Anyone with an ESTA Visa - what did you upload for the online check in?

[Girl of the South]

If Disney is planning to sail a giant ship around Asia, they are going to have to get their IT up and running to recognize non-Roman alphabets like Thai and Chinese and Korean.

The thing is (and I appreciate everyone's help and dealing with my frustration) if I hadn't booked DCL transportation, we would not be able to complete the online booking and arrive at the Port with no PAT time and no Boarding Group. I think that's what the CM meant arriving 90 minutes before the ship sailed. Since (as a PP mentioned) she will have to present her ESTA to Disney (even though she is already IN the country) it seems to me the check in program could accept the photo (after all, the computer is NOT an Immigration officer), so we can complete the check in, and then have little note that says "You will need to present this document at the Port prior to boarding". I just get "This isn't showing the full page".

We can use the Google Photo Translate at the port. I saw people from Thailand communicating in this way (via their cell phones) at Immigration in Switzerland recently.

Thanks again, all!

(PS. My friends printer refused to print the English version - probably a 'driver' issue - but I can't really troubleshoot it for her. She does have it in English on her cell phone. Maybe I can get it off her phone and into the online check in. My iPhone will NOT correctly show photos for online check in so I have to use DuckDuckGo as a browser on my phone to have the option to load it. Website will show the photo but the part that says "Accept" is cropped. Maybe it's some kind of Apple security thing with Safari? No idea.)

 

[Flossbolna]

If Disney is planning to sail a giant ship around Asia, they are going to have to get their IT up and running to recognize non-Roman alphabets like Thai and Chinese and Korean.

The thing is (and I appreciate everyone's help and dealing with my frustration) if I hadn't booked DCL transportation, we would not be able to complete the online booking and arrive at the Port with no PAT time and no Boarding Group. I think that's what the CM meant arriving 90 minutes before the ship sailed. Since (as a PP mentioned) she will have to present her ESTA to Disney (even though she is already IN the country) it seems to me the check in program could accept the photo (after all, the computer is NOT an Immigration officer), so we can complete the check in, and then have little note that says "You will need to present this document at the Port prior to boarding". I just get "This isn't showing the full page".

We can use the Google Photo Translate at the port. I saw people from Thailand communicating in this way (via their cell phones) at Immigration in Switzerland recently.

Thanks again, all!

(PS. My friends printer refused to print the English version - probably a 'driver' issue - but I can't really troubleshoot it for her. She does have it in English on her cell phone. Maybe I can get it off her phone and into the online check in. My iPhone will NOT correctly show photos for online check in so I have to use DuckDuckGo as a browser on my phone to have the option to load it. Website will show the photo but the part that says "Accept" is cropped. Maybe it's some kind of Apple security thing with Safari? No idea.)

OMG!!! This sounds absurd and horrible! Can your friend save it as a pdf and email you the pdf?

 

[Girl of the South]

A THANKSGIVING MIRACLE??? My Swiss friend somehow managed to send me . . . her Approval for the ESTA in English. But it says at the top "Official ESTA Application Website and I was unable to save it as a PDF. Only as a webpage or HTML or a Text File. So, I opened it on my iPhone and took a screen cap of the first page (there are 6 pages) and emailed THAT back to the desktop Mac and uploaded THAT to the Disney Online check in and it took it! But said "Pending approval". The errors I had gotten previously said:

Caution: It looks like this photos may not meet the guidelines below. You can either upload another photo or use the sae button below to submit this one for review (which I tried and did not work).

Expected document has not been provided by the guest.
Full document not visible in photo.

MAYBE it could say "We need this to be in English"?

Needless to say, it has been a huge frustrating mess and NO ONE at DCL could just tell me that? She even had to tell me that my friend needed an ESTA visa. Less than 2 weeks before the cruise, I would hope we were at least that far . . . They should really have a division for International Sailors! I kept thinking there was something wrong with the photo - pixels, file name, etc.

Anyway, maybe this thread will help someone else down the line and THANK YOU to everyone who helped and just "listened". DCL should be paying all of us for answering questions on their behalf!!

Thankful for this thread!

 

[Vala]

I am from Germany and sailed last month. My document was in English, I had screencapped. No error, got PAT and everything. 3 days before sailing I suddenly got a message that there was a problem with the ESTA - they let it go through when I took a picture of the first page with part of the carpet showing. I guess maybe the screencap was too perfect or something.

 

[Girl of the South]

So, the ScreenCap is the one that they said had a problem? And when you took a photo (with carpet) it went through OK? Wow. My friend sent me a photo of her face that was perfect. Plain background, shoulders, etc. And THAT was rejected. I found a photo of her on the last cruise we took with all sorts of things going on in the background. Cropped her face. And THAT went through! Because there really isn't a 'rhyme or reason' it's so stressful. Thanks for letting me know the 'carpet trick!"!

When you go to the port, did you have to go 'upstairs' as a PP did? Because of the foreign passport? Just trying to be prepared. I wonder if other ships are as . . . . problematic?

Thanks for your help!

So THIS photo was rejected. Didn't even get accepted for further scrutiny. And I tried many different sizes and changed it to a JPEG, etc.



But THIS one was accepted straight away and is now in our file, as is!

 

[Flossbolna]

A THANKSGIVING MIRACLE??? My Swiss friend somehow managed to send me . . . her Approval for the ESTA in English. But it says at the top "Official ESTA Application Website and I was unable to save it as a PDF. Only as a webpage or HTML or a Text File. So, I opened it on my iPhone and took a screen cap of the first page (there are 6 pages) and emailed THAT back to the desktop Mac and uploaded THAT to the Disney Online check in and it took it! But said "Pending approval". The errors I had gotten previously said:

Caution: It looks like this photos may not meet the guidelines below. You can either upload another photo or use the sae button below to submit this one for review (which I tried and did not work).

Expected document has not been provided by the guest.
Full document not visible in photo.

MAYBE it could say "We need this to be in English"?

Needless to say, it has been a huge frustrating mess and NO ONE at DCL could just tell me that? She even had to tell me that my friend needed an ESTA visa. Less than 2 weeks before the cruise, I would hope we were at least that far . . . They should really have a division for International Sailors! I kept thinking there was something wrong with the photo - pixels, file name, etc.

Anyway, maybe this thread will help someone else down the line and THANK YOU to everyone who helped and just "listened". DCL should be paying all of us for answering questions on their behalf!!

Thankful for this thread!

I am so happy that you got it into the system! Make sure she still brings the printout of the ESTA to the port. Who knows what hoops they still are going to come up with.

I am very glad that our next sailing is just in Europe so I won’t have to deal with any ESTAs.

I think you should send an email to DCL after the cruise to let them know how ridiculous there „only online check in“ process is, if you are willing to take the time!

 

[Girl of the South]

I would LOVE to share my . . . thoughts . . with DCL but not sure where to email or write. Believe it or not, in life, I have had much more luck with sending a letter, because it stands out. I do have any address for DCL in Celebration, FL, but not sure WHO to write. But yes, I would like to. Because they are going to lose people if they don't. I see you like sea days! Me, too. I am probably not getting off the ship. MAYBE in Jamaica for a little walk . . . and a 'patty'?

 

[Flossbolna]

I would LOVE to share my . . . thoughts . . with DCL but not sure where to email or write. Believe it or not, in life, I have had much more luck with sending a letter, because it stands out. I do have any address for DCL in Celebration, FL, but not sure WHO to write. But yes, I would like to. Because they are going to lose people if they don't. I see you like sea days! Me, too. I am probably not getting off the ship. MAYBE in Jamaica for a little walk . . . and a 'patty'?

I will get you a name and physical address!

Funny that you mention my sea days line! It’s got a long story!! The DISboards used to run on a different software and way back then there was a „tag fairy“. If you were lucky you could get a tag line that was written in a color. Most of the time it was a quote of something you had written. I was so excited when I got one while I was writing my trip report about our 2014 Panama Canal cruise. Lots of sea days!!

Then the new software came and the tag fairy left to everyone‘s disappointment. But I loved my tag and have kept it ever since as you can just add it yourself now…

 

[Vala]

So, the ScreenCap is the one that they said had a problem? And when you took a photo (with carpet) it went through OK? Wow. My friend sent me a photo of her face that was perfect. Plain background, shoulders, etc. And THAT was rejected. I found a photo of her on the last cruise we took with all sorts of things going on in the background. Cropped her face. And THAT went through! Because there really isn't a 'rhyme or reason' it's so stressful. Thanks for letting me know the 'carpet trick!"!

When you go to the port, did you have to go 'upstairs' as a PP did? Because of the foreign passport? Just trying to be prepared. I wonder if other ships are as . . . . problematic?

Thanks for your help!

So THIS photo was rejected. Didn't even get accepted for further scrutiny. And I tried many different sizes and changed it to a JPEG, etc.

View attachment 721056

But THIS one was accepted straight away and is now in our file, as is!

View attachment 721057

Yes and yes. Screencap was refused (after initially been okay'ed), picture with Carpet okay.

Same issue with picture on my side, the one I have on my drivers license was rejected. A selfie of me in the kitchen looking sleepy and stupid was okay.

No, I didn't have to go upstairs. They barely glanced at my passport and only checked the first page of the paper ESTA was the one I hd submitted a pic of.