Passport validity question

[ontheweb]

4 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

First, "The Points Guy' isn't an official source.

 

Second, the rules for cruise passengers are often different from the rules for travelers arriving by air. The website you cited is geared to air travelers. Cruise passengers arriving for a short single day port stop are often considered to be "in transit' and subject to more lenient rules.

 

Third many of the countries on that list are participants in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, so US citizens arriving for a cruise port stop are not even required to have a passport.

 

Fourth, the OP has asked about the rules for Mexico, The Bahamas and St. Maarten, all of which are part of the WHTI and none of which are on the list of countries you've cited.

 

Facts, you realize I hope that you cannot change anybody's mind with facts if they have already made up their mind. But, I guess you cannot be blamed for trying.

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, FredT said:

Like I said above,  I actually witnesses the SAME scenario play out about 5 years ago at the San Juan docks.   Maybe things have changed by now... Maybe it is due to other ports...Maybe it is a rule particular to the cruise line... Maybe Maybe Maybe.....   

 

Are YOU willing to refund these people their airfare/hotel/cruise tickets if they DO get refused passage?    

There is no legal reason why a US citizen on a closed loop cruise would be denied boarding because of a passport that expires less than 6 months after the cruise ends. None. So what you witnessed isn't what you witnessed and there was something else amiss.

Edited June 22, 2020 by sparks1093

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, FredT said:

Sometime I wonder why I bother....   30 seconds of google and I hat on a bunch of answers.  (Most of whom I trust more than you)   The "simplest " one is this by "the Points Guy"   

 

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/08/six-month-passport-validity-rule/#:~:text=To be safe%2C verify that,it way ahead of time.

 

The countries listed below abide by the usual six months of passport validity unless otherwise noted.

 

 

North America and the Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama*.

*Passport must be valid three months beyond arrival.   

 

Unless I am mistaken, all are in the Caribbean.  

 

 

I sailed to St Lucia without a passport, so why would they insist that someone with a passport on a closed loop cruise have 6 months validity remaining? 

[ovccruiser]

well another one of those threads, if the op knows he is doing a closed loop cruise and all the info is easily found, why the hell ask 😄 You can spout the rights and wrongs of other posters on here, but when it goes wrong, don't say we didn't tell you. The OP asked a question and got some valid answers and some pitfalls that may or may not be encountered. I hope it all goes well for them, sometimes it don't.

[sparks1093]

12 minutes ago, ovccruiser said:

well another one of those threads, if the op knows he is doing a closed loop cruise and all the info is easily found, why the hell ask 😄 You can spout the rights and wrongs of other posters on here, but when it goes wrong, don't say we didn't tell you. The OP asked a question and got some valid answers and some pitfalls that may or may not be encountered. I hope it all goes well for them, sometimes it don't.

If for some bizarre reason her passport is deemed insufficient she'll still be all set since she's bringing additional documentation that will do the trick.

[broberts]

Tempest in a tea pot. Birth certificate and government issued photo id is fine for U.S. Citizens on closed loop cruise. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/western-hemisphere-travel-initiative 

 

Besides, the chance of either cruise actually taking place approaches zero.

[marco]

Just an "FYI".  I didn't realize they were not processing passport renewals as they had been pre-pandemic and I sent away for a renewal on April 1st.  The new passport arrived today...July 25.  Not that we can go anywhere right now...bu t just to let you know what the current timeframe is.

[zqvol]

On 6/19/2020 at 11:19 AM, Bollycats said:

I know there are tons of threads on passports, but finding what I need using the search function is futile!

 

My current passport expires Feb 2021. I have 2 cruises (hopefully!) at the end of Oct and end of Nov. I was going to send it in this month to renew, but with the virus the US passport office is extremely backlogged and I'm afraid I wouldn't get it back on time.

 

I know the 6 month validity rule for flying into other countries, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to closed looped cruises from what I've read. First cruise is in/out of San Diego to Mexico. Second cruise is in/out of Ft. Lauderdale to Bahamas and St. Maarten.  I also will be bringing my birth certificate (with raised seal), REAL ID driver's license, and marriage license. (to link my 2 names)

 

Am I correct in assuming I will be ok with either of these?

 

 

Since with either of the 2 cruise OP mentions they could cruise with just a birth certificate and a photo ID, then as far as a passport is concerned as long as it is valid on the day the OP returns to the US, it is fine to use for that cruise. OP's bigger problem is that to renew a passport the old one must be submitted or you have to file a report of a lost passport which makes the old one invalid. If OP has any concern about the timing to get it back then OP should wait until after the cruises to submit for a new passport.

 

BTW, the odds of OP's cruises actually sailing is somewhere between slim and none.

[zqvol]

On 6/21/2020 at 4:17 PM, FredT said:

Sometime I wonder why I bother....   30 seconds of google and I hat on a bunch of answers.  (Most of whom I trust more than you)   The "simplest " one is this by "the Points Guy"   

 

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/08/six-month-passport-validity-rule/#:~:text=To be safe%2C verify that,it way ahead of time.

 

The countries listed below abide by the usual six months of passport validity unless otherwise noted.

 

 

North America and the Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama*.

*Passport must be valid three months beyond arrival.   

 

Unless I am mistaken, all are in the Caribbean.  

 

 

That has nothing to do with cruising. When you cruise you are considered in transit and the rules are different. Even Turkey, which requires everyone to have a visa, doesn't requirer a cruise ship passenger making a one day stop to have a visa.

[nosapphire]

One word of warning - (which probably does not apply to the OP anyway)

Some people come unstuck at check-in because they have checked the requirements of every country they are visiting, but not the requirements of the carrier.

The carrier quite frequently has more stringent rules than the actual country, so it is quite possible that your passport can be valid for every place you are going to - but the carrier has decided that, for safety, they always want the passport to have an extra few months validity.

Sometimes this is a minimum of 6 months validity after the end of the cruise, even if every country on the itinerary only wants it to be valid while you are there (the cruise line does not want to take the risk of being heavily delayed and having passengers ith expired passports on board).

I nearly came unstuck on one round-trip cruise (UK-UK) when check-in saw my passport expiry date was 5 months after the date of disembarking back home.

Gasp. Horror. Much huddled discussion.

After a short period of muttering Captain was contacted to make a decision, he shrugged and said, "what's the problem?"

So I was able to cruise after all - but I was mildly peeved, especially since they had taken all the details including the expiry date at the time of booking without comment.

 

 

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, nosapphire said:

but not the requirements of the carrier.

Several lifetimes ago I worked for an intl. airline. As I recall, the airline is responsible for you if you get to your destination and the country won't allow you in. So I'd say it's good to have that six months.

[Roger88]

20 minutes ago, clo said:

Several lifetimes ago I worked for an intl. airline. As I recall, the airline is responsible for you if you get to your destination and the country won't allow you in. So I'd say it's good to have that six months.

Well its not always true, at least now. If the company is big then of course they will try to help you out but as for the small ones, if you didnt purchase their insurance you will have to find your way back solely on your own my friend. This is bad, really bad but its true 

[nosapphire]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

Well its not always true, at least now. If the company is big then of course they will try to help you out but as for the small ones, if you didnt purchase their insurance you will have to find your way back solely on your own my friend. This is bad, really bad but its true 

I think what Clo meant was that if the country does not allow you in, then said country usually demands that whoever brought them takes them back again. It is nothing to do with helping the passenger.

[clo]

11 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

I think what Clo meant was that if the country does not allow you in, then said country usually demands that whoever brought them takes them back again. It is nothing to do with helping the passenger.

That's correct or it was once upon a time.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Well its not always true, at least now. If the company is big then of course they will try to help you out but as for the small ones, if you didnt purchase their insurance you will have to find your way back solely on your own my friend. This is bad, really bad but its true 

The airline that brought you needs to take you back, but they don't do so gratis- the passenger still pays for the return airfare (and not having correct travel documentation is usually not covered by insurance).

[CHEZMARYLOU]

On 7/25/2020 at 5:13 PM, marco said:

Just an "FYI".  I didn't realize they were not processing passport renewals as they had been pre-pandemic and I sent away for a renewal on April 1st.  The new passport arrived today...July 25.  Not that we can go anywhere right now...bu t just to let you know what the current timeframe is.

Thanks for this.  I was wondering what the time frame would be for passport renewals since it took the IRS 4 - 5 months to process paper tax returns and issue refunds.

[nascarcruiser]

On 7/25/2020 at 4:13 PM, marco said:

Just an "FYI".  I didn't realize they were not processing passport renewals as they had been pre-pandemic and I sent away for a renewal on April 1st.  The new passport arrived today...July 25.  Not that we can go anywhere right now...bu t just to let you know what the current timeframe is.

Good to know.  Sent mine off last week for renewal.   Gives me hope  we can go somewhere in January hopefully 

[Charles4515]

Thanks for this.  I was wondering what the time frame would be for passport renewals since it took the IRS 4 - 5 months to process paper tax returns and issue refunds.

Department of State and IRS are different agencies with different work forces in different office locations in different states and with different work rules so you can’t really cannot draw much of a parallel except that Covid has screwed everything up.


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[CHEZMARYLOU]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Department of State and IRS are different agencies with different work forces in different office locations in different states and with different work rules so you can’t really cannot draw much of a parallel except that Covid has screwed everything up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

I know they are different agencies. My point is the government has shut down and is only slowly reopening. If both agencies are starting to function normally given Covid restrictions we have some time frame for passports, tax refunds, etc.

[wowzz]

On 7/27/2020 at 9:06 PM, sparks1093 said:

The airline that brought you needs to take you back, but they don't do so gratis- the passenger still pays for the return airfare (and not having correct travel documentation is usually not covered by insurance).

Correct - Roger as normal is totally wrong.

[Charles4515]

I know they are different agencies. My point is the government has shut down and is only slowly reopening. If both agencies are starting to function normally given Covid restrictions we have some time frame for passports, tax refunds, etc.

 

The government has not and was not shut down. Government workers have been telecommuting. Passports and paper IRS could not be be done that way. I filed electronically and got my tax refund. I renewed my Global Entry and because my renewal did not require an interview it took a day for approval. I also received a new card in the mail a week later.

 

 

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[marco]

ZQVOL:  IF those two cruises are in Oct or Nov of 2020..I'd say the chances of either is zero.  My sister and b-i-l were booked on a cruise over Thanksgiving 2020.  Last week they rcvd notice that the cruise was canx.

[snichols23]

I recently watched a zoom meeting hosted byTPG. An official from US Embassy said the turnaround time for passports is currently 10 weeks 

[iancal]

We get 10 year passports.  In reality they are only good for 9 years or so. 

 

Our practice is always to have a passport valid for at least six months after the end of a two or three month trip.  Plus allow for turn around time.  In the scheme of things the cost is negligible.

[John Bull]

On 6/19/2020 at 4:25 PM, ovccruiser said:

............ my wife insists she will not renew her passport until she can get her hair cut and styled 😆

 

I feel for you, because I had the same grief 

 

Serious concerns that it wouldn't be back in time - it was, but but the trip got cancelled anyway due to travel restrictions.

Instead we sailed across to the Isle of Wight. But as those who know the Island will be aware,  that trip also had the advantage of travelling back in time  

 

JB