passports???

[venusjems]

Asking about getting a passport is asking to be ridiculed on these boards...

I for one am going on a cruise with my family (4 kids (14,12,10, 1), husband, mother) in September, as of now we do not need a passport.. I "plan" on getting at least me one and the baby one between now and then, if i can swing it.

 

You dont NEED one (if on a closed loop cruise now or in the future as of now), yes if you get in an emergency and have to be flown home, you will possibly have to go through some red tape..I doubt you will be dying on a helicopter floating above miami for hours on end before they let you land... I dont recall there ever really being an issue or people getting flamed before this whole western travel initiative...

 

I believe it is all up to the individual person, I agree it is a financial hardship when you dont plan on traveling anywhere else, other than (closed looped) cruises... The cost to get all of us a passport is the same as 3 more people coming on the cruise!

 

I dont understand why people get all bent out of shape over the whole passport debate.. All people want to know is if the passport is necessary not what your opinion is on the matter.

[yst347]

I don't understand why so many posters feel the need to browbeat others on this issue. I have a passport and have had a valid one for more than forty years. For most international travel a passport is mandatory, but not most cruise itineraries sailed by people who frequent this board.

 

No passport is or will be required for closed loop cruises, not now nor anytime in the future. While this could change, to my knowledge no discussion in the Obama administration or Congress has entertained such notice. The cruise lines do not want the change and the ports they call on are happy with the status quo.

 

This board will be have plenty of threads dealing with such a rule change if/when our government considers it. In the mean time we will continue to have people asking what the passport requirements are. The accurate answer to that question is that they are not required for closed loop cruises, the vast majority of Carnival sailings. They are required for the small number of sailings that do not fit the closed loop category.

 

I have no issue with those who point out the benefits of having a passport but the editorializing and plain ignorance that fills these threads is tiresome. I can't wait for June to come so that most of this issue will die of old age. :)

[Slimpickins]

I don't understand why so many posters feel the need to browbeat others on this issue. I have a passport and have had a valid one for more than forty years. For most international travel a passport is mandatory, but not most cruise itineraries sailed by people who frequent this board.

 

No passport is or will be required for closed loop cruises, not now nor anytime in the future. While this could change, to my knowledge no discussion in the Obama administration or Congress has entertained such notice. The cruise lines do not want the change and the ports they call on are happy with the status quo.

 

This board will be have plenty of threads dealing with such a rule change if/when our government considers it. In the mean time we will continue to have people asking what the passport requirements are. The accurate answer to that question is that they are not required for closed loop cruises, the vast majority of Carnival sailings. They are required for the small number of sailings that do not fit the closed loop category.

 

I have no issue with those who point out the benefits of having a passport but the editorializing and plain ignorance that fills these threads is tiresome. I can't wait for June to come so that most of this issue will die of old age. :)

 

Well said. You are the perfect spokesman on CC for the PP issue. Well, and zqvol(?). State the answer to the OP's question without blasting them for asking. Well played, Well played:D.

[shippmates]

If you can afford to get your passports, I sure would. We had been flying for several years using what we thought was a birth certificate and driver license only to find out when we were flying to Jamaica that the birh certificate was not a certificate that was issued by the state and we could not fly. Needless to say we lost out on our vacation and we now have passports. We may not need them but it sure is peace of mind.

[bobsfamily]

I don't understand why so many posters feel the need to browbeat others on this issue. I have a passport and have had a valid one for more than forty years. For most international travel a passport is mandatory, but not most cruise itineraries sailed by people who frequent this board.

 

No passport is or will be required for closed loop cruises, not now nor anytime in the future. While this could change, to my knowledge no discussion in the Obama administration or Congress has entertained such notice. The cruise lines do not want the change and the ports they call on are happy with the status quo.

 

This board will be have plenty of threads dealing with such a rule change if/when our government considers it. In the mean time we will continue to have people asking what the passport requirements are. The accurate answer to that question is that they are not required for closed loop cruises, the vast majority of Carnival sailings. They are required for the small number of sailings that do not fit the closed loop category.

 

I have no issue with those who point out the benefits of having a passport but the editorializing and plain ignorance that fills these threads is tiresome. I can't wait for June to come so that most of this issue will die of old age. :)

Nice opinion... NOT mine, but nice anyway. A US citizen should get one if for nothing else to prove that he/she is just that.