Passport

[Wennfred]

On Tuesday, April 5, 2005, the U.S. State Department announced details of the proposed "Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative." If the proposed rules are enacted, U.S. and Canadian citizens will be required to carry a valid (unexpired) passport for travel to or from certain countries/areas that were previously exempt. The proposed implementation is as follows:

 

* December 31, 2005 - Passport required for all air and sea travel to or from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America.

 

* December 31, 2006 - Passport required for all air and sea travel to or from Mexico and Canada.

 

* December 31, 2007 - Passport required for all air, sea and land border crossings.

 

Note: This will affect guests traveling on cruises that return to the U.S. after 12/30/05 (or of 12/30/06 for the 12/31/06 implementation).

 

Proper travel documentation is required during your travel. It is the guest's sole responsibility to bring and have available at all times all required travel documents. Non-US citizens are advised to check with the appropriate government authority to determine the necessary documents. Any guest traveling without proper documentation will not be allowed to board the vessel and no refund of the cruise fare will be issued.

 

If you don't have passports yet, we strongly encourage you to obtain a passport now. You may print a passport application or get additional information from the government on this subject by visiting: http://travel.state.gov/passport

[CaptData]

This has been all over the boards. It is good to see it again, it is a good reminder for first time cruisers to get the passport NOW.

[islandreaming]

Applied for mine recently and got it within 2 weeks...guess they're expecting an influx and hired more people to process them.