New Passport Requirements

[dan40]

I am a world traveler. And I mean that literally - I have cruised all the way around the world, with stops in all sorts of good and bad places. I even came back through the Panama Canal. I didn't need a passport then. I have only just now gotten one, and a passport card too. If I didn't think I needed one in the future*, I would have been just as happy with BC and ID for the closed loop cruises.

 

The little green ID card I had in the early 80's was quite sufficient then. Sooo, I guess that kinda renders your argument moot. Now, in the future all world travelers will need one, so it is kinda right - in a now-to-future tense sort of way...

 

*I am sorely tempted to return to Australia one day. Nice place to visit!

 

 

Your military ID while you were in the Navy WAS a passport by international treaty. Sorry but you did need a passport then and you had one, a military one. And now you have a civilian one since your military one, I'm guessing, is no longer valid.

 

But for certain, in the 80's, 70's, 60's, 50's, or today, you would not be able to cruise all over the world on a civilian vessel without a passport.

[KFinTx]

What hold up???

 

Please this is a cruise with a ships manifest that accounts for all souls on board that was electronically transmitted to Homeland Security before the ship left port. The names and ID's would be easy to verify. It's not some boat load of passengers that just showed up at a port unannounced.

 

So is the passenger manifest on an international flight, but you still have to have a passport to get through Customs & Immigration.

[Kurbanfan]

If you want to breeze thru C&I, when you get to the luggage area have a $20.00 in your hand. Find a porter and take him with you to find your luggage. He will load it on his cart and take off for the door at just about a run. You follow with him. He waves at C&I as he breezes past the line and you're out the door. Pay the man!

 

LMAO!!! That cracked me up and sooo true!!!! We have done this several times:D

[djhsolara]

If you want to breeze thru C&I, when you get to the luggage area have a $20.00 in your hand. Find a porter and take him with you to find your luggage. He will load it on his cart and take off for the door at just about a run. You follow with him. He waves at C&I as he breezes past the line and you're out the door. Pay the man!

 

Works every time... :) :)

[Cushing985]

OK, let me summarize here, if I possibly can:

 

1. OP saw some wording on a cruiseline website, made him/her think the cruise passport rules were changing soon, but....They. Are. Not.

 

2. Many people have strong Personal Opinions about whether one should or should not use a passport on a cruise even if it is not required by law. These run the gamut:

-cost (annualized or not)

-ease of use

-chances of emergencies

-probability of chances of emergencies

-potential for future terrorism

-combined with cruise terrorism in the last 25 years

-individual rights

-whims of foreign governments

-whims of the US government

-the Boy Scout motto

-and Just Because

 

3. Many people are completely baffled by how other people decide to:

-spend their money

-evaluate risk

-spend their money

-purchase insurance

-raise their kids

-spend their money

-do anything that is not the way you do it

 

4. The likelihood of changing someone else's opinion on passports decreases proportionally with the amount of vitriole, invective and opinionated statements made about passports.

 

5. The best we can hope for is individual, informed decisions. To each their own. You only have to make the right decision for yourself.

 

6. You do not have to sway anyone else to your opinion. There are no Brownie Points, you do not get an extra cruise day, there is no one right answer, you will not live longer or go to cruise heaven when you die.

 

I think that just about covers this and every other Passport thread I have seen in the last few years, and I see almost all of them.

 

Of course, that is just my opinion, and I am sure someone else will feel compelled to post an alternative viewpoint. Just try and do it nicely without all the finger-pointing and postural huffing and puffing...(re-read item 6):rolleyes:

 

Finally, a voice of reason! I have a passport simply because my wife loves Italy and we visit there when the opportunity presents itself. Even if we didn't go to Europe I would probably have a passport because I like hassle-free trips. What others do is no business of mine.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

CruzVinnieCruz, are you absolutely sure the govt. gives an exception regarding passports if the itinerary is changed and you leave out of one port and return to another?

 

I think that might just cause a hold-up on debarkation through Customs & Immigration. I would hope that Carnival would let all the passengers with passports off FIRST, to spare them the inevitable delays & logjams that will occur in Customs & Immigration.

 

So is the passenger manifest on an international flight, but you still have to have a passport to get through Customs & Immigration.

 

Here we go with another apples to oranges comparison that is not even on point with the other remarks.

 

You can't compare an international flight to a cruise ship on a closed loop.

 

First a passenger could by a ticket just hours before the flight and be in the U.S. in a few hours or less. Flights from Canada are international and some are very short. That's why passports are required for international flights to begin with it helps positively identify passengers quickly and passports are easily flagged.

 

The shortest closed loop cruises are two days which are rare. It gives Homeland Security much more time to check this information. Again this is why the exception for closed loop cruises was given from the beginning. Cruise ships are seen as a much lower security threat to the U.S. than airplanes.

 

Now and for the foreseeable future a passport is not required on a closed loop cruise. If you are a U.S. citizen either carrying a passport or a birth certificate and government issued ID everyone will be standing in the same line. Also on the cruises we have been on I have not seen hardly if any difference in the time it takes passengers using a birth certificate or those using passports to get through customs.

 

Vinnie

[aellis82]

I don't have a passport and have never had a problem. My fiance doesn't need one because his green card and they made a permanent ruling on that. It would make me more comfortable to have one but it is not required. They have been threatening to change it for how many years now? I don't see any sudden changes happening.