sparks1093

It's still low risk and a personal decision to make.

A dog I could certainly agreed with. I'd be envious of the toddler. I wouldn't see it as mocking.

If I'm Carnival I have to ask myself- is having so many loyal customers really a bad thing?

OBC is king and may be used for anything (although you can't designate what it is used for onboard, it just reduces your folio balance by that amount. I'm not sure if it may be applied to gratuities before the cruise.).

No, not really. The only requirement is the number of days sailed. Every loyalty program I'm aware of awards points to the traveler, not the person who pays. If that were the case I'd be Diamond and DW would be Blue.

All well and good but it is still only a recommendation. Most closed loop cruises aren't even in port on weekends or holidays, but that part overlooks the fact that the requirement for a passport is waivable for medical reasons or humanitarian reasons.

It wasn't a suggestion, it's the procedure to follow if one needs to leave the ship while in port, whether one has a passport or not. The fact is you are not on your own in that situation. It's not that "having a passport was not necessary because cruise lines have port agents", it's a passport is not necessary because it's not required for the cruise one is on coupled with the individual decision to not get a passport for the trip. Would a passport make things easier if something goes wrong? Most certainly. But what is the true risk for each person? A young person in good health who doesn't take unnecessary chances has a very low risk. An older person with health concerns has a higher risk. What is one's tolerance for risk? A person with a low tolerance might be better off getting a passport just for the peace of mind. It also matters what type of travel the person can take. Time and money may limit them to one cruise every year or two of 7 days or less. The fact remains that for most US citizens a closed loop cruise poses a very low risk of something happening. Millions travel by closed loop cruise with something other then a passport with no issues at all.

Yep, whenever it is a matter of personal choice or preference it crops up. We use passports now since our travel needs changed but I recognize that not using one is an option for many.

We're contemplating booking a 4 day cruise at the end of our 2025 cruise in order to qualify us for Platinum when we board our 2026 cruise. I might wait to do that to see what changes.

Nope, not at all. Exactly this. The port agent will be your point of contact and he or she will be the liaison between the cruise line and the agencies responsible for issuing a waiver. And even if you have a passport you still want to make contact with the port agent before jetting off to the US because they are still the liaison between the cruise line and CBP.

It's called the port agent, the first stop for anyone who needs to leave a cruise early, with or without a passport.

If you show up for your travel and don't have the requisite travel document you won't be covered. If you are on the trip and something happens that is covered that interrupts your trip then I expect you would be covered. I've not read such an exclusion in any of my policies and it would need to be clearly stated. (It's similar to having one's travel documents stolen). Of course your coverage is limited to what the policy provides.

I'm going to reply before reading the responses so this might have been brought up but if they aren't sailing then they aren't receiving benefits so where's the beef? I've heard that there's too many Diamonds or Platinums onboard, but they are onboard so the new rule wouldn't affect them. Winnowing out the list would only reduce the size of the database which might save a small amount of disk space but would do nothing about the onboard number.

And from what I've read it's not that difficult. Typically the traveler is issued a waiver to fly directly to the US and when they land they are sent to secondary inspection before being allowed to proceed. The provisions in the regulations allow such a waiver and it applies to a ship full of people just as it does to one. I'm sure missing a ship because one is overserved at Senor Frogs is treated differently then if one has to return home for a medical issue, but that behavior is easily avoidable. At the end of the day we're left with two things- people may legitimately choose to use something other than a passport for certain travel and that choice is entirely personal and only affects them. As for expensive waiting that is a better argument for travel insurance.

It's been awhile since I've checked in with a BC but I don't believe you need the certificate at check in.

Which is something for them to certainly consider but what does that have to do with affordability? And my comment about land border crossing is directly related to your comment about travel out of the country and was made to show that all travel out of the country isn't created equally. It would be nice if we could pay for passports through yearly payments but alas, the total needs to be paid all at once. A lot of people don't have the means to travel the world so getting a passport wouldn't change that. And to circle back to your statement about an aborted cruise yes, it does happen but I've yet to read about a US citizen not making it home. There might certainly be delays involved but they do make it home. Would a passport prevent those delays? Yep, but like I said that's something to consider.

If they aren't advertising the fare then I'm not seeing it and Carnival wins by default.

From Canada? Not likely but a ground ambulance would work in any event.

Still haven't figured out why this gets you so wound up. If someone chooses to cruise without a passport it has no affect on you at all. For many it's not affordability at all but not wanting to spending money on something they don't need for the type of travel they can do. I can leave the country by taking a left out of my driveway and driving 8 miles and to cross the land border I can choose to use an EDL or passport card and no cruise line lobbied for that. For many of my neighbors that's the only foreign travel they'll ever do so they see no need to get a passport.

That is my understanding as well.

For a US citizen if you've lost your passport and need to apply for a replacement at a Consulate/Embassy the photocopy may be used as proof of citizenship for your application. Other than that I can think of no use for a photocopy. OP, millions of people every year travel on closed loop cruises (defined as a cruise ship leaving and returning to the same US port and traveling entirely within the area defined by the WHTI) with something other than a passport. Our first few cruises we used birth certificates and photo ID's since it would have cost us $850 or so for passports. We are cruising in April and one of the families that is going with us is getting passports, not because they are needed for the cruise but because it is so much cheaper to fly from Montreal to Orlando that even with the passport expense they still save money (heck, I know another family did the same thing and they weren't leaving the country, they were vacationing in Florida). Every traveler should use the document that works best for their individual travel situation and that is going to vary.

It only stands to reason that a family of 4 is going to spend more onboard than a solo and since it's primarily onboard spending that drives profitability so much that is going to influence how they sell and market their cruises. When we book our cruises we decide when we want to cruise and roughly were we want to cruise to, then we start comparing prices. Since we have started getting the Cheers package every sailing I will even include that in my comparison (so if a cruise line includes their drink package I will add that into Carnival's fare so I am comparing apples and apples). We did find a Celebrity cruise for 2025 that fit the bill that was only slightly more than Carnival (around $200 or so) which we booked. Unfortunately Celebrity ended up changing that ship's home port and cancelled that cruise. When I looked again they were $800 more. We all have to book with the line that makes the most sense for each of us.

I stopped listening to Heald years ago. Still, business isn't a cut and dried thing, there are many moving parts and it's all connected. Since Carnival has much more information than you or I do about their operation I must give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to them running their business. As I've said many times as long as they give me a good value for my vacation dollar I will continue to sail with them.

I've done it both ways, tipped extra and not left a tip and haven't noticed a difference in service at all, it's always been top notch.

Eggs can be ordered over-hard at the omelet station and in the MDR.