then a Caracas-Heathrow return. Silly but true. I will just discard the return part of the ticket, but I have heard that you can have problems with some airlines using the return part and not having used the outbound, so I'd be careful to check that. (Westernair are good for Excel flights). BTW in case you don't know most Trini-UK flights go to Tobago but is a £10 hop to Trinidad on the Tobago Express and a 5 minute walk to the Coco Reef hotel in Tobago where you can comfortably kill time (airport has nothing).

You may want to email irena@tstt.net.tt. She's the travel agent that shares an office with Jesse James (the Trini yachties favourite taxi driver and fixer) and should be able to give you Trini-UK costs.

 

[TQA]

Do be careful about arriving to board a non French yacht in French waters. Sometimes the local law will decide you are "chartering" without the correct papers. One person arriving or leaving a large group should not be a problem but a complete crew change sometimes upsets them especially if the boat has done the same thing before.