Passport requirements/6 months.

[SISer]

I am looking at a RC cruise that starts in Italy, and visits various ports in Italy and Croatia. The cruise ends in Rome, I asked two different travel agents in my area about passport requirements because my passport will 4 months after I plan on travelling. One travel agent says it's okay, the other told me RC would deny me boarding.

 

What experience have users on this forum had?

 

I am not prepared to have a new passport issued, if this is mandatory, I will have to postpone the cruise.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[PhoenixCruiser]

You need to do some research, start with this website:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

 

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[Sue L]

Check with the Italian embassy, they are the ones best equipped to answer your question. This is what our gov site says

NTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A valid passport is required. Italian authorities may deny entry to travelers who attempt to enter without a valid passport. A visa is not required for tourist stays up to three months. However, for all other purposes, such as work, study, etc., a visa is required and must be obtained from the Italian Embassy or Consulates before entering Italy. For further information concerning visas and entry requirements for Italy, travelers may contact the Embassy of Italy at 3000 Whitehaven St NW, Washington, DC 20008, via telephone at (202) 612-4400 or via the Internet: http://www.ambwashingtondc.esteri.it/ambasciata_washington, or Italian Consulates General in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, or San Francisco, accessible through the above Internet site.

 

Americans staying or traveling within Italy for less than three (3) months are considered non-residents. This includes persons on vacation, those taking professional trips, students registered at an authorized school, or persons performing research or independent study.

 

As of May 28, 2007, under Italian law (http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/07068l.htm), all non-residents are required to complete a dichiarazione di presenza (declaration of presence). Tourists arriving from a non-Schengen-country (e.g. the United States) should obtain a stamp in their passport at the airport on the day of arrival. This stamp is considered the equivalent of the declaration of presence. Tourists arriving from a Schengen-country (e.g. France) must request the declaration of presence form from a local police office (commissariato di zona), police headquarters (questura) or their place of stay (e.g hotel, hostel, campgrounds) and submit the form to the police or to their place of stay within eight business days of arrival. It is important that applicants keep a copy of the receipt issued by the Italian authorities. Failure to complete a declaration of presence is punishable by expulsion from Italy. Additional information may be obtained (in Italian only) via Internet from the following websites: http://www.portaleimmigrazione.it and http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/ps/immigrazione/soggiorno.htm.

 

Americans staying in Italy for more than three (3) months are considered residents and must obtain a permesso di soggiorno ( permit of stay ). This includes Americans who will work or transact business and persons who want to simply live in Italy. An application "kit" for the permesso di soggiorno may be requested from one of 14,000 national post offices ( Poste Italiane ). The kit must then be returned to one of 5,332 designated Post Office acceptance locations. It is important that applicants keep a copy of the receipt issued by the Post Office. Additional information may be obtained from an Italian immigration website via Internet at: http://www.portaleimmigrazione.it/. Within 20 days of receiving the permit to stay in Italy, Americans must go to the local Vital Statistics Bureau ( Anagrafe of the Comune) to apply for residency. It generally takes one to two months to receive the certificate of residence ( Certificato di Residenza ).

 

See Entry and Exit Requirements for more information pertaining to dual nationality and the prevention of international child abduction. Please refer to our Customs Information to learn more about customs regulations.

[SISer]

Thanks for the feedback, I have already checked with the Italian Consulate, I am told that my passport must be valid for 3 months after I leave Italy.

 

My concern is with the cruise ship company.

 

Thanks.

[Sue L]

Thanks for the feedback, I have already checked with the Italian Consulate, I am told that my passport must be valid for 3 months after I leave Italy.

 

My concern is with the cruise ship company.

 

Thanks.

 

Have you called Crown and Anchor I find they are the most knowledgeable.

[willysgrandma]

Call RCCL and ask them.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Call RCCL and ask them.

 

Seriously :p They can call three times and get three different answers. :mad:

 

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[willysgrandma]

Seriously :p They can call three times and get three different answers. :mad:

 

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Call C & A. You will get the best answers directly from them and they are usually correct, but this may help:

 

From the RCCL website:

 

Passport A valid passport is required for travel.

For your protection, we recommend that your passport expiration date not occur within six(6) months of the sailing termination date.

U.S. citizens carrying an Official (maroon cover) passport must also be in possession of a valid Diplomatic or personal (blue or green cover) passport to allow ship embarkation.

 

 

They recommend, not require. In fact, I think I myself spoke to C & A on behalf of a client and they also did tell me that they request 6 months but don't require it.

 

Call C & A and confirm that.

[OPSoccermom]

We are cruising on June 14 on IOS and have just dealt with the same thing. Although RCCL makes that statement, it is just a recommendation for most countries. Our childrens passports expire in November, but we couldn't renew them earlier this year due to 2 other trips abroad, including one in late March - early April, that made it impossible to send their passports away for renewal. Infact, when we went in to the passport office in April to do the renewal, the lady at the passport office told us that she wouldn't recommend sending the passports off with our June trip pending.

 

We called the State department, and they told us that, based on the countires we were visiting (UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Monaco), that we should wait until we got home to renew instead of taking a chance with a delay in getting the passports.

 

We have already done our online checkin for our cruise, and entered the passport expiration dates. The RCCL online checkin system allowed our set sail passes to print.

 

I understand why RCCL doesn't want to board pax with passports about to expire, but for the countries we will be visiting, esp. our embarkation country (England) we feel comfortable with what we were told by the State Department.

[TRacanoUK]

I am looking at a RC cruise that starts in Italy, and visits various ports in Italy and Croatia. The cruise ends in Rome, I asked two different travel agents in my area about passport requirements because my passport will 4 months after I plan on travelling. One travel agent says it's okay, the other told me RC would deny me boarding.

 

What experience have users on this forum had?

 

I am not prepared to have a new passport issued, if this is mandatory, I will have to postpone the cruise.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Forget the cruise for a second . . . where do you live,what is your citizenship? If your passport does not have at least 6 months validity from the date you enter the EU, you stand a risk that they will deny you entry to the country. So, you might not even get to the cruise. Now that's not a definite, but its generally their right to deny you entry. Italy seems to apply it, from your communications with the embassy as 3 months from your planned exit from Italy, but do you really want to take that chance?

 

I would highly suggest getting your passport renewed--what's the trouble? You can hire a courrier to do it in a day or two for a $100 or so.

[cyukuk]

AND if you do renew you do NOT :) lose the unexpired portion, in your case 4 months? It is simply added on to the new passport, I would not contemplate travelling in your circumstances, there are too many "jobsworth" out there !

 

Luv

Cy

x

[TravelerThom]

AND if you do renew you do NOT :) lose the unexpired portion, in your case 4 months? It is simply added on to the new passport, I would not contemplate travelling in your circumstances, there are too many "jobsworth" out there !

 

Luv

Cy

x

Not losing unexpired portion may be true for you in the UK, but you do lose the unexpired portion in the US as new US passports are good for ten years [or is that ten years minus six months:rolleyes:] from date of issue.

[willysgrandma]

Not losing unexpired portion may be true for you in the UK, but you do lose the unexpired portion in the US as new US passports are good for ten years [or is that ten years minus six months:rolleyes:] from date of issue.

 

 

Correct. I lost four months when I renewed my passport early when the waits were long last year.

[jersey]

Just returned from 2 weeks in Spain -

 

To enter any European Union country you passport must have at least 6 months remaining before it expires.

[unberwoob]

Every tour company I have used required 6 months remaining on my passport.

[cyukuk]

It might help if we knew where the OP was from ? My input was of course relevant to the UK , your US system seems a bit harsh ? paying for 10 years and only getting 9 and a half !! Time for a change of President methinks ;)

 

Luv

Cy

[SISer]

Thanks for the feedback. I am Canadian. i wish Canadian passports were valid for ten years, unfortunately, they are only valid for five years, or four and a half depending on how you look at things.