Passport Question

[sailor05]

4 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I will never be able to figure out why people wait for the last minute to renew a passport. I renew it 6 months early even if I'm not going to need it. 

If only I could be as perfect as you. With the PANDEMIC for past 16 months my passport was the last thing on my mind. And this cruise was a last minute decision. I'll try better in 10 years...

[sparks1093]

14 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Some may think they are saving money by using up those last six months to the end, LOL, but probably the reason for most is that they don't cruise or travel as often as we do and don't keep track of the expiration dates. As a very active traveler Pre Covid I would be very aware of my expiration date a year out. And having traveled often to Europe I was aware the some countries require 6 months.

I don't think of it as saving money per se, but saving time. The passport does have an expiration date and if I renew it when I don't really need to  then in my mind it's a waste of 6 months (were I to automatically renew when it had 6 months left). As I said in a previous post at the time our passports expire it could be a year or two before they are needed again so if I were to renew based just on the expiry date (or six months prior) then in my mind all that time between renewal and when we do use it is wasted time. I fully recognize that this is an individual way of looking at it and that many have no problem at all renewing early, but what they choose to do doesn't affect me so more power to them.

 

But as the OP has alluded to the rest of your post is probably the more likely reason, people don't travel all that often and lose track of the expiration date of their passport especially during a long period of time when travel has been in a hiatus. 

[jean87510]

20 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I will never be able to figure out why people wait for the last minute to renew a passport. I renew it 6 months early even if I'm not going to need it. 

Exactly.  Put the 6 month date in your google calendar.  How hard is that?  My sister had a trip to London planned in 2019 and spent the day before in Philadelphia getting her passport renewed as she procrastinated too long.  I do it for myself, my husband and each of my 5 kids, plus my mom and mother in law.  After what I saw her go through, plus friends of ours who didn't think they needed a passport to renew their vows in Mexico...

The pandemic has made a lot of renewal documents difficult to obtain (passports, driver's licenses, car registrations..).  I know where I live, my son who cant unfortunately renew his driver's license online in NJ has to wait 1 month after expiration to go to his appointment as there has been a lot of difficulty with our MVC here.  The point is, nowadays, I would be hesitant to wait to get any documents as I have no idea what the wait would be.  

Edited May 26, 2021 by jean87510

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, jean87510 said:

Exactly.  Put the 6 month date in your google calendar.  How hard is that?  My sister had a trip to London planned in 2019 and spent the day before in Philadelphia getting her passport renewed as she procrastinated too long.  I do it for myself, my husband and each of my 5 kids, plus my mom and mother in law.  After what I saw her go through, plus friends of ours who didn't think they needed a passport to renew their vows in Mexico...

The pandemic has made a lot of renewal documents difficult to obtain (passports, driver's licenses, car registrations..).  I know where I live, my son who cant unfortunately renew his driver's license online in NJ has to wait 1 month after expiration to go to his appointment as there has been a lot of difficulty with our MVC here.  The point is, nowadays, I would be hesitant to wait to get any documents as I have no idea what the wait would be.  

I figured it out a long time ago...it's because they do things differently then the way I do them. 😉

[zekekelso]

21 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I will never be able to figure out why people wait for the last minute to renew a passport. I renew it 6 months early even if I'm not going to need it. 

Some of us are flawed human beings. 

[Charles4515]

59 minutes ago, zekekelso said:

Some of us are flawed human beings. 

 

I keep track of the expiration dates because I want to be able to book cruises or travel on short notice. I booked a cruise in 2019 on 8 day from sail date. Most don't do that or can't do that.  I would not call those who don't keep track of the dates flawed. They are probably are likely the normal ones.....

[Tapi]

22 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I will never be able to figure out why people wait for the last minute to renew a passport. I renew it 6 months early even if I'm not going to need it. 

I’m an avid traveler, (I’m required to have a valid passport not only for leisure, but for work) and my children have had passports since the moment they were months old. Yet, I’ve had circumstances that have made it impossible to renew as promptly as I’ve wanted. Respectfully, I wouldn’t be too quick to judge. 
 

One time was indeed embarrassingly caused by an oversight on my part, and that’s when we sailed in 2021 for the last time before the pandemic. I didn’t realize until it was a bit too late to renew that my son’s passport would expire in a little less than 6 months. The cruise line representative (Holland America) insisted that he would not be allowed to board unless he had six months left on his passport. Turned out to be a non-issue and he was allowed to board without problems. So the experience taught me to be a bit more vigilant in order to prevent the same situation from happening again but it also taught me that cruise line representatives may not have all the right answers when it comes to documentation requirements.

[broadwaybaby123]

I would check with your TA (assuming you used one) or with Royal.

[Tapi]

On 5/23/2021 at 4:50 PM, BirdTravels said:

You need to check with your airline and determine what their rules are. I fly a lot and and my airlines has a 6 month rule. 

What airlines do you fly? I mostly fly one of the major airlines and the passport requirement varies depending on the destination. If a country (like The Bahamas and Mexico) requires a passport to just be valid at the time of entry, they will not insist on a minimum 6 month validity. However, if traveling to countries where there’s a minimum validity, you won’t even be able to complete the check in process online if your passport doesn’t meet the requirement. 
 

We took a last minute trip to Mexico a few years back when my wife’s passport only had 5 months left, and we did so because we knew we met the passport requirements for the country we were visiting. Besides the gate agent gently reminding us that the passport would be expiring in a few months, we had zero issues going or returning. 

[Tapi]

On 5/23/2021 at 5:04 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

You can renew your passport now and pay an extra $60 expedite fee and have passport back in 4 weeks. 

For whatever it’s worth, I had my son’s passport renewed last month using the expedited service. It took exactly 3 weeks from the moment we submitted the paperwork at the local county courthouse until the passport was in the mailbox.
 

One thing to keep in mind is that many passport accepting locations are requiring an appointment (before, we could just walk in without one). The earliest appointment I could find near my location was for two weeks later, so it’s something to keep in mind. 

 

Like you say, there’s an even faster method to get your passport expedited, but it does require that you show that you will be traveling internationally in the very near future. 

[dswallow]

I'm not arguing what The Bahamas does or does not allow (all they really seem to care about with US Citizens is that you can re-enter the US), but you will probably face issues along your path of travel because of how common it is to ensure a passport be valid for 6 months past the date of travel. Even Royal Caribbean's Travel Documents section in the eDocs delivered for the Adventure of the Seas sailing on 6/12/2021 contains that sort of language. Just be prepared, and really, if there's an opportunity to get the passport renewed before you go, do it. Everything is simpler that way.

 

 

[ryano]

18 minutes ago, dswallow said:

I'm not arguing what The Bahamas does or does not allow (all they really seem to care about with US Citizens is that you can re-enter the US), but you will probably face issues along your path of travel because of how common it is to ensure a passport be valid for 6 months past the date of travel. Even Royal Caribbean's Travel Documents section in the eDocs delivered for the Adventure of the Seas sailing on 6/12/2021 contains that sort of language. Just be prepared, and really, if there's an opportunity to get the passport renewed before you go, do it. Everything is simpler that way.

 

 

 

All travel documents have always said that as a CYA as far back as I can remember.   I dont see how their could possibly be an issue on a closed loop cruise that doesnt even require a Passport in the first place.     I just ran into this very thing on the last cruise I took.    My Passport expired just a month or so after the cruise was over.  They didnt even bat an eye.

[dswallow]

7 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

All travel documents have always said that as a CYA as far back as I can remember.   I dont see how their could possibly be an issue on a closed loop cruise that doesnt even require a Passport in the first place.     I just ran into this very thing on the last cruise I took.    My Passport expired just a month or so after the cruise was over.  They didnt even bat an eye.

 

This is NOT a US-based cruise. The "closed loop" concept is a construct of US cruises departing from a US port and returning to the same US port. The Bahamas is not in the United States. 🙂

 

But yeah, by all accounts, this particular combination of countries should be OK with a passport that is not expired at the time of entry/use in each place. But while it's great to say things like that, if you encounter someone along the way who disagrees, rightly or wrongly, and causes you a delay, that delay may interrupt your trip. And while you might manage to sort it out eventually, maybe it won't be in time.

 

So it sure would be smarter to renew the passport if renewing the passport could be done reasonably before the day it is needed to begin travel. That's all I was really trying to say. For many people, based on where they live, that simply may not be possible to do without a significant expense in money and time, but for some, it may be possible without much more investment than waiting much of a day in a line somewhere.

 

 

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

All travel documents have always said that as a CYA as far back as I can remember.   I dont see how their could possibly be an issue on a closed loop cruise that doesnt even require a Passport in the first place.     I just ran into this very thing on the last cruise I took.    My Passport expired just a month or so after the cruise was over.  They didnt even bat an eye.

Their cruise is out of Nassau so they need a passport to fly there. Rules for closed loop cruises out of US home ports do not apply. 

[ryano]

My apologies.  I guess I totally missed that part. 

[reallyitsmema]

6 minutes ago, ryano said:

My apologies.  I guess I totally missed that part. 

 

The thread took a left turn in the middle and was talking about a closed loop cruise for a bit.  You weren't the only one that detour confused. 🙂 

 

Nice to see you posting, hope you are doing well.

[sailor05]

I checked with the National Passport Center, RCCL, and the Bahama's Air. As long as it is valid at time of entry I am good to go. Thank you to most of you for your responses....

[Iamcruzin]

12 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Exactly.  Put the 6 month date in your google calendar.  How hard is that?  My sister had a trip to London planned in 2019 and spent the day before in Philadelphia getting her passport renewed as she procrastinated too long.  I do it for myself, my husband and each of my 5 kids, plus my mom and mother in law.  After what I saw her go through, plus friends of ours who didn't think they needed a passport to renew their vows in Mexico...

The pandemic has made a lot of renewal documents difficult to obtain (passports, driver's licenses, car registrations..).  I know where I live, my son who cant unfortunately renew his driver's license online in NJ has to wait 1 month after expiration to go to his appointment as there has been a lot of difficulty with our MVC here.  The point is, nowadays, I would be hesitant to wait to get any documents as I have no idea what the wait would be.  

My wife and my father had to renew their DL in 2020. Both wanted real ID for flights. They both ended up renewing online but unfortunately they couldn't get the real ID. My wife has a passport but my father who is 89 has an expired passport from god only knows how long.  I don't expect my father to be traveling anytime soon because he can't leave my mother alone. My wife's passport will expire before her license so you know I will be all over her like white on rice long before the renewal. 

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

On 5/23/2021 at 1:35 AM, sailor05 said:

I just booked the June 26th-July 3rd on the Adventure. I just realized my passport expires July 31st so I think I'm okay but it seems like they used to require that it not expire within 6 months of travel. Anyone know for sure??

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/cruise-ship-passengers.html 

 

I just renewed mine to be on the safe side. Sent it Non expedited, I got it back in 5 weeks, but my cruise isn't until Jan.

[sailor05]

1 minute ago, DiamondSuiteCruiser said:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/cruise-ship-passengers.html 

 

I just renewed mine to be on the safe side. Sent it Non expedited, I got it back in 5 weeks, but my cruise isn't until Jan.

I wish I knew I could for sure get it back in time, but I leave 4 weeks from today. I'm certain I'm okay at this point. The last thing I want to do is send in my good passport and have nothing when I sail.

[JsMom2]

All I can say is that passport processing is VERY slow right now.  I sent mine in via priority mail on March 24th.  Had to call the passport center when they hadn’t acknowledged receipt within 4 weeks.  Was told that it was lost, and this has been happening pretty frequently since last December.  They finally found mine, as of May 5th, and I’m told that processing time is 10-12 weeks from that date!  

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, sailor05 said:

I wish I knew I could for sure get it back in time, but I leave 4 weeks from today. I'm certain I'm okay at this point. The last thing I want to do is send in my good passport and have nothing when I sail.

Actually if you had nothing you wouldn't sail.😉 Unless there is a huge glitch in the matrix your passport will be accepted. As has been stated the 6 month rule applies only to certain countries, or certain carriers.