Going through US immigration San Francisco

[Nikkipink]

I am considering a Princess cruise flying from the UK to Vancouver and then calling at Victoria BC, San Francisco and finally LA before flying back to the UK from LA.

 

As San Francisco is the first port in the USA I would go through US immigration there and I wonder if anyone can share any experiences please? Is immigration done on the ship or ashore? If you are on a Princess excursion do you go off earlier to go through immigration? Would this be advisable to enable me to spend the most time ashore in San Francisco. Thanks for any info.

[saint_em]

We did an Alaska cruise from Vancouver (we are British and flew directly to Vancouver), and I don't think we went through US immigration anywhere, apart from when we crossed the border on our trip from Skagway up in to the Yukon, but that was on the road at the border, not at the port.

 

The only thing I can think of is if we did it when we boarded in Vancouver, but if we did it was incredibly straightforward as neither of us can remember it!

 

I am sorry I can't be more definite, but I don't think I would worry too much about it.

[Nikkipink]

Thanks for responding - if you can't remember much then that sounds promising.

[CruiserBruce]

You will complete US Immigration and Customs as you board in Vancouver. This is called "pre-clearance" and is done for cruises departing out of Vancouver for any US port, including those in Alaska. It is a rare feature, perhaps done only in the Port of Vancouver. It is done for US bound flights from about 15 foreign airports.

[Nikkipink]

That sounds great, many thanks.

[Lucy Jane]

All immigration has to be finished before anyone is let off ship - so your tour will start when ship is cleared

 

 

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[caribill]

You will complete US Immigration and Customs as you board in Vancouver. This is called "pre-clearance" and is done for cruises departing out of Vancouver for any US port, including those in Alaska. It is a rare feature, perhaps done only in the Port of Vancouver.

 

This will not apply to the OP's cruise as the ship will stop at Victoria, BC and thus still be in Canada.

 

Unless there is some pre-clearance done when re-boarding in Victoria, immigration will need to be done at the first USA port.

[Nikkipink]

This will not apply to the OP's cruise as the ship will stop at Victoria, BC and thus still be in Canada.

 

Unless there is some pre-clearance done when re-boarding in Victoria, immigration will need to be done at the first USA port.

 

That's interesting. I found out from someone who had been on a Princess cruise from Vancouver (but to Alaska) that they went through US immigration in Vancouver when they got on the ship. At the ports therafter there was just the usual security but no immigration / customs.

[martincath]

What Caribill said is 100% correct - we've experienced exactly this on a short coastal that only stopped in Victoria then ended in SF. The legislation that allows US preclearance to happen in Canada has a requirement that travel to the US happens directly afterward.

 

While Victoria does have CBP officers stationed (to preclear folks using the Clipper ferry to Seattle), there aren't anywhere near as many as there are in Vancouver which has year-round Amtrak and airport preclearance, plus cruise season at the pier - I've never even heard of any cruise vessel doing preclearance in Victoria although it's in theory legally-possible.

 

I can also confirm that SF is a pretty slow port to do immigration in - very few desks available, so the max speed they can process you is very limited. We were doing a walk-off so among the first to leave, delays weren't bad for us, but I heard later and on other occasions since that it can be 2-3 hours to get the last folks cleared at Pier 27.

 

Princess will possibly prioritise their own excursion pax (and high status people) since this is a port of call for you, not the terminus of the cruise. If there's a tolerably-priced early Princess excursion it certainly won't do any harm, and might be a great deal of help, to booking it so you can score an early slot if they are releasing people in groups rather than a simple free-for-all at the gangplank.

 

Having only disembarked at the end (where time slots are the norm already) or as a port in-between 2 US ones (i.e. no immigration) I can't say that Princess definitely will or won't organise groups of people from personal experience, sorry - but we always plan for the worst case (i.e. forced into groups) and if it turns out not to be the case, just make sure you are waiting near the exit EARLY. Personally I'd be up to watch the ship pass under the Golden Gate bridge, then head right for the gangplank!

[Nikkipink]

Thanks very much for all that information. I think a Princess excursion is the way to go for early disembarkation in San Francisco.

[sjcivilady]

When you get into the terminal in SF, the line is separate for non-US, and that line was much shorter. (The two times I disembarked last year, anyway.)

[Cruise Raider]

I am considering a Princess cruise flying from the UK to Vancouver and then calling at Victoria BC, San Francisco and finally LA before flying back to the UK from LA.

 

As San Francisco is the first port in the USA I would go through US immigration there and I wonder if anyone can share any experiences please? Is immigration done on the ship or ashore? If you are on a Princess excursion do you go off earlier to go through immigration? Would this be advisable to enable me to spend the most time ashore in San Francisco. Thanks for any info.

 

It sounds like your cruise ends in LA with a stop in Victoria before re-entering the US, if I am interpreting this correctly.

If so, we've been in this situation several times. When this has been the scenario, we've gone through immigration on the ship in the morning of the port of re-entry, in your case, it will be in San Francisco. The immigration officers come on board and set up a station somewhere on the ship or in the port right as you are disembarking for the day. You are given a place and time to meet. For US citizens, there will be a separate line than those that are non-US. We've never had to wait for every single passenger to go through immigration before getting off the ship, though. We usually like to wait anyway, but passengers were allowed to leave once they've been processed by the immigration officers. It is nearly almost quick and painless with one exception .. that was in New Orleans.

 

You will go through customs when you disembark in LA but they seem to be doing that a lot differently now. I don't recall ever doing that but they might have a behind the scenes process in place for that now.