HELP! EBTA cruisers, didn't leave the country?

[olafLover]

Don't they still have a few days left? If they apply for one now - wherever they apply for it - it would show that they are not in the US.

An ESTA isn’t a visa, it’s a pre check to be able to get a visa at the border. You apply for an ESTA on line. Reapplying won’t proof anything and won’t do us any good.
No, as of yesterday we don’t have any days left, if tried all I could to get this resolved before it got to that, but we’re currently overstaying our (I94) visa

 

[olafLover]

i honestly don’t know why people keep making excuses for DCL or trying to justify their inaction, or liking posts that do this. It’s so unhelpful.

The fact is that every single European guest who has so far found out about this has been affected. On that basis alone, despite being perhaps a small sample size in the statistics world, it is a massive “coincidence” that should have been better read as “uh oh - maybe all of our European guests were affected”. The very least DCL could have done was send a general email reminding guests with ESTA visas to check the website, and attaching the requisite proof. Our social media group had about 500 members, that is only about 20% or less of the total cruisers on the EBTA. It stands to reason there are many out there who don’t know about it. DCL, by notifying its guests, doesn’t have to admit it was liable and can even foist blame on CBP if they want (and I’m not saying the situation was DCL’s fault at all, but it certainly wasn’t the guests’ fault, particularly because we gave our passports to DCL!!) but knowing this has so far been a problem for 100% of guests who have found out is a significant fact that they should not have so easily overlooked.

Yes, THIS!
I’m not saying that Disney should have known or they should have contacted us. I’m saying they should contact the remainder of the possibly (likely!) affected people right now! And they don’t!
And I keep saying, they didn’t let us know their hands were tied! The last thing they told us was, everything will be ok, we’ll sort it, until somebody contact THEM! I can totally understand there’s nothing they can do at this point, really, BUT LET US KNOW! Send us the proof (and information, now CBP is asking for a vessel nr!) needed to get it fixed, without us having the request for it, especially when we’ve gone out of our way to contact you

 

[olafLover]

Just to be very clear about this. This isn’t anymore about our own visa. We’re now officially in overstay and I’ve done what I could. It’s been either enough or it hasn’t and that’s fine.
But currently I’m fighting for my fellow cruisers that don’t know and that I have no way to contact! I refuse to let DCL be inactive and have people at the border refused because of something that could be fixed right now, if DCL only lets them know it’s an issue!

 

[olafLover]

Disney may not know how many are affected. DHS or INS or any of the alphabet soup groups send their info directly to those that they believe are in violation of something. They bypass Disney completely. By the time that DCL finds out that there was more then 1 person and starts back tracking, its too late. Its on social media. The problem is that when you call DCL you get the average person who has no idea on what goes on, as far as the procedure for a ship to legally leave a US port. Theres a handful of people that do, and I guarantee that they don't answer the phone for reservations. You wouldnt even be fowarded to them. They probably arent even in the same county. Could DCL send something out? Possibly but exactly when would they know that they should send something out? And to how many? Most likely the only way they would know a number is by the number of people that call and say help. If 5 people call for info, and ask for the docs theyd assume theres only 5 families affected. At first, it appears that there was only 1 family. Then a few more people call, and someone takes notice, and passes the buck to someone that actually can deal with the situation. I went back and looked thru the timeline. Basically it wasn't until yesterday morning, at about 830 board time, that DCL said that they can do no more. They probably were working under the assumption that they could clear up the issue over the phone, or resend the documents, and un fubar this mess. Until someone said nope, your done. Were only dealing with the families. Disney may not be aware of the full impact if DHS didnt tell them that it was almost or all of the foreign travelers. DHS,INS or whoever is responsible basically couldn't care less that Disney is saying hey its your mistake.fix it. Whether its procedure, or law or any other reason, well probably never know. But now were at 36 hours from Disneys our hands are tied. How fast can FedUP, get documents to 2500 people? How fast can Disney actually get the info ready to go out, and be picked up, before FedUp quits for the day? How fast will it get across the ocean into who knows how many countries, assuming that they did get everything done in record time? At best, it would have been this morning assuming that DCL had docs or a letter ready to go when they found out that they could do no more. It takes time to print the info, then get it to the mail room and schedule a pick up. If I had to guess, it went to the print shop at the MK, to print 2500 copies, then put it into envelopes, label it, and then went to Disneys mail room from the park for FedUp.If it was done at all. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if by Fri, theres paperwork sitting at peoples houses. Or nothing was sent. Either way I wouldnt be surprised. Disney was behind the 8 ball the minute the first person called to say hey I have a problem.

20/20 hindsight is always clear after the fact. Could they have done something earlier? Sure they could. If they knew they were going to be told off. The OP even said their ta mentioned it looked good because DCL was calm when they were relaying info. As far as I know, this is the first instance a full ship or near full ship that has had an issue of this magnitude, that DCL has had to deal with in this manner.

Except Disney didn’t let us (the people who already contacted them and they promised to keep updated) know their hands were tied. They have our emails, no need to print anything to let us know.
Also no need to contact the entire ship, Disney knows the nationalities of their guest! They know who might be affected!

Not sure where you got the 36 hours from? We hadn't heard anything since last Friday. I never said anywhere anything needed to be in peoples mailboxes in 36 hours

 

[Pinocc63]

I can’t thank you enough for this post! My parents were on this cruise and after checking last night, they have also overstayed their stay! Had I not happened to spot this thread, the first they would have know about it would have been when they arrived in the US in October for a cruise. After an 8 hour flight they would have been turned away. Hardly ideal in your mid seventies especially when you believe you have done everything by the book. They have received no emails to tell them about this and believed they weren’t affected. The only saving grace is they hadn’t planned to travel to the US again after their forthcoming cruise. This had massive repercussions, as flagged up, for many!

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that Disney have done nothing to notify fellow passengers. As someone suggested, just an email to suggest they investigate is surely the decent thing to do. While I understand they can’t do any more with a government agency, they have at the very least a duty to do this. It’s certainly making me look at DCL in a new light.

 

[SirDuff]

Except Disney didn’t let us (the people who already contacted them and they promised to keep update) know their hands were tied. They have our emails, no need to print anything to let us know.
Also no need to contact the entire ship, Disney knows the nationalities of their guest! They know who might be affected!

But they *could* contact the entire ship. An email wouldn't take long to do - just a quick "Dear cruisers, there appears to be a problem with documentation of exiting the US for non-US cruisers on your cruise. If you traveled on an ESTA, we suggest that you contact X/check your I94/whatever"

 

[olafLover]

I can’t thank you enough for this post! My parents were on this cruise and after checking last night, they have also overstayed their stay! Had I not happened to spot this thread, the first they would have know about it would have been when they arrived in the US in October for a cruise. After an 8 hour flight they would have been turned away. Hardly ideal in your mid seventies especially when you believe you have done everything by the book. They have received no emails to tell them about this and believed they weren’t affected. The only saving grace is they hadn’t planned to travel to the US again after their forthcoming cruise. This had massive repercussions, as flagged up, for many!

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that Disney have done nothing to notify fellow passengers. As someone suggested, just an email to suggest they investigate is surely the decent thing to do. While I understand they can’t do any more with a government agency, they have at the very least a duty to do this. It’s certainly making me look at DCL in a new light.

You're very welcome, this is why I keep bringing it up, every European (or maybe non-US) cruiser on this cruise should know!

We're at at least 20 families now who were affected and 0 who weren't

 

[olafLover]

But they *could* contact the entire ship. An email wouldn't take long to do - just a quick "Dear cruisers, there appears to be a problem with documentation of exiting the US for non-US cruisers on your cruise. If you traveled on an ESTA, we suggest that you contact X/check your I94/whatever"

Yes, they definitely could! But I was replying to somebody stating how much time it would take to print that many (entire ship) letters and send them by mail. Which I doubt will take that much time, on our WBTA there was an itinerary change and we got a letter in our stateroom (really all that's needed, no entire booklets) within the hour and a few hours later we even got a letter in our native tongue

 

[Karin1984]

But they *could* contact the entire ship. An email wouldn't take long to do - just a quick "Dear cruisers, there appears to be a problem with documentation of exiting the US for non-US cruisers on your cruise. If you traveled on an ESTA, we suggest that you contact X/check your I94/whatever"

Well, that's the thing, from a customer point of view it seems as an easy thing to do. From a company point of view, these e-mails are extremely difficult to send as you put it in writing.

The last few weeks me and my colleagues received a message that we needed to send out an e-mail to all members in 1 country regarding some court case and the ruling of the judge. We were ordered to send certain information, one sentence was obligatory. You would think it's very easy, you put the sentence in the e-mail, select the people who need to receive it and send. Done deal within a day. It took us about 4 weeks.
Because this was something legal and you cannot make any mistakes in this. So many people from all kinds of departments were involved. Every word and every comma was discussed.

I can imagine as Disney is in a difficult situation now, the wording of the e-mail takes a lot of time. They don't want to cause extra worry, to what extent is this their responsibility etc. Will people think this e-mail is phishing? Will it cause backlash? They cannot know for each nationality what the passenger needs to do as that is on CBP's plate.

 

[deanimal]

Well, that's the thing, from a customer point of view it seems as an easy thing to do. From a company point of view, these e-mails are extremely difficult to send as you put it in writing.

The last few weeks me and my colleagues received a message that we needed to send out an e-mail to all members in 1 country regarding some court case and the ruling of the judge. We were ordered to send certain information, one sentence was obligatory. You would think it's very easy, you put the sentence in the e-mail, select the people who need to receive it and send. Done deal within a day. It took us about 4 weeks.
Because this was something legal and you cannot make any mistakes in this. So many people from all kinds of departments were involved. Every word and every comma was discussed.

I can imagine as Disney is in a difficult situation now, the wording of the e-mail takes a lot of time. They don't want to cause extra worry, to what extent is this their responsibility etc. Will people think this e-mail is phishing? Will it cause backlash? They cannot know for each nationality what the passenger needs to do as that is on CBP's plate.

Well, I'm sure there's a lot of paperwork involved with pulling someone out of the water if they fall overboard too, but that wouldn't excuse Disney if they waited to check with their lawyers while the other passengers took over helping the person back onboard. (Yes, I know this is an exaggeration of the situation, but they are failing to notify people of a VERY serious, life altering issue with a definite deadline approaching)

 

[Nici159]

I already read that there is a facebook group for this cruise, but it‘s a secret group. Could pls somebody ask there if they can „open“ it again? I‘m also affected and it would be so nice to read more experiences from others who also struggle with this situation.

 

[olafLover]

I already read that there is a facebook group for this cruise, but it‘s a secret group. Could pls somebody ask there if they can „open“ it again? I‘m also affected and it would be so nice to read more experiences from others who also struggle with this situation.

If you send me your contact info I'll ask the admins to add you

ETA: aaargh, I think you need at least 10 messages to send private messages, post some random stuff on the community board!

 

[CarolynU]

I am so so grateful that I didn’t take this cruise! I’ve taken the WBTA but not the Eastbound.
In October I’ve booked and paid for a massive family reunion at WDW.
My son and his wife from Canada are meeting their niece and nephew for the first time. I’m looking forward to seeing my grandkids faces as they enter the MK. My daughter will be spending rare quality time with her brother and his wife who we love dearly. It has cost an absolute fortune! We are going for sixteen days! We haven’t been together at WDW since my husband died.
If I’d taken this cruise I would now be denied entry for this trip and possibly forever through no fault of my own.
I would be desolate! I guess to allow my family this special trip I’d let all the others go whilst I sat at home on my own.
To be honest my natural perhaps unrealistic expectation would be that someone somewhere should be busting a gut to help me!

 

[truck1]

Except Disney didn’t let us (the people who already contacted them and they promised to keep updated) know their hands were tied. They have our emails, no need to print anything to let us know.
Also no need to contact the entire ship, Disney knows the nationalities of their guest! They know who might be affected!

Not sure where you got the 36 hours from? We hadn't heard anything since last Friday. I never said anywhere anything needed to be in peoples mailboxes in 36 hours

So apparently the final conclusion from Disney is they can't do anything but provide us with proof we were on the cruise. We each have to request the proof from them and it will take 72 hours (!!!) for them to get it. We then have to forward the proof to CBS and hope for the best.

Why Disney isn't providing the proof voluntarily and why it would take them this long is beyond me

From here. You posted at just about 8am on Tues Disney can do no more. It was about 8pm est on Weds which I believe is the same time the board uses. About 36 hours difference from when you posted to my post.

Keep in mind I'm very sympathetic to the situation that your family and the other families are caught in.Ill reiterate there should be an easy way to fix this in a short time frame or expedite your appeal since it's there screw up. Inside to work cargo at JFK airport for Virgin Atlantic. Part of my job was to expedite freight. We had several pieces that came in regularly that were always stopped by customs. Everytime I'd go down with additional paperwork and get it cleared. This was 3 or 4 times a week. I even left copies of the required paperwork with them. Didnt work. they didnt care. Every 2 or 3 days I'd have to go down and it was the same agent everytime. My bosses got involved, it went all the way to London, and talked to their bosses and every 2 or 3 days I'd be back for the same freight. I actually asked them at 1 point if their mother had any children that lived.

When people start talking about cruise info being sent out, theres a lot of legalities involved. Who can see what, when where and how. Going back to my original statement, Disney may suspect at this point that the entire ship has an issue, but due to legal restraints cant just send everyone the cruise info. It may have to be requested so it can be noted that only the people affected get it. And again, if only 5 people say I need this there may assume it's only those 5 families. As much as wed like to think that email. Instant. Easy, until you now start to look at who booked how. Now tas are involved since they handle just about everything for their customers. Does DCL even still have a record of some cruisers info or does it get purged after say 30 days or archived on a different server, and it takes an act of congress to find. Were talking international and National guidelines and laws here not common sense.If DCL lawyers get involved because of how to approach this nothing will get done in a timely manner.

 

[olafLover]

From here. You posted at just about 8am on Tues Disney can do no more. It was about 8pm est on Weds which I believe is the same time the board uses. About 36 hours difference from when you posted to my post.

Keep in mind I'm very sympathetic to the situation that your family and the other families are caught in.Ill reiterate there should be an easy way to fix this in a short time frame or expedite your appeal since it's there screw up. Inside to work cargo at JFK airport for Virgin Atlantic. Part of my job was to expedite freight. We had several pieces that came in regularly that were always stopped by customs. Everytime I'd go down with additional paperwork and get it cleared. This was 3 or 4 times a week. I even left copies of the required paperwork with them. Didnt work. they didnt care. Every 2 or 3 days I'd have to go down and it was the same agent everytime. My bosses got involved, it went all the way to London, and talked to their bosses and every 2 or 3 days I'd be back for the same freight. I actually asked them at 1 point if their mother had any children that lived.

When people start talking about cruise info being sent out, theres a lot of legalities involved. Who can see what, when where and how. Going back to my original statement, Disney may suspect at this point that the entire ship has an issue, but due to legal restraints cant just send everyone the cruise info. It may have to be requested so it can be noted that only the people affected get it. As much as wed like to think that email. Instant. Easy, until you now start to look at who booked how. Now tas are involved since they handle just about everything for their customers. Does DCL even still have a record of some cruisers info or does it get purged after say 30 days or archived on a different server? Were talking international and National guidelines and laws here not common sense.If DCL lawyers get involved because of how to approach this nothing will get done in a timely manner.

Ah, the 72 hours was the time Disney was saying it was going to take them to send us the proof, not the time we had left. Luckily it didn't take 72 hours in the end, but why they would even state such a high number, who knows? The time people have left depends on when they arrived. We were one of the first in the US, so our time is up, but most people still have time.

My issue isn't it that it happened, mistakes happen, I really don't care where it went wrong, who's to blame, whatever, it's the situation we're currently in, so let's fix it. I appreciate Disney investigating and trying to fix it. I can also understand why they can't. But this is where the issue starts and why I'm angry with DCL at the moment.

1. After they found out there was nothing they could do, they didn't inform the people who they preciously said they would keep updated.
2. They ask us, the people they know are facing this issue and they have the e-mail addresses and reservation numbers from, to request proof FROM THEM, why exactly would they think we wouldn't need it and wouldn't they pro actively send it to us? (Preferably in the e-mail where they said their hands are tied, but this is what we can do for you)
3. Why do they refuse to acknowledge it's a ship wide issue and inform people? If people are denied access after this, it's because Disney is negligent! They have been informed about the issue and the fact that as of now, 100% of the European guests are effected and they choose to not take action and inform the remainder of THEIR guest!

 

[truck1]

Ah, the 72 hours was the time Disney was saying it was going to take them to send us the proof, not the time we had left. Luckily it didn't take 72 hours in the end, but why they would even state such a high number, who knows? The time people have left depends on when they arrived. We were one of the first in the US, so our time is up, but most people still have time.

My issue isn't it that it happened, mistakes happen, I really don't care where it went wrong, who's to blame, whatever, it's the situation we're currently in, so let's fix it. I appreciate Disney investigating and trying to fix it. I can also understand why they can't. But this is where the issue starts and why I'm angry with DCL at the moment.

1. After they found out there was nothing they could do, they didn't inform the people who they preciously said they would keep updated.
2. They ask us, the people they know are facing this issue and they have the e-mail addresses and reservation numbers from, to request proof FROM THEM, why exactly would they think we wouldn't need it and wouldn't they pro actively send it to us? (Preferably in the e-mail where they said their hands are tied, but this is what we can do for you)
3. Why do they refuse to acknowledge it's a ship wide issue and inform people? If people are denied access after this, it's because Disney is negligent! They have been informed about the issue and the fact that as of now, 100% of the European guests are effected and they choose to not take action and inform the remainder of THEIR guest!

No problem.

The 72 hours for paperwork is a stock answer that some people give for certain things. My cable company told me last week after they made a mistake on my renewal and canceled half my channels it would take 24 hours or more to get my channels back. They had it done in 15 minutes if that.

I understand your frustration. Granted I am missing some little bits of info that you have first hand knowledge from. My take on the we can do no more thing, is that you may have had a intermediate person who has no clue as to whats going on or whats being done, or not done. There just passing the message. And may have mangled the message along the way.

The requesting proof thing may be a legal technicality. By you on the phone which is recorded requesting certain documents may satisfy the legal aspect of it. I don't know for sure, but that's my uneducated guess. Disney may not be able to mass email those docs due to DHS,INS or who evers guidelines. It may be considered sensitive and only certain people may have access to it. Some of Disneys security measures border on outright stupidity. As an example, in Dec of 17, I took my 5 month old key word 5 month old, to Hollywood Studios to pick up a gift for a friend that lived too far from the park to get it themselves. I walk thru the bag check with her stroller and diaper bag and immediately get flagged for a metal detector. I told them what do I do with my daughter? The guard told me put her over there, and walk thru. I said no, not only no hell no. You are not separating me from my 5 month old. You guys cant even secure strollers in the park, let alone a 5 month old outside the gate. He told me our legal department okayed that. I told him flat out, that if anything happens to my daughter, because your insisting on separating me from her, even for a few seconds, I gty you will be changing the name of the park. The cop standing nearby started to laugh. the guard kind of got a funny look on his face and said well you can walk thru with her. I said that's better. Went thru with my daughter and went on my way. But this is there mentality now.
The ship wide acknowledgement may be a thing of Disneys legal department doing. If there involved all bets are off. Or they may not know the full scope, because DHS,INS or who ever that told them to go pound sand, may not have told them that everyone on the ship has that issue. Disney may suspect it know, but may not have any definitive proof. They may know that say a dozen people are calling and asking for the docs, but they may not know that 75% of the cruisers fall into that category.

 

[olafLover]

No problem.

The 72 hours for paperwork is a stock answer that some people give for certain things. My cable company told me last week after they made a mistake on my renewal and canceled half my channels it would take 24 hours or more to get my channels back. They had it done in 15 minutes if that.

I understand your frustration. Granted I am missing some little bits of info that you have first hand knowledge from. My take on the we can do no more thing, is that you may have had a intermediate person who has no clue as to whats going on or whats being done, or not done. There just passing the message. And may have mangled the message along the way.

The requesting proof thing may be a legal technicality. By you on the phone which is recorded requesting certain documents may satisfy the legal aspect of it. I don't know for sure, but that's my uneducated guess. Disney may not be able to mass email those docs due to DHS,INS or who evers guidelines. It may be considered sensitive and only certain people may have access to it. Some of Disneys security measures border on outright stupidity. As an example, in Dec of 17, I took my 5 month old key word 5 month old, to Hollywood Studios to pick up a gift for a friend that lived too far from the park to get it themselves. I walk thru the bag check with her stroller and diaper bag and immediately get flagged for a metal detector. I told them what do I do with my daughter? The guard told me put her over there, and walk thru. I said no, not only no hell no. You are not separating me from my 5 month old. You guys cant even secure strollers in the park, let alone a 5 month old outside the gate. He told me our legal department okayed that. I told him flat out, that if anything happens to my daughter, because your insisting on separating me from her, even for a few seconds, I gty you will be changing the name of the park. The cop standing nearby started to laugh. the guard kind of got a funny look on his face and said well you can walk thru with her. I said that's better. Went thru with my daughter and went on my way. But this is there mentality now.
The ship wide acknowledgement may be a thing of Disneys legal department doing. If there involved all bets are off. Or they may not know the full scope, because DHS,INS or who ever that told them to go pound sand, may not have told them that everyone on the ship has that issue. Disney may suspect it know, but may not have any definitive proof. They may know that say a dozen people are calling and asking for the docs, but they may not know that 75% of the cruisers fall into that category.

The message didn't get mangled, the message didn't get send! Full stop. I'm not talking ship wide, I'm talking to the group that contacted them. If they couldn't send the proof without consent, they could have send a message (really, just anything!) to let us know they needed the consent (or as my first point, update it they weren't investigating anymore). They send NOTHING.
And this was after one specific executive guest correspondent was appointed, so it can't be an issue of thinking somebody else might do it

And about the 72 hours, you have people who have a time sensitive issue, they have 10 days to fix it. You already took 3 days not updating them and then you have the guts to tell them the proof they need may take 3 more days?

 

[truck1]

i honestly don’t know why people keep making excuses for DCL or trying to justify their inaction, or liking posts that do this. It’s so unhelpful.

The fact is that every single European guest who has so far found out about this has been affected. On that basis alone, despite being perhaps a small sample size in the statistics world, it is a massive “coincidence” that should have been better read as “uh oh - maybe all of our European guests were affected”. The very least DCL could have done was send a general email reminding guests with ESTA visas to check the website, and attaching the requisite proof. Our social media group had about 500 members, that is only about 20% or less of the total cruisers on the EBTA. It stands to reason there are many out there who don’t know about it. DCL, by notifying its guests, doesn’t have to admit it was liable and can even foist blame on CBP if they want (and I’m not saying the situation was DCL’s fault at all, but it certainly wasn’t the guests’ fault, particularly because we gave our passports to DCL!!) but knowing this has so far been a problem for 100% of guests who have found out is a significant fact that they should not have so easily overlooked.

That door swings both ways. We truthfully don't know what legal guidelines DCL has to follow in a situation like this. Or how many Disney Departments are involved. Condemning Disney because we don't know all of the details on what they can and cant do, doesn't really help either. We dont know for sure, that they arent working on getting the info out, and as it winds its way thru Disneys internals and how long that takes. Some of us, have experience dealing with government stupidity, and can offer an insight in to the inner workings. We know first hand, how bad it can get, and how easily it can go from bad to worse.

Its very easy to sit here and think Disney is in the wrong, not having the full story in front of us.

 

[KashasMom]

Disney may not know how many are affected. DHS or INS or any of the alphabet soup groups send their info directly to those that they believe are in violation of something. They bypass Disney completely. By the time that DCL finds out that there was more then 1 person and starts back tracking, its too late. Its on social media. The problem is that when you call DCL you get the average person who has no idea on what goes on, as far as the procedure for a ship to legally leave a US port. Theres a handful of people that do, and I guarantee that they don't answer the phone for reservations. You wouldnt even be fowarded to them. They probably arent even in the same county. Could DCL send something out? Possibly but exactly when would they know that they should send something out? And to how many? Most likely the only way they would know a number is by the number of people that call and say help. If 5 people call for info, and ask for the docs theyd assume theres only 5 families affected. At first, it appears that there was only 1 family. Then a few more people call, and someone takes notice, and passes the buck to someone that actually can deal with the situation. I went back and looked thru the timeline. Basically it wasn't until yesterday morning, at about 830 board time, that DCL said that they can do no more. They probably were working under the assumption that they could clear up the issue over the phone, or resend the documents, and un fubar this mess. Until someone said nope, your done. Were only dealing with the families. Disney may not be aware of the full impact if DHS didnt tell them that it was almost or all of the foreign travelers. DHS,INS or whoever is responsible basically couldn't care less that Disney is saying hey its your mistake.fix it. Whether its procedure, or law or any other reason, well probably never know. But now were at 36 hours from Disneys our hands are tied. How fast can FedUP, get documents to 2500 people? How fast can Disney actually get the info ready to go out, and be picked up, before FedUp quits for the day? How fast will it get across the ocean into who knows how many countries, assuming that they did get everything done in record time? At best, it would have been this morning assuming that DCL had docs or a letter ready to go when they found out that they could do no more. It takes time to print the info, then get it to the mail room and schedule a pick up. If I had to guess, it went to the print shop at the MK, to print 2500 copies, then put it into envelopes, label it, and then went to Disneys mail room from the park for FedUp.If it was done at all. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if by Fri, theres paperwork sitting at peoples houses. Or nothing was sent. Either way I wouldnt be surprised. Disney was behind the 8 ball the minute the first person called to say hey I have a problem.

20/20 hindsight is always clear after the fact. Could they have done something earlier? Sure they could. If they knew they were going to be told off. The OP even said their ta mentioned it looked good because DCL was calm when they were relaying info. As far as I know, this is the first instance a full ship or near full ship that has had an issue of this magnitude, that DCL has had to deal with in this manner.

It was a TRANS-ATLANTIC cruise. Disney ABSOLUTELY knows who is a non-US passport holder because not only do they ask you for all that info when you check-in online - you have to show your passport/documents when you check-in at the cruise terminal to prove you have all the appropriate visas/docs necessary for travel. And I'm betting that the number of non-US citizens was pretty small - your "2,500" implies that almost all the passengers were non-US citizens, which is far from the truth. I'm sure that DCL could have printed a letter and gotten a couple of hundred letters overnighted in a day or two. Heck, I can do that sitting at my desk in a day. I'm sure that with all their resources Disney could have done it as well. People didn't call Disney because they didn't know there was a problem but after the FIRST person contacted Disney, Disney KNEW that there was a problem. They dropped the ball.

 

[KashasMom]

Don't they still have a few days left? If they apply for one now - wherever they apply for it - it would show that they are not in the US.

You apply online - you don't go to the Embassy/Consulate so that isn't going to prove anything. And you just don't "show up" at a Consulate/Embassy and expect to speak with someone. Even as an American you usually need an appointment unless it's an emergency.