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Do you need Passport for Caribbean


CarolRoy
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Will be on HAL Nieuw Amsterdam from Fort Lauderdale. Visiting the following ports - Grand Turk - San Juan - St. Thomas - Half Moon Cay. I know that in the ports you can just show your cruise card and license. Not sure if person would be denied embarking in FLL with only a driver's license. Do they actually need a passport for embarking? It may be too late to apply for a passport. Person is US citizen. Thanks for any info.

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Will be on HAL Nieuw Amsterdam from Fort Lauderdale. Visiting the following ports - Grand Turk - San Juan - St. Thomas - Half Moon Cay. I know that in the ports you can just show your cruise card and license. Not sure if person would be denied embarking in FLL with only a driver's license. Do they actually need a passport for embarking? It may be too late to apply for a passport. Person is US citizen. Thanks for any info.

 

No Passport is required, but suggest you take your Birth Certificate with a raised seal as well as your drivers license....If you do not have a Passport though, you will not be permitted to fly home if there is an emergency.. Anyone flying back into the U.S. must have a passport..

Edited by serendipity1499
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No Passport is required, but suggest you take your Birth Certificate with a raised seal as well as your drivers license....If you do not have a Passport though, you will not be permitted to fly home if there is an emergency.. Anyone flying back into the U.S. must have a passport..

 

A raised seal on the birth certificate is not a requirement.

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Grand Turk and HMC are foreign destination and when you return immigration form asks to list all the countries you visit. St. Thomas and PR are us so no passport needed. I would call HAL and check with them to be sure. If you love cruising you will want to have one anyway.

HMC is in the Bahamas and in the past you had to fill in a immigration form for them as well.

Edited by SeaBands
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Grand Turk and HMC are foreign destination and when you return immigration form asks to list all the countries you visit. St. Thomas and PR are us so no passport needed. I would call HAL and check with them to be sure. If you love cruising you will want to have one anyway.

HMC is in the Bahamas and in the past you had to fill in a immigration form for them as well.

I've visited HMC many times, but I don't recall ever having to complete any immigration form. In fact, I don't recall ever having had to fill in an immigration form for any Caribbean destination.

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Grand Turk and HMC are foreign destination and when you return immigration form asks to list all the countries you visit. St. Thomas and PR are us so no passport needed. I would call HAL and check with them to be sure. If you love cruising you will want to have one anyway.

HMC is in the Bahamas and in the past you had to fill in a immigration form for them as well.

 

No passport, or immigration form, is needed for either the Bahamas or Turks & Caicos for a US citizen.

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A drivers license alone is not sufficient.

 

From HAL's web site:

 

For U.S. and Canadian Citizens:

Travel by Land or Sea
:
Travel document requirements vary based on cruise itinerary and whether international flights are required. Passports or Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) compliant documents are required for cruises to Alaska, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico and the Panama Canal. U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 16 and above may present one of the following valid WHTI-compliant documents:

 

  • Passport (recommended travel document) (valid for travel by air, land and sea)

  • Passport Card (valid for land and sea border crossings only)

  • U.S. or Canadian Issued Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) – (valid for land and sea border crossings only)*

  • Other documents approved by the Department of Homeland Security

 

 

For a list of approved documents visit:
Edited by Boytjie
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You really should get a passport.

If you were to become ill on the cruise and have to be hospitalized in a foreign country, you will need it to fly back to the states.

Pay the expedited fee and get one.

 

Agree 100%. Plus let me add - what if the cruise ship has problems (like Carnival did last year) and has to let her passengers off in a foreign port (like Mexico)? It would be a real hassle for you to get back into the states without a passport.

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I have been told you need a passport for the Caribbean.

 

 

For most closed loop cruises to the Caribbean you don't but there are exceptions, like St. Barts, for which you need a passport.

Edited by Boytjie
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Agree 100%. Plus let me add - what if the cruise ship has problems (like Carnival did last year) and has to let her passengers off in a foreign port (like Mexico)? It would be a real hassle for you to get back into the states without a passport.

 

 

I remember that.

Just one more reason to have a passport.

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No American citizen needs a passport for a closed loop cruise to the Caribbean. Your DL and BC is fine.

 

 

Until you need to leave the cruise early at a non-Us port to fly home due to some emergency.

 

And if your ship doesn't go to St. Bart.

Edited by Boytjie
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Get a passport. Save yourself the worry about raised seal/no raised seal on the birth certificate, what if you go to St Bart's, what if you get sick and have to leave the ship mid-cruise, what if the ship has problems and the cruise ends early.

 

I hope you don't get sick and I hope your itinerary doesn't get changed. But having a passport eliminates any of that "what if" worry. As Karl Malden used to say "Don't leave home without it."

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Get a passport. Save yourself the worry about raised seal/no raised seal on the birth certificate, what if you go to St Bart's, what if you get sick and have to leave the ship mid-cruise, what if the ship has problems and the cruise ends early.

 

Another argument for getting a passport that I have not seen mentioned before (and brought to my attention by another thread): if you miss the ship's departure and need to catch up, you would not be able to fly to a non-US island (e.g. St. Maarten) without a passport.

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