Panama Canal cruise & passport requirements?

[1Buckeyegirl]

Departing LA, ending in Miami would driver’s license & birth certificate work?

someone in party does NOT have passport, don’t want any surprises at embarkation.

thanks all

[Sitting here]

Departing from LA and arriving in Miami makes that an open-loop cruise. The exception to not need a passport is only for closed-loop cruises (departing and arriving from the same location). A passport will be required for your cruise.

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-74?language=en_US

[njhorseman]

32 minutes ago, 1Buckeyegirl said:

Departing LA, ending in Miami would driver’s license & birth certificate work?

someone in party does NOT have passport, don’t want any surprises at embarkation.

thanks all

A passport is required:

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/cruise-travel-documents

"A valid passport is required on all sailings that begin in one US port and end in another US port."

 

And specifically for Panama Canal cruises:

"Panama Canal or Cruises Visiting Panamanian or Colombian Ports

Valid passports are required to board the ship for all Panama Canal sailings. No passport cards, birth certificates or other form of proof of US citizenship will be accepted. Failure to present a valid passport at check-in will result in denial of boarding. "

 

[fredflint]

What they said, if you are going to Cruise you want/need to have a passport you never know what will happen or change.

[brad0576]

Also make sure your passport expires greater than 6 months from the disembarkation date - I had to get an emergency renewal as mine was 2 days short

[Panhandle Couple]

4 hours ago, njhorseman said:

A passport is required:

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/cruise-travel-documents

"A valid passport is required on all sailings that begin in one US port and end in another US port."

 

And specifically for Panama Canal cruises:

"Panama Canal or Cruises Visiting Panamanian or Colombian Ports

Valid passports are required to board the ship for all Panama Canal sailings. No passport cards, birth certificates or other form of proof of US citizenship will be accepted. Failure to present a valid passport at check-in will result in denial of boarding. "

 

NCL PC cruises stop in Panama and Columbia, two known drug smuggling countries.  Customs will not do the simple facial recognition process when disembarking.  A full Q+A with review of passport will be done.  These cruises have a larger amount of non-US citizens on them, and the lines for customs will be very long and time consuming. 

Even if you somehow got on the cruise, getting off would be very difficult. 

[njhorseman]

6 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

NCL PC cruises stop in Panama and Columbia, two known drug smuggling countries.  Customs will not do the simple facial recognition process when disembarking.  A full Q+A with review of passport will be done.  These cruises have a larger amount of non-US citizens on them, and the lines for customs will be very long and time consuming. 

Even if you somehow got on the cruise, getting off would be very difficult. 

I've done six Panama Canal cruises, all before the facial recognition process was put into place and never was subject to "a full Q+A", just the same quick look at my passport that was done on every other cruise. 

 

[pete_coach]

57 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

I've done six Panama Canal cruises, all before the facial recognition process was put into place and never was subject to "a full Q+A", just the same quick look at my passport that was done on every other cruise. 

 

We have been to Panama and Cartegena twice (on a cruise). Most recently last month.

A passport is needed for those ports. Drivers licences and Nexus are not accepted. We have seen people not allowed int country without passport.

 

As an aside, were in Panama City last month and the new terminal in Panama city is new and super huge. Looks like they are trying to make it a destination embarkation and disembarkation terminal. It is also a very long way from the city. There is nothing within a mile or more of the terminal and it is a gravel road. It is also not very handicap friendly.

[BirdTravels]

13 hours ago, 1Buckeyegirl said:

Departing LA, ending in Miami would driver’s license & birth certificate work?

someone in party does NOT have passport, don’t want any surprises at embarkation.

thanks all

It will be a surprise since “someone” will be denied boarding. A “real” passport is required for your cruise. And passport processing times are long right now. 

[pete_coach]

12 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

It will be a surprise since “someone” will be denied boarding. A “real” passport is required for your cruise. And passport processing times are long right now. 

No one is denied boarding at embarkation, it is a matter of being allowed into Panama and Columbia.

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

No one is denied boarding at embarkation, it is a matter of being allowed into Panama and Columbia.

This is incorrect information, you would be denied boarding in this circumstance 

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

No one is denied boarding at embarkation...

 

please see post #3.

[pete_coach]

37 minutes ago, zqvol said:

This is incorrect information, you would be denied boarding in this circumstance 

 

27 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

please see post #3.

I agreed at first but when we went thorough the boarding process in LA recently, there were people that did not have passports.

The people in front of us used Nexus.

An anomaly or mistake? I guess so.

Edited February 5 by pete_coach

[Panhandle Couple]

3 hours ago, njhorseman said:

I've done six Panama Canal cruises, all before the facial recognition process was put into place and never was subject to "a full Q+A", just the same quick look at my passport that was done on every other cruise. 

 

The large percentage of passengers w/o US passports makes customs use their older Q+A system.  Some people were at the stations up to 8 minutes.  LA cruise terminal does not have separate lines for US only and foreign only passports.  Everyone waits in the same line. (and only 6 agents for up to 4,000 people).  As a US holder, we were moved quickly, (after an 80 minute wait) only because the head agent realized that the line had grown too long. 

[Sailing12Away]

We did the PC trip last year, and it was a very long and slow process at disembarkation in Miami. We've got TSA and global entry and it didn't help at all, even with them only asking us 2 questions the overall process was quite slow for all guests.

 

As for passport renewals and global entry renewals - the website is saying excessive waits, but thankfully not what we experienced. I just renewed my passport in May, had the new one back to me in ~3 weeks. Our TSA/Global Entry expires in July - it was saying wait times are 6-12 months but as long as we submitted the renewal application our current cards would be extended if they expired before it was processed. 48hrs later it was already approved, and within a week I had the new entry cards in hand.

 

Now, having said that - if someone's trip is happening within the next month or so, suck it up and pay the expedited processing fee and hope for the best. But thankfully it's going better than what they're saying the waits will be.

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

The large percentage of passengers w/o US passports makes customs use their older Q+A system.  Some people were at the stations up to 8 minutes.  LA cruise terminal does not have separate lines for US only and foreign only passports.  Everyone waits in the same line. (and only 6 agents for up to 4,000 people).  As a US holder, we were moved quickly, (after an 80 minute wait) only because the head agent realized that the line had grown too long. 

I agree that Los Angeles can be problematic, but it's because it doesn't (as you noted) have separate lines for US and non-US passport holders, not because US passport holders are subject to extensive screening. It's the screening of the non-US passport holders that causes the delays.

 

When disembarking in New York, which has separate lines, I've not experienced any unusual delays or additional screening. .

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, pete_coach said:

 

I agreed at first but when we went thorough the boarding process in LA recently, there were people that did not have passports.

The people in front of us used Nexus.

An anomaly or mistake? I guess so.

I'm going to take a stab at this.

A US citizen holding a NEXUS card must have a valid passport ,so if they provided their ;passport information when completing the pre cruise online registration, the NEXUS card would link to same passport number and information as was provided in the on line registration .

[TravelFiend]

We just did a Panama Canal trip in November, and it stated in our pre-cruise documents that passports were absolutely required for the stops in Colombia and Panama. Plus I think with this not being a closed-loop cruise, you need one anyway? 🤷‍♀️

[dbrown84]

like others have said, they will definitely need a passport.  For two reasons..... first, this is not a closed loop cruise.  so no matter where it was stopping, a passport would be required.  Second, you're doing panama.  A passport is required whether or not the cruise is closed loop.

[Bruce Knight]

We just did the Bliss from LA to Miami and the Norweigan folks at check in at LA took our passports and scanned them, in addition in Colombia and Panama our excursion tickets said to bring our passports with us but on this cruise specifically no one ever asked to see them after check in to get on the ship.  On all excursions we just waved our sail and sign key card and no one on shore said a word about seeing passports, we thought that was strange but we were prepared either way.

[dbrown84]

4 hours ago, pete_coach said:

 

I agreed at first but when we went thorough the boarding process in LA recently, there were people that did not have passports.

The people in front of us used Nexus.

An anomaly or mistake? I guess so.

was this a open loop cruise?  this was a big mistake if they let someone on with no passport on an open loop cruise

[jimsig]

As an FYI the current wait time for a Passport on average is very quick.  My sister got her kids passports for the first time and it took 21 days from the day they were sent until they received them.  

 

I just renewed mine and got it back today, only 18 days after I sent in the renewal.  

 

Others on social media have been reporting just as quick processing times.

 

Last summer/fall it was taking about 8 to 12 weeks with most getting theirs on the higher end.  But they have worked through the backlog.  

[Jordan61]

My son mailed in his renewal application in mid-January, and his new passport arrived on Friday.

[Sailing12Away]

14 hours ago, jimsig said:

As an FYI the current wait time for a Passport on average is very quick.  My sister got her kids passports for the first time and it took 21 days from the day they were sent until they received them.  

 

I just renewed mine and got it back today, only 18 days after I sent in the renewal.  

 

Others on social media have been reporting just as quick processing times.

 

Last summer/fall it was taking about 8 to 12 weeks with most getting theirs on the higher end.  But they have worked through the backlog.  

Yup, the advertised wait times are not really accurate, but I guess they're taking the approach of the airlines and overestimating the wait so you're pleasantly surprised when it comes earlier. Plus maybe a sneak trick to sucker folks into paying for the expedited service when it's really not needed.

[cruiser2015]

Just off the Bliss last week through the Panama Canal.

We were told to take passports with us on Panama shore excursions.

No one asked for them at all.

 

However, there were officials at the terminal, not doing anything in particular, that might decide to check the docs at times. Anyway, in case of some sort of emergency while ashore could be another reason to have it with you.

This was not a requirement at all in Colombia.