US IMMIGRATION ON ALASKA CRUISES

[FoxtrotTango]

Hello All,

 

Could anyone tell me how US immigration works on Alaskan cruises out of Vancouver, please?

 

We are non-US citizens (Brit's coming in with ESTAs), and will be boarding in Vancouver (Canada), Day 1 at sea (Outside Passage), then first port Wrangell (USA)...then last port Victoria (back to Canada), before final disembarkation in Seattle (USA again!). 

 

So: will that be one lot of formalities, or two?

 

I'm hoping that this is done on board Regatta (as we've experienced on some previous cruises in other ports), but my cabin mate is stressing about an early morning excursion that we booked. A few years ago, we had a horrendous wait of nearly 4 hours at Miami airport before getting through immigration - and she is now worried about this. (I should perhaps stress that neither of us is 'dodgy', it was just an enormous queue, after several planes landed within minutes of each other!).

 

Any information/soothing words would be very much appreciated!

 

Our tickets arrived yesterday, so we feel we are really on countdown now!

 

Best Wishes,

 

     Fiona 

[lj77346]

Unless procedures changed in the last year or two, at the port in Vancouver you go through Canadian immigration (to leave Canada) and then you go to the next area in the terminal where you go through US immigration for the Alaska segment of the cruise.  Theoretically, after you go through US immigration and board the ship, you are considered to have left Canada.  I don't recall any kind of formal immigration check stopping at Victoria prior to going to Seattle.

[FoxtrotTango]

Thank you for coming back so quickly: that makes complete sense to me - I couldn't quite get my head around the likely procedure!

 

I'm sure my friend will be reassured by this,

 

Regards,

 

     Fiona

[martincath]

That's not actually correct: you will NOT see Canadian immigration at all when boarding - only US CBP for Preclearance. Even after that you have not technically left Canadian soil - if you misbehave you'll be handed over to Canadian authorities! - but since we share all immigration and criminal data, as soon as you 'enter' the US you are automatically 'leaving' Canada without needing to do anything to process that. It's been this way for longer than I've lived here, Preclearance started decades ago. I can only assume that the Security step is being confused with Canadian immigration, as the only time CBSA get involved at Canada Place is when people ENTER Canada, i.e when they DISembark the ship, and even then only if Vancouver is the Port of Entry.

 

The crux is that since you will be precleared into the US, there's no need to worry about an early-morning excursion on your first US port OP. When you come back, since Victoria is indeed your 'port of entry' to Canada THAT is where you will see CBSA if necessary. For most folks though, you won't need to interact face-to-face with CBSA at all - you complete the paperwork onboard, hand it in at reception, and CBSA process everyone before you arrive at Victoria. Individuals who do not clear the process are usually singled out with an onboard announcement along the lines of "Passengers X,Y,Z report to {insert location on board here]" and only those folks get a grilling.

 

Since you start in Vancouver, everyone aboard will have already been cleared for entry to Canada before the cruise so Victoria will be a formality for everyone (except Canadian residents - they always want to check our forms carefully in case we owe Duty on purchases made onboard or in Alaska!) The fact the ship continues to Seattle does mean you can expect to see US CBP at Seattle, but only for Customs not Immigration. You were Precleared in Vancouver so you are allowed to be in the US, and as tourists even if you have bought a ton of Duty Free stuff onboard you won't owe the US any Duty - it's primarily the US residents they'll be checking to ensure they are not over their Duty Free limits.

You can probably expect to fill out a form and hand it over at the pier but basically to keep walking without the CBP agent even asking you any questions - that's what's happened to us every time we've cruised into Seattle after preclearing in Vancouver. Recently the US relaxed those rules further, so it's common now for no Customs forms to be handed out onboard and simply rely on a verbal Declaration (as so few people are actually going over the Duty Free threshold - since Alaskan ports are in the US there's nothing to declare, US tax has been paid on whatever you buy already, which means it's often more expensive to issue everyone a form and process them than the amount of duty they collect on the handful of folks with big gambling wins/expensive onboard purchases. Often they just target that handful of passengers by asking cruise lines to inform on anyone who does spend/win large sums instead of bothering with forms).

 

So in short - you WILL see US CBP in Vancouver; you MAY see Canadian CBSA in Victoria (but it's very unlikely unless you got arrested in Alaska); you will PROBABLY see CBP again in Seattle but if you do at most you'll have to sign a form saying 'nothing to declare' then hand it to someone and they might not even make you do that.

 

NB: if you are flying in to Canada, you will also need a Canadian eTA in advance. You'll be processed by CBSA on entry at the airport, but you cannot get those on the spot - you'll be forbidden to board your flight without an existing eTA on file with your passport number. Only way around that is to be a Canadian Dual citizen (in which case you MUST use a valid Canadian passport for entry) or arrive in Canada by land or sea. We don't seem to care about pre-screening folks driving or boating here, just the flyers!

Edited May 1, 2019 by martincath

[FoxtrotTango]

Hello Martincath,

 

What a long and detailed reply: thank you so much for taking that time!

 

We already have our Canadian eTAs - and I absolutely promise not to give anyone any reason to arrest me - so I think all we now have to worry about is choosing what to pack?

 

We have 10 days in Canada before boarding, so expecting to pretty chilled by the time we board - and that process is sounding easier by the minute, so thank you (and lj77346 beforehand), for the 'information and soothing words' I asked for!

 

Regards,

 

   Fiona

 

 

[azam71209]

And don't forget that if you do one of the tours out of Skagway, you may venture into Canada and you will need your passport then. According to our driver, they don't always come aboard the bus and ask for it but they can.

[Mura]

Depending on where you will be in Canada, for a summer cruise I doubt you'll be freezing all that much!

 

Maybe if you go up to Baffin ...

 

Mura

[FoxtrotTango]

Thank you, azam71209 - useful tip! 

 

Regards,

 

    Fiona 

[FoxtrotTango]

Thanks, Mura...never did understand 'packing light', despite sometimes trying!  I'm told the trick in Alaska is 'layer, layer, layer'!