Passport or no passport????

[Jrsygrl]

So.....the reason I posted this question was because 2 RCCL reps gave me 2 different answers both of which conflicted with the RCCL web page on travel documents. I called the government agency and was told an interesting fact....they said a cruise line CAN enforce all passengers to travel with a passport on their sailings! Interesting.

 

I'm sucking it up and getting the passports...everyone has made some great points. Thanks :)

[negc]

I called the government agency and was told an interesting fact....they said a cruise line CAN enforce all passengers to travel with a passport on their sailings! Interesting.

 

There is a big difference between what a cruise line CAN do and what they WILL do. They could, theoretically, require all of its passengers to have green hair, but they wouldn't and they won't require all passengers to travel with a passports on their sailings if the government says that passports aren't necessary. To impose such a policy when their competition did not would put them at a serious competitive disadvantage, something, in these financially difficult times, they WOULD NOT DO. :rolleyes:

It is a good idea for you to get those passports but don't do it based on some highly unlikely situation such as the line imposing restrictions beyond what is required by law.:)

[MrZoey]

I would have a passport due to the fact if anything were to happen and you had to fly home you could not do so without a passport. You would have to apply at the US embassy and pay the rush charges. It is just safer to do so.

In this day and age I would never travel without one. When we were on Indy a few weeks ago, a passenger was flown off the ship with a medical emergency. They flew to Key West, but if the person had gotten sick a few hours later, they would have had to be taken to a non-US port. The aggravation of dealing with an ill family member and a foreign government doesn't sound too appealing.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

So.....the reason I posted this question was because 2 RCCL reps gave me 2 different answers both of which conflicted with the RCCL web page on travel documents. I called the government agency and was told an interesting fact....they said a cruise line CAN enforce all passengers to travel with a passport on their sailings! Interesting.

 

I'm sucking it up and getting the passports...everyone has made some great points. Thanks :)

 

 

My momma always said ask 3 people and you'll get 3 different answers...so true...anywhere, not just RC. Just went through that with an insurance question we had. Called and got different answers each time. :eek:

 

Good decision on getting the passports.....you won't regret it and now you'll be ready to go anywhere anytime!

 

Have a great cruise!

 

***

[TSC]

Both DH and I have our passports. Taking our two older sons with us on the next cruise in Oct. Oldest son just turned 16 and plan on getting his passport book which will be good for 10 years. My question is regarding my 13 year old. I'm considering just getting him the passport card since the passport book is only good for 5 years since he's a child, not 10. It's not a matter of the money (well, I don't want to spend what I don't have to, lol) but do you think this is the way to go?

 

Thanks for the input!

 

 

Michelle,

We took our two youngest grandchildren on short cruises in September and another in November. Neither child has a passport, so we just brought their birth certificates (must be the certified kind with a seal). I would have preferred they have passports in case we needed to fly home - but we decided to go on the September cruise on the spur of the moment - and there just wasn't time to bother. RCCL check in was fine and we all had a great time. ;)

have fun.

[Happy ks]

I stumbled across this web site which may be of help

 

http://traveldocs.com/index.htm

 

This is the exact reason you don't want to leave this chore for the last minute :eek:. The fees on this site are a lot more than what it costs if you do it yourself, in advance.

 

So.....the reason I posted this question was because 2 RCCL reps gave me 2 different answers both of which conflicted with the RCCL web page on travel documents. I called the government agency and was told an interesting fact....they said a cruise line CAN enforce all passengers to travel with a passport on their sailings! Interesting.

 

I'm sucking it up and getting the passports...everyone has made some great points. Thanks :)

 

 

This is information I've never read anywhere before.

In the long run, it's just so much simpler to have the passports in hand. I understand cost is an issue for families. We got ours one year, the kids the next and a couple months apart.

[michelle319]

I appreciate the info and input! I'm not going to mess around with the 13 year old. Since I'm getting the 16 year old his passport, I'll get the 13 year old his too. So it's only good for 5 years, big deal, lol. At least he'll have it. Thinking about a potential emergency and three of us having a passport and one doesn't, that just doesn't make sense:eek:.

 

Thanks again for the help!

[TPKeller]

Many people don't like what I have had to say about this subject, but for some interesting reading you can check out my web page on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

 

The fact is that there are exceptions built in to the laws and rules for travel within the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, at this time, we still have not been able to find a recently documented report of how one traveling on a BC/ID has managed to fly home in the case of an emergency.

 

Until June 1, 2009, we are in a transitional period between different sets of rules. Once the new rules are in effect, I plan to begin anew with an effort to once and for all chase down definitive answers to the question of "how to get home from a cruise in case of an emergency"?

 

Theron

[TravelerThom]

Many people don't like what I have had to say about this subject, but for some interesting reading you can check out my web page on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

 

The fact is that there are exceptions built in to the laws and rules for travel within the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, at this time, we still have not been able to find a recently documented report of how one traveling on a BC/ID has managed to fly home in the case of an emergency.

 

Until June 1, 2009, we are in a transitional period between different sets of rules. Once the new rules are in effect, I plan to begin anew with an effort to once and for all chase down definitive answers to the question of "how to get home from a cruise in case of an emergency"?

 

Theron

It is extremely difficult to cover every possible situation with any blanket statement. Unless I missed something I think you are in error on your webpage. Quoting from http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/tools/except.html

 

U.S. citizen cruise ship passengers traveling within the Western Hemisphere are permitted to present a government-issued photo identification document in combination with either:

(1) an original or a copy of a birth certificate,

(2) a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by DOS, or

(3) a Certificate of Naturalization issued by US. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),

when returning to the United States, under certain conditions:

The passengers must board the cruise ship at a port or place within the United States; and

The passengers must return on the same ship to the same U.S. port or place from where they originally departed.

________________________________

It is very important to note that this is straight from the Final Rule of the WHTI. Unless Congress re-writes the law (which has taken nearly 8 years to finally put in place) these rules are it... for passengers meeting the specified conditions, a passport will never be required to cruise!

 

There are cruises [thinking of cruises on Holland-American Grand Voyages to the Brazilian Amazon (and in some cases on to Antarctica and around the Horn to return via the Panama Canal)] that are round trip out of a US Port and never leave the Western Hemisphere, where you definitely will need a passport (and Visas). The passport may not be required by the US Government, but it certainly is required by Brazil among other countries. I recognize that these cruises are a very small percentage of Western Hemisphere cruises, but since your web pages is very well thought out, I thought you'd want to point that out.

[TPKeller]

It is extremely difficult to cover every possible situation with any blanket statement. Unless I missed something I think you are in error on your webpage. Quoting from http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/tools/except.html

 

U.S. citizen cruise ship passengers traveling within the Western Hemisphere are permitted to present a government-issued photo identification document in combination with either:

(1) an original or a copy of a birth certificate,

(2) a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by DOS, or

(3) a Certificate of Naturalization issued by US. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),

when returning to the United States, under certain conditions:

The passengers must board the cruise ship at a port or place within the United States; and

The passengers must return on the same ship to the same U.S. port or place from where they originally departed.

________________________________

It is very important to note that this is straight from the Final Rule of the WHTI. Unless Congress re-writes the law (which has taken nearly 8 years to finally put in place) these rules are it... for passengers meeting the specified conditions, a passport will never be required to cruise!

 

There are cruises [thinking of cruises on Holland-American Grand Voyages to the Brazilian Amazon (and in some cases on to Antarctica and around the Horn to return via the Panama Canal)] that are round trip out of a US Port and never leave the Western Hemisphere, where you definitely will need a passport (and Visas). The passport may not be required by the US Government, but it certainly is required by Brazil among other countries. I recognize that these cruises are a very small percentage of Western Hemisphere cruises, but since your web pages is very well thought out, I thought you'd want to point that out.

Yes, you are correct, and that's a good pick-up! I should (and probably will) add a small note, but frankly, I'm a bit uncomfortable publicly stating that the government document is in error. I get enough grief for just telling people the correct things that it says! ;)

 

The clarification needs to be made in the WHTI final rule document, which is what I am quoting. Instead of "Western Hemisphere", it should read "Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Area", which as you note, is not the entire Western Hemisphere, but a specific area encompassing most of the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico and Bermuda. There is a specific list of countries, 20 in all.

 

Thanks,

 

Theron

[TravelerThom]

Yes, you are correct, and that's a good pick-up! I should (and probably will) add a small note, but frankly, I'm a bit uncomfortable publicly stating that the government document is in error. I get enough grief for just telling people the correct things that it says! ;)

 

The clarification needs to be made in the WHTI final rule document, which is what I am quoting. Instead of "Western Hemisphere", it should read "Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Area", which as you note, is not the entire Western Hemisphere, but a specific area encompassing most of the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico and Bermuda. There is a specific list of countries, 20 in all.

 

Thanks,

 

Theron

Thanks for the link to the 20 countries in WHTI. Since the State Department used the term Caribbean region I'll let it pass that two of the countries on the State Department's list [bahamas and Turks & Caicos] are not technically Caribbean countries [they are not within the Caribbean, nor do they have any frontage on the Caribbean].

 

It is interesting to note Caribbean [broadly defined] countries NOT included within WHTI. A list [i think this includes all, but am not guaranteeing it]:

Haiti

Belize

Honduras

Costa Rico

Panama

Guatemala

Trinidad & Tobago

Venezuela

Columbia

Cuba

Except for Cuba I think it is possible to cruise commercially to all of these countries on round trips from a US port [i have not specifically checked for proof from each of these countries, but I THINK that is correct]. For many of these countries, cruises to get there are not likely to be someone's first cruise, but others are clearly on relatively mainstream cruises that would have a substantial number of first time cruisers. Two countries that immediately come to mind on main stream cruises are Haiti and Belize. My b2b Independence of the Seas cruises leaving this Sunday are scheduled to stop in both Belize and Labadee. Of course with Labadee you are only sort of in Haiti and haven't fully processed into Haiti and don't really have access to the real country [i am figuratively waving my hands here - no claim for technical correctness of those statements, but I hope my intent is pretty clear]. Trips to Belize however place you squarely within that country to roam at will, so hard to argue that you are not really there. So will a passport be required for these cruises? [i am NOT hazarding an answer; and yes I will be carrying my passport. As with many things related to the government, the more I read, the less clear it becomes.]

 

I will also make the comment which I am sure is obvious to you, but may not be obvious to all: just because the US Government says that US Citizen does not have to have a passport for round trip sea travel to another country, that does not obligate that other country to allow entry [and entry in this sense may include staying on the ship in the other country's territorial waters, never setting foot ashore] without a passport. I THINK I am correct that all the countries included within WHTI will in fact allow sea passage and [at least short term] entry to US Citizens without a passport, but any country has the right to change this at its pleasure. Further, I think that a number [possibly most] of the countries on my list above of Caribbean countries not included within WHTI do require passports of US citizens, even for sea travelers.