West bound transatlantic cruise questions

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Just go biz class and the long flight is delightful...but coming back from FLL, not so much.

Biz classes flight for 8 hours is worth more than a 12 night cruise 😉

[Lastdance]

2 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Biz classes flight for 8 hours is worth more than a 12 night cruise 😉

For us it is 11 hours, but if only 8 I might consider.  Plus, I can get severe ear pain and nauseous in coach.

[the penguins]

42 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Biz classes flight for 8 hours is worth more than a 12 night cruise 😉

for us Business with the flat beds is essential as my wife's mobility/pain issues make it impossible for her to travel in a traditional seat for that length of time. We just about manage Fort Lauderdale to Dallas by flying First Class on American.

We try to minimise the costs by booking Premium Economy and using our AVIOS (BA Miles) to upgrade to Business/Club.

This year, we are using a companion voucher from Amex but the increase in the yearly fee from November and the need to spend 50% more will mean that will be the last time we can do that.

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

I enjoy some rocking & rolling but don't like to heel more than 10 degrees! It also depends on the direction of the wind & sea state. Confused seas coming from multiple directions are the worse. And don't get me started on rogue waves! Anyway, I'm hoping we go. Just mailed hubby passport back for renewal so hope it comes back by the end of October.

Good to hear your passport is on the way home.   We renewed our this summer also... ran out of pages.   Iain also renewed his British Passport so we are all set.

[catspaw1]

40 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Good to hear your passport is on the way home.   We renewed our this summer also... ran out of pages.   Iain also renewed his British Passport so we are all set.

No we just mailed it in for renewal. State dept says 6-8 weeks. That should give us plenty of time to get it back by the November cruises hopefully. I used to work at GPO who actually prints the passports. Did you know the new passports have over 300 security features?

[mahdnc]

7 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

No we just mailed it in for renewal. State dept says 6-8 weeks. That should give us plenty of time to get it back by the November cruises hopefully. I used to work at GPO who actually prints the passports. Did you know the new passports have over 300 security features?

 

I do like the new passport format although I didn't know about the security features.

[MamaFej]

PapaFej just sent his passport in for renewal three years early, as well. He has enough pages left to get through our next trip, but not enough for the trip after that one, which is only a few weeks after the next one ends. 

 

Definetely not the worst problem to have. 

 

[catspaw1]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

 

I do like the new passport format although I didn't know about the security features.

Those new unused passports leave GPO under armored truck to State dept. I've seen it. They had been working on a new passpie4s with enhanced security for years 

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

No we just mailed it in for renewal. State dept says 6-8 weeks. That should give us plenty of time to get it back by the November cruises hopefully. I used to work at GPO who actually prints the passports. Did you know the new passports have over 300 security features?

Ahh... the good news is that when we applied in late May it took a month from mailing application  until receipt of new passport.  Checking status it took 3 weeks processing time.   For some reason it took Iain a week longer.  I mailed both at the same time and his took about 5 days extra to say received. Much faster than we were expecting.

 

One thing I found interesting was when they were mailed back they were mailed from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

[catspaw1]

2 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

PapaFej just sent his passport in for renewal three years early, as well. He has enough pages left to get through our next trip, but not enough for the trip after that one, which is only a few weeks after the next one ends. 

 

Definetely not the worst problem to have. 

 

You can always ask for added pages. Not sure of any new rules,  but before COVID you could only renew if it was expiring within 6 months. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

PapaFej just sent his passport in for renewal three years early, as well. He has enough pages left to get through our next trip, but not enough for the trip after that one, which is only a few weeks after the next one ends. 

 

Definetely not the worst problem to have. 

 

 

We applied for the extra page books this time but with all the new electronic processing will probably never get another stamp..   LOL

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, catspaw1 said:

Those new unused passports leave GPO under armored truck to State dept. I've seen it. They had been working on a new passpie4s with enhanced security for years 

 

Make sense that they are guarded very closely.  I am sure the printing ink is, too.  It takes a lot of effort to stay ahead of the counterfeit market which improves every year.  I imagine that they are now working on the next generation passports.  Someday--like maybe my great grand kids--we will all be chipped like our dogs!

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

You can always ask for added pages. Not sure of any new rules,  but before COVID you could only renew if it was expiring within 6 months. 

 

They can add pages and re-bind?

[catspaw1]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ahh... the good news is that when we applied in late May it took a month from mailing application  until receipt of new passport.  Checking status it took 3 weeks processing time.   For some reason it took Iain a week longer.  I mailed both at the same time and his took about 5 days extra to say received. Much faster than we were expecting.

 

One thing I found interesting was when they were mailed back they were mailed from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

I know state dept had a huge backlog during COVID & passport renewal was shut down as employees could not work from home due to security. I know they laid off a bunch of workers & many got jobs elsewhere & never came back. So when they came back to work there was a huge backlog & lots of new staff. I'm retired Fed but still hear a lot of things as I serve on a board of directors for a quasi government agency - we get no Fed funding 

[catspaw1]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ahh... the good news is that when we applied in late May it took a month from mailing application  until receipt of new passport.  Checking status it took 3 weeks processing time.   For some reason it took Iain a week longer.  I mailed both at the same time and his took about 5 days extra to say received. Much faster than we were expecting.

 

One thing I found interesting was when they were mailed back they were mailed from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

I know state dept had a huge backlog during COVID & passport renewal was shut down as employees could not work from home due to security. I know they laid off a bunch of workers & many got jobs elsewhere & never came back. So when they came back to work there was a huge backlog & lots of new staff. I'm retired Fed but still hear a lot of things as I serve on a board of directors for a quasi government agency - we get no Fed funding 

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

Those new unused passports leave GPO under armored truck to State dept. I've seen it. They had been working on a new passpie4s with enhanced security for years 

 

I can only Imagine.    Iain use to work at SF Federal Reserve.   He was offered a tour of the vaults with all the new paper monies.   He said it was incredible how much cash they had, each full of cart held between $4-6 Million and were packed inside a room the size of a football field.

[mahdnc]

Just now, catspaw1 said:

I know state dept had a huge backlog during COVID & passport renewal was shut down as employees could not work from home due to security. I know they laid off a bunch of workers & many got jobs elsewhere & never came back. So when they came back to work there was a huge backlog & lots of new staff. I'm retired Fed but still hear a lot of things as I serve on a board of directors for a quasi government agency - we get no Fed funding 

 

Fed? Navy? CIA, too?

[catspaw1]

Not sure if & how they can add extra pages- I had nothing to do with that. I do know it's best to ask for extra pages upon renewal though  

[catspaw1]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

Fed? Navy? CIA, too?

 I was Fed civilian so worked in a # of agencies but I retired from the Navy. 

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

You can always ask for added pages. Not sure of any new rules,  but before COVID you could only renew if it was expiring within 6 months. 

They no longer add pages.  I did that a couple times while living overseas.  At least when we renewed it said you had to obtain a new passport.  Not sure when they changed.

 

FAQ from State Department -

 

You cannot add visa pages to a current passport book. If you need more pages, you must renew your passport book. Apr 30, 2024

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, catspaw1 said:

 I was Fed civilian so worked in a # of agencies but I retired from the Navy. 

 

That's what I was thinking.  Out of curiosity, can you tell me what agencies you worked for?

[catspaw1]

15 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

That's what I was thinking.  Out of curiosity, can you tell me what agencies you worked for?

DoD, DHS, BBG & GPO. How's that for alphabet soup?

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, catspaw1 said:

DoD, DHS, BBG & GPO. How's that for alphabet soup?

OMG!

[catspaw1]

17 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

They no longer add pages.  I did that a couple times while living overseas.  At least when we renewed it said you had to obtain a new passport.  Not sure when they changed.

 

FAQ from State Department -

 

You cannot add visa pages to a current passport book. If you need more pages, you must renew your passport book. Apr 30, 2024

I wasn't sure about that either. We lived overseas when my last passport needed renewal & got extra pages back then. Our last international trip before COVID was almost 3 weeks in Portugal.  We loved Portugal. Consider going to Belem for the day in Lisbon & you must go to the bakery that's there & get the treat pastel de nata- too die for! Take Uber 

[MamaFej]

33 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

We applied for the extra page books this time but with all the new electronic processing will probably never get another stamp..   LOL

I got the extra pages book in 2021. We got felatively few stanps on our 2022 and 2023 travel (including ZERO stamps six times in and out of Australia and 5 times in and out of New Zealand in 2023). I was feeling kind of silly for getting the extra pages, then we went to 12 countries in Asia earlier this year, in and out of a few of them multiple times. We got LOTS of stamps and some stickers. I think a lot depends on the countries. 

PapaFej didn't want to take any chances with our Africa trip, involving multiple countries.