Non-US citizen disembarkation Question

neurosx1983

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 16, 2019
I've scoured the DCL website and have tried asking on the phone but cannot seem to find an answer to this question - I have a family member that is a citizen of a country that participates in the Visa waiver program, so under normal circumstances (and what is listed on the DCL website), they would need to get an online authorization form and have it printed out 72 hours prior to boarding a flight or boat to the US. Since we are on a 6 night cruise, would my family member have to go online and get this authorization basically during the cruise to show on disembark or does it just need to be shown when boarding the ship? We are on a 6 night from Miami (western carib)

Kind of a specific question and I tried asking shoreside concierge and they had no idea. Since there are plenty of UK and European folks on these forums I was wondering if anyone has experience. We can't be the only ones!
 
Isn't the travel authorization valid for two years? They would get one before arriving into the US from their country and use that same authorization to board the cruise and return to the US.
 
They would need the ESTA anyways to enter the US to embark!! Unless I assume you’re thinking each ESTA is valid only for one entry, which it is not. As pp said it’s valid a couple of years. Just keep that authorization print out and keep it folde in your passport. Immigration has it in the system but it’s recommended and airlines and DCL might want to see it.
 
I travel on an ESTA. The 72 hours is the minimum you need to apply for it. We need the ESTA to check in for flights to USA and it is linked to our passports, so the 72 hour minimum is to make sure people don't go to the airport and try to get on flights without it.

People do their ESTA as part of their travel planning. Most people do it about a month before they fly to USA. I did mine a few weeks ago , in November for my end of January trip to California. A print out is not necessary for flights to USA, as all the information is linked to our passports and can be viewed when airline check in staff and USA Homelands Agents scan our passports. Most people do print out the confirmation, just to have as a back up. Very likely DCL would have access to the ESTA information on their system if they scan the passports.

ESTA information is checked at check in for flights by airline staff so it would be checked at the port before leaving Miami.

ESTA is valid for two years, so it is valid for all trips to USA within that two year period. My ESTA is valid until November 2023.

With an ESTA people can stay in USA up to a maximum of 90 days on a single trip. In your case, your family member will need the ESTA in order to get the flight to Florida. The same ESTA is also valid for your 6 night cruise out of Miami. Your family member can in theory travel back with you and stay in your home for the next 2 months, again all on the same ESTA.
 


I travel on an ESTA. The 72 hours is the minimum you need to apply for it. We need the ESTA to check in for flights to USA and it is linked to our passports, so the 72 hour minimum is to make sure people don't go to the airport and try to get on flights without it.

People do their ESTA as part of their travel planning. Most people do it about a month before they fly to USA. I did mine a few weeks ago , in November for my end of January trip to California. A print out is not necessary for flights to USA, as all the information is linked to our passports and can be viewed when airline check in staff and USA Homelands Agents scan our passports. Most people do print out the confirmation, just to have as a back up. Very likely DCL would have access to the ESTA information on their system if they scan the passports.

ESTA information is checked at check in for flights by airline staff so it would be checked at the port before leaving Miami.

ESTA is valid for two years, so it is valid for all trips to USA within that two year period. My ESTA is valid until November 2023.

With an ESTA people can stay in USA up to a maximum of 90 days on a single trip. In your case, your family member will need the ESTA in order to get the flight to Florida. The same ESTA is also valid for your 6 night cruise out of Miami. Your family member can in theory travel back with you and stay in your home for the next 2 months, again all on the same ESTA.

most ESTAs are approved right away - under an hour - even minutes but correct officially it’s 5 days. Just want to say if any needs to travel ASAP ( Family emergency) do ESTA anyways ( best before paying for a flight in case it does take days). With Covid many ESTAs were cancelled without people knowing and they were able to reapply at airport with instant approval. ( spouses of citizens who traveled during ban)
 
most ESTAs are approved right away - under an hour - even minutes
ESTAs are currently taking approx 2 hours to be approved. When the application is submitted you get an application number. You use this application number to log back in a check your status.

I got 3 emails during my ESTA application process
  1. 2.57pm to confirm my email address
  2. 2.58pm application submitted and confirming my application number
  3. 4.22pm status change, please log and retrieve your application to check your status
The time between sending the application and getting the status change notification is extremely stressful, as you can't just assume that you will be approved. Seeing the APPROVED, WELCOME TO USA message is such a relief.

With Covid many ESTAs were cancelled without people knowing and they were able to reapply at airport with instant approval. ( spouses of citizens who traveled during ban)

The reason ESTA'S were cancelled between March 2020 and November 8 2021 is that we also have to give airlines what is known as Advanced Passenger Information. This is our passport number and contact details. Airlines send this Advanced Passenger Information to USA Homelands Security before flights. It is an automatic process that just happens before flights. What happened with Covid and ESTA's being cancelled was that the airline systems sent Advanced Passenger Information to USA Homelands Security after the travel ban was started. This was seen as an attempt to fly and triggered an automatic cancellation of ESTA's .

The reason some people who had ESTA's canceled and were still allowed to fly due to an exemption, was because the airlines could over ride the cancellation manually when they had proof of the exemption.
 
I sailed on fantasy last week, DCL are asking to see the ESTA on check in at the port and noting the number of the ESTA and validity.

I had a printed copy (you never know when your phone is going to act difficult) and I believe this would probably be easier than having to hand over your phone to the DCL staff in current Covid times.
 



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