TPKeller

Last report from VDOT (6:12 PM), they have restricted "certain types of vehicles" but the bridge/tunnel is still open. You can go to this page and zoom in on the map to get the latest status. The Route 50 bay bridge is in Maryland, so not covered by this page: https://www.511virginia.org/ Theron

This is that 1% where the weather affected the port of departure, not "just" the itinerary. There's nothing you can do about that. There was a case a few years ago when a storm hit Florida on a weekend. Obviously all the turnarounds were delayed as no ships could come into port. That first day back, the ports were all way overloaded! Theron

That matches what the ship trackers are saying! Theron

I don't think this is correct. Obviously every decision is based on the facts in play at that particular time, and the decision to cancel tomorrow's cruise don't involve the bay. 1. Vision of the Seas is currently south of the storm due to the last cruise being rerouted from CA/NE because of Hurricane Lee. In order to return to Baltimore on time, she would have to sail right through the heart of the storm, actually arriving in Baltimore ahead of the storm to be "on time." 1.b. Then the next sailing would had to have sailed back out again, also right through the heart of the storm again as it moved north. 2. That next sailing was to be a 5 night to Bermuda. Geography precludes any significant deviation in itinerary, i.e. any late departure means the ship cannot make it to Bermuda and then back home on time for the next cruise, and there are no other foreign ports in range available to visit "instead". The fact that a Carnival ship is scheduled for the Baltimore berth on Sunday adds to this problem, reducing by an additional day the time available until the next scheduled cruise. Point #1 is really the only one you need. Even if Vision was sailing out of Norfolk (meaning no bay to transit from there) there is simply no way they would have had the ship plow through the heart of a border-line tropical storm to keep the required schedule (as described in point #2) OR conducted a turnaround literally in the heart of the storm, which according to the latest track forecast, will be centered over southeast Virginia by 8 PM Saturday night. This one was just unlucky. Sometimes that is what you get when you cruise the Atlantic in the fall. The good news is that according to the company web page, the cancelled folks are getting a full refund plus a 50% off future cruise voucher. That's really not a bad deal. Theron

How are the waves today? The ship trackers show you just south of the storm. Theron

"You don't name your friends or they stop doing you favors." - from the movie, Law Abiding Citizen. 😄 Theron

Wow, you would think he'd be happy... you're doing all the work for them! Crazy people! Theron

Just FYI, there is a generic thread on the Ask A Cruise Question forum about luggage trackers. I've posted a summary there of all the current options available, with a very brief description of each. Theron

Just FYI, there is a generic thread on the Ask A Cruise Question forum about luggage trackers. I've posted a summary there of all the current options available, with a very brief description of each. Theron

One very slight clarification: AirTags do not have GPS receivers built in. They rely entirely on the location data contained within the iPhone (from that phone's GPS) that detects the AirTag nearby, using Bluetooth. It's a small distinction, but helps to better understand how the magic works. Theron

This is really amazing. You submitted yours about 3 weeks after I submitted mine. I got the e-mail that it was being reviewed in 14 days, and shipped 2 days later, for a total of 16. Then just 3 weeks later, it took yours, as you said, 11.5 weeks! Crazy! I wonder if they allowed a lot more on-line submissions for your batch? Theron

Very glad to help. Sounds like your choice to use the expedited service may be wise. The length of time seems to just be all over the place. I suppose there must be a reason or reasons why, but the organization is so large and inconsistently disjointed, it's probably impossible to either figure out, or more importantly, rely on what we might think we know, to accurately predict the time for any one person. Good luck! Theron

Ha! Reminds me of this famous quote: "The Difficult We Do Immediately. The Impossible Takes a Little Longer!" Glad it was resolved! Theron

I was reviewing this thread today... was wondering if they fixed your problem? How long did it take? Crazy!! Theron

One last follow-up, my ID card came in the US Mail on Monday, December 12th, or 10 days after the final approval. Unfortunately, the USPS put it in the wrong mailbox! I only knew it was "missing" thanks to the USPS Informed Delivery service, which I highly recommend if it is available in your area. My next door neighbor finally checked his mail box a few days later (he doesn't always check his mailbox every day!) and completed the delivery, much to my relief! Theron

I guess that depends on how long the regular lines were backed up! 🙂 Theron

Seeing a few questions about Global Entry over the past several months, I thought I'd add the story about my own application. A bit of a disclaimer, I have been a "known" person to the US Government for my entire adult life. That fact may very well have been a contributing factor to parts of my time line, but not all of it. I filled out and submitted the on-line application mid-afternoon on Friday, November 25th. Much to my surprise, about 30 hours later, late Saturday night, November 26th, I got an e-mail informing me that my application status had changed, and sure enough, I was "conditionally approved," and was advised to start looking for an appointment for the interview. During the interview, they examine your proof of citizenship (usually a passport) and residence (usually a driver's license) and collect your photograph and fingerprints. A couple days later (December 1st) they did also send an e-mail saying that in-person interviews were hard to find, so I might want to consider the "Enrollment On Arrival (EOA)" program, which allows you to complete the final enrollment process upon your first international arrival into the US. But that is only available at certain airports. The list of airports they provide is pretty long, 62, but still, you're sort of in limbo until you get that final interview. [Side note: It is uncertain to me whether you are allowed to use PreCheck upon your conditional approval for Global Entry, or whether that will not work until after your interview and your enrollment is complete. That would be one more reason not to wait until your first international arrival. Perhaps someone might know the answer to that question: Can you use PreCheck for domestic flights after you have received your conditional approval for Global Entry, but before your final interview?] They aren't kidding. In-person interviews can be really hard to find. Their web page allows you to select States you want to look in. Many of the interview sites just outright say nothing is available. I saw some sites with the first interview available being mid to late 2023! There is a twitter account that appears to somehow automatically check for newly available open appointments. I did watch this for a while, and it did at least make me feel better than you can get a closer appointment if you are willing to make the effort to find one. There are ways to search for keywords within a specific Twitter feed, which can help you narrow your search down to a particular state or city. I'm not sure how quickly after a Tweet announces an open slot they get scooped up, but I wouldn't want to wait too long if you see one. https://twitter.com/GlobalEntryNow I believe there may also be a paid service that will notify you based on your search criteria, but I did not use that. In my case, I got real lucky! I was browsing the appointment site, and clicked on a city about 60 miles away. Lo and behold (it is Christmas time, after all) there was an appointment available the following Friday, December 2nd, just after lunch! Never have I clicked on something so fast in my life! So my appointment was set. I arrived exactly on time, the person in front of me was just finishing up, so I walked up to the kiosk (very similar set up to a standard customs entry station) and the guy looked at my passport and driver's license, snapped my picture, and took my prints on the electronic print reader. He asked me about the foreign travel I had indicated on my initial application. Then he handed me a little booklet about the program, and I was DONE! In and out in EIGHT minutes. Before I had arrived back home from the trip, I had received an e-mail informing me that my application status had changed again, which was for the final approval! The guy said I could use my PreCheck number right away, and the Global Entry itself was tied to my passport number. They will be mailing a Global Entry ID card within 10 days, but you really don't need it for anything. So my entire process from application to final approval was 7 days. Unbelievable. I think I probably used a good portion of my annual dose of "good luck" in this process. As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm pretty sure my "known status" to the government probably speeded up my conditional approval. But finding the interview appointment was just diligence and luck, which can happen to anyone. I hope this has been helpful! Theron

These are probably the folks who are completing their GE application upon their first international arrival. The slots for interviews to complete the application are so scarce, they now allow you do that on your first "use" of the program, as you arrive into the US. I don't think they photograph and fingerprint every GE user. Theron

I just started a new thread in "Ask a Cruise Question" about a new luggage tracking product that just hit the market. Supposed to be compatible with Apple, and also provide an Android app with "limited" functionality. Thought those on this thread might be interested in following. Theron

Looks like there's a new addition to the luggage tracker market. Eufy Security adds an Apple-compatible SmartTrack fob. The vendor data claims they provide both an Apple and an Android app, but functionality with the Android app is limited. Hoping an early adapter can give us a hands-on review! As an Android user, I am particularly interested in how useful this would be without an iPhone. Theron Vendor site: https://us.eufy.com/products/t87b0011 One of many early reviews. Can't tell if they have actually used the product or are just regurgitating the specs from the vendor: https://www.androidpolice.com/eufy-tracker-airtag-android/

Yes, I believe that would work. They would be e-mailing you the file from the camera. I think the State Department just doesn't want people trying to scan a tiny 2x2" photo that you would get from AAA or a drug store print shop. The directions include the minimum pixel size, so you'd just have to ensure that was correct. See capriccio's post just above here! Theron

Regarding "selfies..." That is correct, you don't want to do a traditional selfie, because your arms would be in the frame, and you can't get the right crop dimensions. I did take my own photo with my smartphone, I happen to have a smartphone tripod mount, which is balanced enough to simply place upright on a table. I sat on a small stool that put my head at the same height as the camera, so it was a straight-on, level composition. In any case, if you can prop your phone fully upright and level with your head, the self-timer function should work well enough if you don't have a helper handy. Theron

Ah, yes, I should have mentioned that! When you submit your application they are quite emphatic in telling you that your current passport is immediately cancelled and that you may not use it for international travel. But you are correct, you keep possession of it the whole time! And yes on the picture, I would recommend taking the picture ahead of time and studying their passport photograph guidelines to ensure you have it right. Once you have the JPG file, you're fine, you just "upload" it when you are in the submission process. There is even an automatic cropping feature, which seemed to work fine. You have to use a camera from which you can extract the original JPG. They don't want any scans of prints, so you shouldn't go to a passport photo service and get the prints then try to scan them. You might get away with it if you have a great scanner and you know what you're doing, but they specifically say that's not acceptable. In my experience, the biggest challenge with the passport photo is shadows. They don't want any shadows in the background, OR on the face. So you really need two light sources, one to light up the background and one to kill any shadows on your face. But a face light can cast shadows on the background, and an overhead light for the background can cause shadows on the face, so it can be tricky! Theron

I read about the new on-line passport renewal Pilot Program and thought it might be worth a try. You fill out all the forms on-line, and you must upload a current JPG photograph of yourself that meets all the same requirements as a printed photograph. (Passport photography can be a challenge, and they will reject an application if the photo does not meet the requirements, so make sure you take some time to get that part right!) In mid-September, the State Department web page said they had reached their quota of on-line applications for the month, and to try back in October. I was able to get in during the October window. On October 26th, they once again closed the portal for online renewals, indicating they would resume again "later this year." The first step is to create an account on the MyTravelGov website. They seem to use the date of your account creation to determine eligibility to participate in the test program, so if you are thinking about it, you should probably create your account ASAP. There is no cost to create an account. Once my account was established, they were still not taking new applications, so I just kept watching the site, logging in every day or so to see if the "not yet" message was still there. Four days later, they posted a message saying they were once again taking renewal applications on-line. For the first 24 hours, the servers appeared to be massively overloaded, and they posted messages saying they were down. The submission process did not work, pages would not load and "Next" buttons would not go to the next page. About 36 hours later, they were back on line, but it's not the speediest web page, so be prepared to be patient. The good news: once it was working, it was easy to confirm that each step of the submission process did work properly. The longest wait, and what is probably the only real variable in the total time it takes, was the time between my submission and the review by a State Department employee. I would assume that is directly correlated to how many applications they have in front of yours at the time you submit. Once it was reviewed, it shipped in two days, and the USPS transit times were all within expected norms. I did not request expedited service, nor did I indicate that I had any international travel planned. Overall I was pleased with the process. The 36 hours of server downtime was frustrating, but once that was resolved everything went smoothly. My goal was to save a little time as well as the hassle of printing and mailing a paper application, and I think that was a success, as my submission was instantaneously received by the State Department, and did not have to wait for a paper application to be mailed to their processing center and opened / handled by a mail-room person. They do specifically say that the on-line renewal is NOT faster, but as I said, no front-end mailing was required, so even if the rest of the process is the same, that time is saved. Here is my timeline. I checked the option to have them e-mail me status changes, which was very helpful and timely! - FRI - 10/7/22 - Created MyTravelGov account - Online renewal quota full for the moment. 4 days - TUE - 10/11/22 - Online renewals opened back up - web page overloaded, could not submit. 1 day - WED - 10/12/22 - Submitted on-line renewal. Application submission confirmed by e-mail. 14 days - WED - 10/26/22 - Application being reviewed by State Department employee. 2 days - FRI - 10/28/22 - Passport has been shipped. - FRI - 10/28/22 - USPS tracking: in transit from Tucson, AZ 11:46 AM 3 days - MON - 10/31/22 - USPS tracking: Delivered at 4:05 PM Time from successful on-line submission to delivery: 19 days Theron

I'm about to post a thread on this, sharing my whole online renewal experience. My end result, from submission to delivery was 19 days. Theron