Looking for ESTA-users on the EBTA or Alaska cruises 2023

[Karin1984]

Hi everyone,

This message is to inform DCL cruisers who need an ESTA-waiver to get into the US, and who have cruised on the EBTA 2023 or on one of the Alaska cruises this year.

What is happening?
It's possible that DCL hasn't recorded properly your departure from the US.
I have cruised on the first Alaska cruise and my records show that I have entered the US via Vancouver on May 15, but not that I have left the US (I returned to the Netherlands over a month ago). I know there are more people on my cruise, and on the EBTA have the same issue.

Via this message I want to inform others and find out if there are other DCL Alaska cruises who have the same issue.

How does this happen?
On the Alaska cruises and the EBTA you disembark the ship but there is no US customs in Vancouver or Barcelona to get your paperwork checked and go on the record as 'has left the US'.

From what I understand, from other impacted cruisers in contact with CBP, in layman's terms: DCL has to tick a box (or something) to tell the CBP you have left the US. Apparently DCL is working with outdated IT, and this doesn't work automatically. From hearsay, DCL is the only cruiseline who is not connected to the government system for this.

How can I tell if this happened to me?
On the website of the CBP you can check your travel history and your compliance. In your travel history you can see when you entered and exited the US, in compliance you can see how many days you have left before your 90-days visa expires.
https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

Ok, I'm having the same problem, now what?
We are organizing ourselves on a group on Facebook to share the status and our contact with DCL and the CBP. From other cruisers I know that the CBP keeps telling that it's a DCL problem.
DCL says this is only a case on the EBTA, while I know that it's also at least 1 Alaska Cruise (waiting for my next reply from DCL). And basically not doing a whole lot to fix this.

We are now planning to start mailing managers, supervisors, Bob Iger if we have to.

What if I don't fix this?
Well, I don't really want to find out myself, but overstaying your 90-day visa could in theory block you from entering the US in the future.

Is this the first time this happened?
No, a fellow cruiser had the same on DCL EBTA and DCL Alaska cruise in 2019. It was a lot of hassle to get this fixed. She got a message from the CBP ten days before her 90-day visa expired and that she had to leave the US and not overstay.

@moderators, I know this topic caused some controversy on the board after the EBTA 2019, but again this can impact European DCL lovers when travelling certain routes with DCL and their future visits to the US.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

NM

 

[holula]

I’m just going to add this link to the I-94 page where non U.S. residents can track their entry and exits.

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

Edit: Okay now I see you added it, but I struggle reading a lot of text at once so if anyone else is like me I’ll also leave it here.

 

[cowgrass]

I will monitor this post closely since we are from the Netherlands too and we will be joining the Wonder in Vancouver in two weeks. I'm afraid all ESTA travellers will be affected since we will not passthrough US customs in Vancouver during debarkation.

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

I was on the EBTA and one of the people effected by it, just hoping it gets resolved soon because we’re due to fly back to the US early September for an Alaska sailing and don’t fancy being denied entry or it being a big hassle to get let in, thankfully we head back to Seattle after that cruise to fly home so wont have this issue again but it’s definitely put me off doing another EBTA

 

[wendlle]

May I ask what EBTA is ?

 

[SirDuff]

May I ask what EBTA is ?

Eastbound Transatlantic

 

[Flossbolna]

The I 94 travel history is fascinating. One thing I noticed that on my Panama Canal cruise 9 years ago it shows that I departed the country from Key West (which was our first port of the cruise) and then arrived again in San Diego. So, DCL can check out people correctly it seems. And there it wouldn't have really mattered as we all came back to the USA anyway. So the departure from Los Angeles would have covered it. And if I remember correctly that was when we still had the green form stapled to the passport and I did keep that for the duration of the cruise.

OP, thanks for posting about this. I am always a bit scared about something like this happening as you do not go through any exit passport control in the USA compared to what happens in Europe and now you don't even hand back those green forms anymore.

Luckily we will go to the USA after our Alaska cruise in August, so that should clear the system for me, but I will keep an eye out.

 

[EnchantedWishes]

Hi,
U.K. doing the van-Alaska cruise in September
Is this something we can prompt DCL to do on our last sea day? Is that a way to circumvent the issue?

 

[EnchantedWishes]

So I put the question out on a DCL Alaska Facebook group - because I am freaking out
Like everyone on an ESTA I don’t want to FAAFO.
A member of the groups said they cruised in July (year unspecified I will assume 2019 or 2022), they received the email from US customs and boarder patrol in September - sent their info in before the 90 days was up and received confirmation that the issue was over in March of the following year - horrifying

 

[Flossbolna]

So I put the question out on a DCL Alaska Facebook group - because I am freaking out
Like everyone on an ESTA I don’t want to FAAFO.
A member of the groups said they cruised in July (year unspecified I will assume 2019 or 2022), they received the email from US customs and boarder patrol in September - sent their info in before the 90 days was up and received confirmation that the issue was over in March of the following year - horrifying

I would not freak out. I don’t think it is a common issue on Alaska cruises. But it might make sense to immediately check whether the departure was recorded after the trip and start the process immediately. Not just when you get the email.

I totally understand your concern though. It is a scary thing to feel so powerless. I traveled to the US during the Covid travel ban - I was allowed in because my spouse is a US citizen. I ended up spending 20 minutes in an immigration special room waiting for them to check my paper work. The door was locked from the outside and there were signs telling you in different languages how to behave when you’re sexually assaulted in prison. Very scary, but I knew my paperwork was in order and I had to trust the process.

The same applies here. There is a process for these slip ups. Be prepared to collect the necessary documentation, use the same credit card on both your travels and home. Take selfies with location identification of your phone switched on, keep your boarding pass from the flight home.

 

[EnchantedWishes]

I would not freak out. I don’t think it is a common issue on Alaska cruises. But it might make sense to immediately check whether the departure was recorded after the trip and start the process immediately. Not just when you get the email.

I totally understand your concern though. It is a scary thing to feel so powerless. I traveled to the US during the Covid travel ban - I was allowed in because my spouse is a US citizen. I ended up spending 20 minutes in an immigration special room waiting for them to check my paper work. The door was locked from the outside and there were signs telling you in different languages how to behave when you’re sexually assaulted in prison. Very scary, but I knew my paperwork was in order and I had to trust the process.

The same applies here. There is a process for these slip ups. Be prepared to collect the necessary documentation, use the same credit card on both your travels and home. Take selfies with location identification of your phone switched on, keep your boarding pass from the flight home.

It’s not just sorting the issue, it’s the time it takes as well - we are due to fly back to the states at the end of January, we also don’t want to put our global entry at risk.
I understand what you’re saying and your covid situation would have also freaked me out. It the combination of the stress of it possibly happening, they stress of having to sort it and then the length of time it takes to get it sorted - assuming it goes smoothly.
I was really looking forward to this cruise

 

[Karin1984]

I wouldn't stress too much about it, as there is nothing you can do about it. So that's wasting energy.

To be honest, I do not know exactly how it works or who has to do what. What I imagine is when the cruise is over the ship has to send a list to DCL shoreshide to handle the administration.

If you want to address it on board, I would talk to the Captain during one of the receptions. I can't think of another position who might be useful in this case. But don't think the Captain can do much either. My hope is that after we (the cruisers on the EBTA and the first Alaska cruise) are addressing this at DCL, they think: "Oh yeah, silly us, we have to do this extra step on these routes, we completely forgot!" and do it correctly for the future Alaska cruises.

You could write to DCL to express your concerns, however, I am convinced the answer you are going to get is only going to be assuring you that DCL is safe and reliable to cruise with. And maybe even denying that this is an issue.

I understand opening a can of worms here, it definitely put me off to cruise Disney on a sailing that starts in the US and ends in a non-US port. So other Alaska cruises with DCL are not for me. I'd love to do the EBTA, as it usually sails on my birthday, but not going to risk it.

 

[Flossbolna]

It’s not just sorting the issue, it’s the time it takes as well - we are due to fly back to the states at the end of January, we also don’t want to put our global entry at risk.
I understand what you’re saying and your covid situation would have also freaked me out. It the combination of the stress of it possibly happening, they stress of having to sort it and then the length of time it takes to get it sorted - assuming it goes smoothly.
I was really looking forward to this cruise

Oh! I hadn’t thought about Global Entry. Yes. That would annoying as hell to lose that.

If you are that concerned: can you in anyway after the cruise get into the USA from Canada? If you then leave from there it should register that you departed and then the counting of the 90 days would stop.

Either fly home from Seattle or even drive for a day trip across the border from Vancouver?

 

[Rudisdey]

I live in the Netherlands and did the EBTA in 2017. When I look in my travel history, I see that leaving the US on the Disney Magic was registered on the date we left the port. Only the location is not known.
After this cruise, which ended in Copenhagen, I never had any problem to enter the US again with the same passport.

 

[Karin1984]

More Dutchies than I thought on this board

I live in the Netherlands and did the EBTA in 2017. When I look in my travel history, I see that leaving the US on the Disney Magic was registered on the date we left the port. Only the location is not known.
After this cruise, which ended in Copenhagen, I never had any problem to enter the US again with the same passport.

Good to hear! In 2017, did you receive a message from the CBP that your 90 day stay was about to expire?

 

[Rudisdey]

More Dutchies than I thought on this board



Good to hear! In 2017, did you receive a message from the CBP that your 90 day stay was about to expire?

No, i did not receive any message from them. And after this cruise, I did already 7 trips to the US with the same passport.

 

[TestingH2O]

Here’s the thread from when this happened in 2019 too. Perhaps it has useful information. Good luck! What a stressful complication.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/help-ebta-cruisers-didnt-leave-the-country.3761532/

 

[mousefan73]

I will monitor this post closely since we are from the Netherlands too and we will be joining the Wonder in Vancouver in two weeks. I'm afraid all ESTA travellers will be affected since we will not passthrough US customs in Vancouver during debarkation.

So very interesting I check ours and we were on the hawaii sailing last year. We flew into Vancouver, boarded the Wonder sailed to HNL and flew back to Europe via San Fransico.. It shows we entered the US in Vancouver and left SFO.. So it could be that it does show.

 

[mousefan73]

A bit OT but if your ESTA is about to expire get a new one weeks before your next trip. I know too many who booked a fight and did ESTA 5 days out and were declined/referred for Visas for stupid reasons and had to deal with embassies.. in most cases will not happen, but if you are the one what cant fly and are out a paid ticket it sucks. So dont wait until last minute.