Gettting mail and/or packages when cruising

[tugz]

I’ll be moving onto my boat in January. Wondering how to get mail and packages in different islands in the Caribbean. General delivery?

[john61ct]

Answers will vary depending on location and how important / valuable the goods sent.

How flexible / full-service is your letterbox / forwarding service?

[mark_morwood]

Here's an article that might help you choosing on the mail service side if you haven't already got that sorted.

https://www.sailingtotem.com/2016/07...-cruisers.html

[hpeer]

We have our mail held by St Brendan’s Isle and then shipped. Receiving stuff in St Martin is easy. We have an account with Four Star Cargo out of Miami. They will forward mail and packages to St Martin cheaply and quick. You need to pick up at airport cargo services.

We have mail sent to our haul yard in Grenada and have received oackagages but then tariffs are involved.

We received mail in Portsmouth, Dominica via FedEx to their local office, Cabrits something or other.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by tugz

I’ll be moving onto my boat in January. Wondering how to get mail and packages in different islands in the Caribbean. General delivery?

Using St Brendan’s Isle they scan each envelope and this allows you to view it from the web. If you need to see the data inside the envelope a request for a full scan is available.

We have been using them for 15 years and only get our hands on the actual mail 1 time a year.

Terrific service and we highly recommend them

Good luck with your choice

Chuck

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by chouliha

Using St Brendan’s Isle they scan each envelope and this allows you to view it from the web. If you need to see the data inside the envelope a request for a full scan is available...

Indeed, mail-forwarding services can be a great boon to cruisers. SBI (in Florida) is highly thought of.



Duty-Free Shipping & Poste Restante Snail Mail:

Procuring Replacement or Spare Parts for the “Yacht in Transit”

Often essential replacement parts & gear are unavailable, or exorbitantly expensive, in local (foreign) ports of call, and have to be ‘imported’.

Sometimes customs duties & taxes can be avoided when goods are imported directly to the vessel, and consigned as “Yacht-in-Transit”.
Often, yacht parts sent for "Yachts in Transit" are duty-free, but require professional brokerage, local installation, and/or ‘special’ documentation. Private courier companies (UPS, FedEx, Purolator, etc.) can sometimes expedite things advantageously
Usually, the items to be imported must be specifically for repair or maintenance , and anything that could possibly be sold separately from the boat, is subject to duties.

A generic Shipping Label
To: Your Name , Master
Your Nationality Yacht in Transit “Your Boat Name”
Location Specifics

ie: May, Gordon A. (Master)
Canadian Yacht in Transit, “Southbound” (#38E1458)
General Delivery (Post Restante *)
Nassau, New Providence
BAHAMAS
*** REPLACEMENT PARTS ENCLOSED ***

~or better yet~
May, Gordon A. (Master)
Canadian Yacht in Transit, “Southbound” (#38E1458)
c/o East Bay Yacht Basin,
East Bay St.
PO Box SS-6871
Nassau, New Providence
BAHAMAS
*** REPLACEMENT PARTS ENCLOSED ***


* ‘Poste restante’ is a service provided by postal systems where the post office holds mail (that has a notation written on it) until the recipient calls for it.
In general, this notation contains the word 'POSTE RESTANTE', the full name of the recipient (as on the identification presented to verify the identity; and with the surname listed first for ease of sorting), and the name of the destination post office. As a courtesy to the postmaster, an expected date of pick-up is also indicated. Each postal system has its own regulation on how to handle the service, including the length they hold the mail before discarding.
In the United States, the United States Postal Service uses the term general delivery, and reserves the term poste restante for international mail sent to general delivery.
Many Post Offices will reliably hold mail marked "poste restante" for at least a month - longer if the sender indicates a different period. There may be a fee for parcels held longer than one month.

[tugz]

Thanks for the info. Big help

[billknny]

Tugz,

As people have said, it really varies a lot from one place to another. In some places the mail service is safe and reliable, in others definitely not so. Some places DHL to a marina works, in others FEDEX, and private couriers are also an option.

Like so many things, local knowledge really matters. We always have a chat with the locals about the best way to get packages delivered in. It can vary greatly even from one island to another in the same country. If you chat with cruisers, be sure they have done EXACTLY what you are doing before you trust their answer. Not because they will mislead you, but because shipping a package with engine parts into Staniel Cay, Bahamas is very different than shipping parts for your refrigerator into Georgetown, just a few dozen miles away.

And customs rules are all over the map, sometimes varying from one airport to another.

It is very important to assume nothing will get there on time, and it will cost more than you expect.