Passport 6 Month Rule

There are a handful of countries in the world that require passports to be valid for at least 6 months from your arrival date into the country. None of them are in the Caribbean and the U.S. is not one of them. Celebrity RECOMMENDS that passports be valid for 6 months after the cruise RETURN date. I have a friend whose passport will only be valid for 5 months after his Caribbean cruise return date. He asked me for advice and I told him I would renew the passport. I would not want to risk my vacation on an interpretation of the Celebrity policy by someone on embarkation day. Does anyone know of a situation where someone was refused boarding because their passport was not valid for 6 months after the cruise return date?

Hi

I have a similar problem, and having done some research it seems

(in the UK anyway) that say my passport expires in June 2011 if I renew

any time up to 9 months prior I will not lose out.

So Passport expires in June 2011 if I renew in December 2010 my

new passport will not expire until June 2021.

I would not risk it. We had friends denied boarding by Delta/KLM (granted it was a flight to Amsterdam) on their way to a Baltic Cruise because they had less than six months expiration on their US Passports. Not worth the risk.

For a Caribbean cruise it's not necessary. We sailed on the Century last April with a passport that expired it June.

I would say it is more of an airline policy then a ships. My name has got to be exactly the same on my airline ticket and my passport not true for ships.

We went in to renew our Cdn passports because ours were expiring two months after our cruise next month. The agent at the passport office asked why we were renewing so early and indicated to us that as long as the passport was still valid it was OK to enter the US and to go to the Caribbean. We renewed them any way since we will be traveling again early next year so would have had to do so in a few months any way.

As a side note it was regular or standard service and it took two days for the passport to be issued and they were delivered to our home exactly one week after we went in to apply for them.

This is from the FCO website:

Does my British passport have to be valid for six months beyond my date of departure from the United States?

No, if your passport is not valid for at least six months beyond your date of departure from the United States, it will not affect your eligibility to travel. The United States has an agreement with the United Kingdom automatically extending the validity of a passport for six months past the passport's expiration date. Therefore, your passport need remain valid only for the duration of your stay in the United States.

And this is from the USA Govt site that clearly shows the countries who DO NOT have to have 6 months left on their passport when entering the USA.

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/clp/bulletins/clp_bullentin_04162008.ctt/clp_bulletin_04162008.pdf

It seems pretty clear.

There are a handful of countries in the world that require passports to be valid for at least 6 months from your arrival date into the country. None of them are in the Caribbean and the U.S. is not one of them. Celebrity RECOMMENDS that passports be valid for 6 months after the cruise RETURN date. I have a friend whose passport will only be valid for 5 months after his Caribbean cruise return date. He asked me for advice and I told him I would renew the passport. I would not want to risk my vacation on an interpretation of the Celebrity policy by someone on embarkation day. Does anyone know of a situation where someone was refused boarding because their passport was not valid for 6 months after the cruise return date?

I went through this with Celebrity before my Panama Canal cruise in January. My passport was scheduled to expire in five months. None of the countries we were going to had a six-month requirement. Costa Rica had a one-month requirement. I have it from Celebrity in writing that their only requirement is that the passport still be valid the day you return from your cruise.

I would say it is more of an airline policy then a ships. My name has got to be exactly the same on my airline ticket and my passport not true for ships.

I not sure that is 100% accurate. Names need to match on all legal docs with your cruise tix.

I watched a woman denied boarding because she got divorced, and reverted to her maiden name, but her passport still said her married name. I spotted her on the ship, and I asked her how that was straightened out. Her ex-husband had to fax a copy of the divorce decree to the terminal, and she was all but last to board.

That was mighty nice of him, since she was traveling with her new boyfriend....:eek:

I am travelling in Jan and my UK passport expires start of June . I hve just sent off for my renewal passport as I would be uncomfortble leaving with my soon to be expired passport. It is not a big priblem as in the UK you do not lose any portion of the time remaining on you old passport.

It is added onto the new one.

Cheers

Scotslizzy

I would say it is more of an airline policy then a ships. My name has got to be exactly the same on my airline ticket and my passport not true for ships.

Actually its not the airline policy but the policy of the country you are going to visit and the airlines follow their rules...There is a web site somewhere I believe within the State Dept site which lists the countries that have the 6 month rule. Theory behind this in those countries is most have policies which allow visitors to stay 6 months and they don't want people overstaying their passports..

Here's the deal. You are going to have to renew your passport anyway--why not do it before the trip and erase all doubt? The only reason I can think of for not doing so would be to save the $$$ for six months--worthless if you are denied boarding or embarking. Just think of it this way--US Passports are now valid for 9.5 years.

I had an absolute NIGHTMARE with a passport that expired in July for a cruise I was taking in February--had to fly in to LA two days early, go to two separate counties to get a copy of my marriage license from a man I have been divorced from for 10 years, stand in line at the passport office for 4 hours (with an appointment) and ended up getting the renewed passport at 3:30 PM the day before our flight to Tahiti left. It would be lovely if someone benefitted from my experience. . .

I am travelling in Jan and my UK passport expires start of June . I hve just sent off for my renewal passport as I would be uncomfortble leaving with my soon to be expired passport. It is not a big priblem as in the UK you do not lose any portion of the time remaining on you old passport.

It is added onto the new one.

 

Cheers

 

Scotslizzy

It would be nice if that were the policy in the US, but it's not. You get ten years from the date of issue. So if you renew five months early, you essentially lose five months.

Here's the deal. You are going to have to renew your passport anyway--why not do it before the trip and erase all doubt? The only reason I can think of for not doing so would be to save the $$$ for six months--worthless if you are denied boarding or embarking. Just think of it this way--US Passports are now valid for 9.5 years.

 

I had an absolute NIGHTMARE with a passport that expired in July for a cruise I was taking in February--had to fly in to LA two days early, go to two separate counties to get a copy of my marriage license from a man I have been divorced from for 10 years, stand in line at the passport office for 4 hours (with an appointment) and ended up getting the renewed passport at 3:30 PM the day before our flight to Tahiti left. It would be lovely if someone benefitted from my experience. . .