Non-USA Passengers and Customs

Hi

I'm on an Australian passport and have two days in Oahu in May. Given that Hawaii is a US State, I'm assuming that I'll have to clear customs/immigration on arrival. Do I have to do that each time I get on and off the ship while there?

Also - having cleared customs in Hawaii, do I then have to clear customs again in Seattle - the cruise's final destination?

Thanks

Jay

Hi

 

I'm on an Australian passport and have two days in Oahu in May. Given that Hawaii is a US State, I'm assuming that I'll have to clear customs/immigration on arrival. Do I have to do that each time I get on and off the ship while there?

 

Also - having cleared customs in Hawaii, do I then have to clear customs again in Seattle - the cruise's final destination?

 

Thanks

 

Jay

Not being Australian, I’ve never experienced your situation but can share the requirements for all passengers.

When arriving from Australia in Honolulu you’d have to clear immigration at the airport but don’t know about customs. Like when we arrived in Sydney, the regulations on food is strictly enforced when arriving in Hawaii from anywhere.

What are your ports after Honolulu? After clearing immigration at Honolulu airport you probably only have to show your passport when boarding the ship. And you won’t be required to do anything else in Hawaiian ports.

I know that the US PVSA does not allow cruises exclusively within the US so you must have a non-US port before arriving in Seattle, correct? Maybe Victoria Canada?

I’m a US resident & roundtrip cruises from LA to Hawaii require a day in Ensenada Mexico due to the PVSA regulation. All passengers are required to clear customs/immigration when returning to LA because of the non-US port. A Honolulu to Seattle cruise requires a non-US port so everyone would be required to clear customs/immigration in Seattle.

On our recent cruises returning to the US, completing a customs form was only required if exceeding customs limits which we hadn’t exceeded.

When arriving from Australia in Honolulu you’d have to clear customs/immigration at the airport.

Thanks - I should have been more specific. The cruise leaves Sydney, Australia and travels Trans-Pacific to Seattle with a few stops along the way. So we sale into Hawaii and back out again to Seattle.

You will clear US Immigration and Customs the first place you touch US soil.

You will clear US Immigration and Customs the first place you touch US soil.

And not again in Seattle?

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Thanks - I should have been more specific. The cruise leaves Sydney, Australia and travels Trans-Pacific to Seattle with a few stops along the way. So we sale into Hawaii and back out again to Seattle.

Okay...that’s different. ;)

In 2009 we sailed from Sydney to LA on the Star Princess with stops in NZ, Fiji, Samoa, French Polynesia & Hawaii. So your cruise isn’t affected by the US PVSA regulation because you’re sailing from a non-US port to the US.

As I recall, only when disembarking in LA were we required to clear customs/immigration & not in Hawaii. I don’t have the daily events log with me so I cannot refresh my memory from over 8 years ago to see if we were cleared in Hawaii but don’t think so.

Our transpacific cruise was one of our best cruises & only having to fly to Sydney & drive home from LA was convenient.

EDIT: Just read CruiserBruce’s post & think he’s correct.

And not again in Seattle?

 

 

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If you go to a foreign port after Honolulu, yes, you will do Immigration and Customs in Seattle. In fact, if you go to another foreign port, (probably Victoria or Vancouver) you may only do Immigration in Honolulu, and then Immigration and Customs in Seattle. If you don't go to another non-US port, I don't think you will do anything in Seattle.

If you are on Explorer you will clear US Immigration and Customs in Honolulu and won't have to deal with it again in your last tow stops of Maui and Seattle.

If you are on Explorer you will clear US Immigration and Customs in Honolulu and won't have to deal with it again in your last tow stops of Maui and Seattle.

Thanks. Was it that obvious?

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread as I have a similar question.

My friend and I are from the UK and will be doing a b2b from Vancouver to Hawaii on the Eclipse next April.

When arriving at our first Hawaiian port of call, Lahaina, will we face a long border patrol/immigration/customs or whatever delay before we can head off for whatever excursion we have planned? Or as cruise passengers will we be sort of pre-cleared, as was done when we did a cruise that stopped in Israel? On that NCL cruise the officials embarked with us in Rome and had access to everyone's passport and actually met each passenger face-to-face on a sea day - I doubt that it would be exactly like that on this cruise due to the number of sea days before we get to Hawaii but have no idea what to expect! 

Then on the return voyage we have stops in Astoria, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Will the clearance we (hopefully!) receive in Hawaii still be valid there? From the answer to the OP above I think that it will be...

I hope that I'm concerned over nothing. It's just that when my husband I disembarked from our Equinox cruise in Ft Lauderdale in 2012 it was pure hell. The immigration people were taking 10 -15 minutes with each couple/individual/family group, just as when we initially arrived in the country at Miami Airport. Retina scans or whatever that is they do, the whole works. We were queued up for nearly three hours and it was hot and miserable and we couldn't sit down. There was no water available and several elderly people were in distress and received no assistance. They eventually called all of the Canadian citizens to join the American citizens queue to get the international queue down a bit. The whole experience was a poor ending to what had been a lovely holiday. We haven't done a holiday to America since.

Anyway, this was not meant to turn into a rant, sorry!

I'm just concerned that trying to enter Hawaii means that we'll have a similar experience and that it will take hours to be processed. I'm hoping that some of you non-American citizens are going to tell me that I've nothing to worry about!

If you are sailing out of Vancouver,  and your first stop is Lahaina, you will clear US Immigration and Customs as you board the ship in Vancouver. If you stop in Victoria, or any other non-US port, you will clear Immigration ( but not Customs) at Lahaina. You would then clear Customs when you get off the ship in Honolulu. 

If you need to clear US Immigration in Lahaina,  there is the possibility that there will be US officials on board to clear you before you arrive at Lahaina. 

If you are sailing Hawaii to Oregon,  or some other port, before ending in Vancouver,  there is no Immigration or Customs requirements for sailing between US ports without any stop in a foreign country. Your next Immigration and Customs issue would be as you finish your cruise in Vancouver. 

Thanks CruiserBruce! We do stop at Victoria so from your post it seems that we will have to go through immigration at Lahaina. Hopefully there will be a good system in place. I would think that there must be as some non-US citizens will be signed up for ships excursions and will be under a time constraint for debarking. We're hoping to do a private tour so I hope that it won't take too long for us either!

We are meant to arrive in Lahaina at 7am. Taking into account the immigration proceedings and the tendering process, what time do you think it will be safe for us to book an excursion? It will be a boat trip departing near where we'd get off of the tender.

As we are doing a b2b, back up to Vancouver, I would guess that as we re-board from our shore excursion at Honolulu to start the second cruise that this is where we'd go through US customs?

Thanks for your insight on this stuff!

5 hours ago, Railwaylass said:

Thanks CruiserBruce! We do stop at Victoria so from your post it seems that we will have to go through immigration at Lahaina. Hopefully there will be a good system in place. I would think that there must be as some non-US citizens will be signed up for ships excursions and will be under a time constraint for debarking. We're hoping to do a private tour so I hope that it won't take too long for us either!

 

We are meant to arrive in Lahaina at 7am. Taking into account the immigration proceedings and the tendering process, what time do you think it will be safe for us to book an excursion? It will be a boat trip departing near where we'd get off of the tender.

 

As we are doing a b2b, back up to Vancouver, I would guess that as we re-board from our shore excursion at Honolulu to start the second cruise that this is where we'd go through US customs?

 

Thanks for your insight on this stuff!

 

I'm not fully familiar with Immigrations in Lahaina, but generally, since this is a tender port, the Immigration will be done onboard, and typically they will only want to do face to face with passengers from certain countries, or certain visa conditions, most will never see an agent, or if they require all non-US to interview, it will be brief.  As PCWalton says, some ports, with only Canada in between, will clear you early, whichever port has the best facilities to do so.

There is a big difference between clearing a cruise ship and an airline flight. On the flight, CBP only gets the manifest at takeoff, and they only have a few hours to start vetting passengers, so the clearance process is tighter at the arrival airport, hence the amount of time.  On a cruise, CBP gets the passenger manifest upon departure, and has the entire time you are cruising to search databases and vet the passengers, so all the heavy lifting is done before the ship arrives, and the clearance is much more cursory.  I would imagine that the delay you had with Celebrity was because either the manifest changed during the cruise (someone left or arrived), which changes how they handle the manifest and how they handle the entry interview.  That is not to say that it couldn't happen again like your experience on Celebrity, if something changes the threat level at the port.

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 On a cruise, CBP gets the passenger manifest upon departure, and has the entire time you are cruising to search databases and vet the passengers, so all the heavy lifting is done before the ship arrives, and the clearance is much more cursory. 

Thanks very much, it's reassuring to have some idea now how the system works! I had been researching various boat excursions in Lahaina when I saw the OP and suddenly remembered the Ft Lauderdale nightmare and was worrying that it would take hours to get off of the ship. 

To be safe I'm going to book something around 10ish I think, and if we are off the ship very early we'll walk around the town and see the famous Banyan tree 😀