Dui and Alaskan cruise

[Sunshine 12]

For years I stressed over whether or not to do an Alaskan cruise because of a dui conviction from 2009. Fast forward to September 2023, I did a closed loop cruise out of Seattle

from pier 66 and had no problems. I did not get off in Canada because I didn’t want any possible issues and no one ever said anything or approached me From customs. Not a word. 

 

just wanted to share in case you were wondering how others have fared through this situation. 
 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Sunshine 12

[d9704011]

That's good you did not have a problem.  It's irrelevant whether you got off the ship in Canada; the problem would have arisen when the ship cleared Canadian immigration.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Sunshine 12 said:

For years I stressed over whether or not to do an Alaskan cruise because of a dui conviction from 2009. Fast forward to September 2023, I did a closed loop cruise out of Seattle

from pier 66 and had no problems. I did not get off in Canada because I didn’t want any possible issues and no one ever said anything or approached me From customs. Not a word. 

 

just wanted to share in case you were wondering how others have fared through this situation. 
 

 

 

As has been discussed many times regarding this subject, the cruise lines to not have access to the Criminal Record Database, so have no way of knowing that you are ineligible to enter Canada. Therefore, the cruise lines have no information to deny you boarding.

 

On departure from the last US port, the ship sends the Crew/Pax Manifest to Canadian Border Services, who review prior to the ship arriving. When Canadian Border Service are concerned with specific individuals, the ship is requested to deny shore leave and may also be requested to have pax meet with Border Services. If you have a serious criminal conviction, such as Impaired Driving, you are ineligible to enter Canada, so are at the discretion of the Officer(s) reviewing the manifest and also those present if an interview is required. Your personal experience this time could be different to others and also any subsequent visits you make.

 

If they request a meeting, you have 3 potential outcomes:

 - Being permitted ashore

 - Being denied shore leave

 - Being removed from the vessel in restraints and deported

 

As per the previous reply, not going ashore is irrelevant, as you have already entered Canada by being aboard the ship. 

[Sunshine 12]

I was just conveying my experience to those to

who might be wondering what others have experienced. I have seen these same

Responses on others post from

people who have not gone through this experience themselves. This will be my last post on this subject. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Sunshine 12

[karatemom2]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It was thoughtful of you to provide first hand information as this is something that does come up and it can be hard for people to ask questions here about it. We have a family friend who traveled with us on a cruise to Alaska several years ago for the first time and we had no knowledge of this issue. He had a DUI as a juvenile from a number of years prior - a foolish mistake as a young person that he deeply regrets. He wasn't anywhere near over the legal limit, but because he was under 21 any registered level of alcohol, even very minimal, was a violation. He paid dearly and learned a valuable lesson. Fast forward over 5 years later and he was going to cruise with us and got a call from someone in Canadian immigration advising him of this issue and interviewing him over the phone about the circumstances. He was told at the time it should not prohibit him going on the trip, but it could possibly flag him for not being able to get off the ship in Victoria. However, he was also advised that because it had been over 5 years and his record was otherwise clean, they might overlook it. As it turns out, he had no problem either getting on the ship or going off the ship in Victoria and has traveled on three subsequent Alaska trips without issue. So there does appear to be some leniency if time has passed and your record remains clean as your case also illustrates. It was kind of you to share. I know when we first found out, the first place I came to try to get information was these boards and I so appreciated the people who, first of all, were kind about my inquiry, and second of all, were able to reassure me with their real life experience. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by karatemom2