SDale

From the cbp.gov, I obtained the following definition from a FAQ posted on 12/3/09:

A closed loop cruise is one that begins and ends in the US, returning from contiguous territories or adjacent islands. Canada and Mexico are contiguous. Adjacent islands are listed as follows:

Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Marie-Galantine, Martinique, Miquelon, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Christopher, Saint Eustatius, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Maarten, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and other British, French and Netherlands territory or possessions bordering on the Caribbean Sea.

You may not be required to have a passport if you meet the cruise passenger exception. However, you may still be required to present a passport to enter the foreign countries your cruise ship is visiting. In order to find out that information, go to http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html. It lists country specific entry/exit requirements in the international travel section.

With a "closed-loop cruise" you aren't required to have a passport but can get back home with just DL/BC.

This exception is stated on the Department of Homeland Security website (http://www.dhs.gov) and codified at title 22, Code of Federal Regulations Part 53.2 as follows:

(b) A U.S. citizen is not required to bear a valid U.S. passport to enter or depart the United States:

(2) When traveling entirely within the Western Hemisphere on a cruise ship, and when the U.S. citizen boards the cruise ship at a port or place within the United States and returns on the return voyage of the same cruise ship to the same United States port or place from where he or she originally departed. That U.S. citizen may present a government-issued photo identification document in combination with either an original or a copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by the Department, or a Certificate of Naturalization issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before entering the United States; if the U.S. citizen is under the age of 16, he or she may present either an original or a copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by the Department, or a Certificate of Naturalization issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

If you're a US citizen who wants to travel, GET YOUR PASSPORT!

The following information was obtained today, December 8, 2009 from the Customs & Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security. As I read it, you need a passport or one of the other listed documents for all travel outside the US. Since a passport is probably the most common & easily obtained of the documents listed, get one!

Documents You Will Need To Enter The

United States

All persons including citizens of the United States

traveling by air between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the

Caribbean and Bermuda will have to present a passport,

Merchant Mariner Document (presented by U.S. citizen

merchant mariners traveling on official business) or

NEXUS Card, NEXUS enrollment is limited to citizens

of the United States and Canada, and lawful permanent

residents of the United States and Canada. Children will

be required to present their own passport.

Beginning June 1, 2009, ages 16 and older will be

required to present documents from one of the options

below when entering the United States at land or sea

ports of entry. Children under may present an original

or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report

of Birth Abroad, or a Naturalization Certificate.

One of the following documents may be presented to

prove both identity and citizenship:

• U.S. Passport;

• U.S. Passport Card;*

• Trusted Traveler Cards (NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST);*

• State issued Enhanced Driver’s License (when available

this secure driver’s license will denote identity

and citizenship);* NOTE: this is NOT your regular Driver's License! If you don't know if you have an Enhanced one or not, then you don't! The only states issuing this type are Michigan, New York, Vermont and Washington.

• Enhanced Tribal Cards (when available);*

• U.S. Military identification with Military Travel

Orders;

• U.S. Merchant Marine document;

• Form I-872 American Indian Card.

Any questions? Don't ask me! I'm just a poster here, what do I know? Don't trust your travel agent either. Ours told us that we didn't need our passports for our cruise at the end of this month. Go to http://travel.state.gov/ for current travel information.