Passport question.

When do you absolutely have to have your passport to sail with Carnival to the Carribean, the date keeps changing. DH and I already have ours but trying to get my parents to go on a cruise with us in OCtober thsi year, they do not have theirs yet, will they need one then?:confused:

AS long as your cruise departs and returns to the same port...YOu will not need a Passport. Govt issued ID and Birth Certificate will work. However, in the event a passenger needs to leave ship and fly home due to an emergency... lack of Passport could cause delays and denial of boarding on plane. See below for more detail:

Passports: At one time, the hard and fast rule for travel in North America (and we're including the Caribbean in that region) was that a certified birth certificate and government-issued photo ID was acceptable in lieu of a passport. File that away with your slide rules and buggy whips: The U.S. State Department has announced that passports will be necessary for all air travel to and from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda -- eventually (the timelines and deadlines have been extended and delayed numerous times).

At first, the U.S. State Department had announced that passports were to be necessary for all air travel to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda, effective January 23, 2007. Though the State Department temporarily eased the requirements due to an overwhelming backlog of passport applications, the January 23 rules for air travel are back in effect, at least for now. For more information, check out IndependentTraveler.com's up-to-the-minute Passport Center.

On January 31, 2008, the State Department implemented the second phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires U. S. citizens to possess a valid identity document (e.g. U.S. driver's license) and citizenship document (e.g. U.S. birth certificate) to cross land borders and sea borders between U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean region. (In actuality this was nothing new for cruise passengers, who had already been following those documentation rules for some time.)

The third phase, the one which is most problematic, requires the possession of a U.S. passport -- or equivalent -- for any travel by land, sea or air, anywhere outside of the United States. The implementation date for Phase 3 has been set for June 1, 2009.

Fortunately, some cruise passengers will continue to be exempt from the passport requirement even after the final rule takes effect. Passengers on any "closed-loop sailing" -- an itinerary that begins and ends at the same U.S. port -- will not require a passport or other WHTI-compliant document in order to re-enter the U.S. They will, however, still need to present a government-issued photo ID (such as a driver's license) and proof of citizenship (a birth certificate, certificate of naturalization or similar documentation).

The 2009 rules will, on the other hand, impact cruise travelers not sailing roundtrip voyages to and from the same U.S. city. These cruisers will need to show a U.S. passport or WHTI equivalent.

Included in the category of "equivalents" are U.S. Passport Cards and Trusted Traveler Cards. Passport Cards are DHS-issued limited use passports reduced down to wallet card size, valid for land and sea travel only between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for Passport Cards beginning February 1, 2008. Cards are expected to be available and mailed to applicants sometime in the spring of 2008.

For information on Trusted Traveler documentation visit the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Web site.

Thank you for the information.