Passports expiring?

[jewel825]

I believe the validity requirement is 3 months for the EU zone.

 

That's good to know for future use. I'm type A when it comes to being organized and having everything I need way in advance. I probably still would have renewed now anyway just to have it done.

[jewel825]

Check the Canadian website for more information. As a US citizen you do not need a passport to get into Canada. The catch-22 is you need a passport to get back into the good old USA. If you are a US citizen the USA only cares if your passport is valid for one day!

 

Really? I had no idea. I rarely travel up to Canada and I have only been once since I've owned a passport and they required more documentation than a birth certificate. We got passports 4 1/2 years ago just to go SOMEWHERE. It didn't matter where - I just wanted to use our new passports since I had never had one before, lol. After than we went on 3 cruises in a row for Spring Break.

 

This whole 6 month passport thing for cruising is way overblown. There is only one port that I have ever been to with the 6 month rule -- Turkey. 99% of the time you won't even take your passport out of the safe.

 

Yeah, I figured as much. I just worry about being that one person who has some type of emergency and needs to fly out. That happened to a friend of mine in Puerto Vallarta.

 

I'm leaving for our Alaska cruise next Tuesday and my passport expires in September 2014 (4 months) When we get back I'll renew just in case the process takes longer than expected.

 

Have a great cruise!

[grnyel05]

According to the U.S. Department of State website Canada only requires that your passport be valid at the time of entry:

 

Canada

Official Name: Canada

LAST UPDATED: MARCH 19, 2014

 

Quick Facts

 

PASSPORT VALIDITY:

Must be valid at time of entry

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/canada.html

 

I've personally traveled on a passport that was expiring in less than six months on a cruise to Panama. Panama only requires that a passport is valid for 3 months from the date of entry so I was fine.

[mollyeilis]

It's weird that this thread went long enough for you to send away for new passports, without anyone (until that last post) telling you that Canada doesn't have such a requirement.

 

 

 

For Iceland, actually checking on it shows that Iceland only requires 3 months validity. Since that poster had 5 months left, that's why there was no problem.

 

 

DH travels for work nearly half the year. It's important to check on each individual country you're traveling to, to SEE what the story actually is.

[Tony O]

Actually, from our experience at least, the expiration date starts from the length of time added to the existing expiration date, not from the date of processing. Therefore you don't "lose" any length of time on the new passport.

 

Just renewed my passport since my passport will expire within a month of the cruise.

I lost my time and the new expiration date was approximately the date they processed the renewal . So I lost several months from the actual expiration and the new expiration for the renewal.

[uksimonusa]

It's weird that this thread went long enough for you to send away for new passports, without anyone (until that last post) telling you that Canada doesn't have such a requirement.

 

 

 

For Iceland, actually checking on it shows that Iceland only requires 3 months validity. Since that poster had 5 months left, that's why there was no problem.

 

 

DH travels for work nearly half the year. It's important to check on each individual country you're traveling to, to SEE what the story actually is.

 

Countries passport entry requirements are normally only people entering the country, cruise passengers on a day stop are normally considered "in Transit" and those requirements don't usually apply.

[cruisinfanatic]

I probably would have been fine but I didn't want to take any chances in case we got some strict person asking for documentation we didn't have. How was Iceland? Was it for a vacation?

You would have been fine. As others have said, the 6 month rule is for land based travel, not cruise where you passport only needs to be valid till the day you get home.

[steveru621]

Countries passport entry requirements are normally only people entering the country, cruise passengers on a day stop are normally considered "in Transit" and those requirements don't usually apply.

 

You would have been fine. As others have said, the 6 month rule is for land based travel, not cruise where you passport only needs to be valid till the day you get home.

 

Two great explanations.

 

Almost all of the passport expiration requirements apply to business people applying for visas or stays longer than 30 days. Cruisers in-transit normally only need be concerned with their embarkation port and disembarkation port. For instance Barcelona requires 3 months because that is the maximum stay before other documents are required.

 

There is certainly nothing wrong with playing it safe. Informed travelers don't get caught with the wrong documents. With all these new China cruises, passengers will need to do their homework.

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html

 

And just to clarify, Canada customs and border recommends a passport for a variety of reasons. Their website has changed from six months ago when I checked document requirements.

 

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/td-dv-eng.html#_s2a

[COMBOY]

I have a question regarding passports. We are going on a cruise this summer (8/2/14 - 8/9/14) and my kids have passports expiring 2/3/15. This is almost exactly 6 months later (minus 6 days). Is it necessary for me to get renewals for my kids' passports before we go or is there enough time before the expiration date? I've heard that cruises require passports that expire at least 6 months or more from your cruise. Are they talking about day 1 or day 7 of the cruise? Would they still accept these passports? It's confusing that they put an expiration date on a passport but it doesn't say anywhere on the passport that it really expires 6 months prior to that date!

 

Your passport expires 10 years after the issue date and most countries required your passport to valid up to 6 months after arrival in their country. I really don't think you'd have a problem on a domestic cruise; however, if you were to take a cruise to let say Australia, China, Brazil this might be a problem and they could deny your kids entrance even for 1 day. It all up to the immigration officials, cruise line or the airline checking you in. The problem is the country will fine the airlines or cruise line is they don't follow "their" policies at check in. I just renewed by passport and I got it back in around 4 weeks with standard mail. Your kids passport is going to expire anyway so you might as well do it now and get it over with. The downside is it $110 renewal and you have to submit the old passport along with the application, photos and fee. It's pretty simple.

[mjldvlks]

Just renewed my passport since my passport will expire within a month of the cruise.

I lost my time and the new expiration date was approximately the date they processed the renewal . So I lost several months from the actual expiration and the new expiration for the renewal.

 

Note Spurschick has a UK passport so rules may be [likely are] different.

[Spurschick]

Note Spurschick has a UK passport so rules may be [likely are] different.

 

Yes

I guess the US passports don't have that extension added.

 

I would still rather lose a few months than risk it if I had time to get a renewal though:)