Passport - why so scary

[LuckyZ]

[quote name='Warm Breezes']Worth is subjective. We cruised 9 times in the past 12 years with no need for a passport. Following your advice and getting passports for our entire family for those cruises would have meant spending over $1000 that we did not need to spend. Would the peace of mind have been worth it to me having passports for those 9 cruises....no.[/QUOTE]

It depends on where you end up getting stuck without a passport I guess

[NMLady]

[quote name='LuckyZ']It depends on where you end up getting stuck without a passport I guess[/QUOTE]

Did you notice that the post you answered is 9 months old??
I doubt the person will see your reply.

[JustCruiseMe]

[quote name='livingis2me']what i can not understand is why some people are so passionate about others having passports...:confused: If you want one get one. If you want someone else to have one so badly, buy it for them...

Ron[/quote]
++1

[Tammycm]

I read one post that said not to get them until you need them or the time would be wasted and that they knew far enough in advance that they would be able to get one.

This is not true! We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. My husband had been out of work for nine months when he finally found a job. He was working in the IT department of a local plant. We decided we wanted to our passports. We didn't have any trips planned and couldn't see being able to afford any in the foreseeable future, but we felt the need to get them anyway. Not too long after they arrived, his company asked him to help out another plant in the US. Not a problem. Well that lead to him being put on a team that traveled extensively. He was going somewhere new almost every week. One day they asked who already had passports because they had an account in a foreign country that needed to be taken care of right away. My husband was able to go because he was prepared. All the traveling he did also built up his frequent flyer miles and now we are planning a European vacation for the two of us! My children got together and purchased us a cruise for Christmas. Neither of these things would have been possible if we hadn't gotten our passports when we did.

There really are surprises in life that you never see coming. Be prepared.


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[sparks1093]

[quote name='Tammycm']I read one post that said not to get them until you need them or the time would be wasted and that they knew far enough in advance that they would be able to get one.

This is not true! We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. My husband had been out of work for nine months when he finally found a job. He was working in the IT department of a local plant. We decided we wanted to our passports. We didn't have any trips planned and couldn't see being able to afford any in the foreseeable future, but we felt the need to get them anyway. Not too long after they arrived, his company asked him to help out another plant in the US. Not a problem. Well that lead to him being put on a team that traveled extensively. He was going somewhere new almost every week. One day they asked who already had passports because they had an account in a foreign country that needed to be taken care of right away. My husband was able to go because he was prepared. All the traveling he did also built up his frequent flyer miles and now we are planning a European vacation for the two of us! My children got together and purchased us a cruise for Christmas. Neither of these things would have been possible if we hadn't gotten our passports when we did.

There really are surprises in life that you never see coming. Be prepared.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums[/QUOTE]

Yes, things can happen that we don't expect but I am still not going to buy a passport hoping that such a long shot comes through. I will say that since this thread started DW and I have obtained Enhanced Drivers Licenses. The main reason is that DW uses a naturalization certificate, which costs several hundred dollars to replace if something happened to it (and given its age that something could be something as simple as spilling a glass of water on it).

[newport dave]

As SOME of you guys from the USA are so keen to preach to us Brits and Aussies 'If you can't afford to tip, then you can't afford to cruise'. Well, 'If you can't afford a Passport, then you can't afford to travel outside the USA'.

[sparks1093]

[quote name='newport dave']As SOME of you guys from the USA are so keen to preach to us Brits and Aussies 'If you can't afford to tip, then you can't afford to cruise'. Well, 'If you can't afford a Passport, then you can't afford to travel outside the USA'.[/QUOTE]

For us US citizens there are less expensive, legitimate alternatives available to us under certain circumstances, so this would be more "you may tip the minimum or if you choose you may tip more in appreciation of superlative service". (Not to mention that fact that most of us that choose to forego a passport do not use affordability as the deciding factor.) Edited March 10, 2014 by sparks1093

[Crusin6]

[quote name='sparks1093']For us US citizens there are less expensive, legitimate alternatives available to us under certain circumstances, so this would be more "you may tip the minimum or if you choose you may tip more in appreciation of superlative service". (Not to mention that fact that most of us that choose to forego a passport do not use affordability as the deciding factor.)[/QUOTE]

I would be interested in what factor is used?

I feel our us passports are the absolute best form of Id available.

I like that we all have solid picture identification with the added bonus of it letting us fly to Europe and elsewhere for a trip

So if is not affordability what is the reason in your opinions Americans forgo a passport?

Passport cards are costly and not everyone has drivers licenses and a birth certificate will only go so far.

[Crusin6]

[quote name='sparks1093']Yes, things can happen that we don't expect but I am still not going to buy a passport hoping that such a long shot comes through. I will say that since this thread started DW and I have obtained Enhanced Drivers Licenses. The main reason is that DW uses a naturalization certificate, which costs several hundred dollars to replace if something happened to it (and given its age that something could be something as simple as spilling a glass of water on it).[/QUOTE]

We took dh naturalization papers and used it to get his US passport. Which us easily replaced and put his naturalization papers in the safe deposit box for safe keeping.

[sparks1093]

[quote name='Crusin6']I would be interested in what factor is used?

I feel our us passports are the absolute best form of Id available.

I like that we all have solid picture identification with the added bonus of it letting us fly to Europe and elsewhere for a trip

So if is not affordability what is the reason in your opinions Americans forgo a passport?

Passport cards are costly and not everyone has drivers licenses and a birth certificate will only go so far.[/QUOTE]

Your questions have been answered in this very thread (and please note that I said "most of us that choose to forego", so I was certainly not talking about the reasons that all Americans because undoubtedly some do use affordability as their only decision point).

[sparks1093]

We took dh naturalization papers and used it to get his US passport. Which us easily replaced and put his naturalization papers in the safe deposit box for safe keeping.

 

Yes, that is an option too.

[dwjoe]

As SOME of you guys from the USA are so keen to preach to us Brits and Aussies 'If you can't afford to tip, then you can't afford to cruise'. Well, 'If you can't afford a Passport, then you can't afford to travel outside the USA'.

1) This is a 9 month old thread.

 

2) Not all Americans are the same. Those who choose to forego passports are probably not the same people as those who made the remarks about tipping.

 

3) Americans are not the only ones with the option to travel without passports. Europeans can travel in the Schengen zone without passports.

 

4) If some Americans elect the option of cruising legally without a passport, how exactly does it harm you?

[Jonza]

3) Americans are not the only ones with the option to travel without passports. Europeans can travel in the Schengen zone without passports.

This caught my eye as somewhat misleading. The Schengen zone has no regular border checks, but travelers are required to carry identity documents accepted by the other states. The only documents accepted by every Schengen country (as well as UK and Ireland) are passports and EU national identity cards.

 

Some countries inside the zone do have bilateral and multilateral agreements with each other allowing land and sea travel between the countries on just driver's licences, but this is not part of the Schengen agreement. If you are a target of a spot check on an inside Schengen border and are caught without valid travel documents, you will be fined or warned if you are either returning to your own country or are able to get the required documents delivered to you at the border. If you cannot get the documents to the border and are not trying to enter your home country, you will be turned away to your home country.

[dwjoe]

This caught my eye as somewhat misleading. The Schengen zone has no regular border checks, but travelers are required to carry identity documents accepted by the other states. The only documents accepted by every Schengen country (as well as UK and Ireland) are passports and EU national identity cards.

 

Some countries inside the zone do have bilateral and multilateral agreements with each other allowing land and sea travel between the countries on just driver's licences, but this is not part of the Schengen agreement. If you are a target of a spot check on an inside Schengen border and are caught without valid travel documents, you will be fined or warned if you are either returning to your own country or are able to get the required documents delivered to you at the border. If you cannot get the documents to the border and are not trying to enter your home country, you will be turned away to your home country.

Thanks for the info.

 

My point was that Americans are not the only ones with non-passport travel options. Travel with an EU national identity card, and/or a driver's license in certain cases, is analogous to Americans traveling with a birth certificate and driver's license on closed loop cruises, or driving to Canada with a passport card and not a passport.