Elaine5715

Yes, they can. The Custom Officers are excellent at picking up body language

He most certainly raised $25,000 before being placed on the waiting list 15 years ago. It was a community effort. Whether it was voluntary or mandatory, his family certainly believed it was necessary. Neither of his dogs were fraudulent and pretty sad you went there

One of my clients has a dog from Paws With A Cause. He needed to raise $25,000 to get a professionally trained dog to assist with his daily living tasks because of Cerebral Palsy ( certainly an obvious disability). The dog is task trained inside his house and does not accompany him outside the house except for walks. Asked him why, said was too easy for people to contaminate the training, too big a risk of injury by a another dog and being accompanied by care aides, no need. He is on his second dog because the first passed at 8 yrs old.

Anyone can indeed self assist and some cruises, everyone decides to go at once creating a huge mess. Just expect you are going to be haul luggage on stairs

It isn't St. Maarten's problem. The Us Consulate's instructions are very clear, you present yourself in person in Curacao to get a emergency US passport. I think you would apply for a Caribbean visa to get from St.Maarten to Curacao.

Like I posted...not a clue but probably at $$$ unless they have an appointment day at each island.

Yeah, the delay would be going to the Consulate and getting an emergency passport . You indeed posted in a thread before that you could go to the airport and undergo addition scrutiny and allowed to fly home.

Not really, both need a passport to fly home... The person without a passport at all will need to provide proof of citizenship taking longer, incurring more expenses

Not a clue but I would bet there is a $$$ transport to get you there. Not having a US Passport would not be the barrier to get to the Consulate

Depends on what you consider assistance. The US State Department recommended passports and travel insurance. People ignore it and then want to be rescued. I think they already did their job.

You can certainly fly or boat or drive inside a country to get to the US Consulate, Your being stranded isn't their problem. They deal daily with tourists who entered the foreign country with a valid passport that was lost or stolen. Those people sit and wait for a new emergency passport to be issued. As already posted several times, the regulations are very clear. Even in illness or injury is the reason you are stranded, you need to apply for an emergency passport and pay your medical bills before leaving or the hospital can hold your passport. The Consulate will not/does not pay your bill. In the most extreme, they may loan you the money but that process will take days. Having to leave a cruise and fly home because of a family emergency is not a reason for a waiver. https://www.cbs46.com/news/atlanta-couple-held-hostage-in-mexican-hospital-over-bill-dispute/article_71aadc12-0bcb-11ea-914c-2b48c3422f65.html

Again, that situation was made possible due to cooperation between St. Maarten, The US State Department (who flew additional personnel to assist with processing) and Carnival. The complexities of this is why the Triumph limped into Mobile to port instead of just the closest port. There were Border/Immigrant folks flown to the Triumph as she got close to start processing guests. In past posts, the other poster claims you can just go to the airport, show some extra ID and fly home so there is no real reason to have a passport because the government will help.

There is a consulate in every country where tourists frequent. It is up to the stranded traveler to make their way to the Consulate which is why the State Department recommends passports for all who leave the US by any means..

Those first hand accounts of single party travelers being readmitted to the US WITHOUT AN EMERGENCY PASSPORT (and without being on CG heli directly to hospital) are indeed as truthful as those who claim they always get a free upgrade.

The OP said they were on a Premier