6 Month Rule...Am I in Trouble?

[WKUTopperFan]

Hey guys..question.

 

I have a Caribbean cruise scheduled for February that I thought I was going to have to cancel due to work obligations.  I found out Friday that I was actually going to be able to make the trip so booked my flight yesterday.  I also shopped for my inbound flight for my European cruise that I'm this September on the Pride. That made me think about my passport. It expires at the end of June. I planned on renewing it after the February cruise. I needed it for my Thanksgiving cruise and was worried if I sent it in for renewal afterwards I wouldn't get it back before my February sail date if I could go. 

 

I sail Feb 26. My passport expires June 23. That's less than 6 months. I didn't realize i was outside the 6 month window.

Will I be allowed to board? Obviously I couldn't travel to Europe or most anywhere else but can I take a closed loop US sailing?

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by WKUTopperFan

[skrufy]

16 minutes ago, WKUTopperFan said:

Hey guys..question.

 

I have a Caribbean cruise scheduled for February that I thought I was going to have to cancel due to work obligations.  I found out Friday that I was actually going to be able to make the trip so booked my flight yesterday.  I also shopped for my inbound flight for my European cruise that I'm this September on the Pride. That made me think about my passport. It expires at the end of June. I planned on renewing it after the February cruise. I needed it for my Thanksgiving cruise and was worried if I sent it in for renewal afterwards I wouldn't get it back before my February sail date if I could go. 

 

I sail Feb 26. My passport expires June 23. That's less than 6 months. I didn't realize i was outside the 6 month window.

Will I be allowed to board? Obviously I couldn't travel to Europe or most anywhere else but can I take a closed loop US sailing?

 

I would not take the chance. Have you checked into the expedited passport renewal? A birth certificate and drivers license will do.

[luv2trvlnow]

According to the Carnival website, you can cruise with a certified birth certificate and government issued photo ID (drivers license, etc) since your cruise starts and ends in a US port. 

 

There are exceptions.  Are you traveling to Canada or Martinique?  Then you will need a valid passport.  Some countries don't require a passport to be valid for 6 months.  So I guess you would need to do a little research if going to a country that requires a passport about their requirements.

[mz-s]

You could always carry on your birth certificate and driver's license as a backup in case your passport is questioned for your February cruise.

 

You should send off for your renewal as soon as you get back from your February cruise.

[WKUTopperFan]

1 minute ago, luv2trvlnow said:

According to the Carnival website, you can cruise with a certified birth certificate and government issued photo ID (drivers license, etc) since your cruise starts and ends in a US port. 

 

There are exceptions.  Are you traveling to Canada or Martinique?  Then you will need a valid passport.  Some countries don't require a passport to be valid for 6 months.  So I guess you would need to do a little research if going to a country that requires a passport about their requirements.

This is a sailing to Jamaica (Ocho Rios),  Cozumel (Mexico), and Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands). I guess I can check their requirements. 

THANKS

[Ferry_Watcher]

7 minutes ago, mz-s said:

You could always carry on your birth certificate and driver's license as a backup in case your passport is questioned for your February cruise.

 

You should send off for your renewal as soon as you get back from your February cruise.

 

I agree with @mz-s.  There should be no problem with your US passport.  Having your birth certificate as backup ID would give you peace of mind.  I do check-in for Alaska cruises, and we have never denied a passenger boarding on a closed loop cruise for having a passport that was expiring in less than 6 months of the disembarking date.  I have personally check-in a cruise passenger whose US passport was set to expire the day after their cruise ended.  

Edited January 8, 2023 by Ferry_Watcher

[WKUTopperFan]

10 minutes ago, skrufy said:

I would not take the chance. Have you checked into the expedited passport renewal? A birth certificate and drivers license will do.

I don't have a clue where my birth certificate is. I guess I'll be ordering one.

[WKUTopperFan]

4 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

I agree with @mz-s.  There should be no problem with your US passport.  Having your birth certificate as backup ID would give you peace of mind.  I do check-in for Alaska cruises, and we have never denied a passenger boarding on a closed loop cruise for having a passport that was expiring in less than 6 months of the disembarking date.  I have personally check-in a cruise passenger whose US passport was set to expire the day after their cruise ended.  

Thank you so much for your response... it puts my mind at ease. I'm going to expedite a replacement birth certificate which can be delivered in less than a week ( vs trying to get the passport expedited which could still take 2 months). 

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 minute ago, WKUTopperFan said:

Thank you so much for your response... it puts my mind at ease. I'm going to expedite a replacement birth certificate which can be delivered in less than a week ( vs trying to get the passport expedited which could still take 2 months). 

Occasionally, one of the cruise lines' check-in systems (Royal) will have a pop-up message saying that the passport will be expiring in less than 6 months.  Assuming that the US passport is valid for the entirety of the cruise, the check-in agent can manually tweak the passport's expiration date to make the system happy.  On the flip side, if the passport is no longer valid (truly expired), the check-in system will just reject it and the check-in process will come to a complete stop.

[kelkel2]

Honestly, I don’t think you’re going to get an answer that gives you complete certainty that it will be ok.. 

If it were me, I’d bring my birth certificate just in case the passport isn’t accepted. I personally “think” it will be ok, but I wouldn’t chance a whole cruise on it either. 

[Charles4515]

13 minutes ago, kelkel2 said:

Honestly, I don’t think you’re going to get an answer that gives you complete certainty that it will be ok.. 

If it were me, I’d bring my birth certificate just in case the passport isn’t accepted. I personally “think” it will be ok, but I wouldn’t chance a whole cruise on it either. 

There is complete certainty that they will be ok. For that itinerary all they need is a valid unexpired passport. 

[sparks1093]

Since people will be boarding with ID and birth certificate there is no 6 month requirement. If you need the peace of mind having your birth certificate order it by all means. I think it's overkill but having a birth certificate on hand isn't a bad thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Charles4515]

17 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Since people will be boarding with ID and birth certificate there is no 6 month requirement. If you need the peace of mind having your birth certificate order it by all means. I think it's overkill but having a birth certificate on hand isn't a bad thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't understand why people think that on an itinerary that you can cruise with a birth cetificate that has no expiration,  that a valid passport that is not expired would not be allowed. But all the time people are posting to take a birth certificate if they under 6 months on their passport. That is not logical. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Charles4515

[ontheweb]

30 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I don't understand why people think that on an itinerary that you can cruise with a birth cetificate that has no expiration,  that a valid passport that is not expired would not be allowed. But all the time people are posting to take a birth certificate if they under 6 months on their passport. That is not logical. 

Yes, it is quite simple. If you do not even need a passport, what should it matter if the passport has a expiration date within 6 months. That is as simply put as I can state that.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I don't understand why people think that on an itinerary that you can cruise with a birth cetificate that has no expiration,  that a valid passport that is not expired would not be allowed. But all the time people are posting to take a birth certificate if they under 6 months on their passport. That is not logical. 

 

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, it is quite simple. If you do not even need a passport, what should it matter if the passport has a expiration date within 6 months. That is as simply put as I can state that.

Cruise lines do recommend it (I believe the State Department does also) but there are only a few countries that have this requirement and it's not normally imposed on cruisers who will arrive on a cruise ship and depart soon after. Another thing that is misunderstood is if a country does have this rule it pertains to having six months remaining on your passport at the end of your scheduled trip, so if you are visiting such a country for 2 months you actually need 8 months validity remaining. I would feel comfortable cruising on a closed loop cruise with a passport expiring a week after the end of the trip (which should be more than enough cushion if something should go wrong).

[Eli_6]

4 hours ago, WKUTopperFan said:

This is a sailing to Jamaica (Ocho Rios),  Cozumel (Mexico), and Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands). I guess I can check their requirements. 

THANKS

You don't need a passport for that cruise. Birth certificate and driver's license will suffice.  Allow plenty of time to renew your passport for that Europe cruise. 

[Charles4515]

5 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

You don't need a passport for that cruise. Birth certificate and driver's license will suffice.  Allow plenty of time to renew your passport for that Europe cruise. 

Didn’t you bother to read their post? Their Caribbean cruise is in February.  Their European cruise isn’t until September. Plenty of time for them to renew.

[Eli_6]

5 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Didn’t you bother to read their post? Their Caribbean cruise is in February.  Their European cruise isn’t until September. Plenty of time for them to renew.

Yes, I read their post. And I also recently got passports for a European cruise and in some parts of the country they are VERY behind from Covid shut downs and worker shortages.  When we got ours, it took months even paying the expediated fee.  We had to renew two adults and get new passports for two kids. I started in January and barely got them in time for a late July cruise. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Eli_6

[Charles4515]

20 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Yes, I read their post. And I also recently got passports for a European cruise and in some parts of the country they are VERY behind from Covid shut downs and worker shortages.  When we got ours, it took months even paying the expediated fee.  We had to renew two adults and get new passports for two kids. I started in January and barely got them in time for a late July cruise. 

That was a year ago. That is not recent. It has not been taking eight months to get passports renewed. 

[Homosassa]

I sent our passports in for renewal; mailed them on July 19, 2022.  At the time, the website said  six-nine weeks for processing once received. They were delivered back to me on September 2. 

 

I am from Florida so it is the Texas passport processing office that  did the processing.

[Itried4498]

I have a passport but cruise with my DL and birth certificate.  In Long Beach, it’s faster (short lines) and the passport facial recognition system always flags me anyway.

[navybankerteacher]

11 hours ago, WKUTopperFan said:

I don't have a clue where my birth certificate is. I guess I'll be ordering one.

That is a no-brainer.

[Charles4515]

7 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

I have a passport but cruise with my DL and birth certificate.  In Long Beach, it’s faster (short lines) and the passport facial recognition system always flags me anyway.

Why don’t you show your passport if the facial recognition flags you? Certainly you don’t mean you don’t bring your passport. 

[Itried4498]

32 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Why don’t you show your passport if the facial recognition flags you? Certainly you don’t mean you don’t bring your passport. 

In Long Beach, there’s usually no wait if you’re showing your DL/ birth certificate.  There is a line for passports.  Getting flagged means an additional wait.  Just much faster to use DL/ birth certificate.

[Shmoo here]

8 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

In Long Beach, there’s usually no wait if you’re showing your DL/ birth certificate.  There is a line for passports.  Getting flagged means an additional wait.  Just much faster to use DL/ birth certificate.

Not for everyone.  My birth certificate is in another language (yes, I'm a US citizen).  Using a passport works better.

 

I've experienced no delay in San Diego using my passport. (in comparison with other ports I've boarded in)

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Shmoo here