Do I need to renew my passports?

[sparks1093]

They are on domestic flights so airline rep would not ask for passports, cruise agent also does not require passports. Personally, we would never leave U.S soil without a passport. Bad things that happen are called accidents, not on purposes. Customs would be the only entity to require passports. Not many Caribbean countries are too strict about the the 6 month rule. If something happened to you or someone close stateside, flying out of a foreign country might be a problem. To the OP, it's your money, you make the call.

 

It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with for US citizens (excepting Cuba). The country that you are visiting has to impose a 6 month rule in order for it to apply and some countries have a 3 month rule.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

They are on domestic flights so airline rep would not ask for passports, cruise agent also does not require passports. Personally, we would never leave U.S soil without a passport. Bad things that happen are called accidents, not on purposes. Customs would be the only entity to require passports. Not many Caribbean countries are too strict about the the 6 month rule. If something happened to you or someone close stateside, flying out of a foreign country might be a problem. To the OP, it's your money, you make the call.

 

Cruise is in March of 2018.

 

I don't think we know which state the OP is from. If it is one of the following states (see below) and they are not in compliance with the REAL ID act by January 22 they would in fact need a passport for flying domestically.

 

 

• Kentucky
  
• Maine
  
• Minnesota
  
• Missouri
  
• Montana
  
• Oklahoma
  
• Pennsylvania
  
• South Carolina
  
• Washington
  

Bill

[summersigh]

We will be using passports no matter what, just looking for info on whether or not I need to renew. Would prefer not to since we don't have any plans to travel abroad anytime soon after. We have 8 of us going and 4 likely would not need to renew if this is good enough, so we stand to save quite a bit. This was factored into our budget though as we thought they expired sooner.

When we sailed the Sunshine last May our passports expired in June about 6 weeks after our arrival back from the cruise. It was no problem. Nobody blinked an eye when we checked in.

 

PS If anyone reading this thread is sailing to Costa Rica - you DO need a passport to even board a ship with a stop there.

[coevan]

Cruise is in March of 2018.

 

I don't think we know which state the OP is from. If it is one of the following states (see below) and they are not in compliance with the REAL ID act by January 22 they would in fact need a passport for flying domestically.

 

 

• Kentucky
  
• Maine
  
• Minnesota
  
• Missouri
  
• Montana
  
• Oklahoma
  
• Pennsylvania
  
• South Carolina
  
• Washington
  

Bill

 

 

 

Where did you get this from, i have flown in and out of Seattle many times. When traveling domestically, we leave our passport at home. Also we just flew home from Charleston, no passport.

[coevan]

It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with for US citizens (excepting Cuba). The country that you are visiting has to impose a 6 month rule in order for it to apply and some countries have a 3 month rule.

 

 

oops

http://lifehacker.com/these-countries-follow-the-six-month-rule-for-passpor-1782577451

[firemanbobswife]

oops

 

http://lifehacker.com/these-countries-follow-the-six-month-rule-for-passpor-1782577451

 

 

Yeah except to get there by cruise ship you DON'T need a Passport so therefore, it doesn't matter when it expires. The countries you are visiting on a typical Caribbean cruise do not require you to show your Passport, therefore, it doesn't matter how close to expiration date you are. Now if you are flying, then yes. Oops.

[grapau27]

We are sailing FLL, Grand turk, Nassau, HMC and Amber Cove in March 2018, Passports expire in September just shy of the 6 months date. Not renewing will save us some money in the budget. Do I need to renew them before we leave?

We are from the UK and i was checking passport date requirements yesterday on our government website.

The main thing i was checking was the so called 6 months rule as my 10 year passport expires next year.

The requirements were that your passport only had to be valid until after our stated day of departure from the US and not 6 months after.yippee.

[bananawindnj]

Guess I should have clarified...if something happens and we need to fly in or out the Caribbean ports, do we need to have 6 months left on our passports?

 

 

 

No you don't! You can fly till the passport expires.

 

 

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[sparks1093]

oops

http://lifehacker.com/these-countries-follow-the-six-month-rule-for-passpor-1782577451

 

Of course those islands have exclusions for cruise ship passengers.

[Organized Chaos]

Oops, I had two threads open at once and posted a comment to the wrong one. Disregard. ;)

[coevan]

Sparks what you said about cruise ships is true, however this is what you posted

 

"It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with"

 

 

 

 

but some do

[firemanbobswife]

Sparks what you said about cruise ships is true, however this is what you posted

 

"It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with"

but some do

 

 

But not for cruise ship passengers and this is what this entire thread is about. So Sparks is right.

[E&B]

Where did you get this from, i have flown in and out of Seattle many times. When traveling domestically, we leave our passport at home. Also we just flew home from Charleston, no passport.

 

 

 

But that was before January 22, 2018. After that date you won't be able to use your state issued ID to fly, unless the state changes how they issue IDs.

 

 

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[riffatsea]

That ID law has already been extended before this because many states didn't /couldn't comply with it.

I'd check back to see if it is extended again before that 2018 date.

Here's the Real ID govt page where you can check the status of your state:

https://www.dhs.gov/real-id

[sparks1093]

Sparks what you said about cruise ships is true, however this is what you posted

 

"It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with"

 

 

 

 

but some do

 

Yes, as I posted it the statement is incorrect. I should have typed "It's not that Caribbean countries aren't too strict about the 6 month rule, it's because they don't have them to begin with for cruise ship passengers".

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Where did you get this from, i have flown in and out of Seattle many times. When traveling domestically, we leave our passport at home. Also we just flew home from Charleston, no passport.

 

I guess I erred by not putting 2018 in my post.

 

 

Bill

[breezy270]

The carnival website highly recommends that the passport be good for Six months after the cruise ends for emergency reasons etc... I would renew just to be on the safe side and have no issues that is just me

 

 

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[coevan]

interesting link, it appears many of those states are in the process of getting compliant. Many states have been granted extensions to become compliant. We live in Colorado and I did not even know we were compliant. Looks like the TSA is pressuring states, passports for domestic travel will put a major constraint on casual flyers

[elruth]

We are on a Aug 19th 2017 Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean. Our passports expire Jan 30th 2018. The Carnival person who booked our cruise told us to be sure to renew our passports. Something about having at least 9 mo before they expire. Thus we renewed our passports. Renewal cost $ 110 pp. and cost of mailing.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We are on a Aug 19th 2017 Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean. Our passports expire Jan 30th 2018. The Carnival person who booked our cruise told us to be sure to renew our passports. Something about having at least 9 mo before they expire. Thus we renewed our passports. Renewal cost $ 110 pp. and cost of mailing.

 

both things she told you were incorrect. Not unusual from a cruise line rep from any cruise line unfortunately.

 

Bill

[sparks1093]

The carnival website highly recommends that the passport be good for Six months after the cruise ends for emergency reasons etc... I would renew just to be on the safe side and have no issues that is just me

 

 

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You are free to do what you want to do but personally I won't renew my passport until it actually needs to be renewed as dictated by my travel needs. I might feel differently if the unused months on the passport were tacked onto the new one but as yet the US does not do that. If someone sailed with a passport with a week left on it at the end of the cruise there is potential for issues if they should be hospitalized on an island for more than a week (probably a most unlikely scenario) but for someone like OP who has nearly 6 months left it's difficult to see anything happening that would cause issues.

[sparks1093]

Here is a link to the DHS website with the current information regarding implementation of the REAL ID act:

https://www.dhs.gov/federal-enforcement

[sparks1093]

oops

http://lifehacker.com/these-countries-follow-the-six-month-rule-for-passpor-1782577451

 

And it would seem the author of the article got at least one wrong, according to State's website https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/the-bahamas.html a US citizen's passport must be valid at time of entry and the requirements make no mention of a 6 month rule (if you are going to stay more than 90 days you may need a visa though). I haven't the time to parse every country on the list.

[Organized Chaos]

And it would seem the author of the article got at least one wrong, according to State's website https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/the-bahamas.html a US citizen's passport must be valid at time of entry and the requirements make no mention of a 6 month rule (if you are going to stay more than 90 days you may need a visa though). I haven't the time to parse every country on the list.

Not to mention they don't make any reference to closed-loops cruises. It's a lifehacker article. It belongs to a family of websites that, at the time of that article, were owned by gawker media. They have always called their writers "editors," but are notorious for doing very little actual editing. When looking for information about official travel documentation, lifehacker wouldn't be high on my list of sources.

 

I know the point has been made, more than once if I recall, but it doesn't hurt to say it again since some don't quite understand. Closed-loop cruises, those that leave from and return to the same U.S. port, do not require a passport (with the exception of trip a to Cuba). If you can take these cruises without a passport, they why would you need 6 months left on one if you do happen to cruise with it?

[elruth]

I had said that the Carnival rep told me that our passports had to be valid 9 months before the expiration date so we renewed ours. Our passports expire Jan 2018 and we are sailing on Carnival Aug 2017. I also heard the same thing re: passports from the NCL Casinos at Sea rep and we are sailing with that line Nov 2017. Thus I wanted to play it safe and renew just for my piece of mind.