Vancouver-Victoria-Astoria CUSTOMS

[mattR]

Will be sailing the Veendam out of Vancouver our first port will be Victoria then Astoria. I am Canadian and just wondering how this is going to work for Customs when and where we are going to be going through them?

[Putterdude]

You will clear US Customs at the pier in Vancouver before you board the ship.

[scottbee]

You will clear US Customs at the pier in Vancouver before you board the ship.

 

Not if the 1st port of call is Victoria....

[Putterdude]

Not if the 1st port of call is Victoria....

 

I missed the Victoria stop in the post .... so do you know where they will clear customs? It is unlikely that US customs have enough officers and facilities i.e. passport scanning equipment etc to clear a full cruise ship in Victoria and HAL will likely not want to take the risk of having someone aboard who can not clear customs once in the states.....

[scottbee]

I missed the Victoria stop in the post .... so do you know where they will clear customs? It is unlikely that US customs have enough officers and facilities i.e. passport scanning equipment etc to clear a full cruise ship in Victoria and HAL will likely not want to take the risk of having someone aboard who can not clear customs once in the states.....

 

I really don't know. To clear at Victoria, they'd need to empty the ship and reboard everyone, plus there aren't a lot of US CBP based in Victoria (there are a few as immigration is pre-cleared for BlackBall's ferry), so Victoria seems unlikely. Astoria is not a normal point of entry, and would require a bunch of people likely sent out from Portland, but I really don't see what other options there are.

 

Given all this, they'll probably do immigration at Astoria and Customs at the final destination.

[LeftcoastBC]

Everyone will clear US customs at your first port of Call in the US. (Astoria) I hope that they have it down a bit better than when we did it several years ago.

There were lines up and down the hall ways and it was extremely uncomfortable. And of course the masses were not happy. We returned to the top decks to watch and wait.

There were just to few US Border Staff.

[calikak]

I am wondering if they'll screen you at all. I boarded Star Princess in Vancouver for a one-night cruise last spring and there was no customs screening in Vancouver (in the past, we'd always been screened by US customs in Vancouver). So I thought when we got off the ship, there'd be a more thorough screening when we got off the ship in Seattle. But no, we just flashed our passports to a customs guy as we walked out, and someone from the cruise line collected our customs declaration forms at that time. I was kind of surprised that we didn't have to have our passports actually looked at by any government officials.

[mattR]

Everyone will clear US customs at your first port of Call in the US. (Astoria) I hope that they have it down a bit better than when we did it several years ago.

There were lines up and down the hall ways and it was extremely uncomfortable. And of course the masses were not happy. We returned to the top decks to watch and wait.

There were just to few US Border Staff.

 

Did they make everyone get up early to do this? Did you just do it as you were getting off the ship or did they have to clear the entire ship before letting anyone off?

[mattR]

Did they make everyone get up early to do this? Did you just do it as you were getting off the ship or did they have to clear the entire ship before letting anyone off?

 

???

[juliecat]

When we were there last year, they called everyone to inspection by deck. After a couple hours they announced that people who had gone through inspection could leave the ship but could not reboard until everyone onboard had gone through inspection. Those of us on the lower decks were off the ship a lot later than we'd expected.

 

J

[mattR]

When we were there last year, they called everyone to inspection by deck. After a couple hours they announced that people who had gone through inspection could leave the ship but could not reboard until everyone onboard had gone through inspection. Those of us on the lower decks were off the ship a lot later than we'd expected.

 

J

 

Was that in Astoria? How long for the lower floors to clear 2-3hrs?

[c-cruise]

When we were there last year, they called everyone to inspection by deck. After a couple hours they announced that people who had gone through inspection could leave the ship but could not reboard until everyone onboard had gone through inspection. Those of us on the lower decks were off the ship a lot later than we'd expected.

 

J

 

This is the same experience we had when we stopped in Astoria last year. Took forever waiting in line as they called people down deck by deck. Once you got through customs you could leave the ship, but not re-board until the entire ship was cleared.

 

This was a short 3 night cruise and it seemed like we spent the entire thing in customs lines. Left from Seattle, then to Victoria (canadian customs), then to Astoria (US customs), then to Vancouver (canadian customs) and then back across the boarder (US customs) on the train.

[juliecat]

Was that in Astoria? How long for the lower floors to clear 2-3hrs?

 

Yep, Astoria.

 

3 hours sounds about right. Definitely after breakfast and a leisurely walk around the decks.

 

This was Vancouver, Victoria, Astoria, LA. In Victoria, they just glanced at passports as we passed through the terminal, no wait time there.

 

J

[LeftcoastBC]

Did they make everyone get up early to do this? Did you just do it as you were getting off the ship or did they have to clear the entire ship before letting anyone off?

 

No one up early cause , who knew. Just filed everyone through the one or two Guys and it took hours. Once through ou could leave. Looks like from the folks that have posted later that they may have a bit better handle on the waiting in line by going floor by floor. Just not a great program.

[c-cruise]

It's too bad the customs are a pain there, because Astoria really is a neat stop and the locals are so organized and accommodating of the cruise ship passengers.

[mattR]

there are actually going to be two ships in port the day we are there which should be interesting for a place that normaly only gets a dozen ships a year:) Our ship is in a few hours ahead of the second but since we have to do the customs thing we might be getting off at the same time. Don't have big plans for the stop anyways going to go check out some of the Goonie sights which I'm sure wont be to popular with most of the other passangers on the Veendam:)

[LeftcoastBC]

there are actually going to be two ships in port the day we are there which should be interesting for a place that normaly only gets a dozen ships a year:) Our ship is in a few hours ahead of the second but since we have to do the customs thing we might be getting off at the same time. Don't have big plans for the stop anyways going to go check out some of the Goonie sights which I'm sure wont be to popular with most of the other passangers on the Veendam:)

 

Ah !!! The Goonies. We checked out everything on a family road trip a few years after the movie came out. Then stuff was easy to find. Not so much when when we've dropped in a a couple of cruise ships lately. :) The house must still be there but I couldn't figure out which road I had used to get to it. Locals mostly new and not much help.

Only one shop had goonies stuff and it was very limited. BUT the interest continues. Even our local hockey team uses a cut of "Chunk" dropping down the sail on the over ice screen on the scoreboard. "HEY... YOU GUYS"

Shop was on/over water near the tracks about 3/4 way to Maritime Museum from the ship.

Do you have this site ? http://www.thegoonies.org/Locations.htm

[mattR]

Do you have this site ? http://www.thegoonies.org/Locations.htm

 

Great site thanks