sparks1093

Don't drink much bottled water but most bottled spring water is minimally processed whereas almost all municipal water is treated. My municipal water comes from the river that runs through our village and I'm glad it's treated (and there are fresh water springs in the area where we can fill all the jugs we want and it tastes way better than tap water).

And also don't forget to average things out, one will probably have more to drink on a sea day and less on a port day, but 8 drinks on a sea day and 4 drinks on a port day averages out to 6.

The folks we are traveling with got their passports in about 3 weeks.

Seems to me that there is little difference between gathering it from the spring at the surface or drilling down and getting it, and this is permissible according to the FDA: The name of water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth may be "spring water." Spring water shall be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring.

If if is labeled "spring water" it has to be spring water. And yes, spring water does taste different than tap water if you've never had it. I used to get 25 cents per jug to fetch spring water from our village spring for an elderly couple when I was a kid (should have bought the spring and become a spring water mogul, but then, I was just a kid).

And if you don't have Cheers you are saving quite a bit over what they charge by the bottle. Price gouging is what NCL sells their water for. (And even though it sounds like it, I am not a cheerleader. I am a realist, though.)

It is an emergency as in an unforeseen circumstance. My source is here Federal Register :: Documents Required for Travelers Departing From or Arriving in the United States at Sea and Land Ports-of-Entry From Within the Western Hemisphere subparagraphs (9) and (10) and they absolutely do provide waivers to individual travelers. The US isn't going to give someone the ability to travel outside of the country without a passport without also providing a means for getting them home if the need arises. As I understand the process as it is related by those who have experienced it the cruise line/port agent communicates with CBP and CBP issues a waiver for the passenger to board a plane directly back to the US and then the cruise line/port agent notifies the airline of the waiver. The passenger is sent to secondary inspection upon arrival in the US and then is allowed to go on their way. It does take time for all of this to happen and the passenger has nothing to do but wait. And your first point of contact is the port agent, who has dealt with all of this before and knows exactly what to do and what calls to make. And this is the definition of emergency (Merriam Webster) 1 : an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action : an urgent need for assistance or relief

But you said that a person had to go in person to a consulate, not just call them. We are talking about US citizens on a closed loop cruise traveling with something other than a passport and needing to go home. The point is once the cruise ship leave you no longer have legal presence in that country, so you going anywhere is problematic. And I already gave you the answer why that person wasn't given a waiver- they had to catch up with the ship, they weren't returning home and yes, in order to do that they needed to get a passport. Had this happened on an island without an Embassy/Consulate than their only option would be to fly back to the US. Again, the regulations that give us the closed loop exception also give the authorities the ability to issue a waiver to the passport requirement to return to the US.

We're talking about someone who doesn't have a passport who has to return home. The previous poster is saying they will need to go to a consulate even if it happens to be on another island and I pointed out that if a person has to go to another island they wouldn't be able to because they don't have a passport and it is therefore easier for the authorities to issue a waiver to allow said passenger to fly back to the US.

Fingers crossed and prayers in the wind!

We'll be on the Mardi Gras on the 20th so following along.

Because you don't have the documents to travel that way in the country. You are there under an exception that is recognized by treaty, but that doesn't mean that you have the authority to stay once the ship leaves nor does it give you the authority to just travel about in those circumstances. You need to obtain a waiver from someone to travel anywhere, so again- you can be given a waiver to travel wherever you have to travel in order to get the emergency passport that you insist is the only way, or you can be granted a waiver to fly directly to the US where you can be processed by US authorities. The second option is the one that involves the least amount of red tape and may be done by the US government acting on its own, using the authority that exists within the regulations. The first option adds layers and complexities that are not necessary. I don't know why it is so hard for you to understand we are talking about an emergency, and exceptions are made to the normal rules for emergencies. That includes the need for a passport in certain limited circumstances.

Oh I absolutely get it. They probably removed that statement from the website because of that.

And yet if they only tread water they die. They (like any other company) have to grow in order to survive. Now, if they had paid 1 billion cash for each ship you might have a point,

Do you know how often? It seems to me that it would be relatively rare but since that's only a gut feeling it could just be that I am hungry.

To be fair it does say on the State Department website to guard your expired passport since it is still proof of citizenship, at least it used to be there. Does sound like something I would do to test that but I'm glad that I no longer have to 🙂. (I just looked and it appears that this has been removed from the website.)

Not on every island/port, though (there may be a Consulate on another island that is responsible for it, but then how do you get there if you don't have a passport?).

Hello Cruise Critic land! It has been my practice before setting sail to give everyone the opportunity to ask anything they would like to find out about the ship we are sailing on. I usually do a review of the cruise both on the forum and in the review section and very often someone asks a question about the cruise that, had I known about it beforehand I could have gotten the answer onboard. So if I have a list of questions that folks are interested in before we sail I can be on the lookout for the answer. This also gives folks who have sailed on the same ship the opportunity to answer the question as well. So, we leave on Mardi Gras in 16 days. What would you like to know the answer to that I can find out for you? I will try to come back to this post after the cruise with the answers and will include them in the review. (And the ports are San Juan, Amber Cove and Grand Turk.)

I was just going to ask the same thing. It might only be something that can be checked by accessing a database and they don't do that at embarkation.

I am aware of each and every change (they are certainly harped on enough on here), no being boiled alive, here. I will sail with Carnival until the day comes that I don't feel that I'm getting a good value for my vacation dollar and I hate to say it but if that day comes it will be the end of cruising for us because I am not going to pay more for a cruise just to get a "better" experience.

Sheesh, it's been too long since we've cruised. Glad one is right around the corner, but now that you mention it the Cheers slip might be set up the same way.

Not necessarily. Klfhngr needed to catch up with the ship, which required him to go to the Embassy/Consulate in Nassau. But if you are on an island with an Embassy/Consulate you will get your passport in a number of hours (which does generally require an overnight stay). Many islands do not have one, so either you get stuck on the island or something happens that allows you to get home. The authorities have two choices in that case. 1) they can authorize you to fly to an island with a State Department presence, which would require a passport which you don't have, or 2) they can authorize you to fly directly back to the US where you can be cleared through secondary inspection. In either case you need a waiver to travel without a passport and the easiest way to deal with you is the second option. I have read a number of times where exactly that happened- the authorities exercised their authority to grant a waiver.

Nope, just 0.00. I believe it shows up that way on the onboard account as well, but it isn't printed out on the final invoice. But I normally order off the menu and I do glance at the price out of habit. I just don't retain the info for very long.

Very true, but the passenger is responsible for paying for that return (my understanding only, of course). Since many will already have a return ticket it is a matter of adjusting the price.

That's what I love about Cheers, I don't have to pay attention to the price. (But now I'll have to remember to look when we are on Mardi Gras in a couple of weeks.)