ESTA Requirements for UK Citizen

[sxphil]

A good friend of mine is flying to Barbados from the UK to do his first cruise on the Azura on dec27th

 

He is getting conflicting stories regarding whether he needs an Esta

 

As Barbados isn't a US Island he thinks no but his Partner thinks they do

 

He isn't getting an answer from either P&O or US Websites so he asked me 

 

Whats the thoughts? 

[jeanlyon]

If he is flying direct from Barbados to the UK, the answer is no.  Where is Azura going.  If to the States, then yes.  But I don't think she goes there.

 

UPDATE, just checked itinerary.  No US ports.  And anyway, he can check requirements on Cruise Personaliser.

Edited November 26, 2019 by jeanlyon

[kerryincork]

If you have connecting flights through USA then you do need it.

[sxphil]

He doesn't stop on Mainland USA but does visit Tortola which is a US Virgin Island

[BrianI]

Tortola is on the British Virgin Islands, not US.

Brian

[sxphil]

Just now, BrianI said:

Tortola is on the British Virgin Islands, not US.

Brian

Well you learn something everyday

 

Thanks Brian guess BVI makes sense now lol

[wowzz]

From memory, none of the standard 7 and 14 day cruises in the Caribbean,  or the repositioning cruises go anywhere near a US port. The complexities and times delays in clearing US immigration  for a ship load of Brits is bad enough on the 35 day cruises, let alone the 14 day cruises. 

[peteukmcr]

The only issue is (and it’s very poor of P&O not to provide advice on this) is that if a flight to or returning from Barbados needed to touch down in the USA (or if the cruise ship needed to call into a US ‘island’) for any emergency, or the traveller themselves had to be diverted to the US for medical attention,  then an ESTA would be required. So strictly speaking, no, an ESTA is not required, but if travels plans had to change and ‘entry’ into the US was required, then an ESTA would be required and without it the traveller would be refused entry. 

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

The only issue is (and it’s very poor of P&O not to provide advice on this) is that if a flight to or returning from Barbados needed to touch down in the USA (or if the cruise ship needed to call into a US ‘island’) for any emergency, or the traveller themselves had to be diverted to the US for medical attention,  then an ESTA would be required. So strictly speaking, no, an ESTA is not required, but if travels plans had to change and ‘entry’ into the US was required, then an ESTA would be required and without it the traveller would be refused entry. 

But, to be fair, the same criticism can be applied to any airline flying to the Caribbean from Europe. No aircraft is going to be denied landing permission in the US because the passengers on board do not have ESTAs. 

A totally spurious argument.

[grapau27]

13 hours ago, sxphil said:

A good friend of mine is flying to Barbados from the UK to do his first cruise on the Azura on dec27th

 

He is getting conflicting stories regarding whether he needs an Esta

 

As Barbados isn't a US Island he thinks no but his Partner thinks they do

 

He isn't getting an answer from either P&O or US Websites so he asked me 

 

Whats the thoughts? 

An Esta costs around $11 on the US Homeland Security site and lasts 2 years.

It takes around 10 minutes online to get it so to have total peace of mind it is worth having.

We keep renewing ours every 2 years. 

[sxphil]

Esta is $14 and as he may travel to USA later next year he has applied for one TO COVER ALL BASES for his up and coming Dec Cruise

 

Thanks for all the helpful comments

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

But, to be fair, the same criticism can be applied to any airline flying to the Caribbean from Europe. No aircraft is going to be denied landing permission in the US because the passengers on board do not have ESTAs. 

A totally spurious argument.

And I imagine in such emergency situations that arrangements to issue ESTAs would be made for passengers without them.

[CCFC]

If it goes to St Thomas you need an ESTA, last time we went there, there were 400 people on the ship without an ESTA and they had to open up the internet café for free so they could apply.

[sxphil]

4 hours ago, CCFC said:

If it goes to St Thomas you need an ESTA, last time we went there, there were 400 people on the ship without an ESTA and they had to open up the internet café for free so they could apply.

That sounds ridiculous that they weren't pre warned but as I said my friend has been given conflicting advice 

[AlanCruise]

The only P&O cruise that seems to go to St Thomas (US Virgin Islands)  is N101on 3 Jan 2021 - and that goes to lots of other US ports as well. That one will require an ESTA.

 

The other caribean cruises only go to Tortola which as stated before is British Virgin Islands.

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, AlanCruise said:

The only P&O cruise that seems to go to St Thomas (US Virgin Islands)  is N101on 3 Jan 2021 - and that goes to lots of other US ports as well. That one will require an ESTA.

 

The other caribean cruises only go to Tortola which as stated before is British Virgin Islands.

That's the one we are on!

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, CCFC said:

If it goes to St Thomas you need an ESTA, last time we went there, there were 400 people on the ship without an ESTA and they had to open up the internet café for free so they could apply.

In the "old" days, ESTAs were approved immediately.  Nowadays it can take up to 3 days for approval, so that solution would now no longer work.