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passport or cards for the littles


retiredtoday
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Do you really think you could convince a State Department staffer on an island hundreds of miles away to somehow get you a passport, or substitute documentation, rushed to you on the strength of a phone call?

 

Granted, the odds against your needed emergency help from the State Department are very high -- but if a real problem comes up, only an uninformed person will say - "just contact the embassy or consulate".

 

On the strength of a phone call from the citizen, no, but then there would be calls from or to the hospital and the cruise line (and possibly the local authorities) to verify the information.

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On the strength of a phone call from the citizen, no, but then there would be calls from or to the hospital and the cruise line (and possibly the local authorities) to verify the information.

 

Yes, Hopefully this. :)

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Of course- ULTIMATELY, you could obviously get home -- but it could be a number of days.

 

Depending upon the circumstances yes, it could. I personally figured that it would take up to 3 days to get home (which is another reason why I use travel insurance) and with the low risk involved of anything happening I was comfortable with that.

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Since the regulations gives the State Department the authority to waive the passport requirements for an emergency or for humanitarian reasons I would be very surprised if an exception wasn't made.

 

Except that State Department is not who lets you into the country or not.

 

And, in some countries, you will not be able to get the plane to fly out, and those people are the local government, nothing State Department can do.

 

Oh, and if you are relying on the State Department, I hope you are at a location where there is an Embassy or Consulate. Otherwise, you will have travel to get to one of them. Sometimes to a different country. Oops, no passport, can't get there.

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Yes, and some might want not to invest because the risk is low enough they are comfortable with it. Where do you find the State Department if you lose your passport while on the cruise? I would be very surprised if every port didn't have procedures in place for either eventuality given the number of tourists visiting each port.

 

Typical Carib cruise destinations that have an Embassy or Consulate are:

 

Bermuda

Bahamas

Cuba

Barbados

Grenada

Jamaica

Haiti

Dominican Republic

Curacao

Mexico

and all the northern coast of South America and all of Central America

 

All others will require travel to the appropriate Embassy for where you are. And many of the Central and South American ones may require travel within the county to get to the location of the Embassy or Consulate.

 

All issues that you do NOT want to be dealing with in an emergency.

 

Also, there are other reasons to not be on the ship (missed ship) and getting to the next port may not be possible without a passport.

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Except that State Department is not who lets you into the country or not.

 

And, in some countries, you will not be able to get the plane to fly out, and those people are the local government, nothing State Department can do.

 

Oh, and if you are relying on the State Department, I hope you are at a location where there is an Embassy or Consulate. Otherwise, you will have travel to get to one of them. Sometimes to a different country. Oops, no passport, can't get there.

 

DHS and the State Department co-authored the regulations and DHS (CBP) is the one that lets you into the country. As long as you have a document that allows you entry into the US they airlines would have no reason to deny you boarding. As we aren't reading any stories of US citizens being stuck on an island without an Embassy I don't think it's as much of a concern as many make it out to be. Millions of people travel on closed loop cruises without passports without any issue at all and the few instances that I've read about the situation was handled in a timely manner.

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DHS and the State Department co-authored the regulations and DHS (CBP) is the one that lets you into the country. As long as you have a document that allows you entry into the US they airlines would have no reason to deny you boarding. As we aren't reading any stories of US citizens being stuck on an island without an Embassy I don't think it's as much of a concern as many make it out to be. Millions of people travel on closed loop cruises without passports without any issue at all and the few instances that I've read about the situation was handled in a timely manner.

 

this is what I was thinking too. Seems like a lot of money to spend for a 5 year booklet when we probably won't be able to afford to do this again until after college is over!!

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No. What I expect is that with the State Department's assistance (if necessary) one could get an airline to permit boarding of the minor child with just a BC or passport card, accompanied by a passport carrying adult. Entry into the US is up to the CBP once landed.

 

 

 

No one with the airline will permit travel in and out of the country without a valid passport in their own name. A passport booklet is definitely the way to go....that card is a total waste of money.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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No one with the airline will permit travel in and out of the country without a valid passport in their own name. A passport booklet is definitely the way to go....that card is a total waste of money.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

If you do a lot of land border crossings between U S and Canada or Mexico, and your pocket is too small to carry a passport, I suppose the card is convenient. But because it has such limited utility, it does seem like a waste when the passport gives so much more utility for so little extra money, and no extra effort.

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No one with the airline will permit travel in and out of the country without a valid passport in their own name. A passport booklet is definitely the way to go....that card is a total waste of money.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

They will if the state dept grants said person an exemption.

 

Bill

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Ok. Two experiences I've been told by others that are relevant here. A family member was traveling in Paris when one of her travel mates passports was stolen. Don't know how much it cost but they went to the us embassy and it was promptly replaced so they could continue their trip.

 

A poster on here described missing the ship while in Europe. They left their passport on the ship. They were able to get a letter that allowed them to fly to the next port without a passport.

 

Now in both scenarios the person had been issued a passport and simply didn't have it with them. So theoretically the number could be looked up and citizenship verified. So don't know how much that helped.

 

 

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If you do not carry your passport, or in a separate location when you do, a color copy of your passport page will be VERY helpful in getting a replacement or to prove citizenship.

 

And realize, that the Embassy or Consulate may not be in the city where you are, there is typically a US Embassy in the countries capitol city. Larger countries may have one or more Consulates that can do some services. So you will need to travel to that location, and go in. And they have certain hours for American Citizen Services, and they are not 24 hour a day service operations.

 

If you travel in the Caribbean, the Embassy may not even be in that country, requiring international travel to even get to the closest US Embassy.

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If you do not carry your passport, or in a separate location when you do, a color copy of your passport page will be VERY helpful in getting a replacement or to prove citizenship.....

 

A photocopy of the information page of a passport is useful in that it contains information that is helpful in applying for a replacement and in filing a police report. It is utterly useless as a piece of id and proves nothing when it comes to citizenship. An official would be unable to determine if the photocopy is of a genuine document or a fake.

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A photocopy of the information page of a passport is useful in that it contains information that is helpful in applying for a replacement and in filing a police report. It is utterly useless as a piece of id and proves nothing when it comes to citizenship. An official would be unable to determine if the photocopy is of a genuine document or a fake.

 

Prove is the wrong word that I used. It HELPS, as it gives info that allows them to look things up faster.

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Prove is the wrong word that I used. It HELPS, as it gives info that allows them to look things up faster.

 

What they really need is your passport number, which I've noted in several places if needed (but they can find you quite quickly without it since someone's full name, date of birth and place of birth are unique).

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