Vancouver to San Diego - Where do we clear U.S. customs?

[familytravellers]

We are taking a Pacific Coast cruise from Vancouver to San Diego. The first stop is in Victoria, B.C. and then our second stop is in Seattle, Washington.  I understand that we have to clear U.S. Customs at the cruise terminal in Vancouver before embarking. I have heard conflicting stories regarding U.S. customs clearance from different people. Someone mentioned they had to clear U.S. customs in their first U.S. port after Victoria while another person said they didn't have to do that.  We're trying to plan an excursion from Seattle and I wanted to know if I should build in extra time to leave the ship if we do indeed have to clear customs in Seattle. I called the cruise line and they couldn't answer that question.  What has been your experience on past cruises?

[1025cruise]

I would guess that you won't clear US Immigration in Vancouver since your first stop is Victoria. But, you will need to clear in Seattle.

[CruiserBruce]

Customs is not a big thing, but Immigration is. As you are stopping in Victoria after you depart from Vancouver, at least some Immigration (not Customs) procedure will need to be done in Seattle. It may be painless to almost not noticed.

[Northern Aurora]

A number of years ago we did a Pacific Coastal.  We boarded in Vancouver with the second stop being Naniamo (sp?), British Columbia.  Next port was Seattle.  Very quick immigration procedure with passengers holding our passports near our faces and walking past US Immigration officials.  Multiple lines so it was quick.  

[familytravellers]

3 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

A number of years ago we did a Pacific Coastal.  We boarded in Vancouver with the second stop being Naniamo (sp?), British Columbia.  Next port was Seattle.  Very quick immigration procedure with passengers holding our passports near our faces and walking past US Immigration officials.  Multiple lines so it was quick.  

Great information! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[em-sk]

 

Highly unlikely you would do pre-clearance in Vancouver if you have a Canadian stop before the US.  Usually when you do pre-clearance in Vancouver it is on a cruise where the first stop is somewhere in the US,  (Alaska, Hawaii or the lower 48).  

 

Nanaimo has Canadian immigration but does not have any US pre-clearance officers.  Victoria harbour does have US pre-clearance that are mostly used by the ferries between Victoria and Seattle or Port Angeles.  While it may be possible to do pre-clearance in Victoria I would be surprised if they tried to do that on a ship the size of cruise ship.   

 

Seattle is the most likely location.  

 

 

[martincath]

My experiences concur that Victoria's CBP agents do not do any Preclearance for cruises; we've taken multiple coastal repos with Van-Vic-US Port and it is always the US port where immigration happens. Legally it's impossible to preclear in Vancouver with a Canadian port next - so you will bypass CBP entirely at embarkation, which does make boarding quicker!

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:24 PM, Northern Aurora said:

.  Very quick immigration procedure with passengers holding our passports near our faces and walking past US Immigration officials.  Multiple lines so it was quick.  

I'm guessing it's all done via facial recognition now and you don't even flash your passport or at least that was our experience in November 2022 at Port Canaveral and on a recent flight back from Cabo to San Diego.  

[Northern Aurora]

1 hour ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

I'm guessing it's all done via facial recognition now and you don't even flash your passport or at least that was our experience in November 2022 at Port Canaveral and on a recent flight back from Cabo to San Diego.  

 

 

I am guessing it is all done using facial recognition now too.  In September 2022 at LA following a Mexican Riviera cruise it certainly was facial recognition.