Alaska Cruise Question

[coordinator23]

When we took Diamond Princess to Alaska a few years ago, you could by-pass customs if you were getting on the bus to board the ship (from the airport). It doesn't make sense to have to go through customs to leave the country (and waste all that time). Can we still do this?

[Astro Flyer]

As I recall from our July arrival at Vancouver airport we simply walked out the door with nothing to declare. We walked to the train across from the terminal & took it to the terminal about a block from Canada Place.

 

We didn't pay to have our luggage transported to the ship but with our cruise tags on our checked bags they went directly to the ship.

 

When we returned from YVR we went through US immigration & customs so nothing upon arrival at LAX.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[caribill]

When we took Diamond Princess to Alaska a few years ago, you could by-pass customs if you were getting on the bus to board the ship (from the airport). It doesn't make sense to have to go through customs to leave the country (and waste all that time). Can we still do this?

 

 

Are you asking about disembarkation in Alaska or in Vancouver?

 

If you are asking about in Alaska, you have been considered being in the USA since boarding the ship in Vancouver and thus there is no need to go through immigration/customs again.

 

If in Vancouver, are you asking about the bus to the Vancouver airport or the bus to Seattle? In either case, you go through Canadian immigration and customs when leaving the ship.

 

If going to the Vancouver airport, you will, as indicated in an above post, go through USA immigration/customs at the Vancouver airport.

 

If going to Seattle, the bus will stop at the border, all passports collected by the driver and the driver will have them processed. In some cases you may have to get off the bus at the border, but we did not. We also did not have to fill out a USA customs form.

Edited December 30, 2013 by caribill

[1025cruise]

The USA Direct program had been discontinued for a couple of years, but I believe it was back last year, for only certain lines. I don't know the details.

 

For the people asking, the USA Direct program was established by both sets of immigration authorities to transport cruise ship passengers that came inbound on a flight from the US direct to the port bypassing the need to to go through Canadian customs on the way in, and then US customs as soon as you got to the port.