Passport question

[girlzillla]

I know this has been asked before...

 

We leave for a cruise in exactly one month.  I completed the check in paperwork and the warning popped up saying that Royal suggests passports not expire for 6 months.  Ours will expire in June.  We are visiting - St Marteen, Dominica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.  I think we will be okay with all of them but not sure about Trinidad and Tobago.   I called the cruise line and they said we would be okay but to bring our birth certificates and ID cards as backup documents.  But now I am starting to worry.  I could send in the paperwork and expedite the passport, but we are only 4 weeks away.  I am worried we wouldn't get it back and not be able to go at all.  

 

does anyone have any information on these ports or suggestions?  most of the information online is mostly for land based vacations, not cruises.  

 

thank you in advance.

[Essiesmom]

Royal suggests… but does not require.  You will be fine.  There are few places in the Caribbean that require a passport but you are not visiting them.  I also believe the places that do require a passport, such as Martinique and Guadeloupe do not require six months.  EM

[girlzillla]

thank you that makes me feel better about this.  

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Royal suggests… but does not require.  You will be fine. 

I agree and the recommendation to bring your birth certificate and ID makes no sense.  Your passport is valid for re-entry into the United States up until the day it expires.  Trinidad and Tobago wouldn't know what to do with your birth certificate and official ID. 

 

[sparks1093]

There will undoubtedly be folks on your cruise who are traveling with birth certificate and government issued ID. It would be quite silly for Royal to reject a valid passport that doesn't expire until after the cruise is done. While there are some cruise lines that do mandate that all passengers have a passport and that they have 6 months validity, but Royal isn't one of them. (And there are some countries that do require passports to have 6 months remaining but the requirement is to have that needs to be at the conclusion of your trip, so if your trip. So if you visited one of those countries for a month your passport would need 7 months validity at the beginning of your trip.)

[ldubs]

Nonetheless, if the cruise line says bring the backup documents, I would bring the backup documents.  

[girlzillla]

Update to my passport question.  We went on the trip and was able to visit each island with no issues.  I brought birth certs and marriage license and no one asked for them.  To be honest, only had to show the passport twice, once boarding and once at customs.  

 

I have the forms filled out and getting photos done for new passort.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Thank you for the update!

[Mum2Mercury]

On 1/18/2024 at 4:20 PM, girlzillla said:

... Royal suggests passports not expire for 6 months.  Ours will expire in June ... 

I think the issue is that IF you were somehow delayed (illness or injury?) and couldn't return on time, you could potentially be unable to re-enter the US.  But how likely is it that you'd be delayed until June?  Sounds like an over-abundance of caution.  

 

Birth certificates, on the other hand, do not expire.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I think the issue is that IF you were somehow delayed (illness or injury?) and couldn't return on time, you could potentially be unable to re-enter the US.  But how likely is it that you'd be delayed until June?  Sounds like an over-abundance of caution.  

 

Birth certificates, on the other hand, do not expire.  

…but are still useless for international air travel.

 

Not having a passport with 6 months expiration leeway? Not a problem until it’s a problem - a very costly problem.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

…but are still useless for international air travel.

 

Not having a passport with 6 months expiration leeway? Not a problem until it’s a problem - a very costly problem.

And in the OP's case it wasn't a problem for their closed loop cruise, as they said in post 7. All travel isn't created equally and what one needs for international air travel is different than what one needs for other forms of travel.

[Hlitner]

Not a problem on a closed-loop cruise. 

 

Hank

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Not a problem on a closed-loop cruise. 

 

Hank

…until it’s a problem. (Just one of the reasons why most premium/luxury lines still require all passengers on all itineraries to have passports).

[Hlitner]

53 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

…until it’s a problem. (Just one of the reasons why most premium/luxury lines still require all passengers on all itineraries to have passports).

I, personally, would not leave home without it!  And we never allow our Passports to drop below 6 months of validity.  But that is us.