Got the attached document from Royal Caribbean today and I think it's the best User's Guide to Passport information. The second page is user friendly and makes it very easy for people to find out whether they need a Passport or not.
Thanks Pete I have to say though even though they are relaxed for closed loop cruises, I would still get the passport. If any emergency arises, not just illness, but something happens with the ship, and that HAS happened, and you need to fly back to the US, you will get back but there WILL be a delay. To me is isn't worth the hassle you will have to go through.
Thanks Pete I have to say though even though they are relaxed for closed loop cruises, I would still get the passport. If any emergency arises, not just illness, but something happens with the ship, and that HAS happened, and you need to fly back to the US, you will get back but there WILL be a delay. To me is isn't worth the hassle you will have to go through.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly!!
I highly recommend everyone get a Passport - makes traveling so much easier. And since it's good for 10 years, you don't have to worry about what documents you need.
I guess alot of people just don't want to spend the money to get one. But if they have to fly home from a foreign port and don't have one, the time, money, and hassle they'll spend is going to much more than if they would have just gotten the Passport in the first place.
Besides, just simple cruises now required Passports; like one-way cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, or through the Panama Canal.
I don't see that they are relaxing anything - they're simply stating what documents are required for the different types of travel. The documents required for closed-loop cruises is exactly the same as it has been for many years. Nothing has changed regarding these types of cruises. We have always had to provide an original birth certificate and a government-issued photo ID. Now, you can still use these, or you can use a couple of other items (enhanced driver's license, passport card, etc.). So I don't see it as relaxing any requirements, just restating the requirements so there is no misunderstanding.
I get calls every day from people thinking they have to have a Passport for a standard Eastern or Western Caribbean cruise or a roundtrip out of Baltimore to Bermuda. They don't understand the differences or what is needed.
However, with all that said, I still think everyone should get a Passport and highly recommend it to everyone. It's just not worth the hassle if you need one and don't have it.
We've even gotten a passport for our little one (right before her first plane trip at age 3). Next year we'll be taken her for her second renewal (as well as getting a renewal for mine, which will also expire). It is handy to use as a photo ID in port as well as gives us the security just in case we need to fly from a foreign port.
The exclusion of closed loop cruises from passport requirements has been discussed for quite some time.
I posted a notice I received from Carnival several days ago that said basically the same thing. Carnival also highly recommends everyone travel with a valid passport.
Passports are definitely the way to travel! Even before these new regulations.
Before I had my passport I had to take Birth Certificate, copy of Marriage License and photo ID. Too many documents for me!
Some years ago friends of mine were going on a cruise and the DH waited too long, even after I reminded him several times, to get a copy of his state issued birth certificate. 3 weeks before his cruise he applied to the state and received a letter "we have no record of your birth" He had to take that letter, with baptismal records, report cards from when he was a kid and anything else his mother could come up with, with travel itinerary and documents to the Passport Agency and request an expedited passport. It did get straightened out, I think he said everything cost him around $200! That's a lot of money vs. the $20 he thought he was going to pay for a copy of his birth certificate.
Another friend of mine was born in Washington, DC; adopted and married, so that accounts for 3 types of documents needed for name changing in addition to her photo ID. Every time she travelled to the Caribbean she would be questioned and held trying to come back into the USA. She finally got a passport and problem solved.
I just had my first passport renewal last year and did it through the mail, so you really have to go through the paperwork hassle one time if you make sure to always renew before it expires.
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Passport User's Guide - Very Nice!!
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I have to say though even though they are relaxed for closed loop cruises, I would still get the passport. If any emergency arises, not just illness, but something happens with the ship, and that HAS happened, and you need to fly back to the US, you will get back but there WILL be a delay. To me is isn't worth the hassle you will have to go through.
He had to take that letter, with baptismal records, report cards from when he was a kid and anything else his mother could come up with, with travel itinerary and documents to the Passport Agency and request an expedited passport. It did get straightened out, I think he said everything cost him around $200! That's a lot of money vs. the $20 he thought he was going to pay for a copy of his birth certificate.
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