What's going on with the Passport situation???

[Don Haynes]

I agree, cruising is a luxury. If people can afford thousands of dollars for a cruise, they can afford a passport.

 

As for children. children do need passports to cruise outside the Caribbean, Canada, and Bermuda.

 

I have no mercy for those who waited too long to get a passport. We have known for the past three years passports will be needed to cruise. The deadline has been delayed one year as it is. There is nothing to gain by waiting. Everyone should have gotten a passport last year ahead of the rush.

 

And its going to get worst. With the deadline approaching for land travel to Canada and Mexico, there will be several times more people wishing to have passports, especially along the border.

[JAM810]

Passport News

New Regulations for US Citizens:

 

******UPDATE******MAY 8,2007

 

The US Passport agency is saying 10-12 weeks to receive a Passport.

Expedited passport applications are no longer taking 1-2 weeks but rather 2-4 weeks, and they are only being “rushed” if people enclose a copy of their itinerary showing the urgency of a passport with their upcoming dates of travel.

Ways to get around the log jam? We are lucky to be in Philly because there is a passport agency right here, so people can schedule an appointment, but this won’t get you in the door overnight, it takes about a week to 2 weeks to get a confirmed appointment. Here is the phone number for the Philly passport office:

Automated Appointment Number: 1-877-487-2778 and you must have an “urgent need” for going around the typical process. This need could simply be that you are leaving soon for a trip and it has taken longer than the advised 6-8 weeks which were posted on the government sites in March and you have yet to receive your passport.

IF you are going to apply for a passport and feel you have the 10-12 weeks to wait, make sure you photo copy your birth certificates and have extra’s photo’s because if there are delays in receiving your passport, you can only go to the Philly Passport office if you bring those documents with you. Many times people find out their passport is being delayed and try to get an appointment but don’t have a copy of their birth certificate because they surrendered it with their application.

To check the status of your passport if you are eagerly waiting for it go to

www.travel.state.gov and click on passport.

P.S. I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED MY PASSPORTS YET! :mad: