Fiji C2C Email Failure

[theway]

Anyone else get a delivery failed message when emailing the C2C form to Fiji at this address (yachtsreport@frca.org.fj) it's the one from noonsite and on the Fijian customs site.

I got this auto reply:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

lcirikoverata@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


jdrega@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


alomalagi@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


The following organization rejected your message: frcnse2016ex01.frca.org.fj.

[Paul L]

Is this your pre-arrival form? If so, you can ask for a confirmation of receipt from Fiji customs. I received the mailbox full messages, but also got the confirmation response. You should have a printed out hardcopy of the pre-arrival form with you when you clear in.


If you are doing the weekly check-in email, then I'd just ignore it.

[theway]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Is this your pre-arrival form? If so, you can ask for a confirmation of receipt from Fiji customs. I received the mailbox full messages, but also got the confirmation response. You should have a printed out hardcopy of the pre-arrival form with you when you clear in.


If you are doing the weekly check-in email, then I'd just ignore it.

Yes it is, the document has this title at the top:
( OFFICIAL USE ADVANCE NOTIFICATION/INWARD REPORT FOR YACHTS/SMALL CRAFT)

Did you email the same address for the confirmation? And I'm planning to be there in about a week so I emailed it, but I don't have a printed copy...

[Paul L]

Yes, you ask for the confirmation at the same address. The address you mail to gets forwarded to a bunch of other addresses and some of those mail boxes are perennially full. If you can, you should get a hardcopy printed out. That way you have something to show the Customs agent when they say they can't find your document.

[theway]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Yes, you ask for the confirmation at the same address. The address you mail to gets forwarded to a bunch of other addresses and some of those mail boxes are perennially full. If you can, you should get a hardcopy printed out. That way you have something to show the Customs agent when they say they can't find your document.

Right on, thanks a bunch for letting me know I'm not the only one that's experienced this. It seems pretty tacky for a government! But then again it's usually the governments that need all the help they can get these days.

If have time I'll get one printed, but I have it on my computer and phone and will happy to show them that way.

...and I sent a follow up to confirm, I'll see what happens. Next time I won't wait until the day before I depart.

[Harlequin]

Yes, we mentioned this last month to the 2 Customs & Imm ladies who met us in Savusavu and they just smiled sweetly and said yes, it's normal. No suggestion that it might ever get fixed!

Another heads-up, if you haven't noticed: Fiji now limits your import of grog to the standard personal allowance of 2.5 litres per person, with wine treated the same as spirits. We were over by a few litres and had to pay about Fj$10 / litre duty. And they wanted to count the bottles!

Just so's you know...

[theway]

Originally Posted by Harlequin

Yes, we mentioned this last month to the 2 Customs & Imm ladies who met us in Savusavu and they just smiled sweetly and said yes, it's normal. No suggestion that it might ever get fixed!



Another heads-up, if you haven't noticed: Fiji now limits your import of grog to the standard personal allowance of 2.5 litres per person, with wine treated the same as spirits. We were over by a few litres and had to pay about Fj$10 / litre duty. And they wanted to count the bottles!



Just so's you know...

Thanks for the confirmation...
I'm noticing a trend in all formalities and it suggests the actual process is less "formal" than described on any website or guide book. I usually make all the efforts I can to be up-to-date and follow the current rules to make my life easier. Most of the time it's a breeze, but it can be annoying jumping through invisible hoops because sometimes they distract from the actual ones met on arrival. Suppose it's all part of the game and if you wanna play... I'll show up, anchor, and call them on ch16 during working hours, and take it from there.

And thanks for the heads up on the litres. I usually keep the minimum.

[inchcailloch]

I had that problem a year ago. Due to the large amout of photo-ed documents they were requiring and needing to be sent by email I had to break it down and send them in numerous, smaller batches

[Rigger Bruce]

It's been a long weekend here so they may not have picked anything up yet. Fiji time

[Rigger Bruce]

Originally Posted by theway

Anyone else get a delivery failed message when emailing the C2C form to Fiji at this address (yachtsreport@frca.org.fj) it's the one from noonsite and on the Fijian customs site.

I got this auto reply:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

lcirikoverata@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


jdrega@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


alomalagi@frca.org.fj
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.


The following organization rejected your message: frcnse2016ex01.frca.org.fj.

We had a long weekend here so they may have not checked

[theway]

Just to follow up, I arrived Wednesday night, had to wait all of Thursday because the RSYC didn't answer the radio, with me and two other boats calling on 16, the Port Control even tried a couple times. On Friday they answered me around 10am, they rallied the appropriate people and made rounds to our boats (two trips, 1 person the first time 3 people the second. (One of the ladies did have the document I emailed, so it reached someone.) But by the time they were finished the day was ending, so had to wait till today (Monday) to finish and pay fees. We were given disembark papers on Friday though... Everyone was very friendly. I'd recommend to keep an eye on their skiff when they tie along side and use enough fenders, it left some of its orange paint behind on my hull. Also the total fees appear to be $248.50 FJD... paying today.

And all in all it's a pretty easy process, but way more than anywhere else I've been and does boarder on the verge of being very annoying, considering the simplicity and freedom I'm after while cruising.

[theway]

Update: I'm doing the run around now, and I'm not sure it's worth it for only a 10-14 day stay. But it's a new experience... (sigh) it seems to be a two day minimum from having officials on the boat and further paper processing... visiting multiple buildings (4-5)

[theway]

Update: I'm now staying longer in Fiji having seen the West coast and leaving Suva. I'd highly recommend not clearing in at Suva unless you're doing it for the experience like I was. Interesting place, but not very enjoyable for me.