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Passports for 1 year old


slotmomma3

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"Needing" a passport isn't age specific. The rules as they currently stand - for US citizens - any cruise known as a "closed loop cruise" leaving and coming back to the same US port does not require a passport to board the ship - you can use a birth certificate (with driver's license for the adults)

 

HOWEVER - if something happens while you are on the ship. Let's say you are sitting in Bermuda and the baby gets sick and you have to FLY home - the baby will need a passport to FLY.

 

This is the risk you need to evaluate. If you have time - then get the passports. The child passports are good for 5 years.

 

But as far as being allowed on the ship - yes - the baby is allowed on the ship with a certified birth certificate.

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Good decision. We will be going on a closed loop cruise to the Caribbean next year and, while we know it isn't technically required, we will be getting a passport for our DD (she'll be a little over 2 years). We plan to wait a little while to get the passport--probably the end of this year--enough time to not have to worry about getting it back, but making sure she is able to use it for nearly the full 5 years (no international trips before that). The thought of something possibly happening and needing to get back another way, while not likely, is enough to make sure we have our bases covered.

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Very good decision. We were on a cruise to Bermuda and my 10 month old DS had bronchiolitis and we had to fly home. He had never had this before and it was totally out of the blue. It was stressful enough I can't imagine having to do the whole passport thing on top of it.

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"Needing" a passport isn't age specific. The rules as they currently stand - for US citizens - any cruise known as a "closed loop cruise" leaving and coming back to the same US port does not require a passport to board the ship - you can use a birth certificate (with driver's license for the adults)

 

HOWEVER - if something happens while you are on the ship. Let's say you are sitting in Bermuda and the baby gets sick and you have to FLY home - the baby will need a passport to FLY.

 

This is the risk you need to evaluate. If you have time - then get the passports. The child passports are good for 5 years.

 

But as far as being allowed on the ship - yes - the baby is allowed on the ship with a certified birth certificate.

 

Never thought of that. We will be travelling with my daughter and two granddaughters. Do you happen to know if the Passport Cards are allowed to be used to fly??

 

Thanks

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Never thought of that. We will be travelling with my daughter and two granddaughters. Do you happen to know if the Passport Cards are allowed to be used to fly??

 

Thanks

 

No - it must be the passport book. The cards are only good for driving across the borders - not flying.

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We were in the same predicament. Traveling in a group of 18 with three infants under a year. Two of the passports took 4-5 weeks, one took 3. It was dependent on where they were processed. One adult in my group had his rejected because his name was too long to be put on the passport card. Then it took another 4-5 weeks until the it finally came. Good that we had plenty of time before we cruised.

All have passports now.

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Good decision. We will be going on a closed loop cruise to the Caribbean next year and, while we know it isn't technically required, we will be getting a passport for our DD (she'll be a little over 2 years). We plan to wait a little while to get the passport--probably the end of this year--enough time to not have to worry about getting it back, but making sure she is able to use it for nearly the full 5 years (no international trips before that). The thought of something possibly happening and needing to get back another way, while not likely, is enough to make sure we have our bases covered.

 

This is a good plan. While you obviously want to submit with plenty of time, the child passports are good for 5 years. Adult passports start at 16YO, so getting it later (along with some strategic spacing of renewals) might save the pain and cost of buying a 4th child passport.

 

Adult passports are a bit cheaper per year, but the big thing is that you cannot renew a child passport. Technically you can "renew", but it's just like a new application where you (parents and child) have to show up in person. You also get to pay the $25 fee to the USPS for their services. :rolleyes:

 

Also, just a suggestion: if you haven't gotten the BC yet it's usually cheap to get extra "original" copies. Get at least one spare and you'll still have an original after sending one off with the passport application. Just in case... ;)

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We were in the same predicament. Traveling in a group of 18 with three infants under a year. Two of the passports took 4-5 weeks, one took 3. It was dependent on where they were processed. One adult in my group had his rejected because his name was too long to be put on the passport card. Then it took another 4-5 weeks until the it finally came. Good that we had plenty of time before we cruised.

All have passports now.

 

I hope you meant passport "BOOK" not card. ;) Because it won't do him any good to have the card if he needs it. He could drive home ;)

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I hope you meant passport "BOOK" not card. ;) Because it won't do him any good to have the card if he needs it. He could drive home ;)

 

They all have both.

What happened was... my son wanted both, but since his name was too long, having too many characters to fit on the card they sent it back to him to either cancel the card and use his full name on the passport book or change and shorten his name by using initials to get both book & card. This process took another 4-5 weeks after sending in the changes.:mad: Good thing we had time to do this. Their excuse was for security reasons that they could not have any differences on the card & book. The names had to be the same on both, but go figure... security reasons? You can change your name to fit. Security reasons... hmm :rolleyes:

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They all have both.

What happened was... my son wanted both, but since his name was too long, having too many characters to fit on the card they sent it back to him to either cancel the card and use his full name on the passport book or change and shorten his name by using initials to get both book & card. This process took another 4-5 weeks after sending in the changes.:mad: Good thing we had time to do this. Their excuse was for security reasons that they could not have any differences on the card & book. The names had to be the same on both, but go figure... security reasons? You can change your name to fit. Security reasons... hmm :rolleyes:

 

Well good - since they needed the book :D

 

Sorry they had a hard time getting them.

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The names had to be the same on both, but go figure... security reasons? You can change your name to fit. Security reasons... hmm :rolleyes:

 

Well, that is somewhat understandable. And you don't want to be in some 3rd world country and give the "authorities" an excuse to hold you. Our guys don't know where you might be going, right?

 

As far as the name change, that does seem crazy... but I bet there is some international convention to account for some countries that have really long (legal) names. As long as our side knows who you are, I guess it doesn't matter if you have an 'alias' on the documents. They are still legal. Not sure how that plays into the name on the booking though... :confused:

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Ok so you do not need a passport till they are i think around 12 (dont know the age 100% but i know under 5 they dont) however that is only the case for certin countries and certin modes of transpertation, so if everything goes as planed on the cruise then a BC is fine but if something happens and you need to fly home or divert to a diffrent port you could have issues. Plus if you get the passport you can get it stamped and have something to put in the baby book (they dont usuly stamp passports but i can say for sure in bermuda if you take it to guest services a few hours b4 leaving port they can get the folks that clear the ship to stamp it)

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Ok so you do not need a passport till they are i think around 12 (dont know the age 100% but i know under 5 they dont) however that is only the case for certin countries and certin modes of transpertation, so if everything goes as planed on the cruise then a BC is fine but if something happens and you need to fly home or divert to a diffrent port you could have issues.

 

This is entirely incorrect. As stated earlier in the thread, the passport requirement has no age variable. If a passport is required for an adult, it is required from birth. If it is not required for an adult (ie. closed loop cruises) than it is obviously not required for a child either.

 

The state department says "All minors regardless of age, including newborns and infants, must have their own passport when traveling internationally by air"

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I just received a passport for my youngest (4mos) in the mail last week. It was not required for our upcoming cruise next month. However, like others have said, if there is an emergency and you have to leave by plane you are in trouble. It wasn't worth the risk. Besides, we are frequent cruisers and I knew it was inevitable that she have one. Other than the hassle to have both parents go to file the application it was pretty painless. It came back quickly too....about 4 wks.

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My oldest son got his first passport when he was eight and my younger one when he was two.

 

when a passport expires and you renew it- they send you back your old one. I love looking at their old passport pictures- so cute and my Mom saved all mine too and I got a kick out of that.

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