Passport question

[The Traveling Man]

22 minutes ago, Escaping2016 said:

We have a similar situation.  My son's passport expires in April 2023.  We are traveling in March.  He does have a real ID as well so I am not concerned about the getting to Puerto Rico but will he be able to get off and back on the ship on the various islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St Kitts & St Lucia I believe)?

Many countries require that your passport be valid for weeks or even months beyond your expected travel dates.  I am not certain of the requirements for the countries you mentioned.  You may want to consult U.S. State Department travel advisories for each of the countries you intend to visit to make certain that you have enough time left on your son's passport to meet the requirements of each of these countries.  I am sailing in February to several Caribbean destinations.  My passport was set to expire in late March.  I applied through regular channels in early December to have my passport renewed.  My new passport arrived today, just over a month after I applied.  In the event that your son's passport does not meet the requirements of some country you intend to visit, you should still have time to renew your son's passport prior to your trip if you submit the application this week.  It should not require expedited handling.  To be on the safe side, however, I would recommend making a photocopy of his current passport before you submit it for renewal.  In the event that the U.S. Passport Office does not get a new one to you before the trip, you may be able to get by with the photocopy and a convincingly sad story about the new passport being delayed.  YMMV.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Many countries require that your passport be valid for weeks or even months beyond your expected travel dates.  I am not certain of the requirements for the countries you mentioned.  You may want to consult U.S. State Department travel advisories for each of the countries you intend to visit to make certain that you have enough time left on your son's passport to meet the requirements of each of these countries.  I am sailing in February to several Caribbean destinations.  My passport was set to expire in late March.  I applied through regular channels in early December to have my passport renewed.  My new passport arrived today, just over a month after I applied.  In the event that your son's passport does not meet the requirements of some country you intend to visit, you should still have time to renew your son's passport prior to your trip if you submit the application this week.  It should not require expedited handling.  To be on the safe side, however, I would recommend making a photocopy of his current passport before you submit it for renewal.  In the event that the U.S. Passport Office does not get a new one to you before the trip, you may be able to get by with the photocopy and a convincingly sad story about the new passport being delayed.  YMMV.

The State Department isn't a good source of information for cruise passengers, as it's not uncommon for countries to have less restrictive requirement for cruisers than those arriving by air. This is commonly true in the Caribbean because of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and  the State Department's website often omits the cruise passenger requirements from its website.

 

For NCL cruises there's a reliable source of information on the website and one can easily see that US citizens on NCL closed loop Caribbean cruises departing from US ports do not even need a passport, much less a passport with 6 months remaining . A birth certificate and government-issued photo ID suffice, as does a WHTI-compliant document .

As long as the passport is valid through disembarkation it's acceptable.

Here's the information:
https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/cruise-travel-documents

For Cruises Leaving From a U.S. Port to the Caribbean, Bahamas & Florida, Bermuda, Alaska, Mexican Riviera, Canada & New England, Pacific Coastal

You’re required to carry:

A Valid Passport

OR

Proof of Citizenship (see below) AND Government-issued photo ID

(Baptismal paper, hospital certificates of birth, and Puerto Rico birth certificates issued prior to 7/1/10 are not acceptable.)

• State certified U.S. birth certificate
• Original certificate of U.S. naturalization
• Original certificate of U.S. citizenship
• U.S. Consular report of your birth abroad

OR

WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative)-compliant documents (click here to for more information.)

*A U.S. citizen under the age of 16 does not require a government-issued photo ID.

 

 

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Many countries require that your passport be valid for weeks or even months beyond your expected travel dates.  I am not certain of the requirements for the countries you mentioned.  You may want to consult U.S. State Department travel advisories for each of the countries you intend to visit to make certain that you have enough time left on your son's passport to meet the requirements of each of these countries.  I am sailing in February to several Caribbean destinations.  My passport was set to expire in late March.  I applied through regular channels in early December to have my passport renewed.  My new passport arrived today, just over a month after I applied.  In the event that your son's passport does not meet the requirements of some country you intend to visit, you should still have time to renew your son's passport prior to your trip if you submit the application this week.  It should not require expedited handling.  To be on the safe side, however, I would recommend making a photocopy of his current passport before you submit it for renewal.  In the event that the U.S. Passport Office does not get a new one to you before the trip, you may be able to get by with the photocopy and a convincingly sad story about the new passport being delayed.  YMMV.

The information in the quoted post is woefully inaccurate. For a US citizen on a closed loop cruise you don’t need a passport, and if you choose to sail with a passport as long as it is valid on the day you return it is perfectly acceptable.

[quercus alba]

The Real ID and TSA issue was (and maybe still is!) state by state for awhile, since the state DMVs issue the driver's licenses. Our state was a Real ID holdout for awhile so I just gave up wondering whether I had the right thing and would always just my passport as ID for air travel.

[BirdTravels]

20 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

@Charles4515You may be right, I may have missed your point.  Also, I may not have stated my point very clearly.  Several people posting on this thread seemed to be saying that a driver license with Real ID was required to fly.  That is not an accurate statement.  Although a driver license which does not qualify for Real ID status may be rejected by TSA, either now or at some future date, there are other alternatives besides Real ID.  In the case to which I responded, the passenger stated that his non-Real ID license was not accepted, but that he was able to fly because he had a passport.  Ipso facto, Real ID was not required to fly, as a passport was acceptable.  When flying, either foreign or domestic, I always present my passport first, rather than my driver license.  For this reason, I have no personal experience with what form of driver license is acceptable to TSA and have not kept up with the rules regarding Real ID.  Whether any form of driver license is acceptable, or whether only those with Real ID are acceptable, the fact remains that Real ID is not the only means of identification acceptable to TSA.  Even if a person has no other form of photo ID other than a passport, that passport alone is sufficient to fly.  I'm sorry if this post is overly long or pedantic, but I wanted to be sure to state my position clearly.

Any valid drivers license is acceptable by TSA. 

 

If your drivers license is damaged, altered, fake,,, the new scanners at TSA checkpoints will pick that up and reject you. 

 

I travel multiple times a month and would never carry a passport unless we are leaving the country. It is too valuable a document to risk losing/getting stolen. 

[BirdTravels]

19 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Many countries require that your passport be valid for weeks or even months beyond your expected travel dates.  I am not certain of the requirements for the countries you mentioned.  You may want to consult U.S. State Department travel advisories for each of the countries you intend to visit to make certain that you have enough time left on your son's passport to meet the requirements of each of these countries.  I am sailing in February to several Caribbean destinations. 

Bad Advice. 

 

The only requirement is what is required by the cruise line. People should not go on an internet search because the requirements of a country may be less than what NCL requires. In that case, if they relied on the internet, they would be denied boarding. 

[dexddd]

On 1/13/2023 at 5:47 AM, Charles4515 said:

US citizens can use a drivers license as ID to fly to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a US territory. 

That's what I thought but why did AA demand passport?

[dexddd]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:45 AM, spenecer said:

REAL ID is now very complex as the deadlines for full compliance by all US states has been extended multiple times.  At one point around 2015, REAL ID or a passport was required to fly for all residents of REAL ID compliant states with exceptions made for non-REAL ID compliant states (Idaho, Illinois, New York, etc) who were working toward compliance and no exceptions for non-REAL ID complaint states who were refusing to comply (Maine, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, etc).  Then the feds and the states worked out their issues and the deadlines for compliance was extended to 2023, but because of COVID, states have been slow to flip people from state ID/driver's license to driver's license+RealID so the deadline has been extended again in 2025.  I work in a federal facility and there were years where we couldn't allow people to step onto the campus if they didn't have a RealID, a passport or a birth certificate from some states, but we could accept a driver's license from other states.  It was a pain.

Thanks, that makes sense except we had real ID DLs, AA must have been confused.

[sailorusvi]

3 minutes ago, dexddd said:

That's what I thought but why did AA demand passport?

An uninformed agent I would imagine.  You need them for other islands and I think they lump the USVI and PR in together with those islands requirements.

 

I use to live down there and would hear that from agents every now and then from all carriers. 

 

[dexddd]

1 minute ago, sailorusvi said:

An uninformed agent I would imagine.  You need them for other islands and I think they lump the USVI and PR in together with those islands requirements.

 

I use to live down there and would hear that from agents every now and then from all carriers. 

 

Probably. We would have been toast and missed flight if we had to go back home to get passports.  We were traveling a day ahead though.  While I'd rather leave them at home, who knows what can happen.

[Charles4515]

28 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

I travel multiple times a month and would never carry a passport unless we are leaving the country. It is too valuable a document to risk losing/getting stolen. 

That is one thing we agree on. Not only lost or stolen. Getting it damaged. 

[sailorusvi]

6 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Probably. We would have been toast and missed flight if we had to go back home to get passports.  We were traveling a day ahead though.  While I'd rather leave them at home, who knows what can happen.

It better to travel with your passports though.  You get through immigration on the way back a little faster (they often ask more questions to those who only have birth certificates).  It's easier to fly back to the US if you happen to be somewhere other than PR/USVI.  It's just a better way to travel in general. 

 

Then again, I do not understand people who try to avoid carrying a passport when traveling.  I've traveled the world. I use to sail between the USVI and the BVI almost daily and prove of citizenship. I always had my passport (and passport card) on me, even though I could have just used my BC.  Sure it's a little bulkier than a DL, but I still manage to keep them secure. 

 

 

[Charles4515]

26 minutes ago, dexddd said:

That's what I thought but why did AA demand passport?

A confused agent. I would have asked for a supervisor if I did not have my passport. If I was traveling to Puerto Rico and it was not for a cruise I would not have had my passport since it is a US territory. . 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Charles4515

[Sea Monster 2]

2 hours ago, sailorusvi said:

It better to travel with your passports though.  You get through immigration on the way back a little faster (they often ask more questions to those who only have birth certificates).  It's easier to fly back to the US if you happen to be somewhere other than PR/USVI.  It's just a better way to travel in general. 

 

Then again, I do not understand people who try to avoid carrying a passport when traveling.  I've traveled the world. I use to sail between the USVI and the BVI almost daily and prove of citizenship. I always had my passport (and passport card) on me, even though I could have just used my BC.  Sure it's a little bulkier than a DL, but I still manage to keep them secure. 

 

 

This is the correct answer. Even when you don’t need a passport, you carry one in case you have an emergency.  I was a consul, charged with assisting Americans overseas, and it was so much more complicated when people didn’t have proof of citizenship— we were limited in what we could do until they proved it, and how do you do that when you don’t have documents are perhaps injured, unconscious, in jail, etc?  If you travelled with only your BC and DL, and they were lost, stolen, or significantly damaged, what do you do to prove your citizenship and identity? If you had a passport— even if it met the same fate as your other documents— the embassy can look up your application and establish that you are who you say you are and provide services— including issuing a new passport, loaning money, helping with medical or legal emergency, etc.  Until we know you’re American, we can’t do any of that. I would NEVER travel abroad without my passport because of what I’ve seen.