Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

One Month Left on Passport - Do we need to Renew ?

jasmith52

By jasmith52,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

jasmith52

jasmith52

Posted
Posted (edited)

I will be doing a Hawaiian cruise this year. My passport at that time expires a month or so after the cruise ends.

 

Do we need to renew it so that I have more than 6 months. Or can I go with what I have ? We are US citizens.

 

Does anyone know for sure ?

Edited by jasmith52
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shmoo here

Shmoo here

Posted
Posted
I will be doing a Hawaiian cruise this year. My passport at that time expires a month or so after the cruise ends.

 

Do we need to renew it so that I have more than 6 months. Or can I go with what I have ? We are US citizens.

 

Does anyone know for sure ?

 

Your passport must be valid for at least six months after your cruise. However, this is a closed loop cruise and can bring your birth certificate and I.D. You could also just go ahead and renew your passport....

No. For re-entry to the US, your passport must be valid. No "must have 6 months left" requirement.

 

That 6 month thing is mostly only on European cruises where entry into another country requires that time to ensure if you get left in the country you have plenty of time to get out.

 

You can look here to see what countries, if any, that you may be visiting that have this requirement:

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites
retrembl

retrembl

Posted
Posted
I will be doing a Hawaiian cruise this year. My passport at that time expires a month or so after the cruise ends.

 

Do we need to renew it so that I have more than 6 months. Or can I go with what I have ? We are US citizens.

 

Does anyone know for sure ?

 

your passport needs to have 6 months left at the time you sail. If you plan on getting off the ship in Mexico you need to up date your passport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ron the Rev

Ron the Rev

Posted
Posted
your passport needs to have 6 months left at the time you sail. If you plan on getting off the ship in Mexico you need to up date your passport.

Sorry but most countries require 6 months after you arrive, as 6 months after you sail could mean any time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shmoo here

Shmoo here

Posted
Posted
your passport needs to have 6 months left at the time you sail. If you plan on getting off the ship in Mexico you need to up date your passport.

 

Not true. Since OP is only visiting Mexico as a foreign stop, and Mexico has no minimum validity time for passports, and the US only requires a person returning from a foreign country have a valid passport, they don't require a new passport for this cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fishywood

fishywood

Posted
Posted

Anyone thought about checking what Princess has to say?

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp (click 'Travel Document Requirements')

 

Passport validity: Many countries require passports be valid for six months after the completion of your travel. Check your passport to verify it will be valid for this period of time.[...] US and Canadian passport holders sailing on a domestic cruise should ensure passports or other travel documents are valid through the completion of travel.

 

You will be neither refused boarding nor to get off in Ensenada if your passport expires sooner than six months. It just needs to be valid until the end of the cruise.

 

Remember for closed-loop cruises within North America your passport is not technically acting as a passport per se but simply as one of the WHTI-compatible documents on their list. But it will still get you through check-in faster than the BC/DL combo even if it expires the day after your cruise, so no need to conceal the date or bring a BC as back-up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SadieN

SadieN

Posted
Posted

Passports are being processed fast right now. Got mine back in 13 days, door to door, non expedited at the end of July.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lucky TGO

Lucky TGO

Posted
Posted
I will be doing a Hawaiian cruise this year. My passport at that time expires a month or so after the cruise ends.

 

Do we need to renew it so that I have more than 6 months. Or can I go with what I have ? We are US citizens.

 

Does anyone know for sure ?

I don't think you have to. But why take a chance??? Just renew it.

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted

The "6 month" rule is part myth and part truth. There are some countries that do require you have 6 months remaining on a Passport, and if you cruise to a country (where you need a Passport) that has this requirement you generally must meet the requirement at embarkation. And on closed loop cruises, US citizens do not even need a Passport. Here is a helpful article on the 6 month "rule,:

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/countries-require-six-months-passport-validity-100788.html

 

Like most frequent international travelers, we do always renew our Passport before it even reaches 6 months validity...as this covers all countries (and contingencies).

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites
downsmead

downsmead

Posted
Posted

We are UK cruisers and on a recent Med cruise and flights, my husband's passport would have been fine according to the regulations of the various countries visited but on reading Princess T&C they stipulated 6 months required on the passport!! Needless to say he did a hurried one day processing to ensure that we did not fall foul in any way :(. I was concerned that we may have been denied boarding if he did not have the 6 months specified. We could have called Princess but I did not have sufficient faith that if we were told it would be OK on the phone, that this would actually apply at check in!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shmoo here

Shmoo here

Posted
Posted (edited)
We are UK cruisers and on a recent Med cruise and flights, my husband's passport would have been fine according to the regulations of the various countries visited but on reading Princess T&C they stipulated 6 months required on the passport!! Needless to say he did a hurried one day processing to ensure that we did not fall foul in any way :(. I was concerned that we may have been denied boarding if he did not have the 6 months specified. We could have called Princess but I did not have sufficient faith that if we were told it would be OK on the phone, that this would actually apply at check in!!

 

Yes, but passport requirements are different, depending on what ports/countries are visited, and the passport holder's citizenship.

 

As for the cruise OP is taking (with one stop in Mexico), there is no 6 month requirement for US citizens to visit Mexico. And, as long as a US citizen has a valid passport on the day they re-enter the US from a foreign port, that's all they need.

 

As fishywood posted (from the Princess website):

US and Canadian passport holders sailing on a domestic cruise should ensure passports or other travel documents are valid through the completion of travel.

 

Meaning, for US citizens the travel documents (passports) must be valid only until the day after returning.

Edited by Shmoo here
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SadieN

SadieN

Posted
Posted
What country would that be? I don't think they're going near any other countries...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

They're porting in Ensenada, Mexico for a mandatory stop. Usually three to five hours. FWIW Ensenada is a four hour car ride to the Port of Los Angeles. About 75 miles south of San Diego.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dns65

dns65

Posted
Posted
your passport needs to have 6 months left at the time you sail. If you plan on getting off the ship in Mexico you need to up date your passport.

 

I sailed on the Crown Princess in February of this year on the Mexican Riviera cruise out of LA on a Canadian passport expiring first week of April. The clerk checking us in at Princess noted my passport wasn't valid for the 6 month period but her supervisor said it was OK as the cruise ended prior to expiration [by about 7 weeks]. Had no issue leaving the ship in Cabo, Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta. YMMV

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CZEE

CZEE

Posted
Posted
, but there is no six month requirement. (Our stop is also in Mexico.)

 

The first sign on to Princess website after booking a transatlantic said in no uncertain terms that the passport must be valid for six months after the cruise. It also said this when I booked two cruised for this year, one of them a 10-day cruise to Mexico.

 

My advice to the OP is to check the requirements on the Princess website. Don't listen to opinions on Cruise Critic. It would be rather unpleasant to find yourself denied boarding because the passport was not going to be valid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ar1950

ar1950

Posted
Posted
The first sign on to Princess website after booking a transatlantic said in no uncertain terms that the passport must be valid for six months after the cruise. It also said this when I booked two cruised for this year, one of them a 10-day cruise to Mexico.

 

My advice to the OP is to check the requirements on the Princess website. Don't listen to opinions on Cruise Critic. It would be rather unpleasant to find yourself denied boarding because the passport was not going to be valid.

 

jasmith52, personally, I would agree with CZEE. If you only have a couple of months left on the passport I think it would be worth avoiding any hassle to just renew it a little early. You will need to do it anyway if you are going to do anymore traveling out of the US after this cruise that you are concerned with. Since passports are valid for 10 years, the amount of extra "value" lost really is negligible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...