ESTA required for Alaska?

[lovetocruise1953]

I am sorry I am so confused, we are doing a cruise/train/stampede in Canada but also an Alaska cruise, The cruise is first.

I thought we would need an ESTA for Alaska but someone said just the eTA for Canada.

I'm inclined just to get the ESTA as well it's only $14 each, I have looked on .Gov links for USA and Canada but must be missing something.

Thanks x

[WestLakeGirl]

Who is the “someone.”  
what is the cruise itinerary

[lovetocruise1953]

3 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Who is the “someone.”  
what is the cruise itinerary

I can't remember who I read it somewhere.........

Vancouver, Inside Passage, Icy Strait Point, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, Inside Passage, Vancouver.

[d9704011]

You'll need both an ESTA and an eTA.

[lovetocruise1953]

That's what I thought but it's confusing, they say about not from land borders or cruise ships. I think we will just get them, they last for 2 yrs so we can use them again....

[KandMB]

Absolutely needed one when we cruised Alaska, many people were caught out thinking it wasn’t needed and were directed to computers in the cruise terminal to get one. 

[Fouremco]

This is probably the paragraph from the US CBP website that is causing some confusion:

 

Finally, if you are a citizen of a VWP country, and you are traveling by land to the United States you DO NOT have to apply for ESTA. If you are coming to the United States by air or sea, you DO have to apply for ESTA, and it MUST be approved before boarding the ship. Although, it is not required for entry, but an approved ESTA will be required for re-entering the United States as a cruise ship passenger.

You would not need an ESTA if you were to drive to the US from Canada, as the Canadian eTA would suffice, but as you wish to cruise to the US, you must have an ESTA.

 

Finally, if you were to drive to the US and while there you were to go on a cruise that returned to the US, you would need an ESTA for re-entry. 

 

 

 

[Cruise Junky]

You need an ESTA for the US and an ETA for Canada. 

[Chrissi3010]

I can also confirm that you need both. We did the same trip a few years ago, a few days to Vancouver first, then embarked the ship in Vanvouver where we already had to go through US customs and show ESTA, passport etc.

[Provence55always]

eTA for Canada is good for 5 years.