Passport Renewal

[clemsonlori98]

My families passports expire in Oct of this year. We have a B2B booked for April 29-May 6. Since this will be within the 6 month period that I have heard about, should I just go ahead and renew now? Thanks for the advice!

[fshagan]

Yes, renew now! Here's a NYT article on how the State Department is encouraging people to start early on their renewals due to an expected backlog.

 

Officials are expecting a flood of renewals of 10-year passports issued in 2006 and 2007. The latter was the year when the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect, for the first time requiring passports for Americans returning by air from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda. As millions of citizens scrambled to apply for their first passports, backlogs swelled and many were stranded.

 

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/travel/passport-renewal.html?_r=0

[Shmoo here]

My families passports expire in Oct of this year. We have a B2B booked for April 29-May 6. Since this will be within the 6 month period that I have heard about, should I just go ahead and renew now? Thanks for the advice!

 

The six month requirement is not necessary for Bahama/Caribbean cruises.

 

It's your call whether you renew beforehand, or wait. However, I agree, if you're going to be traveling (needing your passports)past the expiration date, there's likely to be more of a delay than "normal" this year for getting them back.

[moki'smommy]

If all you are using the passport for is a closed loop cruise (departs from the US, returns to the same US port), your passport is good until the printed expiration date. The 6 month thing is imposed by some other countries who don't want anyone to get into their territory and have the passport expire while there. This does not apply to any of the Caribbean cruise countries.

 

If you are planning other travel outside of the US, yes, renew now. If not, you may as well hold off till near the expiration date. The date on the new passport will be the date when it is processed, so if you renew 6 months in advance you lose that proportion of the money you paid for the current one.

 

If you are on a cruise that is not Caribbean/Bahamas, you'll need to renew prior to the cruise.

[Keith1010]

Yes, I would renew now.

 

Keith

[Steelers0854]

Keep in mind that unless you pay for expedited service it can take a couple of weeks to get your passports back. To me it's stretching it a little to renew now and cut it close to your departure date in getting them back. We didn't have any issues and got our back in I think 2-3 weeks from when we sent them in, but you never know and I would hate to run into issues unless your ports, as mentioned above, require the 6 month our expiration date. Just food for thought.

 

Edited to add:

 

From the state department website:

 

As of Sunday, February 14, 2016, we are processing routine applications in approximately 6 weeks from the time of application.

 

Way too close for me IMHO

 

From the Disney website only Europe and Transatlantic cruises require your passport be valid for 3 months after the end of your trip:

 

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/passport-travel-documentation/

Edited February 15, 2016 by Steelers0854