Stamps in Passports!!!

[terri910]

I just realized that even though our Passports do not expire until 2020, we are probably going to need to get new passports before we travel and cruise in the Fall of 2018.....we're running out of blank pages!!

 

So, with that in mind, here are my questions:

 

(1) If a cruise makes a stop at more than one port of call in a country, does that mean that the passport will be stamped at each port? I've never paid attention to this, but basically, if we arrive in Rome, they will stamp our passports. If we then take a train to Venice, I don't think they will stamp the passport, unless it is as we leave Italy on the cruise ship. But, after calling into ports in Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece, the cruise ship then calls into Naples and Civitavecchia. Will they need blank pages again for Naples AND blank pages again for Rome?? Same question for Mexico...we are also booked on a Miami-to-Los Angeles via Panama Canal cruise. It calls on either 2 or 3 ports in Mexico before ending up in California. Will Mexican authorities need a blank page for each port?

 

and

 

(2) Does Panama need to stamp our passports for the Canal transit, even though I don't see an actual call into a port where the ship will stop and let passengers off?

 

Sheesh! Reading on the State Department's website that this country needs a blank page, that country needs a blank page, and these countries need TWO blank pages....I'm worried that we'll have enough pages even with a new passport!

 

Mind you, that's a wonderful problem to have, and I realize that, but considering we live in Ecuador most of the time, we have to make specific plans to get a new passport at a US Consulate in Ecuador (we do not plan on being in the US long enough to wait for the new passport to be processed)....plus we have to go to the Ecuador government offices to get our residency visa transferred to the new passport.

 

Aaack. :D

[Blondie008]

You will have your passport stamped in Europe at the point of entry, and no further stamp afterwards.

[Sauer-kraut]

Just returned from Austria and only two pages in my book have stamps..... and I've been going back and forth for 5 years already on that book..... they seem just to keep stamping over and over near what's already been stamped. I wish they'd turn the page!!

[Turtles06]

We did a westbound full transit of the Panama Canal earlier this year, Miami to LA. We had no port calls in Panama, and our passport was not stamped there. Nor was it stamped in any of the foreign ports in which we actually had a port call (Cartagena, Colombia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Corinto, Nicaragua; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, and five ports in Mexico).

 

Enjoy your travels!

 

BTW: if it's of any help to you, my detailed review (with photos) of our Panama Canal cruise is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2456255

[BirdTravels]

I just realized that even though our Passports do not expire until 2020, we are probably going to need to get new passports before we travel and cruise in the Fall of 2018.....we're running out of blank pages!!

 

So, with that in mind, here are my questions:

 

(1) If a cruise makes a stop at more than one port of call in a country, does that mean that the passport will be stamped at each port? I've never paid attention to this, but basically, if we arrive in Rome, they will stamp our passports. If we then take a train to Venice, I don't think they will stamp the passport, unless it is as we leave Italy on the cruise ship. But, after calling into ports in Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece, the cruise ship then calls into Naples and Civitavecchia. Will they need blank pages again for Naples AND blank pages again for Rome?? Same question for Mexico...we are also booked on a Miami-to-Los Angeles via Panama Canal cruise. It calls on either 2 or 3 ports in Mexico before ending up in California. Will Mexican authorities need a blank page for each port?

 

and

 

(2) Does Panama need to stamp our passports for the Canal transit, even though I don't see an actual call into a port where the ship will stop and let passengers off?

 

Sheesh! Reading on the State Department's website that this country needs a blank page, that country needs a blank page, and these countries need TWO blank pages....I'm worried that we'll have enough pages even with a new passport!

 

Mind you, that's a wonderful problem to have, and I realize that, but considering we live in Ecuador most of the time, we have to make specific plans to get a new passport at a US Consulate in Ecuador (we do not plan on being in the US long enough to wait for the new passport to be processed)....plus we have to go to the Ecuador government offices to get our residency visa transferred to the new passport.

 

Aaack. :D

 

For most cruise itineraries, you never get your passport stamped, even when re entering the US.

[terri910]

We did a westbound full transit of the Panama Canal earlier this year, Miami to LA. We had no port calls in Panama, and our passport was not stamped there. Nor was it stamped in any of the foreign ports in which we actually had a port call (Cartagena, Colombia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Corinto, Nicaragua; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, and five ports in Mexico).

 

Enjoy your travels!

 

BTW: if it's of any help to you, my detailed review (with photos) of our Panama Canal cruise is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2456255

That sounds a lot like our PC itinerary....

 

 

We have been on cruise ships that gathered everyone's passports at the beginning of the cruise (immigration officers boarded the ships and went through all the passports before anyone ever got off the ship), and we've also been on cruises where we kept our passports the whole time....and I don't remember if passports got stamped or not!

[yummysbakery]

You do not need a new passport you send yours in and they add pages. They never used to charge for this and it usually only took about 10 days.

 

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[NMLady]

I just realized that even though our Passports do not expire until 2020, we are probably going to need to get new passports before we travel and cruise in the Fall of 2018.....we're running out of blank pages!!

 

So, with that in mind, here are my questions:

 

(1) If a cruise makes a stop at more than one port of call in a country, does that mean that the passport will be stamped at each port? I've never paid attention to this, but basically, if we arrive in Rome, they will stamp our passports. If we then take a train to Venice, I don't think they will stamp the passport, unless it is as we leave Italy on the cruise ship. But, after calling into ports in Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece, the cruise ship then calls into Naples and Civitavecchia. Will they need blank pages again for Naples AND blank pages again for Rome?? Same question for Mexico...we are also booked on a Miami-to-Los Angeles via Panama Canal cruise. It calls on either 2 or 3 ports in Mexico before ending up in California. Will Mexican authorities need a blank page for each port?

 

and

 

(2) Does Panama need to stamp our passports for the Canal transit, even though I don't see an actual call into a port where the ship will stop and let passengers off?

 

Sheesh! Reading on the State Department's website that this country needs a blank page, that country needs a blank page, and these countries need TWO blank pages....I'm worried that we'll have enough pages even with a new passport!

 

Mind you, that's a wonderful problem to have, and I realize that, but considering we live in Ecuador most of the time, we have to make specific plans to get a new passport at a US Consulate in Ecuador (we do not plan on being in the US long enough to wait for the new passport to be processed)....plus we have to go to the Ecuador government offices to get our residency visa transferred to the new passport.

 

Aaack. :D

 

Fret not! Hardly any of those countries will stamp your passport. Our biggest disappointment in traveling nowadays is that our passport doesn't show where we've been. In Europe and South America.

[NMLady]

You do not need a new passport you send yours in and they add pages. They never used to charge for this and it usually only took about 10 days.

 

Sent from my 2PQ93 using Tapatalk

 

Nope, you can no longer get additional pages. Must get new passport and ask for extra pages in it. That is the rule as of Jan 1, 2016.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/news/visa-pages-no-longer-issued.html

 

Prior to that it was $82 for 24 pages added.

[yummysbakery]

That's funny because I sent mine back in November and it was no problem but things do change.

 

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[terri910]

Nope, you can no longer get additional pages. Must get new passport and ask for extra pages in it. That is the rule as of Jan 1, 2016.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/news/visa-pages-no-longer-issued.html

 

Prior to that it was $82 for 24 pages added.

Thanks! I will check out the link!

 

I wish I knew FOR SURE whether they will require all these pages....but the last thing we would want to have happen is to be traveling and get someone that says, "You don't have enough blank pages left to enter the country!"

[Kamloops50]

No stamps on the Full Transit Panama canal. They don't even stamp passports when leaving or entering the US or Canada.

[terri910]

Is it different at airports than cruise ports, do you think??

[Turtles06]

Is it different at airports than cruise ports, do you think??

 

It usually is. When you enter a foreign country by air, you go through immigration control, and your passport is stamped. When you arrive by cruise ship, the ship gets cleared, but individual pax are not going through immigration control. (This can vary in some areas of the world, like some countries in the Med, where the ship is required to collect and hold everyone's passport for inspection and stamping.)

[terri910]

It usually is. When you enter a foreign country by air, you go through immigration control, and your passport is stamped. When you arrive by cruise ship, the ship gets cleared, but individual pax are not going through immigration control. (This can vary in some areas of the world, like some countries in the Med, where the ship is required to collect and hold everyone's passport for inspection and stamping.)

Our first Med cruise was the first time we ever had our passports collected and kept by the cruise line (it was Carnival at that time). The only other time I remember it happening was on a cruise from Long Beach, California to Santiago, Chile -- which was also on Carnival.

[casofilia]

Middle East, near Far East and South America, lots of stamps and up to 4 on a page. Air into and out of Copenhagen stamped. Into and out of Canada and the USA stamped; again up to 4 a page. Travelling on a 44 page NZ passport though. Clean pages not necessarily for stamping but more likely for visas.

[gravitar]

You can decline the passport stamp upon reentering the US. Just tell the immigration officer 'no stamps please'.

 

 

 

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[jancl57]

Last year we did a cruise out of Rome. We cruised to Messina & Naples Italy. Turkey and 3 ports in Greece.. Our passports weren't stamped anywhere......Recently returned from Costa Rica.. first time our passports were ever stamped.

[zqvol]

You do not need a new passport you send yours in and they add pages. They never used to charge for this and it usually only took about 10 days.

 

Sent from my 2PQ93 using Tapatalk

 

They no longer do this. Once you are out of pages you have to get a new one. When you renew there is an option to get extra pages. You should always take advantage of this option.

[zqvol]

The stamps you get in Europe depend on the ship you are on. When we sail the mass market lines, where they do not hold your passport you do not get any stamps. When you sail on a line that holds your passport you usually end up with a lot of stamps. Even when sailing to Mexico and the Caribbean on the lines that hold your passports I have never had any stamps put in the passport. I certainly have never had any stamps on any mass market line.

[NLH Arizona]

Extra Visa Pages no Longer Issued Effective January 1, 2016

 

NOVEMBER 19, 2015The U.S. Department of State will no longer add visa pages into U.S. passports beginning January 1, 2016. Previously, U.S. passport holders had the option to pay for the insertion of additional 24-page visa inserts when valid passports lacked adequate space for entry or exit visa stamps. The decision to discontinue this service was made to enhance the security of the passport and to abide by international passport standards.

To mitigate the impact on frequent travelers, the Department began issuing 52-page passports to all applicants outside the United States starting October 1, 2014 for no additional cost. Applicants within the United States may choose a 28-page or 52-page book.

Requests for additional 24-page visa inserts will only be accepted until December 31, 2015. Beginning January 1, 2016, applicants in need of additional pages in their valid passports must obtain a new passport.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/news/visa-pages-no-longer-issued.html