dharmabum
03-01-2007, 09:51 PM
I am suprised this isn't getting more attention. (http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/2007/03/caught_smoking_.html)
Planning a cruise that departs from Canada? Your youthful indiscretions could come back to haunt you.
Today's cruisecritic.com reports that the Canadian government has begun turning away tourists arriving with convictions on their record for crimes as minor as smoking marijuana and shoplifting -- even if the convictions happened years ago during their youth. The Canadians also are cracking down on tourists arriving with convictions for driving dangerously or driving under the influence.
Cruisecritic.com says Canadian law long has considered tourists arriving with a criminal record as being "criminally inadmissible." But until recently, the technology didn't exist for Canadian border guards to know which arriving vacationers had a record, so few were turned away. The Web site says the implementation of new technology in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and new agreements with the United States, now gives Canadian immigration officials instant access to U.S. citizens' criminal histories.
The bottom line for Americans with records of even minor crimes: Even if you've gotten into Canada before, it doesn't guarantee you'll get in again.
The change, also reported in a recent San Francisco Chronicle story, has huge implications for cruisers. Many Alaskan cruises leave from Vancouver, and U.S. vacationers heading there now could be turned away. Even passengers on Alaskan cruises departing from Seattle will find that they're not allowed to disembark during port calls in Canada. Ditto for cruisers on trips up the East Coast to Canadian cities, such as Halifax.
Cruisecritic.com says cruise lines won't refund your money if you can't get to a ship because you're turned away at a border. And travel insurance companies won't pay out in such cases. But there is a way to "rehabilitate" yourself in the eyes of the Canadians, though its drawn-out and complicated, says cruisecritic.com.
Planning a cruise that departs from Canada? Your youthful indiscretions could come back to haunt you.
Today's cruisecritic.com reports that the Canadian government has begun turning away tourists arriving with convictions on their record for crimes as minor as smoking marijuana and shoplifting -- even if the convictions happened years ago during their youth. The Canadians also are cracking down on tourists arriving with convictions for driving dangerously or driving under the influence.
Cruisecritic.com says Canadian law long has considered tourists arriving with a criminal record as being "criminally inadmissible." But until recently, the technology didn't exist for Canadian border guards to know which arriving vacationers had a record, so few were turned away. The Web site says the implementation of new technology in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and new agreements with the United States, now gives Canadian immigration officials instant access to U.S. citizens' criminal histories.
The bottom line for Americans with records of even minor crimes: Even if you've gotten into Canada before, it doesn't guarantee you'll get in again.
The change, also reported in a recent San Francisco Chronicle story, has huge implications for cruisers. Many Alaskan cruises leave from Vancouver, and U.S. vacationers heading there now could be turned away. Even passengers on Alaskan cruises departing from Seattle will find that they're not allowed to disembark during port calls in Canada. Ditto for cruisers on trips up the East Coast to Canadian cities, such as Halifax.
Cruisecritic.com says cruise lines won't refund your money if you can't get to a ship because you're turned away at a border. And travel insurance companies won't pay out in such cases. But there is a way to "rehabilitate" yourself in the eyes of the Canadians, though its drawn-out and complicated, says cruisecritic.com.