No 1-94, No Getting Off!

No 1-94, No Getting Off!

A big part of the allure of sailing on a cruise ship is the idea that you will be able to get off in exotic locales, exciting cities, experiencing the local culture and cuisine and all of the tantalizing entertainment venues just like one of the Guests. And you definitely can!

However, if you're on a ship that visits American destinations, this won't be an immediate reality until you've acquired the I-94. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_I-94  <- Read this Wikipedia page for more.
For us seafaring folk, this form is reduced to miniature form and is about the same size and thickness as a receipt you'd get from an ATM machine.

This teensy, flimsy piece of paper is only granted to you if you pass something called  crew-wide immigration. 

 If you don't get one, you're not getting off in any American ports.

 

 (of course no YA in their right mind would wear their gross Costume in Port... unless ironically I guess.)

 Which sadly means that even if you have the day off, or the ship is staying overnight, you won't be able to do anything but look at that particular city from the ship.

So that means not getting off in Alaska, or Los Angeles, or San Francisco, or Hawaii, or Miami, or Key West, or Galveston, or New York, or any other bit of American soil during the span of your contract unless you manage to get one of those 1-94s. Of course, if you're American you don't have to worry about it as much.


The reasoning behind it is so that any non-Americans don't get the idea to abandon ship and run off in Port to start new lives in America on Disney's dime. Not to say they couldn't do that even after getting an 1-94, but at least they've been tracked by immigration.

THE IMMIGRATION PROCESS

This is one of those things that EVERYONE has to do, even if you're American. The whole ship is sent in waves to get their immigration done (hehe...waves. That's water fairy humor. I mean, ship crew member humor).

By this I mean that regardless of whether it takes place in the Port itself or in the big Walt Disney Theater where the inspectors come on board, organizationally they only send groups of crew members to do it at a time, based on Department so that all 1000 crew members don't rush at once. It's usually structured something like:

6-7 AM: Dining Room and Galley
7-8 AM: Entertainment and Mainstage
8-9 AM: Youth Activities and Merchandise
9-10 AM: Housekeeping and Galley
10-11AM: Deck and Engine

...and so on.

For the most part, we've done it all in the Walt Disney Theater where the officers and managers all glad in their gleaming whites organize and corral you into rows of seats to wait your turn. The immigration inspectors are all lined up behind various desks on stage, a conspicuous pile of hot coffee and breakfast pastries and sandwiches for them to eat just behind - the hungry masses of tired crew members drowsy and grumbling in the audience.

When you first enter the theater you wait in line to receive your passport back (one of the only times during your time on board that you will ever SEE your passport from the day you board until the day you go home). If you're lucky, you will be sat with other members of your department, virtually unrecognizable by their unkempt hair and lack of makeup. Depending on how lax the Port or ship is, sometimes you can get away with heading up directly in comfortable clothing. Sometimes you will be strictly refused entry until you return in presentable "Disney Look" business casual clothing. Also depending on your country of origin, the air is filled with the feeling of tension and anxiety or irritated boredom over the proceedings that follow. What I mean by that is that certain departments are more likely to BREEZE through immigration based on their cultural/national makeup, while others won't.


The worst part is that this is often done on Port days where many people don't work until much later in the day, forcing you to wake up extra early. And even though it's extra early, you cannot even take a quick nap while seated in the plush cushions of the theater seats as you're constantly made to shift rows and then stand in line towards the stage as immigration proceeds. If you could see it, it's really a morning filled with tired, anxious people. Your ship officers are probably also not thrilled to wake up early and be dressed immaculately in their white uniforms and be standing for the whole time directing the crew. The gruff immigration inspectors on stage munching away on their breakfast snacks makes the whole scenario juts peachy.


Eventually you'll make it up to the stage and wait your turn to be seen by an immigration official. It's always a bit awkward as there's a couple hundred other people watching you from the audience. You hand over your passport to the immigration and they'll probably ask you a few cursory questions:

• Where are you from?
• What do you do on board?
• Have you been to the United States before?
• How long have you worked for DCL?

And if you answer those questions to their satisfaction, they'll issue you a new I-94, stamp it and retain your passport. And that's on the luckier side. Most Americans and Canadians will get by with a "Hi, how are you?" and automatically get their I-94. Youth Activities Counselors and the countries that make up the department also get by without too much hassle.


Watching other departments go through immigration isn't quite as pleasant, however. Usually they'll get more varied and probing questions asking about their family or friends in the United States, how much contact they've had with them, what other jobs they've held in the past, anything. They get stricter based on recent incidents - http://www.cruisebruise.com/Cruise_Ship_Crew_Ship_Jumpers.html

Because these workers in various departments might not have the best command of English, they're more likely to trip up or fumble in their immigration answers and are more likely to get denied access to American soil. They've also been known to deny any I-94s to people from the same country, regardless of department! (For example: even an Indonesian-born high ranking officer was denied an I-94 due to a recent case of Indonesian crew members illegally leaving ships in Los Angeles!)


Immigration also only really happens every 1-2 months, so you might be waiting around for a while after first joining the ship to get off in American ports. It's really a matter of lucky timing for the most part, imagine coming back for a contract right before an overnight stay in an American port and having that whole night + morning free? What a bummer.


Oh and if you happen to ever lose that little flimsy piece of paper? You're paying $300 to get it replaced. Because even if you aren't getting off in any other American ports for the next while,  you're expected to hand it right back to immigration officials when you leave the ship.