Dui 6 months ago-can i get on celebrity solstice in a couple weeks-roundtrip seattle

[sail7seas]

IF it was 'only' a case of not being permitted off the ship in Canadian port, that would be one thing but they could tell cruise line to refuse boarding and cruise line will absolutely obey IF that was ordered.

 

Edited May 8, 2014 by sail7seas

[tickford]

I agree it is up to the client/cruiser to check all those details out and indeed if you are a travel agent you need to tell him that. Also asking here might be good to see if others have had problems but if they did and whatever their outcome will not relate to this person.

Get proper advice and paperwork.

 

As someone earlier said, some countries are very particular on who crosses their borders.

[Lerin]

thanks for the reply, but based on the fact i'm a travel agent and you have no experience with this, from what the multiple people at the canadian consulate and celebrity said today, the worst that could happen is he would have to stay on the ship in victoria, and rarely he would have to be interviewed by officials in victoria. I'm just trying to get FACTS from people on here that have a dui or know someone with a dui that went on a cruise out of seattle.

Sheesh... :mad: And people wonder why many don't want to use TAs.

OP: since you already know the answer, why are you even asking here?

[always_cruisin]

thanks for the reply, but based on the fact i'm a travel agent and you have no experience with this, from what the multiple people at the canadian consulate and celebrity said today, the worst that could happen is he would have to stay on the ship in victoria, and rarely he would have to be interviewed by officials in victoria. I'm just trying to get FACTS from people on here that have a dui or know someone with a dui that went on a cruise out of seattle.

 

 

Like they said, he might not be allowed to leave the ship in Victoria.

Did you also ask your BDM for input? I'm sure they have had experience with this from other TAs clients.

[TC1957]

thanks for the reply, but based on the fact i'm a travel agent and you have no experience with this, from what the multiple people at the canadian consulate and celebrity said today, the worst that could happen is he would have to stay on the ship in victoria, and rarely he would have to be interviewed by officials in victoria. I'm just trying to get FACTS from people on here that have a dui or know someone with a dui that went on a cruise out of seattle.

 

People are offering sound advice. If you are going to be a smart-ass here is my two cents.

 

YOU are the professional in this matter yet YOU are not smart enough to know that the best avenue for YOUR customer to follow is to contact an attorney familiar with travel/international law. Sounds like YOU would be an excellent travel agent to avoid.

 

Go ahead and offer legal advice. Personally, with your attitude I hope you client follows it and is denied boarding. That way he/she can file significant litigation against you for negligence. They may not win, but you will probably incur substantial legal fees fighting it. Maybe that will teach you how to proceed the next time.

 

I also have some advice for your client. It was spoken by that great legal mind Jim Carey in Liar, Liar...STOP BREAKING THE LAW, @ss%#&L

[nana541]

I kinda wondered why the OP was being "Snippy" when she was getting good education regarding this very hot issue of Americans with even very old DUI's being deemed "inadmissible" under Canadian Law.

 

According to other posts the OP has made she is sailing with this client so I'm thinking it's a friend of hers.... Not that it matters one bit.

 

Hope they all get their cruise and that the Party involved has gotten a real education regarding DUI convictions and international travel.

 

 

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Edited May 8, 2014 by nana541

[calliopecruiser]

Go ahead and offer legal advice. Personally, with your attitude I hope you client follows it and is denied boarding. That way he/she can file significant litigation against you for negligence. They may not win, but you will probably incur substantial legal fees fighting it. Maybe that will teach you how to proceed the next time.

 

Yeah......I have to wonder why a co-called professional travel agent is asking a bunch of strangers on the internet for legal advice and "facts". I hope my travel agent doesn't do anything so foolhardy, and I hope her advice is better than "the internet said....."

[pacruzer02]

thank you all for the replies, I was not trying to be mean, I'm a male by the way and I'm sailing with 10 other people as a travel agent, and the person involved is my cousin. There is absolutely no chance for anything legal to come out of this. I was just trying to get first hand experience from someone who knew for sure. I just didn't want our vacation getting ruined, the consensus I received from the consulate was that there are no customs officials from canada in seattle so he's fine getting onboard and celebrity said there is no policies regarding him having a dui that would keep him from boarding. I would like to say this issue has never happened with any of my clients, and my father and I run a $2 million dollar a year business, if my cousin would have not hid this from our family since november we could have applied for a TRP back then.

[pacruzer02]

My entire family was just told about this 4 days ago, so it's not my problem, but of course its something I'm going to worry about. From the get go I told him to take the cancel for any reason insurance because his girlfriend and him weren't sure they could get off, but instead they took my companies leisure care insurance, and neither of them cover something like this, so it's his problem.

Edited May 8, 2014 by pacruzer02

[Jo-Bob]

Seems to me that had it all gone wrong for your cousin, that would be just another consequence of his DUI. A disappointing outcome, for certain, but as we've all heard, "you choose the behaviour, you choose the consequences."

 

Personally, I'm far more freaked-out by "texting and driving" than drinking and driving these days, but that's another topic altogether. I truly hope you family gets to have a great cruise together.

[leaveitallbehind]

hopefully someone with firsthand experience can answer this

 

While as a TA your client may have the expectation that you are the "authority" on all the details of cruising, proper documentation, and ship and government policy, he cannot hold you responsible for his past and any possible impact that can have on his ability to cruise. You in fact are not the authority, just the agent communicating what you have been told. As a professional, you have a responsibility to make this clear to him. You cannot guarantee his situation.

 

By contacting the people that you have in asking the question, you have the most authoritative answers already and adding to your client "and I also heard from posters on CC that it is OK" honestly adds no credible value. You have no direct knowledge who the posters are, the facts of their situation, or the accuracy of the information they provide. That provides no additional assurance as to what will happen with him.

 

My advice would be to simply discuss with your client the factual information you have gained from the official authorities and make it clear to him that you cannot personally guarantee the outcome with his individual situation. I would also tell him that if he is not comfortable or in agreement, that you will not take his booking. He and he alone is responsible for his situation and would have to undertake any risks associated with that on his own.

 

That IMO would be acting professionally on his - and your - behalf. Your single commission from his booking is not worth it or should not be potentially compromised by something you have no direct control over.

Edited May 8, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[pacruzer02]

That is exactly what I told him, what I was told, and that there is no guarantee. Like I said, we were just notified of this, it's a curve ball that we couldn't even think would happen, so I did my part, all we can do now is hope he gets on, or my aunt will be disappointed, I've been planning this for us for over a year.

[nana541]

My entire family was just told about this 4 days ago, so it's not my problem, but of course its something I'm going to worry about. From the get go I told him to take the cancel for any reason insurance because his girlfriend and him weren't sure they could get off, but instead they took my companies leisure care insurance, and neither of them cover something like this, so it's his problem.

 

 

I imagine that your cousin is very young and has not a clue as to how this will affect him for many years to come. Hoping he has learned something .....

 

He is so lucky he is alive to tell the story, my son did not survive the night of his 21st birthday. How I wish the police had pulled him over and hauled him in...

 

 

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[pacruzer02]

sorry to hear that, I couldn't imagine going through something like that, thanks for the reply

[nana541]

sorry to hear that, I couldn't imagine going through something like that, thanks for the reply

 

 

Hug him, yell at him and beg him not to do that to his parents.....

 

 

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[jan-n-john]

Not to stir the pot here, and I'm not an international lawyer, but it seems to me that if everything has been disclosed to Celebrity and they have cleared him to sail, and if he doesn't attempt to get off the ship in Canada, then everything should be OK. The cruise line is responsible to know what it's doing; if they have cleared him, and then deny him boarding at Seattle, then they have created a problem which they will have responsibility for. I would, however, be sure the line has in fact cleared him, not that it's just some telephone agent guessing. Get something in writing.

 

More broadly, the manner in which Canada checks cruise passengers getting off the ship at a Canadian port would factor into this.

 

If a pax does not enter Canada but stays on the ship, then from a practical standpoint Canada has no dog in the fight. If all pax must go through some sort of Canadian checkpoint (screen) when departing their ship, then Canada can always exclude those it doesn't want that way, and thus have no basis to exclude them from making the trip at all simply because it stops in Canada. If they don't screen pax departing the ship, then in theory in order to keep him out for sure they would have to tell the carrier not to carry him at all. But it seems a stretch that any country could, under international law, tell a transportation company not registered in that country with whom they can do business (carry). For example, could Canada tell a non-Canadian airline that is flying to the US from Europe with a stop in Canada that they could not carry a particular pax even if that person will not leave the plane in Canada? I'd be curious if anyone knows the law on such things and could comment.

Edited May 8, 2014 by jan-n-john

[wichitastatecruiser]

Not to stir the pot here, and I'm not an international lawyer, but it seems to me that if everything has been disclosed to Celebrity and they have cleared him to sail, and if he doesn't attempt to get off the ship in Canada, then everything should be OK. The cruise line is responsible to know what it's doing; if they have cleared him, and then deny him boarding at Seattle, then they have created a problem which they will have responsibility for. I would, however, be sure the line has in fact cleared him, not that it's just some telephone agent guessing. Get something in writing.

 

More broadly, the manner in which Canada checks cruise passengers getting off the ship at a Canadian port would factor into this.

 

If a pax does not enter Canada but stays on the ship, then from a practical standpoint Canada has no dog in the fight. If all pax must go through some sort of Canadian checkpoint (screen) when departing their ship, then Canada can always exclude those it doesn't want that way, and thus have no basis to exclude them from making the trip at all simply because it stops in Canada. If they don't screen pax departing the ship, then in theory in order to keep him out for sure they would have to tell the carrier not to carry him at all. But it seems a stretch that any country could, under international law, tell a transportation company not registered in that country with whom they can do business (carry). For example, could Canada tell a non-Canadian airline that is flying to the US from Europe with a stop in Canada that they could not carry a particular pax even if that person will not leave the plane in Canada? I'd be curious if anyone knows the law on such things and could comment.

 

The answer to your question about who transportation companies can carry is that it depends. If a transportation company is carrying someone that is flagged in a certain country the "authority"; air traffic control or port authority will divert the transport to another country to keep that person out. What happens more than usual though is that the person has a record or does not have the proper visas to travel are confined to the international terminal. There is a true story about a man who did not have the proper papers being stranded at Charles De Gaulle airport for 17 years. Edward Snowden wasn't arrested in Russia because Russia claimed the International wing of the Moscow airport was not Russian territory and could not arrest him for his US warrants unless he left the International terminal.

[Jackytar]

But it seems a stretch that any country could, under international law, tell a transportation company not registered in that country with whom they can do business (carry). For example, could Canada tell a non-Canadian airline that is flying to the US from Europe with a stop in Canada that they could not carry a particular pax even if that person will not leave the plane in Canada? I'd be curious if anyone knows the law on such things and could comment.

 

I can't speak to the current state of Canadian law, but there was an item in the news about two-three years ago to the effect that American law can indeed do precisely that. Airlines operating flights from Canadian cities to Mexico & points south had to clear their passenger lists with US's DHS; same for any flights that transited airspace over Hawai'i or Alaska. The premise was, apparently, that although the flight was not scheduled to land at an American 'port of entry' (i.e., international airport), in the event of an emergency it might be necessary to do so. Therefore, the US deemed they had the right to insist that pax on flights transiting through American airspace (not even a scheduled stop at an American airport) had to be clear of "no fly" restrictions.

 

That being the case, I'd be quite surprised if Canadian air travel regs & laws weren't similar; I'd also be quite surprised if both Canadian and American sea travel regs and laws weren't similar also. Though again - I don't know; this is speculation on my part.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Jackytar

[sail7seas]

Not to stir the pot here, and I'm not an international lawyer, but it seems to me that if everything has been disclosed to Celebrity and they have cleared him to sail, and if he doesn't attempt to get off the ship in Canada, then everything should be OK. The cruise line is responsible to know what it's doing; if they have cleared him, and then deny him boarding at Seattle, then they have created a problem which they will have responsibility for. I would, however, be sure the line has in fact cleared him, not that it's just some telephone agent guessing. Get something in writing.

 

 

<snip>

 

Many of us who have cruised for many years and have dealt with lots of cruise line telephone reps have learned to be very cautious about 'authoritative' information passed from phone reps to cruisers. Many are poorly trained, are very short on experience and way too often give inaccurate and unreliable information. One naturally expects the cruise line to be giving reliable information but it will do you absolutely no good to arrive at an embarkation port and say 'they told me on the telephone I'd be good to go' to the authority who will decide whether you board the ship or not.

 

Get it in writing or do not rely upon information from the cruise line that could impact your ability to board or other critical issue.

 

[fischymom]

Just a personal experience take it for that only...DH has an old DUI (like 10+yrs at that time) when we went to Alaska for our 20th wedding ann. We never got stopped at Victoria when we got off ship and we never got stopped in a tour van when we were going into the Yukon.

[Langley Cruisers]

Just a personal experience take it for that only...DH has an old DUI (like 10+yrs at that time)....

 

With all due respect, not quite the same thing. OP's question was for a new DUI, 6 months. Your DH is considered rehabilitated after 10+ years had passed.

 

~

 

Also, as far as I'm concerned this was answered in post #5 when the Government of Canada ink was provided. Read the info there - you'll have your answer.

.

[calliopecruiser]

If a pax does not enter Canada but stays on the ship, then from a practical standpoint Canada has no dog in the fight. If all pax must go through some sort of Canadian checkpoint (screen) when departing their ship, then Canada can always exclude those it doesn't want that way, and thus have no basis to exclude them from making the trip at all simply because it stops in Canada. If they don't screen pax departing the ship, then in theory in order to keep him out for sure they would have to tell the carrier not to carry him at all. But it seems a stretch that any country could, under international law, tell a transportation company not registered in that country with whom they can do business (carry). For example, could Canada tell a non-Canadian airline that is flying to the US from Europe with a stop in Canada that they could not carry a particular pax even if that person will not leave the plane in Canada? I'd be curious if anyone knows the law on such things and could comment.

 

Nope; passengers on any ship that crosses into Canadian waters has officially entered the country, regardless of whether or not they disembark. Even if they're only passing through Canadian waters. Ditto for Canadian airspace. And, yes, the US has the same rights and exercises them vigilantly......If you're on a flight crossing US airspace, the US will clear all the names of the passengers through their database. If you are not cleared, the airline will not allow you to board.

[dadroy]

The problem with answering the OP's original question is you have to actually answer two questions.

 

CAN they and WILL they. I believe Canadian law allows them to refuse to allow you to board the ship. BUT they probably will not!. The problem with relying on anything that was told to the OP is many employees of the consulate and the cruise lines will answer the question with WILL they. Any reader of CC knows if you call any cruise line with an obscure question you will get 5 answers if you call five times.

 

Ask them to put it in writing and watch them backpedal.

[chengkp75]

The problem with answering the OP's original question is you have to actually answer two questions.

 

CAN they and WILL they. I believe Canadian law allows them to refuse to allow you to board the ship. BUT they probably will not!. The problem with relying on anything that was told to the OP is many employees of the consulate and the cruise lines will answer the question with WILL they. Any reader of CC knows if you call any cruise line with an obscure question you will get 5 answers if you call five times.

 

Ask them to put it in writing and watch them backpedal.

 

Absolutely agree with you here. While I agree that the government of Canada probably has the right to disallow boarding, I think the main question is time. Nothing is processed to any government agency, US or Canadian, until the passenger manifest is completed, 90 minutes prior to departure. I don't believe there is any official government "pre-screening" done, even with online booking and documentation. So, by the time the Canadian immigration gets the manifest, and starts running the checks, the ship has most likely departed. At that point, they will notify the agents in the Canadian port of call to disallow the passenger from disembarking.

[momofmeg]

so, not to hijack the thread...but am I understanding correctly that some cruise lines and/or countries will refuse admission if you have a criminal record?

 

I don't have anything but I was just sort of surprised...I would have never thought of it...how would Canada or any other country even know?

 

Yes, I have a friend who married a man who had served time in prison many years ago. He's a good man now, but apparently wasn't in his younger days. She loves cruising and he can't go with her. She usually cruises with her mother. She has also gone with us.