Carnival cruiser, do you have a valid passport?

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

The great thing is that people can decide their own risk level when it comes to things like getting passports, flying in a day before a cruise...None of those things are necessary

Flying in the day before a cruise not necessary????

Hopefully bad weather or a mechanical issue never happens on your morning of fly in.  It is a moot point of course if sailaway is 10:00 pm like Puerto Rico.

[mondello]

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Flying in the day before a cruise not necessary????

Hopefully bad weather or a mechanical issue never happens on your morning of fly in.  It is a moot point of course if sailaway is 10:00 pm like Puerto Rico.

One of the protocols to restart cruises is something about 12 hours in between cruises. It is very possible things may be different at least to start with. Yes, my family all have passports as we travel internationally including outside of cruises. Also, we do always fly-in at least a day ahead.

Now, I've just seen the 12 hours was just discussed on another thread.

Edited April 12, 2021 by mondello
Correction

[ZoeyVictoria]

7 hours ago, sanger727 said:

I have my passport but I do understand it when people cruise without one. My husband cruises his first with his birth certificate. He had never left the country, never planned on leaving the country, and I had to talk him into trying the cruise. He ended up loving it and got his passport and we have traveled internationally several times since. But I know a lot of people like he was that aren’t ‘travelers’. They are perfectly content with an annual vacation house rental and have no ambitions to leave the country. They may go on one cruise in their life for a family trip, wedding, etc. I don’t blame them for not getting a passport for that.

Almost the same story here.  I met my SO two months after he got his passport card so he could travel to Canada with family members.  Now he cruises frequently, but still doesn’t feel the need to also have a passport.  Mine is up for renewal again in two years and I think I can talk him into getting one at the same time.  Maybe 🙄. 

[RWolver672]

My one son's and mine is up for renewal next February.  We are planning on renewing them shortly.  I wonder what the turn around time is now with travel pretty much being at a stand still.

 

We went from Michigan to Toronto on a train once.  We had to go through customs to enter Canada.  When we handed the customs agent our passports, she said that she wished everybody would travel with a passport.  It makes it so much easier for them.  They don't have to search birth certificates trying to find the information they are looking for .Each certificate is different depending on the state.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

There is no higher fee in CA. Baloney. 

 

"The DMV will charge a $35 fee for your REAL ID. It's the same fee you pay during your regular driver's license renewal."

I don't know about California, but I do know about NY state. When the DMV finally was open by appointment and I got my drivers license renewed, I was asked if I wanted the enhanced license. My first question was if there was an extra fee, and was told yes. My second question was would I need it for any reason since I had a passport that was renewed the previous year, and was told no.

 

I passed on it. Come to think of it, I never did ask what the fee was.

[ontheweb]

Just checked the survey results, and it was 68 with passports and ZERO without.

 

I think it is quite fair to say that this is not a random survey of Carnival cruisers, and the real answer is nowhere near 100% have passports.

[pe4all]

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Why would you need an enhanced drivers' license if you have a passport?

We use our enhanced license to fly in the U.S., rather than carry our passport.  License fits in wallet - passport doesn't.  

[RWolver672]

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

My second question was would I need it for any reason since I had a passport that was renewed the previous year, and was told no.

 

 

Wife and I were told the same thing in Michigan when we renewed our licenses.  I just checked and there is no extra fee in Michigan for the enhanced license, unless you want it added to an existing license.  

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, RWolver672 said:

 

Wife and I were told the same thing in Michigan when we renewed our licenses.  I just checked and there is no extra fee in Michigan for the enhanced license, unless you want it added to an existing license.  

I guess NY state just likes to charge a fee at every possible opportunity!

[whyrlygig]

12 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

There is no higher fee in CA. Baloney. 

 

"The DMV will charge a $35 fee for your REAL ID. It's the same fee you pay during your regular driver's license renewal."

I am not sure about CA but in MN there is a difference between Real ID and an Enhanced which is an additional $15. 

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, Host Carolyn said:

There have been many passport threads, most have turned into a pros and cons debate. This will go poof if that happens again

I don't know why a respectful pro and con debate should go poof, because there are pros and cons to the issue. Not everyone's travel patterns or needs are the same and whether anyone likes it or not the regulations do allow for some travelers to forego using a passport. For our first cruise it would have set us back around $850 for passports and after doing my research it didn't seem like a good expenditure for a 4 day cruise. We decided to wait to get passports until we actually needed them for the travel that we were doing. 

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

My one son's and mine is up for renewal next February.  We are planning on renewing them shortly.  I wonder what the turn around time is now with travel pretty much being at a stand still.

 

We went from Michigan to Toronto on a train once.  We had to go through customs to enter Canada.  When we handed the customs agent our passports, she said that she wished everybody would travel with a passport.  It makes it so much easier for them.  They don't have to search birth certificates trying to find the information they are looking for .Each certificate is different depending on the state.

Yes, it does make their job easier, but I'm not in the business of making their job easier. The only time one can travel across the land border with a birth certificate is when one is under 16 (or under 19 on a school field trip). During a cruise everyone's birth certificate or other citizenship document is checked against a multitude of databases which is done by the time the ship returns to port.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Just checked the survey results, and it was 68 with passports and ZERO without.

 

I think it is quite fair to say that this is not a random survey of Carnival cruisers, and the real answer is nowhere near 100% have passports.

We have passports now because we need them for our trips to Germany, but we didn't use them when we started cruising, so maybe the question should have had an answer "have you ever cruised without a passport".

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

You don't and in California by not paying the higher fee for the enhanced DL we looked at it as cash back from what we paid for our passports 😉

You can get an Enhanced Drivers license in California, you are talking about a REAL ID compliant license and that is a totally different animal. An EDL is similar to a passport card and may be used to verify identity and citizenship in one document. A REAL ID compliant only verifies identity.

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

We use our enhanced license to fly in the U.S., rather than carry our passport.  License fits in wallet - passport doesn't.  

you don’t need an enhanced license to fly in the US. Any old license will work. You may be thinking of real ID which will be required in the future but isn’t yet. 

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, ledges1 said:

Enhanced DL is domestic only.

 

A bona fide EDL (only issued by 5 states) may be used to cross land borders and at sea points of entry in the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico. A REAL ID compliant license is only good (by itself) for domestic air travel (and driving).

[pe4all]

8 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

you don’t need an enhanced license to fly in the US. Any old license will work. You may be thinking of real ID which will be required in the future but isn’t yet. 

Yes.  NY gives 3 choices of licenses to get - regular, enhanced or real id.   When our licenses expired we just "upgraded" for $30 - no big deal to us.  

[evandbob]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I guess NY state just likes to charge a fee at every possible opportunity!

From the NYS DMV Drivers' license web page:

Fee

The additional fee for an enhanced driver licensed (EDL) or enhanced non-driver ID card (ENDID) is $30.00 .  The fee is added to the other fees for the driver license or non-driver ID transaction.

To determine the fee for converting from a regular driver license or ID card to an enhanced document, see Early renewal with conversion to an enhanced document.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

We have passports now because we need them for our trips to Germany, but we didn't use them when we started cruising, so maybe the question should have had an answer "have you ever cruised without a passport".

No, we have never cruised without a passport. We had flown to England four years before our first cruise. Also our first cruise was roundtrip from Barcelona so it would have required us to obtain passports if we did not have them already.

[pe4all]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I guess NY state just likes to charge a fee at every possible opportunity!

You bet they do!

[sparks1093]

10 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

No, we have never cruised without a passport. We had flown to England four years before our first cruise. Also our first cruise was roundtrip from Barcelona so it would have required us to obtain passports if we did not have them already.

Yes, that is what you've done but I would guess that many started out the way that we did- they did a closed loop cruise or two without passports before finally getting them.

[SNJCruisers]

6 hours ago, mondello said:

One of the protocols to restart cruises is something about 12 hours in between cruises. 

A gangway has to be used with a 12 hour gap.  Different methods around this rule are discussed on the other thread.

[kdr69]

Whole Family has them and just renewed sons for 10 years now that he is 18.  What I always get a laugh out of is that the Passport is an official Government document that shows you are a citizen of Canada that cant be used as one of the official Government documents for citizenship you require to renew you passport.😏

[satxdiver]

We both have had a passport for decades and would not leave home without it.

[Denverdonkeys]

14 hours ago, skrufy said:

We have had passports since our 2nd cruise back in 2005. Was glad I had mine a few years back in St. Thomas. After walking out the security area I wanted to go back onboard to get something. The guard asked me for my passport and I didn’t have it with me. He allowed me to go get it and bring it back to him. Besides it possibly saving my hide a passport opens worldwide travel to you.

I think is actually advised you leave your passport in your safe when you go ashore. if you missed the boat they will empty it for you. But you don't want it stolen or lost on an island adventure.