Passport Blank Pages

[Tsunami74]

We are very careful to have 6 months + on our passports.

However, we did not keep track of blank pages.

Going on a trans Atlantic and only have 3 and 5 blanks.

Cruise line and TA recommend renewing early, but we have other travel in between with only 2 -3 weeks in between.

Has anyone used Fed Ex rush/my/passport.

We do not have many expediting options here.

[Pcardad]

Just get a 2nd passport.

[Tsunami74]

How??

Any recommendations for expedited service?

[Pcardad]

15 minutes ago, Tsunami74 said:

How??

Any recommendations for expedited service?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/second-passport-book.html

 

[GOARMY]

TS:

 

Time would be well spent going online to U.S. Department of State and following prompts related to renewing a Passport.  A three-page summary you can print out detailing procedures and protocols will answer all questions you posed above.  Get the straight poop directly from that site.  

 

Yes, you can get expedited service as to furnishing needed paperwork to State by paying an additional fee.  ($60.00 per Passport).  Again,  see above.  

 

We have just gone through this renewal process.  Our old Passports with checks and completed Forms are now en route via Priority Mail (NOT FedEX) to the appropriate Philadelphia, PA PO Box.  

 

Completed the last component of our packet at our local (Redmond, WA) Post Office under the guidance of the Postal official manning the Passport Office.  He was very helpful when confirming the correct PO Box number was used.  That is kind of important.  

 

Hope this helps. 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

[Tsunami74]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/second-passport-book.html

 

This is 3-5 weeks  We have only 3 between trips

 

I wish some one, our TA or cruise line, would have warned us to count blank pages. We know to have the 6 months post trip validity, but no one ever mentioned blank pages until I mentioned to TA my book is getting full.

[papaflamingo]

14 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

We are very careful to have 6 months + on our passports.

However, we did not keep track of blank pages.

Going on a trans Atlantic and only have 3 and 5 blanks.

Cruise line and TA recommend renewing early, but we have other travel in between with only 2 -3 weeks in between.

Has anyone used Fed Ex rush/my/passport.

We do not have many expediting options here.

I would imagine 3 pages is more than enough blanks for a Trans Atlantic cruise.  What countries are you going to?  We have traveled extensively since we got our passports, including 44 night cruise from Honolulu to Sydney, 40 nights from Montreal to Southampton, and a Baltic cruise from Amsterdam with a week in Paris.  We only have 2 stamps.  One was from a week in the Bahamas and the other is from Ireland this past June when we were on the 40 night cruise.  

So if it were me,. depending on the countries you will visit, I wouldn't spend the money for an expedited passport, or risk it not getting back in time.   

[seaknots]

14 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

I wish some one, our TA or cruise line, would have warned us to count blank pages. We know to have the 6 months post trip validity, but no one ever mentioned blank pages

validity of passport & visas is your personal responsibility

 

if you still have 3 blank pages then there should be no problem

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

15 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

This is 3-5 weeks  We have only 3 between trips

 

I wish some one, our TA or cruise line, would have warned us to count blank pages. We know to have the 6 months post trip validity, but no one ever mentioned blank pages until I mentioned to TA my book is getting full.

It is too late to renew.  Simply use you existing passport and put a sticky on your passport asking to use an xisting page with only a stamp on one half.

Making sure there are enough pages is a personal responsibility.   Not that of a cruiseline. 

[European_CruiseGirl]

I cannot imagine you’d need more than 3 blank pages for a TA route. Which ports are you stopping at? 

[Tsunami74]

Bermuda, Bahamas, Azores, Fuchal, Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Sicily, Salerno, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Trieste (Venice)

[mj_holiday]

You can check the entry requirements for each country you are scheduled to visit. This can give you an idea of what you need regarding passport expiration and blank pages. 
If you need more pages, a second passport may be the answer. 
We were in a similar situation with 8 weeks before travel and had time to renew, and along the way we were advised to call if trip was certain number of days away. 

[papaflamingo]

16 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

Bermuda, Bahamas, Azores, Fuchal, Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Sicily, Salerno, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Trieste (Venice)

I've been to all those ports except Bermuda.  In my passport, the only stamps I have are Bahamas and Ireland.  But the Bahama stamp came from a week we spent in the Bahamas, never from a cruise.  On our last cruise, only Ireland stamped it (I think, it's a hard to read stamp).  Not sure if it's the same today, but I really don't think any of those ports require a passport for cruise passengers, but even so, 3 pages will be more than enough. 

[European_CruiseGirl]

17 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

Bermuda, Bahamas, Azores, Fuchal, Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Sicily, Salerno, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Trieste (Venice)

Not sure of Bermuda or Bahamas but after you have entered EU (Funchal) you won’t get stamped in any other EU ports (all of your ports after Funchal are EU ports). You might not even be stamped at Funchal, Madeira anymore. So you are definitely good to go with just a couple of blank pages.
 

Edited January 21, 2023 by European_CruiseGirl

[Tsunami74]

Thank you Good information

[Damaris1900]

The thing to be aware of in counting blank passport pages is that the last 2 or 3 pages in a US passport are not used for visa stamps, they are called amendment pages.  You need to count the number of remaining pages with Visa written at the top, those are the only ones usable.

 

That was something I didn't know, but fortunately found out before it became an issue.

 

Edited to add:  Here is a link that shows how many blank pages each country requires:

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/passport-pages-for-visas.html

Edited January 21, 2023 by Damaris1900
added info

[LadyZolt]

On 1/21/2023 at 10:44 AM, Damaris1900 said:

The thing to be aware of in counting blank passport pages is that the last 2 or 3 pages in a US passport are not used for visa stamps, they are called amendment pages.  You need to count the number of remaining pages with Visa written at the top, those are the only ones usable.

 

That was something I didn't know, but fortunately found out before it became an issue.

 

We just got new passports in November and got the 50 page one as we're doing the Royal world cruise -- and pages 8 through 50 all say "Visas" at the top of the page.  I believe one used to be able to add blank pages if they needed to, but that is no longer permitted.

[GOARMY]

Quick update.  

 

Reference my January 19th Post #5: 

 

Received our new Passports today via Priority Mail Express.  Almost exactly eight weeks to the day from submitting our documents via USPS--Priority.  So--the timeline provided in the State Department's web guidance as to turn-around was right-on.  

 

19 Pages for usable entries.  All labeled "Visas".  We do not plan on taking a World Cruise during the next 10 years.  By the time of expiration, we (me) will be 90; spouse a few years younger.  In the interim, have already planned several 2023-2025 Regent segments; and another Uniworld series of river cruises in France.  

 

See some of you late this May at NYC when we board Navigator for a B/t/B.  

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

[Techno123]

On 1/21/2023 at 2:33 PM, European_CruiseGirl said:

 

As a British citizen I have been Basel to Amsterdam on a river cruise and to Lisbon, Madrid and Turin since May 2022 and each time my passport has been stamped on entry and exit at the airport. We have to remain within the 90 days in 180 without a visa so it is handy to know you have been 'checked in and out' but I also don't think the new automated system is working as well as it should so don't rely on this just yet 😁

[Jim Avery]

We renewed passports last summer.  Paid for expedited everything.  I have had passports continuously since infancy.  It still took almost three months.  They can get lots of stamps on three pages and in my experience, the countries you list mostly won't stamp anyway unless you request.  Always subject to change of course..🍸

[briar14]

Passport renewal received at processing center January 17. New passports received today, March 17. Did not use expedited processing. We were able to track them online. So many more pages for Regent adventures☘️!

[Tsunami74]

Hi

I am the author who started this discussion.  And this is what actually happened.

In January, I noticed my husband's passport only had 3 blank pages (2 of them the last 2 that do not say for visas etc)  The expiration date was no problem.

Since we were going on a trans Atlantic cruise in March with 2 additional out of the country trips in between (so no time to send off for a new one), I put out the question if the low number of pages would present a problem. Several people gave opinions, some constructive, some snippy.

I did contact our congressman who suggested waiting until within 2 weeks to get emergency replacement.

I also finally, after many minutes of transfers on the (official) US passport phone line got a real person.  She was very pleasant and said to not worry - 3 pages is more than sufficient for a cruise.

But I did worry.

When we returned from Mexico within 2 weeks of the TA departure, we tried to contact the passport office for the emergency replacement.  Several days of attempts, and we could not get into the system - always told to call back at a less busy time.

So.... off we go to Miami.

On embarkation, the very pleasant agent did not look past the "picture page" and handed the passport back. We keep them for during the cruise.  Apparently, we will get no stamps on pages for this cruise.

So my advice is that in addition to the expiration date (which is CRITICAL) you might monitor empty pages, but this in NOT a deal breaker and NO NEED to risk sending passport away to replace it.

Of course, on return, he will send it in even though not expiring for more than a year just to be completely safe, but I am glad we did not risk sending it off or drive many miles to get a new one before this trip.