Help...need options for "criminals" in the family

[brookeinmn]

OK..funny but not. We have 12+ people booked for Alaska, one way from YVR to ANC on HAL, and my BIL fesses up that he and his girlfriend have things on their record which may not allow them into Canada.

 

Would they be allowed to board in Ketchikan? The HAL agent I talked to said I'd have to talk to someone on Monday about that, but she thought they would not be allowed.

 

How about going Southbound and having them get off in Ketchikan and fly home from there. Could that work?

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[Gardyloo]

My advice is that your brother-in-law should contact the Canadian authorities and see for himself.

 

Boarding the ship in US waters, or disembarking southbound in the US violates federal maritime law and exposes the cruise line to a big fine. I would also have him contact HAL; I believe I have heard of cruise lines agreeing to allow unscheduled disembarkations if the passenger reimburses the cruise line for the fine, but I wouldn't trust my memory in a high-stakes question like that - he should go to the source.

[1025cruise]

The reason the Alaska cruises are either round trip from one US city or one way to/from Canada is due to the PVSA. It is illegal for a non US flagged ship to transport passengers between two US cities without stopping at a distant foreign port. The Alaska itineraries don't qualify. Therefore, you will not be allowed to board in Ketchikan and get off in Seward/Whittier, or board in Seward/Whittier and get off in Ketchikan.

 

Your BIL is best contacting Canada authorities to see what their options are.

[brookeinmn]

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like the deviation request that HAL mentioned.

 

Of course we could just do SEA-SEA RT, but most of us really want to go to the mainland for a few days. And I guess no one goes SEA-ANC do they??

[Chenega]

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like the deviation request that HAL mentioned.

 

Of course we could just do SEA-SEA RT, but most of us really want to go to the mainland for a few days. And I guess no one goes SEA-ANC do they??

 

No ships make that run. Sorry. They could always fly from SEA-ANC and meet you for a land tour.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Chenega

[Nancyquilts]

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like the deviation request that HAL mentioned.

 

Of course we could just do SEA-SEA RT, but most of us really want to go to the mainland for a few days. And I guess no one goes SEA-ANC do they??

But then you'd still stop in Canada at Victoria. Same problem, probably.

[brookeinmn]

Yes, Nancy I wonder if that would come into play. I would think if they stayed on the ship at a Victoria stop and did not disembark, that they would be fine. But I certainly don't want to assume anything. We found a princess from SEA-SEA that will be in our ports on all the same days. We're considering that as an option now too.

[Coral]

I know of someone who flew into either Montreal or Quebec 2 days before their CA/NE cruise. The Canadian authorities gave them 24 hours to leave Canada due to an old DUI on their record. If they had only flown in one day before, they would have been fine and could have boarded their ship.

 

By no means would I chance this but I found this interesting how they handled things as I have not read many accounts on this board what happens when someone tries this.

 

I wonder if they could do a SEA to SEA and not leave the ship in Victoria.

 

I believe contacting the local authorities in Canada can take months and $$$ to resolve but it is worth doing so.

[1025cruise]

Thanks for the reply. That sounds like the deviation request that HAL mentioned.

 

Of course we could just do SEA-SEA RT, but most of us really want to go to the mainland for a few days. And I guess no one goes SEA-ANC do they??

 

As previously stated, SEA-ANC would be a violation of the PVSA without a stop at a distant foreign port. Canada does not qualify.

 

Yes, Nancy I wonder if that would come into play. I would think if they stayed on the ship at a Victoria stop and did not disembark, that they would be fine. But I certainly don't want to assume anything. We found a princess from SEA-SEA that will be in our ports on all the same days. We're considering that as an option now too.

 

That might work. However, they might still be called to immigration for questioning, then told not to get off the ship. It won't be easy. Or, it could be determined that they would not be allowed into Canada before the cruise even starts, causing them to be denied boarding.

[Northern Aurora]

brookeinmn has asked about an issue which has infrequently been discussed on this board. There actually is a dog musher prominent in Interior Alaska dog circles who can't run the Yukon Quest. The Quest is the other long distance 1000+ dog race; the Quest runs from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, with the starting and ending point switching alternate years. In any event, his one DUI conviction is a serious problem for this guy.

 

I also think that the BIL needs to contact the Canadian authorities.

[YoHoHo]

They might be able to get a waiver to enter Canada depending on the offence, time, etc. It can take some time and money to obtain. This might help :

"Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada Because of Past Criminal Activity":http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp#5312E3

[jameshoyt]

iv'e been on 4 alaska cruises, all of the time having a "record" and my spouse a dui. 3 were seattle to seattle, one was anchorage to vancouver. i am worried every year when we go on our annual trip. yes i was allowed in victoria and yes i was let off in vancouver. let me know if you have more questions

[brookeinmn]

Thanks for the help everyone. They have decided not to pursue "rehabilitation" as one of the offenses was just a few years ago. We're currently weighing other options, cruises, or having them just fly into Anchorage and do their own thing there. I will call HAL tomorrow and ask what is involved in a deviation request. I will post what I find out here, as it might be helpful to others in the same situation.

[Amy heart cruising]

iv'e been on 4 alaska cruises, all of the time having a "record" and my spouse a dui. 3 were seattle to seattle, one was anchorage to vancouver. i am worried every year when we go on our annual trip. yes i was allowed in victoria and yes i was let off in vancouver. let me know if you have more questions

Jameshoyt - how long ago did the convictions for you and your wife occur?

[Amy heart cruising]

Jameshoyt - how long ago did the convictions for you and your wife occur?

Sorry I should have said that I'm asking because we are booked on ANC to Vancouver in July and my dad had a dui 8 years ago. Wondering if this will be a problem for him.

[mapleleaves]

Sorry I should have said that I'm asking because we are booked on ANC to Vancouver in July and my dad had a dui 8 years ago. Wondering if this will be a problem for him.

 

I will reiterate what others have already stated in this thread ... you need to contact the Canadian authorities about his situation.

Don't rely on advice from a travel forum! You don't know if the advice they provide is right or wrong or what their expertise is. And just because someone got away with it, doesn't mean you will.

The only way to get correct AND current information is to go to the source. (and be sure to indicate your father's citizenship or visa information )

 

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/facts-faits/109-eng.html

[jerry20001]

OK..funny but not. We have 12+ people booked for Alaska, one way from YVR to ANC on HAL, and my BIL fesses up that he and his girlfriend have things on their record which may not allow them into Canada.

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

I thought this was going to be easy to find a solution. There is/was/wasn't/then was again/now I don't know ...program for transfers directly to the cruise terminal for exactly this situation. I understood it to provide "sterile transfers" between SEA airport to cruise terminal aboard a "sealed bus" that technically did not enter Canada in that you never set foot on Canadian soil outside of the cruise terminal. I believe this was offered for persons flying in to Vancouver and departing aboard ship the same day.

 

It may or may not have been called US Direct program. I'd contact HAL in that this is a pretty common situation. Before you contact Canadian authorities and try for rehabilitation ruling, see if there is a simple solution available. The U.S. Direct program enabled people to "bypass" much of Canadian Customs for same day departures that many used for time saving convenience. It supposedly ended last year and then started again. I researched this some years back for people wanting your same itinerary. They were planning on flying into Seattle and there were options to transfer to the Vancouver cruise terminal as well as method of flying into Vancouver , again "without really" passing through Canadian Customs.

 

Good Luck

[Amy heart cruising]

I have spent hours upon hours researching options. They do not make this easy to overcome (nor should they) but I wanted to share our plan of action in the event it can help someone else. To reiterate, we are planning a July cruise out of Seward to Vancouver. My dad completed probation for a DUI approximately 8 years ago. Given the fact that we have less than 4 months before we travel and given the fact that we live reasonably close to the Windsor border, I contacted border services in Windsor yesterday. There are 2 potential options. We will gather all appropriate documentation (sentencing, release from probation, state police certificates, documentation of completed rehabilitation, etc). basically we will take everything that supports our case that 1. My dad is not a risk to the safety of Canada and 2) that he has been rehabilitated and is unlikely to commit another crime. We will explain our situation to the immigration officer and ask whether we should 1)apply for a temporary resident permit or 2) apply for what is called "streamlined rehabilitation". This is a process similar to applying for rehabilitation via mail but it is done at a port of entry and, if the case is straightforward, can be processed much more quickly.

 

At the end of the day, we won't risk traveling to alaska without having all of the necessary approvals in place. I will post the outcome after we complete the process at the border. The officer I spoke with on the phone said we could handle this in advance of our trip but I should note, I've seen contradictory information all over the internet. Hope luck is on our side that day!

[Ashland]

Sorry I should have said that I'm asking because we are booked on ANC to Vancouver in July and my dad had a dui 8 years ago. Wondering if this will be a problem for him.

I would have less (if any) concern because he is sailing from a US port..when he end's his cruise in Vancouver BC he will be leaving...Canada...not trying to enter it...I believe the most they can tell him to do is leave...which he is on his way to do most likely going to YVR.

[Amy heart cruising]

We'll my biggest concern is that we don't want him to be denied boarding in anchorage altogether.

[djwho]

Here is a link which you can share with your family and then do some homework including contacting Canadian Government. It's March now so if they qualify, now is the time to hustle on getting the paperwork done.

 

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp

[Putterdude]

This topic comes up at a couple of time each Alaska cruise season. Ostensibly, if the offence occurred over 10 years and there has been no re-occurrence then the person is deemed rehabilitated and may enter Canada. If the offence occurred less than 10 years ago a person may apply for the waiver described in the previous post.

 

From a practical point of view, a person boarding a ship in Alaska does not pass thru Canadian customs and the cruise line does not have access to a person's record. When that same person disembarks in Vancouver at Canada Place and passes through Canadian Customs passports are not scanned so they should have no trouble going from Canada Place to YVR or for that matter getting in a car or bus and driving back to the US. Now this is not the case when arriving at YVR or driving across the border into Canada, in these cases passports are scanned by Canadian Customs and there is a real possibility of a persons record be discovered and being refused entry into Canada.

 

One of the underlying issues is that the individual Customs agent has a great deal of discretion as to he/she admits or does not admit so one is always better to get the waiver.

[PhxRain]

This topic comes up at a couple of time each Alaska cruise season. Ostensibly, if the offence occurred over 10 years and there has been no re-occurrence then the person is deemed rehabilitated and may enter Canada. If the offence occurred less than 10 years ago a person may apply for the waiver described in the previous post.

 

From a practical point of view, a person boarding a ship in Alaska does not pass thru Canadian customs and the cruise line does not have access to a person's record. When that same person disembarks in Vancouver at Canada Place and passes through Canadian Customs passports are not scanned so they should have no trouble going from Canada Place to YVR or for that matter getting in a car or bus and driving back to the US. Now this is not the case when arriving at YVR or driving across the border into Canada, in these cases passports are scanned by Canadian Customs and there is a real possibility of a persons record be discovered and being refused entry into Canada.

 

One of the underlying issues is that the individual Customs agent has a great deal of discretion as to he/she admits or does not admit so one is always better to get the waiver.

 

:eek:

This didn't even occur to me for our Alaska trip. We will be crossing into Canada on our Skagway tour, so, the person I am worried about, thanks to these types of posts, did something minor but stupid & got community service, a fine & probation 24 years ago are they well past the need for any of the paperwork you guys are talking about? Or should I start helping them get proper forms filled out?

[Ashland]

:eek:

This didn't even occur to me for our Alaska trip. We will be crossing into Canada on our Skagway tour, so, the person I am worried about, thanks to these types of posts, did something minor but stupid & got community service, a fine & probation 24 years ago are they well past the need for any of the paperwork you guys are talking about? Or should I start helping them get proper forms filled out?

This may not be exactly what you're doing but on our White Pass Railroad excursion (bus up train down) We only had to hold our passports up next to our face as the agent walked through the train..no scanning was done.

[jerry20001]

This may not be exactly what you're doing but on our White Pass Railroad excursion (bus up train down) We only had to hold our passports up next to our face as the agent walked through the train..no scanning was done.

 

The excursion option of bus up to where the highway meets the railroad does not pass through Canadian Customs at Fraser. The train boarding area is before the Customs station which is seven miles beyond the border.The longer bus tours into the Yukon do go through Canadian Customs. Passengers need to show their passport to U.S. Customs on their return to Skagway.

 

Ship manifests are prepared and given to Custom agencies in advance, I don't know how much scrutiny they are given if on a tour. With the advance time remaining, do contact any appropriate authorities for definitive answers so you can relax and enjoy your trip to the maximum.