Cruise Ships & Customs
28 September 2015 | Port Vila, Efate
Port Vila seems to be a town set up for tourists, many of whom arrive via cruise liner (several boats visiting each week). There are duty free shops and money exchange places everywhere you look. We tied up our dinghy just near this ship to sort out some (more...) paperwork at Customs. It looked absolutely enormous as we passed under its bow. As for Customs, we (again) had to provide a whole lot of information we'd provided previously, but aside from taking quite some time, it wasn't really a hassle. There was a sign up on the wall inside customs - seemingly for the benefit of the employees - which read "Vanuatu Customs does not operate on Vanuatu time nor Pacific time". While the sign seemed well intentioned, our experience was they very much seemed to be working on Vanuatu/Pacific time!