Passport Expiry Worries

So we are booked on a lovely cruise on the Crown in August sailing from Southampton. We stop in several countries affected by the Schengen Agreement (though notably NOT the Netherlands, which stipulates 3 months as a requirement). This is an Agreement regarding entry into any of the 26 European countries in the Schengen area regarding short-term travel: it requires that your passport be valid for at least 3 months beyond your intended date of departure.

However, it seems that conventional wisdom and recommendations are for passports to be valid for a full 6 months beyond intended date of departure. I have no problem with this as I do not want to tempt fate and run into problems. I even renewed Son's passport 8 months early as his would have fallen into the 4 1/2 month expiration range. The problem is that my Dear (stubborn) SO's passport expires 5 months after our intended date of departure from GB. I was given an passport expiry error message when I tried to fill out the info for the Princess Boarding passes, and when I called BA to ask what their policy was about allowing flight boarding in the US to head across the pond, I was given a nebulous answer but a stern warning that boarding MAY be denied.

So (Dear Stubborn) SO calls Princess, and tells me that he has worked it out with them that they will allow him to do the paperwork at the pier, and that they will not deny boarding the cruise ship. They will even send him confirmation in writing, and have placed a note on his reservation! (His words). He says that because technically his passport is valid for longer than the required 3 months, that he is right, and they cannot deny him boarding. I guess that I am a little more pragmatic and realistic than he is, because I don't think he should chance it- he has plenty of time to renew his passport, but simply refuses to (out of righteousness, I guess?) I feel that any individual along the route can call into play the 6 month recommendation and simply say "no" because, quite frankly, they do have the power to do so (even if technically legally wrong).

Does anyone have any actual experience with this situation? This is a well-travelled group, and would just like recommendations and actual stories of what has occurred in real life situations. My plan is to try to encourage him to renew the passport, but if he continues to refuse, then I will have him prepare a notarized letter allowing me to travel out of the country with our 10 year old son, who is most excited about this trip. We'd love for (DS) SO to be with us on this trip, but I can't see us all having to stay home because of this preventable, unpredictable problem.

Sorry this is so long, and appreciate any input. TIA!

Don't worry about it . If he gets left behind, he will know exactly who to blame. You can only help some people so much. Btw, I had to look up what SO means.

I agree. I would put it in writing to him. " you are an adult. Do it your way. But i will go without you. ".

Ps what is "so".

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We had a similar situation.

Our passports were due to expire at the beginning of November 2017, but we were disembarking at the end of May 2017 , leaving only 5+ months remaining. I looked it up on the UK passport site, which stated that EU countries didn't demand the 6 months, only that the passport was valid.

However, when we made the booking, the agent told me that Princess states that 6 months needs to be remaining on the passport, so I did in fact renew them at the beginning of February ( in U.K. you can renew 9 months before expiry date) All I lost was the fee, which I had to pay earlier than I had hoped. No time was lost, as they now expire November 2027.

I just figured that as I had to put the details into a Princess site, I'd better conform.

SO is Significant Other. And in this particular post, DS is Dear Stubborn.... just to add a little comedic relief to this post. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the advice! I particularly like the "get it in writing" advice- had not considered that, but good advice. I will find a way to do it diplomatically since I don't necessarily want to add any more fuel to the fire and make him dig in his heels any harder than he is.

I agree. I would put it in writing to him. " you are an adult. Do it your way. But i will go without you. ".

 

Ps what is "so".

 

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Significant Other.

That's why I take care of everything.....and hubby lets me. I will drive him to AAA for the pix, put the application in front of him and a pen in his hand and say "Sign", and then mail them in.

Here is the problem you might run into. The Schengen area countries require 3 months after departure. They also give travelers from the US an automatic 90 day Visa. They assume all entrants will stay the full 90 days. That is why they want 6 months at time of entry.

Technically he will have more than 3 months left on his passport since your stay will be less than 90 days. However the airline and cruiseline do not control your departure and must make their decisions assuming the full 90 day stay (return reservations can be canceled, changed, etc so having a return ticket probably does not help).

You mentioned that he will have 5 months remaining when you leave, the question is will he have 6 months when you arrive? If not I would renew.

I think we all do that. But if "dear stubborn" does not cooperate. I agree that a partner is harder to leave behind then a friend. Maybe in that guess you should say. " help me have one less thing to worry about".

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SO is Significant Other. And in this particular post, DS is Dear Stubborn.... just to add a little comedic relief to this post. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the advice! I particularly like the "get it in writing" advice- had not considered that, but good advice. I will find a way to do it diplomatically since I don't necessarily want to add any more fuel to the fire and make him dig in his heels any harder than he is.

The key thing is you got the passport expire message. Check in people tend to go by the book.They don't have much authority. If they get that message if you do the paperwork at the pier they won't care who said what or whatever over the phone. They could deny boarding even if your husband is right. He should renew his passport.

You mentioned that he will have 5 months remaining when you leave, the question is will he have 6 months when you arrive? If not I would renew.

No, we are only going over for 10 days, so it will still not be a full 6 months.

Why on earth anyone would be bothered about not having six months validity at the theoretical end of a cruise holiday, I do not know. The United Kingdom is one of the most relaxed countries in the world with the UK Border Force and Immigration allowing people to fly in on minimum documentation. I should not worry about Southampton it is miles from the airport. What could possibly go wrong?

Regards John

Our passports were due to expire at the end of November, 2017. When we sailed on Royal Princess in May we realised that although we had 6 months from the day of sailing we were about 4 days short on our return.

When we rang Princess they were very vague, said you could risk it but that they normally require 6 months after the return date. They would not commit themselves, but the agent said they could deny boarding. Her advice was renew your passports.

We did not want any hassle so that's exactly what we did. We did not lose anything except we had to pay 6 months before we needed to but we would not risk being denied boarding.

Of course it's up to individuals, but why risk it for the sake of renewing your passport early? In our case they just added the extra months onto the renewal date, so we didn't lose out and we could travel without any worry.

Maybe SO can consider expedited passport renewal to appease you.

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Why on earth anyone would be bothered about not having six months validity at the theoretical end of a cruise holiday, I do not know. The United Kingdom is one of the most relaxed countries in the world with the UK Border Force and Immigration allowing people to fly in on minimum documentation. I should not worry about Southampton it is miles from the airport. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Regards John

Is the UK really that lax? If so, then I will stop worrying about him getting over there. Hopefully the cruise ships are lax as well. What could go wrong?

Maybe SO can consider expedited passport renewal to appease you.

 

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Ummmmmm..... this was a little nasty? No need for expedited renewal as there is plenty of time for regular renewal. This is not about appeasing me; this is about possibly being denied boarding due to someone following recommendations to the T. What would you be thinking if this was your SO putting you in this position?

The thing that I've learned (the hard way - I've been denied boarding because of a passport issue) is that while it is *likely* that he may be fine, you *may* get that 1 customers/check in agent that does his job to the letter of the law and will deny him.

and there is just NO WAY to know that in advance.

So we are booked on a lovely cruise on the Crown in August sailing from Southampton. We stop in several countries affected by the Schengen Agreement (though notably NOT the Netherlands, which stipulates 3 months as a requirement). This is an Agreement regarding entry into any of the 26 European countries in the Schengen area regarding short-term travel: it requires that your passport be valid for at least 3 months beyond your intended date of departure.

 

However, it seems that conventional wisdom and recommendations are for passports to be valid for a full 6 months beyond intended date of departure. I have no problem with this as I do not want to tempt fate and run into problems. I even renewed Son's passport 8 months early as his would have fallen into the 4 1/2 month expiration range. The problem is that my Dear (stubborn) SO's passport expires 5 months after our intended date of departure from GB. I was given an passport expiry error message when I tried to fill out the info for the Princess Boarding passes, and when I called BA to ask what their policy was about allowing flight boarding in the US to head across the pond, I was given a nebulous answer but a stern warning that boarding MAY be denied.

 

So (Dear Stubborn) SO calls Princess, and tells me that he has worked it out with them that they will allow him to do the paperwork at the pier, and that they will not deny boarding the cruise ship. They will even send him confirmation in writing, and have placed a note on his reservation! (His words). He says that because technically his passport is valid for longer than the required 3 months, that he is right, and they cannot deny him boarding. I guess that I am a little more pragmatic and realistic than he is, because I don't think he should chance it- he has plenty of time to renew his passport, but simply refuses to (out of righteousness, I guess?) I feel that any individual along the route can call into play the 6 month recommendation and simply say "no" because, quite frankly, they do have the power to do so (even if technically legally wrong).

 

Does anyone have any actual experience with this situation? This is a well-travelled group, and would just like recommendations and actual stories of what has occurred in real life situations. My plan is to try to encourage him to renew the passport, but if he continues to refuse, then I will have him prepare a notarized letter allowing me to travel out of the country with our 10 year old son, who is most excited about this trip. We'd love for (DS) SO to be with us on this trip, but I can't see us all having to stay home because of this preventable, unpredictable problem.

 

Sorry this is so long, and appreciate any input. TIA!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2508820&highlight=passport

Ummmmmm..... this was a little nasty? No need for expedited renewal as there is plenty of time for regular renewal. This is not about appeasing me; this is about possibly being denied boarding due to someone following recommendations to the T. What would you be thinking if this was your SO putting you in this position?

I like the recommendation that you get the signed parental letter from him allowing you to take your child out of the country (without him), and let your SO fend for himself.

He'll either spend the cruise telling you "I told you so", or you'll be enjoying a nice trip with your child.

He should be more worried about whether he can get on a plane. My sister and her DH were unaware of needing the longer dates beyond the expiration dates. They were flying to Amsterdam and Delta refused to check them in at the airport. I am not sure how close they were to expiration (I know it was at least 3 months + when they left...), but they had to scramble to the passport office and they weren't able to fly out until the next day. (Fortunately, they live in a large enough city that they could get an 'emergency' passport renewal....but it was a big hassle.)

This is what Delta's website states:

PASSPORT

A passport is required for ALL international travel. If you're traveling anywhere overseas, even to Canada, the Caribbean or Mexico, you need a passport to board an international flight and to enter any country. In general, your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the period of intended stay in a foreign country.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/planning-a-trip/international-travel/traveling-from-the-u-s.html

Tell him you will enjoy your vacation without him.... :eek:

Good Grief!!! What could go wrong?? - everything - Renew the passport - so simple.

Maybe SO can consider expedited passport renewal to appease you.

 

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Doesn't sound like he is in the appeasement business. Must be fun to live with.

I wonder if SO realizes that should a bureaucratic type in a bad mood be encountered, not only will the entire cruise cost be forfeit but only a true angel will allow the incident to be forgotten when the S in SO reappears.

OP I hope you are not left standing in Southampton when the Crown sails away. :(

We had a similar situation.

Our passports were due to expire at the beginning of November 2017, but we were disembarking at the end of May 2017 , leaving only 5+ months remaining. I looked it up on the UK passport site, which stated that EU countries didn't demand the 6 months, only that the passport was valid.

However, when we made the booking, the agent told me that Princess states that 6 months needs to be remaining on the passport, so I did in fact renew them at the beginning of February ( in U.K. you can renew 9 months before expiry date) All I lost was the fee, which I had to pay earlier than I had hoped. No time was lost, as they now expire November 2027.

I just figured that as I had to put the details into a Princess site, I'd better conform.

Actually, you did not lose the fee, just as you indicated, had to pay it earlier.

In the USA, when you renew early, the new passport expires 10 years after it is issued, not 10 years after the old one was scheduled to expire. So if you renew six months early, you lose six months of use of the old passport, effectively having paid the fee for ten years, but getting only 9.5 months of use.

Why on earth anyone would be bothered about not having six months validity at the theoretical end of a cruise holiday, I do not know. The United Kingdom is one of the most relaxed countries in the world with the UK Border Force and Immigration allowing people to fly in on minimum documentation. I should not worry about Southampton it is miles from the airport. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Regards John

Have you seen the queues at LHR recently?

Maybe not the EU one, but others are long.

My sister, who lives in Canada always joins the British line to expediate entry as she kept her British passport.

I have also read that the cruise ship takes US passports for checking and they can be picked up the following day. This doesn't happen if you have a British / EU passport.