Passport Expiring

[IMSAILING]

We are cruising the southern Caribbean in May and my husbands passport expires in October - should he be getting it renewed before hand or is that enough time between cruise and expiration ? 

[mom says]

Check the requirements specified by the cruise line. Many require an expiration date more than 6 months after sailing. Just to be safe, you should probably get it renewed ASAP.

[netpj]

We are sailing next week in the Caribbean.  Although my old passport did not expire until July, the exact date of expiration would have been 2 days short of it being valid for 6 months.  I was advised that I would not be permitted to embark as the passport did not meet the 6 months validity.  I renewed it in November, almost 9 months before expiry - I agree with the previous poster - get it renewed now.  I attended the Passport Office in person, paid extra for in person pick-up and had it within 2 weeks.

[CDNPolar]

It is not just the cruise line, but potentially any country / island that you want to disembark on...

 

To me it is always a consideration that the passport is valid for six months after the END OF THE TRIP, not the beginning.

 

Folks will now come on and say that there are countries and cruise lines that only require 3 months from the trip, and this is the case - you must do your research - but I always use the rule of 6 months so that I am never caught short.

 

In Canada we can start the passport renewal process one year in advance of the passport expiry.  We always renew for 10 years, so I choose a time to renew when I have a gap in travel one year out from expiry.

[ski ww]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

It is not just the cruise line, but potentially any country / island that you want to disembark on...

 

To me it is always a consideration that the passport is valid for six months after the END OF THE TRIP, not the beginning.

 

Folks will now come on and say that there are countries and cruise lines that only require 3 months from the trip, and this is the case - you must do your research - but I always use the rule of 6 months so that I am never caught short.

 

In Canada we can start the passport renewal process one year in advance of the passport expiry.  We always renew for 10 years, so I choose a time to renew when I have a gap in travel one year out from expiry.

That's good to know, I was going to wait a little closer to the expiry date before renewing. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I would go get the picture and head to Service Canada to get it done now

it is amazing how quickly time flies by 😁

[mrgabriel]

I'm in the same situation - passport expires in September and we're sailing in April. I mailed my application last week. 

 

I would have liked to have done it in person but the Calgary office shows a 3-4 hour wait each day. Ugh. And none of the 'fast service' places had any appointments available. 

[gnome12]

31 minutes ago, mrgabriel said:

I'm in the same situation - passport expires in September and we're sailing in April. I mailed my application last week. 

 

I would have liked to have done it in person but the Calgary office shows a 3-4 hour wait each day. Ugh. And none of the 'fast service' places had any appointments available. 

I had my passport (mailed Dec 9) in hand on January 5, even with the Christmas and New Year's holidays in there. It would have been delivered on January 4th, but I wasn't expecting it so didn't answer the door. I also looked at the wait times, and decided not to.

 

Despite mailing it to the Gatineau office (which covers Ontario), my passport was actually issued in Surrey BC, so it looks like they send the passports to offices that might be less busy for processing.

[everbeentoseabilly]

We went into the passport office near us in Ontario today. It was a painful 4 hours wait! We should get the passports back about a month

[Kamloops50]

On 1/16/2023 at 8:06 PM, IMSAILING said:

We are cruising the southern Caribbean in May and my husbands passport expires in October - should he be getting it renewed before hand or is that enough time between cruise and expiration ? 

Ours expires in Dec 2023. We renewed in Jan 2023 and were told we should have them by mid Feb 2023.

[mrgabriel]

I mailed my passport for renewal on January 11. My credit card was charged on January 16. Expecting to see the new passport in a week or two but will report back when it arrives. 

[Cdncruisecpl]

For the record, I renewed mine recently.  Went to Service Canada on a Friday for just before they opened.  Was at the office for less than two hours (including the 20 minutes before their opening time), and had my passport the following Thursday.  So 6 days total (not business days).  

[xcell]

safe than sorry -- I'd do it now...

[Happiest when cruising]

On 1/28/2023 at 12:31 PM, mrgabriel said:

I mailed my passport for renewal on January 11. My credit card was charged on January 16. Expecting to see the new passport in a week or two but will report back when it arrives. 

Has it arrived? 

[mrgabriel]

11 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

Has it arrived? 

Yes! Sorry - there were two threads about passports 😄

 

My old/cancelled passport arrived around February 1, and the new passport arrived February 15. There's a signature required so look for the card from the Postie if you're not at home. 

[Crown Vic]

Submitted passport renewal documentation, in person, at a Service Canada office on February 7. The new passport was hand delivery February 27. Woo hoo!

[Happiest when cruising]

On 2/27/2023 at 7:51 AM, mrgabriel said:

Yes! Sorry - there were two threads about passports 😄

 

My old/cancelled passport arrived around February 1, and the new passport arrived February 15. There's a signature required so look for the card from the Postie if you're not at home. 

Thanks so much. I live in BC and went right to a local passport office yesterday. They charged my credit card right away and gave me a mailing date of March 16. They said they were all caught up and they will mail it to me and said another 10 business days for arrival. There’s no way to track it, though. It just has to be delivered to me by April12- or I will miss my ship.