Meeting Crew in the Bahamas

[billknny]

Has anybody have real world experience with having crew meet them in the Bahamas for outbound travel?

We will be having two crew members meet us in the Bahamas and traveling with us back to the US.

Is there any easy, legal, way to avoid having them get into country without having return airline tickets in hand? (Have you tried to buy a fully refundable airline ticket these days?)

I am hoping that having them bring a copy of cruising permit will suffice. Unfortunately, hope rarely suffices as a plan...

If anybody has tried to get an official answer--through official sources--in the Bahamas for something a bit out of the ordinary you will understand why I am asking here too!

Thanks...

[Lowcountry]

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ns-200807.html

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Lowcountry

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ns-200807.html

Thanks for the link... I guess I can read my own summary of what I know there

[Lowcountry]

Sorry, wasn't paying attention to user names. To specifically answer your question: Just forward a copy of the cruising permit to your inbound crew, along with the boat's location. Period.
I flew two crew into Nassau from different states in Jan 2017 to help me sail back to South Carolina. I had texted each of them a photo of my cruising permit, and of course gave them the location of the marina where I was berthed. That's it. Both men had one-way tickets, and neither of them had any difficulty at all. Your mileage may vary depending on location/official, but you asked for real-world experience and this was mine.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Lowcountry

Sorry, wasn't paying attention to user names. To specifically answer your question: Just forward a copy of the cruising permit to your inbound crew, along with the boat's location. Period.
I flew two crew into Nassau from different states in Jan 2017 to help me sail back to South Carolina. I had texted each of them a photo of my cruising permit, and of course gave them the location of the marina where I was berthed. That's it. Both men had one-way tickets, and neither of them had any difficulty at all. Your mileage may vary depending on location/official, but you asked for real-world experience and this was mine.

Thanks LowCountry...

That was what we did. It went smoothly. In fact, nobody even asked about a return ticket or looked at the cruising permit...

Its been my experience in every country I have visited that immigration officials do not make a fuss over minor technical issues for people who otherwise "look" ok.