no passport needed

[Warm Breezes]

Get the passport. Even if your hubby doesn't like cruising, you both may decide to go on vacation in another country, or better yet win a trip to another country. You want to be ready! There is a freedom that comes with having a passport.

 

IMHO that is a lame excuse to get a passport. A passport doesn't give me freedom to go on those types of trips. We can't go at the drop of a hat. Our work/school schedules would never allow it. If work wanted me to go somewhere then they would expedite one for me as they have done for others...Otherwise any vacation for us takes literally months of pre-planning. Plenty of time to get a passport if necessary. That's when we will get a passport so we don't waste any of those 10 passport years before they are actually needed.

[serene56]

Go to Walgreens and ask them to take passport photos, then go to any post office and fill out the forms and mail in with birth certificate and money. or you can just go to the Dirksen Federal Building and they do them too. I believe they cost a bit more though.

 

 

not all post offices do the passports-- and here in Phila it was a fiasco by going to the Post office-- they close at 3pm. literally and if you are still standing in line too bad come back another day.

My DIL stood in a line for 45 minutes and still was not taken.

me- i went to city hall and had no problem what so ever

[dutchess43]

Three years ago we were reboarding in Vancover after a shore excursion all I had was a copy of DH & my passports we left our passports in the safe. The imigration inspector gave us a hard time & almost had us escorted on the ship to get our passports. With the help of a ship person they said okay & let us board. Will never leave the ship in a foreign country without my passport ever again.

[avez007]

We are doing the Norwegian POA cruise in September. It's a round trip of the Hawaiian islands. So since it is a US cruise, a passoort is not required but our TA suggested having one. I don't currently have a passport, but I am getting one since I will need it for future travels. I am also spending the extra $$ to get the passport card. There have been several times over the last couple of years were I needed two forms of picture ID.

[Warm Breezes]

Three years ago we were reboarding in Vancover after a shore excursion all I had was a copy of DH & my passports we left our passports in the safe. The imigration inspector gave us a hard time & almost had us escorted on the ship to get our passports. With the help of a ship person they said okay & let us board. Will never leave the ship in a foreign country without my passport ever again.

 

Was it because you needed gov't issued photo ID to get back on the ship as many ports require now days? We just needed our DL's (gov't issued photo ID) in Halifax and Saint John to get back on the ship.

[Warm Breezes]

We are doing the Norwegian POA cruise in September. It's a round trip of the Hawaiian islands. So since it is a US cruise, a passoort is not required but our TA suggested having one. I don't currently have a passport, but I am getting one since I will need it for future travels. I am also spending the extra $$ to get the passport card. There have been several times over the last couple of years were I needed two forms of picture ID.

 

Curious as to what reasons you would need 2 forms? I have never been requested to show 2 forms of picture ID.

[negc]

As long as your sailing leaves from the US and ends up in the US, NCL will let him sail without a passport.

 

They will make him sign a form, so he knows the pitfalls of not sailing with a passport.

 

It has to begin and end in the same US port, otherwise a passport would be required. Most cruises to Bermuda begin and end in the same US port. If it is a repositioning cruise that simply includes a stop in Bermuda but begins in one US port and ends in another, US citizens have to have a passport.

[negc]

IMHO that is a lame excuse to get a passport. A passport doesn't give me freedom to go on those types of trips. We can't go at the drop of a hat. Our work/school schedules would never allow it. If work wanted me to go somewhere then they would expedite one for me as they have done for others...Otherwise any vacation for us takes literally months of pre-planning. Plenty of time to get a passport if necessary. That's when we will get a passport so we don't waste any of those 10 passport years before they are actually needed.

 

If your work wants someone to go somewhere out of the country and one of your fellow workers has a passport and you don't, they will probably choose the one who already has a passport. The fact that you can't or won't travel at the drop of a hat is a choice you or circumstances have made. Not everyone has such restrictive vacation and travel requirements so if they choose to travel on very short notice, they have the freedom to do so. For them the reason is not quite as "lame" as you indicate.

[SeaShark]

Not all cruises to the Caribbean and back qualify or the passport exemption.

They must be closed loop cruises...cruises that begin and end in the same US port.

 

The exemption doesn't just apply to Caribbean cruises either...they can also be to Canada, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Mexico...anywhere within the Western Hemisphere.

 

If you can't complete your cruise due to an unforeseen circumstance such as illness, and have to fly back to the US, you will need to get a passport before you'll be allowed to fly home.

 

Here's the official information from Customs and Border Protection:

 

http://www.getyouhome.gov/html/lang_eng/eng_sa.html

 

"Closed Loop" Cruises: U.S. citizens who board a cruise ship at a port within the United States, travel only within the Western Hemisphere, and return to the same U.S. port on the same ship may present a government issued photo identification, along with proof of citizenship (an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular report of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Naturalization). Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the foreign countries your cruise ship is visiting. Check with your cruise line to ensure you have the appropriate documents.

 

That is all well and good...but as in anything else, the fine print is the key. The section posted from CBP leads to two questions:

 

#1 - "travel only within the Western Hemisphere"

- Where specifically are the lines drawn that CBP uses define what is considered to be the "Western Hemisphere"? AWAK, a hemisphere is half the globe...a rather large area. OK as long as you are in it, but without knowing specifcally where the borders are, how is someone to know whether or not they are going outside of it and therefore will require a passport?

 

#2 - "Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the foreign countries your cruise ship is visiting."

- So even if on a closed-loop cruise, and even if that cruise is within the undefined Western Hemisphere, you "may still be required to present a passport"?? It would probably be helpful to just have a list of these places that "may require a passport" so that people can know ahead of time. Not to mention that "may require" can also mean that while Person A doesn't have to have the passport to go there this week, Person B "may" have to have the passport to go there next week. It would be better to be able to say "you are" or "you are not" required to have a passport...everyone understands that. What is not clear is saying that a passport "may be required".

 

 

I guess that having a passport...in ALL cases...is probably the safest bet. It seems that you would always have appropriate documentation and wouldn't have to worry about vague generalizations that could be open to interpretation.

[laxlove6]

If you are in any foreign country, its a crazy not to have a passport. Any country that you enter can detain you for questioning for whatever reason, just like when you return to the United States. Accidents on land, immigration issues, emergency flights out, just to name a few. I have been questioned in Bahamas and Jamaica by immigration in the port and if they didn't like my answers, guess what, they could detain me.

 

The mentality that you state driver's license is good anywhere is completely ignorant. How the cruise lines still get around not requiring passports is beyond me. I imagine there are a fair number of people getting stuck in other countries with no passport and claiming ingornace, we just don't here about them. Get off your wallet and get a passport.

[dutchess43]

Was it because you needed gov't issued photo ID to get back on the ship as many ports require now days? We just needed our DL's (gov't issued photo ID) in Halifax and Saint John to get back on the ship.

 

In Vancover they did not ask us if we had DL's they just wanted to see the passports. When we sailed to Halifax & St. John's on another cruise when we disembarked we definately had our passports with us. I was not making that mistake again.

[Warm Breezes]

If your work wants someone to go somewhere out of the country and one of your fellow workers has a passport and you don't, they will probably choose the one who already has a passport. The fact that you can't or won't travel at the drop of a hat is a choice you or circumstances have made. Not everyone has such restrictive vacation and travel requirements so if they choose to travel on very short notice, they have the freedom to do so. For them the reason is not quite as "lame" as you indicate.

 

You don't know my work....If they wanted someone with my qualifications to head to one of our foreign subs then they would pay to expedite a passport for me. They have done so for many other employees as we have opened up subsidiaries all over the world. Luckily for me the person who hired me on is the one they usually send since he is divorced and his children are grown. I would have a hard time leaving my younger family like he is constantly doing for months at a time...to me it is an advantage to not have a passport readily available to have to leave the country at the last moment for work. No thank you...not at this time in my life.

[laxlove6]

This really has nothing to do with your work. Its called being responsible. If your job is so important, you will have go whenever needed.

[negc]

You don't know my work....If they wanted someone with my qualifications to head to one of our foreign subs then they would pay to expedite a passport for me. They have done so for many other employees as we have opened up subsidiaries all over the world. Luckily for me the person who hired me on is the one they usually send since he is divorced and his children are grown. I would have a hard time leaving my younger family like he is constantly doing for months at a time...to me it is an advantage to not have a passport readily available to have to leave the country at the last moment for work. No thank you...not at this time in my life.

 

So what you are saying is that you don't want them to be able to send you out of the country on a moment's notice, and I can understand and appreciate your position. However, that is quite different from the situation originally mentioned which referred to people who might be bypassed solely because they lacked the necessary passport. For them the possession of a passport could indeed give them the freedom to travel at a moment's notice.

[njhorseman]

That is all well and good...but as in anything else, the fine print is the key. The section posted from CBP leads to two questions:

 

#1 - "travel only within the Western Hemisphere"

- Where specifically are the lines drawn that CBP uses define what is considered to be the "Western Hemisphere"? AWAK, a hemisphere is half the globe...a rather large area. OK as long as you are in it, but without knowing specifcally where the borders are, how is someone to know whether or not they are going outside of it and therefore will require a passport?

 

#2 - "Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the foreign countries your cruise ship is visiting."

- So even if on a closed-loop cruise, and even if that cruise is within the undefined Western Hemisphere, you "may still be required to present a passport"?? It would probably be helpful to just have a list of these places that "may require a passport" so that people can know ahead of time. Not to mention that "may require" can also mean that while Person A doesn't have to have the passport to go there this week, Person B "may" have to have the passport to go there next week. It would be better to be able to say "you are" or "you are not" required to have a passport...everyone understands that. What is not clear is saying that a passport "may be required".

 

 

I guess that having a passport...in ALL cases...is probably the safest bet. It seems that you would always have appropriate documentation and wouldn't have to worry about vague generalizations that could be open to interpretation.

 

If you want all the fine print, you could always read this 158 page government document:

 

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_archives/bulletins_2008/vol43_10232008_no44/42genno44.ctt/42genno44.pdf

 

In reality, CBP's interpretation of "Western Hemisphere" for purposes of enforcing this rule comes down to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Islands and Central America.

 

The part about places requiring a passport is in the explanation to account for the possibility that some country might decide to impose a passport requirement for cruise passengers even though the US doesn't require one for closed loop cruise travel. Obviously the US can't control what another country requires, but to date none of the countries the US allows travel to without a passport on a closed loop cruise has imposed such a requirement for a very simple and important reason...they want the US tourist dollars. It's not a "Person A", "Person B" issue...it's an issue of what other countries permit, and their sovereign right to change their own requirements. If some country decides to change its rules and require a passport of cruise passengers that formerly could travel without one, it's not going to surprise anyone...it will be well publicized within the travel industry.

 

No one is disputing that a passport is the best and most useful document to have for international travel...but because the law permits certain travel without a passport, people are within their rights to avail themselves of that option.

[SeaShark]

If some country decides to change its rules and require a passport of cruise passengers that formerly could travel without one, it's not going to surprise anyone...it will be well publicized within the travel industry.

 

 

I don't believe that this is an accurate statement.

 

Look at the US Passport laws/requirements as an example. Just look through the numerous threads on this and other cruise boards and it is obvious that MANY people are "surprised" by the requirements. There are constant questions about what is "well publicized within the travel industry".

 

 

IOW...if the statement above was factual, the number of passport question threads would dwindle to virtually zero.

[rsinj]

To be honest I don't want to deal with it either, but we're getting them - just in case. I'm not even sure where to go and trying to do anything in the Chicago area (in my experience) is way more difficult than anywhere else.

 

Most local Post Offices do it. In general you now have to make an appointment - takes about 15 minutes to do. Some may take walk-ins, but all in our area no longer do.

 

Go here - all the information is there:

 

https://www.usps.com/shop/apply-for-a-passport.htm

 

Howard

[njhorseman]

I don't believe that this is an accurate statement.

 

Look at the US Passport laws/requirements as an example. Just look through the numerous threads on this and other cruise boards and it is obvious that MANY people are "surprised" by the requirements. There are constant questions about what is "well publicized within the travel industry".

 

 

IOW...if the statement above was factual, the number of passport question threads would dwindle to virtually zero.

 

Cruise Critic is not the cruise travel industry, it is community of cruisers. The cruise travel industry is comprised of corporations and travel professionals.

 

The community of posters here are not professionals...that's why the posters are always asking questions.

 

The community of travel professionals will know when passport requirements change.

[SeaShark]

Cruise Critic is not the cruise travel industry, it is community of cruisers. The cruise travel industry is comprised of corporations and travel professionals.

 

The community of posters here are not professionals...that's why the posters are always asking questions.

 

The community of travel professionals will know when passport requirements change.

 

You're doing nothing but proving my point.

 

If the "travel professionals" are aware, then, since they are "professional", their clients should also be made aware by being given the correct, detailed, and accurate information by these travel professionals.

 

If the cruising public was being served by the professional community, the need for these continual questions would cease. The fact that the questions exist to the extent that they do is sufficient to disprove your assertation(s).

[negc]

You're doing nothing but proving my point.

 

If the "travel professionals" are aware, then, since they are "professional", their clients should also be made aware by being given the correct, detailed, and accurate information by these travel professionals.

 

If the cruising public was being served by the professional community, the need for these continual questions would cease. The fact that the questions exist to the extent that they do is sufficient to disprove your assertation(s).

 

You are assuming that all of the posters on these boards actually make us of professional travel agents. It should be obvious from a cursory reading of these boards, that many do not. Hence the questions that could have been answered by those travel professionals. Even among professionals the degree of knowledge and proficiency can vary considerably, but basically, the reason for these questions is not a failing by travel agents to properly inform their clients, but rather the failure of clients to deal with a travel professional or a failure to understand the information they have been given.