passport expiration date a problem with online check in

[edgee]

9 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Moot point 

She is not on NCL   & hopefully in 10yrs  she will get  a new passport before  it is close to expiring or at least check if  one is needed to cover  the trip

Oceania made the discussion about what could have been  moot by enforcing their rule. I am good with that. I was merely correcting a fact related to the theoretical  discussion.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Guadeloupe only requires 3 months validity on passports, which the OP would meet.

The State Department says 6 months but I'm not going to argue the issue because we both know that it's difficult at best to come up with a definitive answer to the question for cruise-specific requirements by doing an internet search.

 

[1985rz1]

I came across an article by the Points Guy on passport requirements, and it provided some information about which Caribbean ports are not participating in the WHTI.  It's not complete, but the key paragraph says:

 

"Yes. Even if you're on a closed-loop sailing, certain islands in the Caribbean – Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barts, Barbados and others -- require a passport for entry. It’s your responsibility (not your cruise line’s) to learn the requirements of each of the destinations you're visiting before you go."

 

St Bart's is on our closed loop itinerary in February, so a passport is required with 6-month validity upon departure.  (Neither Barbados nor Guadaloupe  nor Martinique have the 6- month's requirement.)

 

Since O sails to many of the the smaller ports in the Eastern Caribbean, and since the itineraries are often quite different from itinerary, to me, it makes sense that O should have a blanket 6-month policy for all their cruises.  It would be a nightmare to fashion different requirements on a cruise by cruise basis, and a risk for an accidental screwup which could negatively impact passengers on the cruises.  It's safer with the blanket requirement, especially since there can be mid-cruise port changes.  

 

I don't know for sure, but I would bet that the big lines such as NCL avoid those ports that have the passport requirement (6 months or not).

 

And it's never a good idea to think that a major corporation could be flexible on it's requirements because some other company has different requirements since one exception could open the flood gates of troubles.

 

Different Oars for Different Ships.

 

Here's the Point's Guy's article:

 

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/need-passport-cruise/

[mauibabes]

Amen /Ditto. Since ports are often changing on any cruise, the cruise lines need the flexibility to make changes and this 6 month policy helps keep all the guests compliant with the Caribbean governments. 
Mauibabes

[GeezerCouple]

8 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

<snip>

 

Since O sails to many of the the smaller ports in the Eastern Caribbean, and since the itineraries are often quite different from itinerary, to me, it makes sense that O should have a blanket 6-month policy for all their cruises.  It would be a nightmare to fashion different requirements on a cruise by cruise basis, and a risk for an accidental screwup which could negatively impact passengers on the cruises.  It's safer with the blanket requirement, especially since there can be mid-cruise port changes.  

 

<snip>

 

The part I bolded in the quoted section is especially important.

There *are* occasional mid-cruise port changes, for a variety of reasons.  Weather could be one (especially during hurricane season, but other times, too).  Or there could be some sort of problem with a port, such as equipment (a few years ago, a ship got blown into a dock structure in Alaska; that took some time to fix!).  Or... dare I mention some health problem causing a closure and rerouting?

 

The mega-ships are not going to be suddenly changing their itineraries to head to St. Barts, for example, or other smaller ports.  But smaller ships might.  Indeed, some of those smaller ports are on regular itineraries for some of the smaller ships, so no surprise that they "might" go there...  Better safe than sorry, etc.  If even one passenger does not have the proper "papers", then any itinerary adjustment could become very difficult.

 

But again... it's a "them's the rules" situation.  You sail with Oceania, you follow *their* rules, not those of any other line, not matter how different or similar.

 

GC

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

 

St Bart's is on our closed loop itinerary in February, so a passport is required with 6-month validity upon departure.  (Neither Barbados nor Guadaloupe  nor Martinique have the 6- month's requirement.)

St. Bart's  Guadeloupe and Martinique are each part of the French West Indies so their rules should be the same because they are set by France, not by the individual islands. The State Department does not have separate listings for each island, all are listed under the French West Indies heading.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/FrenchWestIndies.html.html?wcmmode=disabled

 

PASSPORT VALIDITY:

Must have six months validity at entry

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by njhorseman

[TakingFlight]

@susiesanI sincerely hope you receive your passport and are able to board your cruise. At his time of the year I remain thankful for all the blessings I have, be they travel related or just enabling me to enjoy life one day at a time.

[kibutzer]

Its fascinating to me that we have spent 4 pages debating, and some defending a passenger who wishes the rules be changed due to their mistake. So much for personal accountability. Although I have empathy for the poster I am also sad that so many folks seems to think its okay to ignore the terms of the agreement that was made when they signed up for the cruise.

[susiesan]

1 hour ago, kibutzer said:

Its fascinating to me that we have spent 4 pages debating, and some defending a passenger who wishes the rules be changed due to their mistake. So much for personal accountability. Although I have empathy for the poster I am also sad that so many folks seems to think its okay to ignore the terms of the agreement that was made when they signed up for the cruise.

I am taking responsibility for having a brain fart. I've done all I can to salvage the vacation by expediting the passport renewal at a very hefty cost. Lesson learned. At the same time, I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer. That's called good business, working with your customers to make then happy. Unhappy customers will tell 10 people about their bad experience with a corporation.

 

I hope my experience has benefited others who may make the same mistake I did. I already heard from someone on the O FB group who was going to be denied boarding on her January cruise due to the same passport expiration date. She had no idea about this until I brought it up. She is rushing to renew their passports now. So I saved at least one couple's cruise vacation.

[Debbers]

On 11/14/2022 at 2:04 PM, susiesan said:

I made an honest mistake

No, you knowingly entered false information in Oceania's form.  There's nothing honest about that.

[basor]

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

I am taking responsibility for having a brain fart. I've done all I can to salvage the vacation by expediting the passport renewal at a very hefty cost. Lesson learned. At the same time, I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer. That's called good business, working with your customers to make then happy. Unhappy customers will tell 10 people about their bad experience with a corporation.

 

I hope my experience has benefited others who may make the same mistake I did. I already heard from someone on the O FB group who was going to be denied boarding on her January cruise due to the same passport expiration date. She had no idea about this until I brought it up. She is rushing to renew their passports now. So I saved at least one couple's cruise vacation.

I hope you receive your passport and are able to enjoy your cruise....sorry that this experience has made you leave Oceania for good but hopefully you will find a cruise line that better fits your needs

[kibutzer]

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

I am taking responsibility for having a brain fart. I've done all I can to salvage the vacation by expediting the passport renewal at a very hefty cost. Lesson learned. At the same time, I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer. That's called good business, working with your customers to make then happy. Unhappy customers will tell 10 people about their bad experience with a corporation.

 

I hope my experience has benefited others who may make the same mistake I did. I already heard from someone on the O FB group who was going to be denied boarding on her January cruise due to the same passport expiration date. She had no idea about this until I brought it up. She is rushing to renew their passports now. So I saved at least one couple's cruise vacation.

Good luck in your future adventures. Strange description of accepting responsibility,  . At the same time, I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer

[NeedToChill]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer.

 

Change, exception, call it what you will. I'm sure they would have happily accommodated almost anything, if it were solely at their discretion. But these are government related immigration rules, and their ability to dock in certain ports will depend on them following these sort of rules. I can't imagine they would make a change or exception for anyone regarding passports, any more than they would make a change to food hygiene rules, or other policies imposed on them from outside.

 

I sincerely hope you get your passport in time! I missed a flight once, in my extreme youth, when I woke up the morning of my early AM flight and realized my passport was still in the bank safety deposit box, which was not accessible until after take off. Had to rebook. Passports suck. Why can't they just trust us?? 😉

 

--Julian

[NownZen]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

I am taking responsibility for having a brain fart. I've done all I can to salvage the vacation by expediting the passport renewal at a very hefty cost. Lesson learned. At the same time, I was not asking O to change the rules, I was asking for an exception for a past customer. That's called good business, working with your customers to make then happy. Unhappy customers will tell 10 people about their bad experience with a corporation.

 

I hope my experience has benefited others who may make the same mistake I did. I already heard from someone on the O FB group who was going to be denied boarding on her January cruise due to the same passport expiration date. She had no idea about this until I brought it up. She is rushing to renew their passports now. So I saved at least one couple's cruise vacation.

You WERE asking to change the rules. There is no other way to put it. You call it good business, it may well be illegal for the cruise line to skirt immigration rules. I do not think anyone here saw this as a bad experience with a corporation, rather a bad experience with a guest who wanted the rules changed.

[edgee]

On 11/16/2022 at 4:54 PM, njhorseman said:

St. Bart's  Guadeloupe and Martinique are each part of the French West Indies so their rules should be the same because they are set by France, not by the individual islands. The State Department does not have separate listings for each island, all are listed under the French West Indies heading.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/FrenchWestIndies.html.html?wcmmode=disabled

 

PASSPORT VALIDITY:

Must have six months validity at entry

 

 

 

Actually I am booked on a Celebrity cruise next month that stops in Martinique. You do NOT need a passport for that closed loop cruise, BUT you may not get off of the ship during that stop in Martinique.

[susiesan]

3 hours ago, Debbers said:

No, you knowingly entered false information in Oceania's form.  There's nothing honest about that.

There is no false information in my online check in form as it isn't completed. The passport info is not there as I don't have it from the new passports. It will be correct when I complete online check in.

[Robjame]

Margaret Thatcher believed “There’s no such thing as entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.”

 

In reading this thread, I am still trying to find what obligation has been met. Until then I find Oceania blameless in this unfortunate oversight.

[cruisingxpert]

On 11/13/2022 at 6:18 PM, susiesan said:

Apparently my passport expiration date is outside that time frame. So I changed the  expiration date to one month later and the online check in took.

On your first post you said the above

Now you say 

27 minutes ago, susiesan said:

There is no false information in my online check in form as it isn't completed.

 

[edgee]

39 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

On your first post you said the above

Now you say 

 

I agree that the OP should not be expecting Oceania to waive their rule just for her. But also she should not be mocked for changing her story here. I presume she changed the date of expiration as a test to assess whether the actual date was the reason why her passport info was not being accepted. If she did not click it through as a final completed registration, I do not think that she did anything wrong.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, edgee said:

Actually I am booked on a Celebrity cruise next month that stops in Martinique. You do NOT need a passport for that closed loop cruise, BUT you may not get off of the ship during that stop in Martinique.

Interesting. I checked another cruise line, Princess, for their stated requirements if a Caribbean cruise stops at Martinique (and Guadeloupe), and they state  you must have a passport . It's considered an international itinerary presumably because Martinique and Guadeloupe actually are French overseas departments .

 

I guess Celebrity must have obtained some type of concession that waives the passport requirement as long as a passenger doesn't disembark in Martinique. That's rather unusual because you're normally considered to enter a country as soon as the ship enters its territorial waters and that means you have to meet all the requirements even if you never set foot on land.

 

Here's what Princess has to say:

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/pre-cruise/prepare-for-your-cruise/?accordion=travel-documents

 

 

 

"Document Requirements for US and Canadian Passport Holders

A valid passport is required for all international itineraries including Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, India, Central and South America, Panama Canal (partial and full transit), Caribbean voyages that visit Martinique or Guadeloupe, South Pacific, Tahiti and World Cruises."

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by njhorseman

[cruisingxpert]

16 minutes ago, edgee said:

If she did not click it through as a final completed registration, I do not think that she did anything wrong.

According to her post, she changed the expiry date of her passport and said the online check in took.  I take that to mean she was able to complete her check in with the incorrect expiry date.

 

I'm not mocking her, I'm only pointing out what she said.

[osandomir]

55 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

According to her post, she changed the expiry date of her passport and said the online check in took.  I take that to mean she was able to complete her check in with the incorrect expiry date.

 

I'm not mocking her, I'm only pointing out what she said.

A little more kindness always helps.

[NownZen]

2 hours ago, osandomir said:

A little more kindness always helps.

We would feel a little more kindly if she was not ranting about how mistreated she was that they would not change the rules for her.  She felt she was (is) special.

[1985rz1]

15 minutes ago, NownZen said:

We would feel a little more kindly if she was not ranting about how mistreated she was that they would not change the rules for her.  She felt she was (is) special.

If you're been on the O forum for a while, you know there is a history  of previous rants.

Edited November 19, 2022 by 1985rz1

[susiesan]

5 hours ago, edgee said:

I agree that the OP should not be expecting Oceania to waive their rule just for her. But also she should not be mocked for changing her story here. I presume she changed the date of expiration as a test to assess whether the actual date was the reason why her passport info was not being accepted. If she did not click it through as a final completed registration, I do not think that she did anything wrong.

This. See post #93. Edgee gets the prize for actually reading what I have been saying.