Passports

[lauriesu]

If we cruise from New Orleans to Mexico and back to New Orleans, do we need a passport?

[paul929207]

Not if you are US citizens and all goes well. You would just need a certified copy of your birth certificates and a government issued photo ID. Children under 16(??) need only the birth certificate.

 

However, if you needed to fly to the US, you would have to get a US passport from and embassy or consulate.

[SuiteTraveler]

I would NEVER travel outside of the US without a passport - especially now as Trump has stated that one of his goals is controlling our borders better. Should something happen such as a medical emergency or an emergency back home where you need to fly back from some non-US port, you would be out of luck until you could get an emergency passport. The trouble with this is that the port you are in may not have a US Embassy, which could cause you to have to make a very expensive trip to another island or another city in order to get to a US Embassy to get the passport you should have brought with you in the first place. Also, I noticed that the Government website that addresses this no longer says traveling with a birth certificate and government issued photo ID is acceptable for cruisers - that link has been taken down which makes me suspect that soon this might not be allowed at all. You don't want to get yourself into a situation where the government changes the law in January or February and it turns out you need the passport but haven't gotten one.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/3618/kw/documents%20needed%20to%20take%20a%20cruise

 

The issue is not the cruise line - it is what Border control will accept. If you show up at the pier without the right documentation as the law states on that particular day, you will not be allowed to board your ship. I would not take the risk of traveling without a passport at this time as we just don't know what is going to happen in the next few months. Anything is possible.

[sparks1093]

There are really two questions- can you legally travel without a passport. If you are a US citizen on a closed loop cruise yes, you can travel without a passport. Birth certificate and government issued ID will work just fine. (Do note that some cruise lines impose a stricter standard, such as the luxury lines.)

 

The second question is- is it advisable to travel without a passport. The answer to that depends on your travel needs, your individual risk factors and the like. As others will point out if something happens you would need to obtain assistance from an embassy/consulate to get home but as long as you are comfortable with any potential delay this causes then it's certainly your call.

[Ashland]

If we cruise from New Orleans to Mexico and back to New Orleans, do we need a passport?

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

The easy answer to your question is...No..It's a closed loop cruise...beginning from and returning to a US port.

 

Many feel it necessary to go above and beyond in their answer's when you ask a question.....don't get overwhelmed or confused.

 

Enjoy your cruise :)

Edited January 8, 2017 by Ashland

[Traveling Gentleman]

It does seem a good idea to always have a passport when traveling abroad, even if it is not necessary, because it could turn out to be necessary under some circumstances. It is not a matter of doing something unnecessary just for some far-fetched scenario, like packing a pharmacy just in case you get a cold, but a passport does not take up a lot of space.

[XBGuy]

OK, the OP has the answer that she wanted to her. So, yes, this is thread drift.

 

I have two friends who were taken off cruise ships in foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) ports on gurneys. The cruise ships continued on with their itineraries while my friends were laying in their hospital beds. It was up to their wives to arrange transportation back to the U.S.. In these two cases everybody had passports. So, the wives did not have to search for a U.S. Consulate, travel there, present enough documentation to convince some clerk that they were who she said they were, and, then, wait for documentation to be prepared. Nope, all they had to do was [Sarcasm Alert] find lodging for themselves, discuss the medical situation of their husbands with Spanish speaking hospital staff, arrange for air transportation (commercial for one medivac for the other) and travel back with their husbands. They probably had plenty of time and energy to chase down substitute passports. [End Sarcasm]

 

Yes, both these men boarded those cruise ships in the belief that they were in excellent health.

[Bonnie J.]

Remember, you may think the cost of a passport is high but they are good for 10 -TEN YEARS! Divide the cost by ten and you will see that for 10 years the cost is not that high!

We NEVER take ours off the ship. They stay in our safe. A thief makes a bundle selling our passports. But you can take a copy of 'the ' page off with you. Then the authorities can get you a new one or whatever much easier.

 

No one even thinks of taking your birth certificate off the ship, to prove who you are!

Edited January 9, 2017 by Bonnie J.

[sparks1093]

Remember, you may think the cost of a passport is high but they are good for 10 -TEN YEARS! Divide the cost by ten and you will see that for 10 years the cost is not that high!

We NEVER take ours off the ship. They stay in our safe. A thief makes a bundle selling our passports. But you can take a copy of 'the ' page off with you.

 

And if you don't plan to do any further traveling in that 10 years, or if you can only do closed loop cruises, or if your travel plans are really uncertain, then one really has to think about getting them when they aren't needed. When we started cruising in 2009 this was exactly what we were faced with- we knew that we wanted to travel by air to other countries at some point but we weren't sure when. The cost of passports for all of use would have been around $850, with 4 of those only being good for 5 years. Since that was close to what the cruise was costing us we really had to take a long look at it and decided that the risk on a 4 day cruise didn't warrant that kind of expenditure. We were finally able to flight internationally in 2015 with plans to do so yearly, so we will get our money's worth out of our passports.