Post About The Us Direct In Vancouver And Being Denied Access To Ship

[hndmn4wf]

Well the cruising has started for Alaska now and thought it would be nice throughout this cruising season to help each other out, so everyone with that old DUI, etc will know what to expect.

 

 

Since a lot of people have been concerned about the US Direct in Vancouver (Canada) and being denied access into Canada (because of something on your record) to get on ship or into Canada, just thought it would be nice if it happened to you or not, if you could post it here to let others know what to expect.

 

What kind of problems did you incounter, if any?

 

Should we be worried about that old Dui, etc on our record when we come to Canada to get on ship?

 

What do you actually do when you get to the airport and use the US Direct to ship or going to airport from the ship?

 

Enquire minds want to know, please! No ones out to judge anyone here just thought you could help others that might have things to worry about theirselves.

 

Thank you

[hndmn4wf]

just thought I'd bump this up to see if anyone had any opinions.

 

Thanks

[misssrr]

My party of 10 relatives is going in 2 weeks. We are flying into Vancouver a couple of days early, so we are not participating in US Direct. One person has a DUI (3rd degree misdemeanor - no damage/wreck) 2 years old. We obtained a letter of permission from the cruise line for the person in question to board in Juneau and purchased a fully refundable airline ticket from Vancouver to Juneau for later in the afternoon if denied entry. Plans are to go through customs and if allowed entry, head to the airline ticket counter for a refund. If denied, the flight to Juneau is about 5 hours later. The relative would only miss one and half days of the cruise and , hey, Juneau's a pretty good place to wait !

 

Will report back what happens ..

[dforeigner]

Well the cruising has started for Alaska now and thought it would be nice throughout this cruising season to help each other out, so everyone with that old DUI, etc will know what to expect.

 

 

Since a lot of people have been concerned about the US Direct in Vancouver (Canada) and being denied access into Canada (because of something on your record) to get on ship or into Canada, just thought it would be nice if it happened to you or not, if you could post it here to let others know what to expect.

 

What kind of problems did you incounter, if any?

 

Should we be worried about that old Dui, etc on our record when we come to Canada to get on ship?

 

What do you actually do when you get to the airport and use the US Direct to ship or going to airport from the ship?

 

Enquire minds want to know, please! No ones out to judge anyone here just thought you could help others that might have things to worry about theirselves.

 

Thank you

 

Try these sites and hopefully you will get answers to your questions:

 

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/inadmissibility.html

 

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/conviction.html

 

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/faq-inadmissibility.html

 

I only wish the US had the same type of policy.

[vfb2girls]

We dealt with this issue several months ago when people were writing about being denied at the border and such. Well my husband had gotten into trouble way back about 23 years ago, was not a DUI, and we were really worried about this showing up when we crossed into Canada. He went in to our local FBI office and had his record run and lo and behold it is cleared. It seems after so many years the record is cleared, especially if the charges are considered minor offenses. But from my understanding a DUI is a big offense in Canada, it is considered a felony from what I am told so having a DUI on your record may pose a problem. Good luck to those who are dealing with this issue, I know it made for some very stressful times in our household.

[dforeigner]

We dealt with this issue several months ago when people were writing about being denied at the border and such. Well my husband had gotten into trouble way back about 23 years ago, was not a DUI, and we were really worried about this showing up when we crossed into Canada. He went in to our local FBI office and had his record run and lo and behold it is cleared. It seems after so many years the record is cleared, especially if the charges are considered minor offenses. But from my understanding a DUI is a big offense in Canada, it is considered a felony from what I am told so having a DUI on your record may pose a problem. Good luck to those who are dealing with this issue, I know it made for some very stressful times in our household.

 

FYI: Unless it was part of the pre-sentencing agreement, at least at the Federal level, criminal records are permanent. Now, there is always the possibility that a record was lost (both physically and in Cyberspace/intra-net in this case).

[gambit57]

Just back from the cruise. Will give you my experience. Hope it helps.

 

Land. Exit plane. We're all lost and looking at the signs. Airport is nice and funnels you up and down some stairs. Whether US Direct or not, we all go the same way.

 

Eventually, you hit that room with the giant wood bird hanging overhead and other native artwork. Very impressive.

 

Just past the room, there were about 6 kids in red shirts waiting to direct us. US Direct people got funneled to a waiting area to the left just past that room with the big bird. Non-US Direct people get going.

 

In the waiting area, you go up to the person at the podium and the check you off the list. You sit and wait. When there are a certain number of you, two guides lead you through the airport. One in front, one behind. Tight security I guess. Eventually, you go down some giant elevator and end up in a room downstairs somewhere. There's a customs person there. We just had one girl manning the "customs" booth. She just glanced at our passports. I dunno if she even had time to see the photos and see if they matched our faces. I went back and had her stamp them just so I could prove I went to Vancouver. Totally informal. No computers or other checking or records.

 

This last room is also where you finally meet the cruise reps. You board buses that are parked right outside the room. You're literally right next to the airplanes. You all board the buses and drive through the airport with all the other airport vehicles. Kinda cool. Some US Direct employee rides with you and eventually gets off at the end of the airport (we didn't even know she was on the bus until she popped up when the bus stopped to let her out). The employee literally sticks a seal on the bus door which is not to be broken until they let you off at your ship.

 

I was very impressed with how quick and easy it was. I was nervous cuz I never saw my luggage, but it showed up at my cabin just fine. Same with another party in my group who arrived later that day and also did US Direct.

[claud925]

Thanks, codex, for that very informative post. This is the information that, IMHO, is what cruisers from YVR are looking for.

 

Which cruiseline were you on? Did you make your advance US Direct reservations directly with the cruiseline, with the airline you flew, or did your TA make the arrangements?

 

Thanks for your post, and please let's hear from others, too.:)

[gambit57]

I went on Princess and had a TA. I booked the Princess Transfers through her. From what I gather (from talking to her, and later from talking to a Princess rep), she just booked the transfers with Princess and gave them our names. Princess automatically put us on the US Direct list since it was available on our trip. The only notice I had before the trip that I even had US Direct was that I got some little 1 page pamphlet about US Direct in my pre-cruise documents. Nothing showed online nor could my TA do anything but reassure me that everything would be fine cuz she went through the same process a year ago for her own Alaska trip.

 

No idea how it goes when you disembark in Vancouver.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I asked our customs officer if she was bored down here doing US Direct. She made it quite clear that she was glad to be down there doing US Direct and that it was a "zoo" upstairs in the regular customs normally. I know some people don't have too long a wait in customs, but from her response, if you can do US Direct, I highly recommend it. It was easier than the border check when driving from Mexico.

[PAISANO]

Thanks, codex, for that very informative post. This is the information that, IMHO, is what cruisers from YVR are looking for.

 

Which cruiseline were you on? Did you make your advance US Direct reservations directly with the cruiseline, with the airline you flew, or did your TA make the arrangements?

 

Thanks for your post, and please let's hear from others, too.:)

 

We also just got back. We cruised with RCI and purchased our tranfers the same time we purchased the cruise. US Direct is very simple.

 

We were given luggage tags in our booklet to place on our luggage.

They had our name, cabin number and ship name printed on them.

We placed them on the luggage before we got to the airport here in SFO.

We never saw our luggage till they were delivered to our room.

 

Just like codex57, we exited the plane and their were 5 or 6 people from RCI with signs directing us to the escalator up, then into a elevator where we went downstairs to a customs booth. There was only one gentleman who only glanced at my passport and said thank you. From there we were told to have a seat there in a fairly large size room where a young lady asked us our name then she checked our name off the list. Then we waited about 10 mins. till they directed us to a bus. That was it. You tear out your transfer voucher and hand it to the person collecting them and board the bus.

 

You don't have to ask to go US Direct. If you are not staying in Vancouver prior to your cruise, and arrive prior to 2:00 pm and have purchased thansfers through the cruiseline ............you will automatically

go through US Direct.

 

On the way back we flew out of Anchorage so we didn't have to worry about US Direct. Hope this helps, at least for anyone cruising with RCI.

I think all cruiselines are doing it the same way. I saw Celebrity cruiseline down there also.

[gambit57]

Saw RCI and Holland in that room down there, so Holland should work the same way too. But yeah, I believe all the ships do it basically the same way as it's really YVR's program.

[Bella930]

The most important thing is to make sure you put your ship luggage tags on your luggage before you check your bags at your home airport. If you don't have the tags on your bags you have to claim them in Vancouver and can't use US Direct.

[kehlx2]

We are booked to come into YVR a day early & go to a hotel we booked not the cruise line...will we just come into the airport & follow signs to customs? Then when done with that get a taxi to hotel? (OOPS we have to hunt for a our hotels shuttle every 30 minutes) In ready this I assume you all pretty much came in same day or had your hotel thru your cruiseline.

[meandmyguy]

What I have found out...

DUI in our household is 15 years old-level 5 (least)-per MANY emails with Canadian embassy: it is basically up to your border agent if you get in-there are no general guidelines ....so hope the border agent is in a good mood that day.

 

Per RCCL- in a memo dated May 23,2007 from Capt. Newhoff (sp?-commander of RCCL fleet)-if you have a DUI less than 10 years old or at any time have had a felony conviction you WILL NOT be allowed in. period.

 

I only found out about this issue on this board (no thanks to RCCL, my TA, or the passport agency-somebody could have given us a heads up).-hope this info. helps someone.

[misssrr]

Just returned from a round-trip out of Vancouver. We booked a hotel independently and went several days early. One member of our party had a DUI 2 years ago. The customs agent asked general questions about why we were coming to Vancouver. No mention of the DUI made. After clearing customs, we received a refund of the fully refundable ticket at the Alaska Airlines counter in the airport. No issue returning to the port/airport afterwards either.

[sea_u_onboard]

Just returned from a round-trip out of Vancouver. We booked a hotel independently and went several days early. One member of our party had a DUI 2 years ago. The customs agent asked general questions about why we were coming to Vancouver. No mention of the DUI made. After clearing customs, we received a refund of the fully refundable ticket at the Alaska Airlines counter in the airport. No issue returning to the port/airport afterwards either.

Was this the guy that you had a ticket to send him on to Juneau if you had to?

[misssrr]

Yes, we bought a refundable one-wayticket from YVR to Juneau and had a letter to board in Juneau. No trouble boarding the ship in Vancouver at the pier. Just notified the front desk that he had boarded in Vancouver once he was on the ship.

[sea_u_onboard]

I thought that was the situation. I'm glad it all worked out.

[gambit57]

Glad it all worked out. I'm afraid he might not have been able to board the ship in Juneau had he had problems in Vancouver. Something about the Jones Act or one of those ancient set of laws about being in a foreign port.

[odblnt]

For those following the thread, here is the YVR link talking about the program: http://yvr.ca/guide/around/embarkation/

 

From what codex57 and paisano are reporting, it all tracks.

 

Pete

[sea_u_onboard]

Glad it all worked out. I'm afraid he might not have been able to board the ship in Juneau had he had problems in Vancouver. Something about the Jones Act or one of those ancient set of laws about being in a foreign port.

I tried to google Jones Act but got a bunch of stuff that didn't pertain. The way I understand it is if the ship LEFT a US port and went to another US port - such is the case with some ships that depart from a US port and the first stop is Key West - passengers can not board in Key West. The ship has to make a stop in a foreign port before someone can board in a US port. So if the ship left the US - went to Cozumel and then Key West passengers could board there.

 

With this trip they were leaving from a foreign port (Vancouver) so US law doesn't apply.

 

Again - this is the way I understand it and I could be totally wrong.

[hndmn4wf]

So Is There Anyone Else Out There That Would Like To Tell Us If You Did Or Did'nt Have Problems Getting Into Vancouver For Your Cruise Because Of Something On Your Record.

 

Like I Said None Of Us Are Here To Judge. We Just Want To Know What To Expect And If We Should Even Try To Get A Cruise Out Of Vancouver.

 

Thanks!

[8th math]

We just got back last week. We left from Vancouver and there were people in our group who could have had problems. When we got to the airport we went to the customs lines because we got there the day before. They asked why we were there and when we were leaving. Everyone's passports were scanned and handed back. There were no problems and I didn't notice anyone from other lines having problems either. I'm going to tell you not to worry. I nearly went crazy worrying about it and it was for nothing. Enjoy your trip.

[sharp_cruiser]

Meandmyguy:

 

how did you contact the embassy?

[meandmyguy]

via email. I looked them up on the internet and chose the one located in D.C. since it was the closest one to me (I am on the East Coast). I believe there is also one in Seattle and some other areas. Just FYI: they weren't extremely helpful-they just reiterate the same info you can find on the Canadian website on immigration.