Passport for Israel

[Royalco]

According to Israeli Tourist Bureau and U.S. State Dept., Your passport must be valid six months beyond the date departing from Israel. There is no mention of this in Oceania documents. I assume that if the Riviera departs Israel on 4/30/12, your passport cannot expire before 10/30/12. My passport expires on 7/12/12. Therefore, I assume that I must renew my U.S. passport before I leave.

[JimandStan]

According to Israeli Tourist Bureau and U.S. State Dept., Your passport must be valid six months beyond the date departing from Israel. There is no mention of this in Oceania documents. I assume that if the Riviera departs Israel on 4/30/12, your passport cannot expire before 10/30/12. My passport expires on 7/12/12. Therefore, I assume that I must renew my U.S. passport before I leave.

 

 

You are correct, renew that passport.

 

The six month rule applies to any number of countries, but some of them do not enforce it as strictly as they might.

 

Israel is understandably VERY diligent about these matters. Have your i's dotted and your t's crossed. ;)

[sitraveler]

It's not only Israel.

 

Most countries require the 6 months.

[doublebzz]

According to Israeli Tourist Bureau and U.S. State Dept., Your passport must be valid six months beyond the date departing from Israel. There is no mention of this in Oceania documents. I assume that if the Riviera departs Israel on 4/30/12, your passport cannot expire before 10/30/12. My passport expires on 7/12/12. Therefore, I assume that I must renew my U.S. passport before I leave.

 

Assume you are going on a cruise to Israel - so why would you need a passport to embark/debark the ship. Usually your ship's card and a picture ID are sufficient. We spent two days on an Israel cruise in October and nobody asked for a passport. Just curious.

 

I doubt you will be denied admission to any country because your passport has less than 6 months to expiration, particularly for a short time stay on a cruise. Worst case senario is you will have to spend extra time with immigration getting a temporary entrance permit. This happened on a flight to Canada last Spring where my wife's passport had less than 6 months remaining.

 

Having said all this, it is probably wise to renew your passport to preclude any hassles. Unfortunately, our government doesn't credit you with the months remaining so the renewed passport starts on the date of receipt/processing by the State Department and the months remaing on the old passport are lost.

[Andee]

IMHO, worst case scenario would be not being allowed to board the ship.

 

If you do need to show your passport in Israel, consider asking them to stamp a separate piece of paper, rather than the passport itself. That will eliminate any problems if you later decide to visit another mid Eastern country using that same passport.

[Paulchili]

I doubt you will be denied admission to any country because your passport has less than 6 months to expiration, particularly for a short time stay on a cruise. Worst case senario is you will have to spend extra time with immigration getting a temporary entrance permit. This happened on a flight to Canada last Spring where my wife's passport had less than 6 months remaining.

 

Having said all this, it is probably wise to renew your passport to preclude any hassles. Unfortunately, our government doesn't credit you with the months remaining so the renewed passport starts on the date of receipt/processing by the State Department and the months remaing on the old passport are lost.

 

Totally wrong assumption.

Most countries in this world are NOT like Canada and they CAN and WILL do what the regulations call for - i.e. require at least 6 months' validity on your passport.

That is very easy to take care off and not worth taking any chances (unless you are a risk taker and do not plan ever to travel abroad again and thus do not wish ever to renew your passport - thus saving a few bucks) :D

[doublebzz]

IMHO, worst case scenario would be not being allowed to board the ship.

 

 

According to the poster, 6 months on passport apparently not a requirement of Oceania.

[doublebzz]

Totally wrong assumption.

Most countries in this world are NOT like Canada and they CAN and WILL do what the regulations call for - i.e. require at least 6 months' validity on your passport.

That is very easy to take care off and not worth taking any chances (unless you are a risk taker and do not plan ever to travel abroad again and thus do not wish ever to renew your passport - thus saving a few bucks) :D

 

This is an academic arguement since I agree poster should renew his passport. However, cruise port visits are different from arriving independently where a foreign country's immigration service has no idea of one's intention on how long one is going to stay. Again, outside of countries that require a visa, like Russia, India, etc, a passport generally doesn't come into play. In these countries a visa will not be issued unless the passport meets the 6 month requirement.

[yorkiemomjn]

According to Israeli Tourist Bureau and U.S. State Dept., Your passport must be valid six months beyond the date departing from Israel. There is no mention of this in Oceania documents. I assume that if the Riviera departs Israel on 4/30/12, your passport cannot expire before 10/30/12. My passport expires on 7/12/12. Therefore, I assume that I must renew my U.S. passport before I leave.

 

 

Royalco, if you are going to be on the Riviera's maiden voyage, you might want to join our roll call. It should be getting busy soon! :)

 

Judy

[orchestrapal]

IMHO, worst case scenario would be not being allowed to board the ship.

 

If you do need to show your passport in Israel, consider asking them to stamp a separate piece of paper, rather than the passport itself. That will eliminate any problems if you later decide to visit another mid Eastern country using that same passport.

 

Israel does not stamp passports when you arrive by ship. They give you a card for the day which they collect when you return to the ship.

[Paulchili]

However, cruise port visits are different from arriving independently where a foreign country's immigration service has no idea of one's intention on how long one is going to stay. .

 

Speaking of academic, who is to say that if you go ashore in, say Kusadasi, that you have to get back on the ship on a cruise which ends in Istanbul (thus they -Turkey- would not know how long you are staying in that country). Not to mention any number of other, much more restrictive countries. And yes, even countries that do not require visas (i.e. Germany) will check your passport, no matter how you enter - thus passports ALWAYS come into play)

As you and others have said, it's best to have a passposrt for at least 6 months' duration past your intended travels. :D

[Mura]

We had to pass on a highly desired Norway cruise a few years ago because DH's passport would expire 5-1/2 months after our departure.

 

And my recollection is that it was OCEANIA that said it had to be valid for another six months. Could be wrong on that one! (If that was the case, I'd say Oceania made the requirement because it knew the countries involved on that cruise had the same requirement.)

 

On our October cruise we had Kusadasi and Istanbul on the itinerary and we were staying on after, and when I went to put DH's Turkish visa in his passport I discovered he had very few visa pages left. So another last minute run to the Passport Bureau to renew his passport, which didn't expire until July 2014.

 

I'd say it always him but I'm the one who discovered my passport was missing on a weekend when we were due to depart from Miami on Monday. Fortunately Miami has a passport bureau right by the port and I was able to renew my passport in about 2 hours.

 

Mura

[RetiredFL]

According to the poster, 6 months on passport apparently not a requirement of Oceania.

Per the latest Oceania brochure I have handy, The 2012 European Collection,

under Documentation and visas it states "Passports must be valid six months from the date of trip completion"

If you need space, it is also possible to have additional pages added to your existing passport for a fee. (I believe we paid $72.00) The advantage of this is you keep the existing expiration date (good if you have several years to go)and also you still have your visas that are good for multiple entrys such as Brazil that is good for 5 years.

[Mura]

Thanks, Ed, for refreshing my memory!

 

I think myself that most tour agencies, cruise lines, etc., have this requirement because enough countries require it. If a country does not, it seems to be an anomaly. (And even if some countries don't enforce it, the law is there ... I'd prefer not to take the risk that it will be okay!)

 

I suppose the Passport Bureau approves because in effect everyone has a passport valid for X years - 6 Months. More money in their coffers.

 

M

[LHT28]

Thanks, Ed, for refreshing my memory!

 

I think myself that most tour agencies, cruise lines, etc., have this requirement because enough countries require it. If a country does not, it seems to be an anomaly. (And even if some countries don't enforce it, the law is there ... I'd prefer not to take the risk that it will be okay!)

 

I suppose the Passport Bureau approves because in effect everyone has a passport valid for X years - 6 Months. More money in their coffers.

 

M

Mura you are lucky your passports are valid for 10 yrs ;)

Canadians have to renew 5 yrs or 4.5 to satisfy the other Countries

requirement

 

For U.S citizens you can easily check the entry requirements @

http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html

 

Canadian citizens check @

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/menu-eng.asp

[Mura]

True, Lyn ... but that is a relatively recent development!

 

And the passport I renewed just before boarding the TA in March 2009 was only half way through its time limit, and it had extra visa pages that I'd paid for ... the new one didn't, because I forgot to ask for them!

 

OTOH, Howard figures this will be the last passport he needs ... I'm not sure that's true but it COULD be.

 

Depends on whether he changes his mind about the desirability of traveling as he gets OLDER.

 

Mura

[Royalco]

I stand corrected. Passport requirements are listed on page 3 of the Oceania Invoice as

stated in an email from Oceania. For the person who said that a passport is not needed they are sadly mistaken. You cannot board an aircraft leaving from the United States to Europe without a passport nor can you board an Oceania vessel in Europe without a passport. Here is Oceania's response.

 

 

Thank you for contacting the Special Services Department.

 

Advisements for Passport, Visa and Health Requirements are all provided on all our invoices. Please refer to page 3 of our invoice under the Passport, Visa and Health Requirements section.

 

"Oceania Cruises requires all travelers, including US citizens, travelling abroad to have passports valid for six (6) months beyond the completion of your travel. It is the sole responsibility of each guest to obtain and have the appropriate valid travel and health documents for their chosen itinerary. For more information, please visit the State Department's website at www.travel.state.gov"

 

If booked through a Travel Agent, kindly request a guest copy of the Oceania Cruises' invoice of your reservation.

 

We certainly look forward to Welcoming You Aboard! Feel free to contact a Cruise Specialist at 1-800-531-5658 for further assistance.

[JimandStan]

the person who said that a passport is not needed they are sadly mistaken

 

I haven't read a post in this thread where anyone claimed that a Passport wasn't needed, but to be fair, I have visited any number of Ports during various cruises, where I was never asked for my Passport.

 

If, in mid-cruise, a ship is entering and leaving a port with the same number of guests, the passengers are considered to be there under "yachting privileges" and although there is a wink and a nod to the formalities, the paperwork is kept to a minimum.

 

THIS WILL NOT BE THE CASE IN ISRAEL.

[doublebzz]

I haven't read a post in this thread where anyone claimed that a Passport wasn't needed, but to be fair, I have visited any number of Ports during various cruises, where I was never asked for my Passport.

 

If, in mid-cruise, a ship is entering and leaving a port with the same number of guests, the passengers are considered to be there under "yachting privileges" and although there is a wink and a nod to the formalities, the paperwork is kept to a minimum.

 

THIS WILL NOT BE THE CASE IN ISRAEL.

 

I recently cruised to Israel embarking in Civitavecchia. Upon embarktion, the ship retained all passports. Israeli immigration embarked at some port during the cruise. Prior to arriving in Israel, guests were instructed to pick up their passports in one of the lounges where the passports were hand delivered by Israeli immigration to each guest along with a separate visa card.

[Paulchili]

I haven't read a post in this thread where anyone claimed that a Passport wasn't needed,

 

.

 

I think, enough was said already on the subject, but to answer your question - this is partial quote from post #8 by doublebzz:

 

Again, outside of countries that require a visa, like Russia, India, etc, a passport generally doesn't come into play.

 

I am not sure whether this is an incomplete thought/sentence but obviusly passports ALWAYS "come into play" when traveling outside of US (on land or sea).

[cbb]

fwiw...all passengers had to have a face-to-face with Israeli officials in the Lounge before we were allowed to disembark. We had to show our passports & answer a few questions. Now it was pretty pro-forma but nevertheless they are quite strict in their laws for entry. As one poster said, I'd make sure that all the "t"s are crossed because Israel is a fabulous country and you'd hate to miss it because of passport problems. As we returned to the ship after each tour 2 members of the Israeli Army boarded the bus, walked down the aisle looking at each of us and asked the group the kinds of questions your favorite airline asks you before we were allowed to continue. Members of the military were also at the bottom of the gangway as well and my husband's backpack with cameras was thoroughly checked by them. It was all very courteous, professional and a reminder to us of how they must guard their country.

[Mura]

Our trip to Israel was a private land trip, so not cruise related. We flew in, DH's Israeli cousin who happens to be a licensed tour guide (!) picked us up and took us around the country. The best of all possible worlds, really.

 

We didn't have immigration problems when we entered Israel, but we DID -- somewhat -- when returning from a three day visit to Jordan and Egypt. The guards there were VERY suspicious of my passport. It didn't have the same date as my husband's.

 

True, it didn't. But I had a passport before I met him and he had one before he met me!

 

The real red flag for them appeared to be the extra pages I had in my passport. "Who put these in?"

 

"The U.S. Department of State."

 

Probably the passport wouldn't have looked so suspicious if I'd asked for extra pages when Iapplied for the passport but in this case I'd asked for them later. So I will agree they looked questionable at the very least.

 

In the end they let me back into the country.

 

What struck me was that they were very insistent about their questions "do you have relatives living in Israel". Yes, we did. "What is her address?"

 

Well, we didn't really know! We had her email address. She had recently moved to Jerusalem and while we'd been to her apartment, we didn't know that address.

 

In the end they let us back into Israel. But it did seem like we would have been better of NOT having relatives in Israel.

 

We had more problems with Israel than we did with our catnip going into Australia!

 

But that's another story.

 

Mura

[doublebzz]

I think, enough was said already on the subject, but to answer your question - this is partial quote from post #8 by doublebzz:

 

Again, outside of countries that require a visa, like Russia, India, etc, a passport generally doesn't come into play.

 

I am not sure whether this is an incomplete thought/sentence but obviusly passports ALWAYS "come into play" when traveling outside of US (on land or sea).

 

Just to clarify, of course passports are required to leave/return to the USA for a foreign country. What I meant by "not coming into play", based on my experience in 35 plus cruises is that, outside of Russia and Israel, we have never been asked to show a passport during a cruise port visit. The original inquiry of the poster was not whether one needed a passport, but whether one that expired in less than 6 months was adequate. He also mentioned, later corrected, that Oceania did not attach a 6 month expiration date requirement.