HELP! EBTA cruisers, didn't leave the country?

[Ravenne]

I wish Disney (in general) was more responsive on social media, but they are terrible at it. DCL in particular does not respond at all. Still, it's necessary to get this out there. (And sad that it needs to be resorted to social media blasting.) I seriously hope this gets resolved for you quickly.

Another thing I couldn't help but wonder is, I'm impressed that you got an email notification about this situation. As US citizens, I'm not sure we would, and if we did, I'm not sure we'd even read it much less take action. There are SO MANY scams for that. I get calls and spam emails about things involving gov't action all the time. What tipped you off that it was authentic?

 

[Karin1984]

I am REALLY confused!!! Why is this just being brought up now when the cruise was May 12 - 25th? Are these people on their cruise or, is it now coming to light because they are nearing a certain number of days since they actually left the US?

As awful as this is, this entire time I was thinking these people were on their cruise right now and feeling awful about how could they enjoy themselves with this hanging over their heads? I'm sorry it's happened but thankful they (appear) to not still be on their cruise.

Most Europeans have a 90-day 'visa', with a pre-stay in the US, most people will now near the end of this 90 day period.
This is only an issue on Transatlantic Eastbound routes, cruisers on other routes do not have to worry.

 

[olafLover]

I am REALLY confused!!! Why is this just being brought up now when the cruise was May 12 - 25th? Are these people on their cruise or, is it now coming to light because they are nearing a certain number of days since they actually left the US?

As awful as this is, this entire time I was thinking these people were on their cruise right now and feeling awful about how could they enjoy themselves with this hanging over their heads? I'm sorry it's happened but thankful they (appear) to not still be on their cruise.

This only now came up because it's now (as in, today!) 90 days since we entered the US, so we got an e-mail 10 days ago stating we had 10 days left to leave. Otherwise we wouldn't have known our exit wasn't handled correctly. Some people didn't get this e-mail however! So it's mostly the power of social media (cruise group on the site which must not be named in the case) it's know for most people. I also brought it up in the cruise meet here, nut haven't gotten a response, so I don't think anybody was effected.

I'm glad you think it's less bad now, but it actually is really spoiling my memory of the cruise and taking away my wish to cruise again

I wish Disney (in general) was more responsive on social media, but they are terrible at it. DCL in particular does not respond at all. Still, it's necessary to get this out there. (And sad that it needs to be resorted to social media blasting.) I seriously hope this gets resolved for you quickly.

Another thing I couldn't help but wonder is, I'm impressed that you got an email notification about this situation. As US citizens, I'm not sure we would, and if we did, I'm not sure we'd even read it much less take action. There are SO MANY scams for that. I get calls and spam emails about things involving gov't action all the time. What tipped you off that it was authentic?

Well, that was luck of the draw that one cruiser paid attention and interpreted the e-mail correctly! My husband and I also received it, but it happend to coincide with the end of our ESTA (it's valid for 2 years, we've done 3 trips with the same ESTA), so we thought that was what the e-mail was for and didn't click any link. Then it was brought to our attention in our cruise group. But like I said, some people never got the e-mail (even though they also don't have a departure date)! That why it's so worrying Disney isn't actively making people aware this has happened. It's a really easy check if you're effected or not and the consequences are huge!

 

[olafLover]

I just got my proof from DCL (after my request) we were on the cruise. I send it to my husband and his response was, we could so easily forge this. But yes, we have to proof, will send it in and wait.

I also asked how many non-US and how many Europeans were on the cruise (to get a sense of the scale of this) and she was unable to provide that information

 

[Lisa F]

I just got my proof from DCL (after my request) we were on the cruise. I send it to my husband and his response was, we could so easily forge this. But yes, we have to proof, will send it in and wait.

I also asked how many non-US and how many Europeans were on the cruise (to get a sense of the scale of this) and she was unable to provide that information

You could forge it but I would not be surprised if they verify the document once they have it.

 

[olafLover]

You could forge it but I would not be surprised if they verify the document once they have it.

Yes, but if they verify, then why not just proces the passenger list (like they should have two months ago...)

 

[Lisa F]

Yes, but if they verify, then why not just proces the passenger list (like they should have two months ago...)

I'm sure that there is a process and now they have to take individual appeals so there is a different process.

I once asked my father to return my license plates in person when I left NYS. I got a notice that my license was being suspended for non-return of license plates. When I looked into it I discovered that they were running a longer time to process plates than you had to return them. Mine was "in the system" somewhere but it didn't matter that it was logged into the system, it had to be fully processed by a certain date, which was BEFORE the time it would take to actually process it.

I did manage to find the right supervisor who could override this but bureaucracies make no sense. I wonder how many other people had their license suspended because the time to process exceeded the time that you had in which to return their plates? It was very stressful because I am a single working mother and had no other way to get around.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just to put this into perspective and why it so serious, especially for the European children, teenagers and young adults who were on the cruise.

Once you have an over stay on a Visa, the Tourist Visa ESTA, work visa or student visa, you will denied entry int USA for the rest of your life.

So what you say, there are other places to go on holiday.

Ah but it just does not mean about not visiting Disney Parks.

College students get a 3 months summer work visa called a J1. Huge amounts of European students travel to USA every summer for work experience. Any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise will not be eligible for the J1 summer work in America when they are in college in 10 years time.

If any European child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise becomes an elite athlete and has the opportunity to train in USA, they will not be allowed to enter the USA. If the Olympics is hosted in an America city, and they are chosen to represent their country, they will not be allowed to go to the Olympics.

There are huge amounts of American companies and corporations who have offices and branches or subsidiaries in Europe.
Example 1
Walmart owns the grocery store chain called ASDA in the UK. ASDA UK sends employees to the annual Walmart shareholders and Associates event in America. In 20 years time if any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise who becomes an ASDA manager they will not be able to attend annual Walmart shareholders and Associates event in America.

Example 2
Facebook, Google, Paypal are 3 of the most high profile USA companies who have European offices. In 20 years time if any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise becomes an employee of these or any other USA company based in Europe, they will not be able to transfer to a branch based in the USA.

These are just a few examples of how much this "slight " oversight could have some very devastating effects in 10, 20, 30 years time

 

[olafLover]

Just to put this into perspective and why it so serious, especially for the European children, teenagers and young adults who were on the cruise.

Once you have an over stay on a Visa, the Tourist Visa ESTA, work visa or student visa, you will denied entry int USA for the rest of your life.

So what you say, there are other places to go on holiday.

Ah but it just does not mean about not visiting Disney Parks.

College students get a 3 months summer work visa called a J1. Huge amounts of European students travel to USA every summer for work experience. Any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise will not be eligible for the J1 summer work in America when they are in college in 10 years time.

If any European child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise becomes an elite athlete and has the opportunity to train in USA, they will not be allowed to enter the USA. If the Olympics is hosted in an America city, and they are chosen to represent their country, they will not be allowed to go to the Olympics.

There are huge amounts of American companies and corporations who have offices and branches or subsidiaries in Europe.
Example 1
Walmart owns the grocery store chain called ASDA in the UK. ASDA UK sends employees to the annual Walmart shareholders and Associates event in America. In 20 years time if any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise who becomes an ASDA manager they will not be able to attend annual Walmart shareholders and Associates event in America.

Example 2
Facebook, Google, Paypal are 3 of the most high profile USA companies who have European offices. In 20 years time if any child who now has an over stay due to this issue with the Disney cruise becomes an employee of these or any other USA company based in Europe, they will not be able to transfer to a branch based in the USA.

These are just a few examples of how much this "slight " oversight could have some very devastating effects in 10, 20, 30 years time

But also now, my husband applied for a job at Disney after the cruise (no response yet), if he get an interview and the job requires him to travel to the US for meetings or a training, he won't be able to go, so will he be able to get the job?

 

[BadPinkTink]

But also now, my husband applied for a job at Disney after the cruise (no response yet), if he get an interview and the job requires him to travel to the US for meetings or a training, he won't be able to go, so will he be able to get the job?

If he knows that the job requires him to go to USA for meetings, he should tell them that he is ineligible to enter USA due to an ESTA over stay issue. It would depend on the company, and the type of job. The company might be able to accommodate him by having him do SKYPE video or conference phone or by working remotely. However it could be a case where he physically needs to be in America, ie to inspect machinery and in that case he might not get the job.

 

[olafLover]

If he knows that the job requires him to go to USA for meetings, he should tell them that he is ineligible to enter USA due to an ESTA over stay issue. It would depend on the company, and the type of job. The company might be able to accommodate him by having him do SKYPE video or conference phone or by working remotely. However it could be a case where he physically needs to be in America, ie to inspect machinery and in that case he might not get the job.

Yes, but it's ironic that the job is with Disney while the issue was caused by a Disney cruise

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm still so angry for all of you I honestly don't understand why there was SUCH chaos at the port (lines waaaay out the door just to get through security), then our passports taken without any warning or any real explanation (we saw tons of people questioning this, as DCL hadn't warned us at all) and then we had to be in port in Ponta Delgada without our passports - really uncool, especially to find this out now! Ugh.

 

[olafLover]

I'm still so angry for all of you I honestly don't understand why there was SUCH chaos at the port (lines waaaay out the door just to get through security), then our passports taken without any warning or any real explanation (we saw tons of people questioning this, as DCL hadn't warned us at all) and then we had to be in port in Ponta Delgada without our passports - really uncool, especially to find this out now! Ugh.

I think I can answer the long lines. We were at the front of the line (only one family in front of us) when they all of the sudden stopped processing people. Like for 30 minutes, nobody was allowed through security, without any explanation given. When we got through, there was no line left and we could board immediately

I'm also really angry with DCL right now. Not because of the mistake, something strange like this can happen, but why aren't they helping? communicating? actively contacting people? Keeping us updated. We only know there's nothing they can do because somebody called and posted the info on Facebook! Why no e-mail? They're like, we've confirmed it's not our fault, you're on you're on your own now. Well, it's not our fault either! And we're a big group of your guests, help us!

 

[monkeydawn]

You know thats really the thing...mistakes are forgivable, no one means for a mistake to happen. But when you keep piling on with an uncaring stance, it starts to feel like negligence and makes you way more mad at the company than the original slight really calls for.

I get annoyed when this happens to me for relatively minor things. I'd be freaking now if I were in the European passengers shoes. I will tweet some more later.

 

[olafLover]

You know thats really the thing...mistakes are forgivable, no one means for a mistake to happen. But when you keep piling on with an uncaring stance, it starts to feel like negligence and makes you way more mad at the company than the original slight really calls for.

I get annoyed when this happens to me for relatively minor things. I'd be freaking now if I were in the European passengers shoes. I will tweet some more later.

Just know in our Facebook group we’re two more people who were previously unaware of it. Disney doesn’t contact them and makes the communication sound like we’re the exception. But in reality, all Europeans who were made aware and checked were missing the departure date, not some, ALL!

 

[lilsonicfan]

Oh man think of how many might not even have been in the FB group or have left it by now

 

[olafLover]

Oh man think of how many might not even have been in the FB group or have left it by now

Yes, that’s why it’s so bad DCL doesn’t want to acknowledge it’s a ship wide issue!
My DU TA made other DU TA’s aware, so if they have clients who are potentially affected, they’ll know.
Our table mates aren’t in the Facebook group, but luckily I got their email so I could contact them, but I just don’t know what to do to reach the other people!

 

[Ravenne]

I'm still so angry for all of you I honestly don't understand why there was SUCH chaos at the port (lines waaaay out the door just to get through security), then our passports taken without any warning or any real explanation (we saw tons of people questioning this, as DCL hadn't warned us at all) and then we had to be in port in Ponta Delgada without our passports - really uncool, especially to find this out now! Ugh.

I don't know why they have a policy and practice of taking people's passports. In this day and age of ID theft it's such a bad idea. Sure, it's to verify identity and to facilitate the process, but take a look at it, scan it if you must, then give it back. They really need to move on from this practice of holding people's passports.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I don't know why they have a policy and practice of taking people's passports. In this day and age of ID theft it's such a bad idea. Sure, it's to verify identity and to facilitate the process, but take a look at it, scan it if you must, then give it back. They really need to move on from this practice of holding people's passports.

I don't believe DCL does hold passports on most cruises, in fairness to them. I am not sure if they do it only on the EBTA or perhaps also the WBTA, but everyone did seem wildly surprised about it.

 

[Ravenne]

I'm also really angry with DCL right now. Not because of the mistake, something strange like this can happen, but why aren't they helping? communicating? actively contacting people? Keeping us updated. We only know there's nothing they can do because somebody called and posted the info on Facebook! Why no e-mail? They're like, we've confirmed it's not our fault, you're on you're on your own now. Well, it's not our fault either! And we're a big group of your guests, help us!

I'm really sorry you have to deal with this. I'm disappointed with DCL on your behalf. While it may not have been their fault (that remains to be determined and we may never know) it would be kind and in good customer service that they used to be known for, to just try to help. Ok, now that DCL been made aware of the situation, put someone on it. Contact guests, extend some words of support and assure guests (and their repeat business) that they are still valued after they debark. I really hate this, "not my fault, sorry can't help you" mentality Disney in general has taken on over the past few years. This isn't a case of, "I'm so mad you ran out of Dole Whip! I demand a gc!" This is a case involving international governments, laws, and people's lives. There are serious issues at hand here. C'mon, Disney. Do better. Show some compassion and humanity. I've had CMs tell me that they've ran into snags involving international and gov't issues before and DCL has gone out of their way to help them, but that doesn't seem to be the case any more, so it's not that Disney can't. It's they won't now.