customsquestion

My parents might want to take the qe2 queen mary boat trip to new york from southampton. which i believe calls at Boston and other U.S cities as well What are the immigration procedures for the cruise ships? Do you require esta? Do the border agents come onboard the ship and screen the passengers? Are the waiting times long, we are talking 3 or 4 thousand people onboard the ship so it could take some time. Would they have go through immigration procedure everytime they get off the ship?

Thanks in advance for responses.

Pulaski

ESTA is required, immigration is handled on-shore only for those who disembark, and will be required at each port of call in the US.

customsquestion

Thanks the cruise ship staff would probably offload the passengers deck by deck or trip by trip they will probably several different types of trip for each place. What about customs, would they have to complete white customs form every time they go ashore? Or would that just be the first time they went ashore.

crg

Perhaps a decade or so ago, US officials would fly to the UK and do the inspections aboard the QE2 on the way to the US.

S Folinsky

I took an Alaska cruise from Seattle a few years back -- with the last stop before return in Victoria BC. We had to show passport to obtain ship boarding ID card. We did not see any officials landing in Victoria. On return to Seattle, it was staggered deboarding and we went through shed with immigration officials just showing our PP's.

There were no inspections between US ports.

customsquestion

Yeah they give you the onboard ship id card or ship account card or whatever they call it. Partially for ID purposes as you have said so they know who is onboard and who isn't and to prevent stowaways from getting onboard i suppose and partially so that no money changes hands on the ship for whatever reason. You run up a bill and pay it off later on. They did that on our cruise to Russia. When we left the ship the id's were scanned getting on and getting off and you could see the person's picture on the computer screen.

Strangely all the border agents at the st petersburg were female it was very relaxed I really expected the kgb to be bundling people in vans on the street and soldiers and big guard dogs but it wasn't it like that at all.

customsquestion

I have never heard of that being done why did they stop doing that?

What would happen if they are denied immigration clearance would they be taken to detention centre and flown home? It should be noted they probably won't be they are retired age haven't been to U.S for years so that's unlikely.

ian-mstm

Sheila and I took the same trip in May, earlier this year.


This is exactly what happened to us also. Easy peasy!

Ian

crg

I believe the practice was stopped right after 9/11. I heard that sometimes the cruise line even let the officials bring a guest/spouse free of charge. If the person isn't cleared, there is a form that is served on the carrier/ship/aircraft that orders them to remove the person at the carrier's expense. The person is then either detained on board and returned on the same vessel, or other arrangements could be made such as a flight. Surprisingly, I heard that on one crossing there were a handful of people caught on the ship with false passports. I wonder if there is a brig on the QE2.

customsquestion

Most passengers on the cunard sail to new york have maybe 3 or 4 days there and fly home they don't return on the ship the ship goes on to South America each cunard ship does the crossing once a month i think with one crossing a week. I think they have like 5 ships in the fleet maybe 4. If the folks had any problems they would just be taken to jfk and put on a flight. That's unlikely to happen at their age i remember the story in the mail a couple of years ago with the english ship passengers moaning it took hours to get them through but no one them got denied they were all retired age.

I can believe that they caught people with fake passports they catch them at airports every day makes sense you would catch them at sea.

Guindalf

As a reasonably seasoned cruiser, I can tell you that for many ports, all you need is a photo ID and your seapass*. International ports may require a passport as the ID.

You will go through checkpoints and your seapass will be scanned as you leave and as you return to the ship. The ID will be looked at by the officials of the country you're visiting. Depending on your nationality, if the country being visited, even for a few hours, requires a visa, then it's your responsibility to obtain it, otherwise you're looking at a relaxing day on the ship while everyone else is out exploring!

*: The seapass has different names depending on the cruise line and is also your room key and charge card while on board the ship. No cash is used for purchases and cash is generally only used in the casino.
Disney, however, go one further and you can use your card on Castaway Cay, the company's own private island. When the ship docks, it 'plugs in' to a fiber-optic network that covers the whole island, so all purchases can be made using your seapass. (Disney ships do not have a casino).

Customs and immigration have improved significantly since our first cruise in September 2002. On that cruise (4-nights out of Canaveral on Royal Caribbean), I had to report to one of the lounges, set up as an immigration post, at 7am on the morning of arrival back in port. The next cruise, non-US passports were returned on the day/night before arriving back in port and then subsequent cruises, they just let us keep our passports and they were checked just like everyone else on debarkation!

mamasue

We've done 3 transatlantic cruises. If you're a UKC, cruising to the US, they'll check your passport and ESTA on check-in at the cruise port, the same as you would at an airport.

The day before debarking, customs officials will check passports on the ship. There are usually written instructions in your cabin telling you when and where to go for your passport control.

customsquestion

Thanks for the info. Must be a nice gig for the customs officials spending time on that cruise ship.

Jerseygirl

They usually are based at the port...awaiting the next ship's arrival. Most cruise terminals...even the smaller ones...have several cruise ships per day.

I have only been on one cruise where the IOs have screened passengers on the ship. That was a RC cruise from New Jersey several years ago...at that time the cruise terminal more like a temporary one.

We have never had our passports checked prior to disembarkation day...there again our cruises haven't been transatlantic.

customsquestion

Where do the cruises ship dock in new york is it one of the piers near the intrepid in manhattan? My mate thinks it's by the staten island ferry terminal but he doesn't really know.