New passport/birth certificate policy for cruise lines?

[halos]

The government is tapping privet phone lines, feeling people up while going through security, and arresting people for suspicions without any real evidence. (Two words patriot act). This is all done in the name of national security. We should not live in a police state. Having a passport might not be that big of a deal but when you add it all together it is a big deal. People are allowing the trampling of the constitution in the name of national security. I for one don't like it.

by the way do you think you would be safer with everyone having a passport.

 

 

It amazes me sometimes how paranoid people get.

Even if the government does tap my phone...guess what? It really doesn't bother me. I have nothing to hide and who cares about the fights I get into with my sister on the phone for goodness sake. If the government taps my phone, the poor guys listening in must be bored to pieces. :eek:

I don't see how on earth having a Passport is an invasion of my privacy. :confused: People in other countries have passports just as we have driver's licenses. I don't see any Brittish or German people getting in a huff over their lack of privacy. I have a Brittish brother-in-law who thinks, and rightly so, that Americans are too self absorbed and small minded to care about a passport.

If you think a passport is so awful then stay in your small little world, don't expand your horizons and stay locked in forever in this country you seem to have such negative feelings for.

I know someone who won't sign up for one of those 'cards' they now offer at most of the Supermarkets or Drug stores (the ones that you get 'sale' prices with) because the cards track your purchases....She said, "I don't want people to know what I buy!"

what?

WHO CARES????

Who cares if 'they' know I go through a loaf of whole wheat bread and a gallon of skim milk a week??? Are people embarrassed by the foods they buy at the market??? Why else would it bother you if people knew what you consumed???

Why are some people so paranoid????????

 

 

 

 

 

How is it that people can find something to complain about in every situation, even discussing passports??????? That never ceases to amaze me.

When me and the DH planned a family, we planned on two...that's what we figured we could afford...I know I'm sounding nasty here but it irritates the crap out of me when people whine about having to purchase passports for the whole family...if a lousy $85 per kid is going to do you harm, you are going to be in a world of hurt when your kids want to go to college....and that's not to mention all the stuff before that. The older kids get, the more they cost. Just having them on a sports team in middle school is enough to leave the checking account empty before the next check.

If you're a parent, you most likely drop that kind of money for your child continously week after week. Pissing and moaning about the cost of a passport is useless whining. I know what children cost and that $85 is just a drop in a bucket...one, unfortunately with no bottom.

If your vacation is strapping you that much, you need to cut back and do something smaller scale.

[GoinCruisin]

You know what... up until 9/11, I personally may have felt the same way. I lost friends on this day... I lost customers on this day, I was supposed to BE THERE on the 13th... this day changed not only my life, but the way I think of things. The government may not be able to protect any of us from anything like this happening again, but if the measures they put in place add to my safety, they can caress my body for all I care. If that is what they feel would be necessary for me NOT to be a statistic, so be it. Ask ANYONE that lost a family member or a friend in 911, they will tell you the same thing.... our government is doing what they can to keep us safe... it's NO guarantee, but it is better than the open door policy we had a few years ago. I will continue to take off my shoes in the airport, let them feel me up if they feel suspicious, etc... I feel safer knowing they are doing this... others may not agree, did you lose someone you loved during a terrorist attack? Did you feel sickened that there SHOULD have been additional security measures in our country? Have you personally witnessed the children that are growing up without one of their parents because of this tragedy? I still get PO's every month and the name on the contract is someone killed in 9/11... this affected US! as a country! Not only thousands that were killed, but many left behind that have to suffer the rest of their lives. I'll take the occasional inconvenience if it increases my security by possibly one percent. Lose a friend, lose a family member... you might feel the same way. Our country has always been way too "carefree" when it comes to people coming in... that could have resulted in thousands of innocent lives lost. I will participate in any ritual at this point that the government thinks would increase my safety and my fellow Americans safety.

[halos]

Our country has always been way too "carefree" when it comes to people coming in...

 

THAT's the point I think some people are missing here.....you need the passport to get back IN. Having the passport allows the government to make sure that everyone who is coming in is supposed to be here. That is what will make us safer. Nobody gives a rats butt if you leave.

[GoinCruisin]

Halos, I wish everyone would GET that... yes, people can get get passports that shouldn't...b ut if our government starts laying down the law, perhaps we can start cracking down on this... it is just an additional security measure and honestly, can you have TOO MANY security measures????

[halos]

, can you have TOO MANY security measures????

 

not enough for me, that's for sure.

I can remember 9/11 (like everyone else) and above all else, the thing I wanted most was to feel secure again.

I don't think I'll ever feel as secure as I did pre 9/11.

[GoinCruisin]

Halos, I agree... I was booked on my usual flight on 9/13... after doing this for many years, it frightened me... I was dating someone in NYC at the time and on the phone with him as the second plane hit... I heard from him 6 days later. 18 days later I was in NYC... In case any of you have forgotten, here is a link to the pics that I took several weeks AFTER 9/11... http://groups.msn.com/chrisandromeo/nycwtcpics.msnwAnd you still don't care about National Security? I'm wagering to guess your family members and friends were NOT in the vicinity. You may never realize the impact of this event. I could SMELL it from 16 blocks away.. I won't describe the smell or what it was... Those of you that want to talk about the "government" taking away our privacy? I'm sorry... the terrorists took our privacy. They took our security... they took everything we considered sacred. Complain and whine if you will.... let a tragedy affect you and you will be BEGGING for security such as this!

[halos]

I must say...I am NO fan of our government (currently anyway) but, I was stuck at the airport for days during the last east coast storm and because I was on stand-by flights, I was put through the special check (both DH and I) twice. We were in Cincinnati. Kudos to the NTSA.

I smiled through the whole thing because they were doing a good job, which makes me feel safer.

They were very thorough searching through my bags and 'wanding' me :p

Did I feel like my privacy was invaded??? N-O, no. I was glad!

But then again, I'm not paranoid, I have nothing to hide (thank God I didn't pack anything to embarrass myself ;) But if I had, well then, everyone would have had a good laugh and it would have given them something to talk about later! :D ) so my feeling is that the only people who feel invaded are the ones who have something to hide. If you don't, then what's the big deal???

[GoinCruisin]

Halos, I was stuck for 4 days in Buffalo, and went through the "security" deal 3 times because I had a one way flight.... I did not mind once, had I had something to hide, I guess I would have been nervous.... it actually made me feel much better! I'm sorry, I don't buy these womens stories of how they are SOOOO offended, been there done that about 80 times and never had a problem with it... makes me feel more secure, and once they realize there is nothing hidden "in there", it is all good! LOL!!

[oldrail2]

I was booked on one of the first cruises to Barbados last feb. when they were going to require a passport and TAs were scrambbing to tell everyone they would be denied boarding without one then Barados backdown for cruise ships. I would hate to be denied boarding becuse some country decied on short notice I had to have a passport

 

03/95-Big Red Boat

02/99-Nordic Empress

11/00-Galaxy

07/02-Mercury

10/02-Majesty of the seas

03/03-Norwegian Sky

11/03-Century

02/04-Galaxy

10/04-Carnival Legend

[GoinCruisin]

Safest bet, when you are traveling OUT of the country and have to get BACK IN... get a passport. Things can change at a minute's notice... a passport should be the first thing someone should think about. If you were not on a cruise ship, you would likely need one anyway. I you happen to miss the ship, you will be glad you have one!!!

[SoCalCruiseguy]

I think that virtually all EXPERIANCED travelers understand the importance of being in possession of a valid passport. Passports are THE international gold standard of identification. As has been described here many times, the times have changed and it is likely that very soon passports will be mandatory and a fact of life. Just like wearing seatbelts was once an optional thing. So instead of interjecting a significant amount emotional dialogue that comes off easily sounding irrational, just go take a $7.00 picture, fill out the application, pay the $85.00, get a passport and be done with it! If like most people you book 9-12 months or more prior to your cruise, even if you have a family you can get one passport at a time. They take on average about a month to get and they do last 10 years (5yrs for kids under 16).

 

I understand the money thing, but I am sure there are a slew of folks who have priced an cruise itinerary or other vacation only to come back a week or month later to book it and found that the price went up $100-$200 dollars per person and STILL booked the trip. $85 is really not a lot of money in the big scheme of things. As has been stated many times before, a cruise vacation IS NOT an all inclusive. You should always plan on spending at least 20-25% over your cruise cost for everything else i.e. air fare, gratuities, alcohol, pictures, excursions, ground transfers, (flowers for DW, massage for DW, Perfume for DW :) ) etc. etc. I simply believe that in regards to this topic, there are simply no valid arguments for not having a passport when traveling outside the borders of the United States, period!

[ConquestMike]

I'm looking in my political science book and it blatantly says that people have the right to privacy. Maybe you should do some research before making some assumption. (fyi 9th amendment)

UMMMMM will everyone please take a closer look at this statement and than look at how many Political Science books you have around the house,,,My point is Eric is obviously a College Student filled with the high ideals his Professors are filling his head with,, I am amazed at what is being taught in colleges sometimes, my nephew came home over Christmas full of P... and vinegar because his professor said we could feed the world with the money spent in Iraq, maybe a meal each if that but totally lacking the common sense and logistics of such an underetaking such as many 3rd world governments would herd the food for themselves and it may never make it to the people who need it etc etc,,,not to get off track here, just a point, its good to be teaching these ideals and sometimes to be a rebel and even question our Government but in the same tone Eric should also question his Professors who are feeding him this dribble...Will there be abuses of the Homeland Security Act's.. yes..But does that mean these acts should be abolished and our security put in jeopardy because of the abuses that may happen,,,is it perfect, no and it never will be,,the question is a matter of rights versus security and sometimes it is a delicate balancing act,,,Are phones being tapped, yes, but only after the Government has reason to believe the person whose phone is being tapped may be a security risk,,,Id like Eric to ask his Professors this question,, How do we go about protecting the citizens of this country??,,,How do they think they can do it better?? and Eric ask yourself, How do you know you can trust those filling your head with these ideas you have?? What is their agenda?

There are groups out there in place that are providing the balance between protecting our rights and the Government protecting our safety such as the ACLU,,We have a balance of power through our political process and that balance worked in that Homeland Security is a law passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the President after much debate about our rights and the Act changed to try to provide that balance between our safety and our rights.

Eric, there is a fundemental law of nature, those who fail to reconize history are doomed to repeat it. We have to reconize what happened in 9/11 and never forget. We have to reconize Bin Laden and others are not goinf to stop for the forseeable future and therefore need to protect the safety of this country. Ask Spain how they feel after the train bombing,,,ask Britain after the Plane being blown up 10 years ago or so, ask us in the US after the first world trade bombing 10 years ago, the embassy bombings, the ship bombing 5 or 6 years ago plus many other terrorist attacks and now 9/11,,,Ask your Professors and yourself for that matter how you would now perceive this issue if you lost a loved one to the terrorists and dont want to lose anymore and than tell me what is the right balance between our rights and our safety,,,after all, the victims of the terrorists now have no rights dont they?

After all this tell me one right of yours that has been taken away? You can still get a gun if you like, might be harder for everyones protection but yet you still have the right..you still have free speech obviously, your privacy is only invaded if you choose it to be and than is it really invaded at all. Passports have been required to exit and enter any country including ours forever, it has been due to the leniency of our Government that they have not been mandatory when cruising and now they may not have the luxury of that leniency anymore afeter 9/11 in order to protect our safety.

You know a funny thing about the news, its not real, its only the bad news and not a real picture of all that goes on. Have you heard or have any idea how many Terrorists attacks have been thwarted?? How many lives saved because these were stopped before the attacks?? This isnt a Communist State, not even close and the Constitution says nothing about the abailty of the Government to monitor the citizens, that doesnt stop you from doing anything, it just means we all have to be put out a little so the Government can monitor to help insure all our safety.

Eric, its great to question but you have to look at everything and not look at the world or our country with tunnel vision. You need to see the Big Picture, we are fighting a war, not Iraq, but a war against terrorism and that war did not start with 9/11 but years/even decades earlier and we didnt learn our lessons until 9/11.

Halos, I know your laughing at the length of this LOL but it needed to be said, someone has to educate the youth of this country besides the Ivory Tower Professors.. LOL

[Ericknow32]

I regret starting this discussion on governmental issues. My previous statements were full of **** and should be taken with a grain of salt. (I'm sorry if I upset anyone to much)

 

now seriously I don't want everyone to have passports. Personally I feel as safe with people not having them as with people having them. If everyone has them then I'm stuck in line behind them instead of the way it is now were I get to pass by all those poor people waiting in the birth certificate line.

 

I don't think that passports on cruse lines are that important after all cruise ships aren't known for bringing back people that they didn't leave with. (on a one way cruise it might be a different story)

 

and I’m sorry, if the ship leaves you at a port its your own fault.

[BND]

Haven't heard this, but I'm sure it might be the wave of the future.

 

However - I think it will cut out a lot of folks' cruising vacations. Not everybody can/will be obtaining passports - they aren't cheap.

 

Some will cruise only the one time, or a couple of times, and won't think it's worth the price of a passport - added to the cost of a cruise. Oh well, guess that's something the cruiselines will have to worry about.....losing passengers, I mean.:o

 

What do you mean they're not cheap? Passports are less than $100. That is not that much to spend when you're already spending hundreds on cruise. If that's going to break the bank for someone, maybe they should reconsider taking a cruise vacation. Passports are very easy to get. Most people I know already have one. All you need is your birth certificate and for those very few who never had one, for whatever reason, there are ways to obtain one. I highly doubt they will lose more than a couple of passengers over this. I'm going today to renew mine. It's a lot easier to keep track of than a piece of paper that can easily get misplaced.

 

Hey, Conquestmike, you go. I have two boys in college, and the crap they tell us that their extremely liberal professors talk about is so way out of line with the mainstream. Fortunately, they have their own informed opinions and have little use for those extreme opinions. This is not about privacy. It's really no different than traveling on a cruise right now, it just allows the cruise companies and govt' officials to not have to determine validity of birth certificates. Not all original ones have raised seals. To me, it's a no brainer. Ease for both traveler and officials.

[L2J]

ConquestMike - BRAVO!

[gr1634]

Ok..sent the question to Carnival and the answer is "yes, at 'some point in the future' passports will be required." I guess we can complain all we want to but the answer is if we want to continue cruising we will sooner or later have to have a passport. That having been said I guess one of my stops this weekend will be to generate said document. There are some things we can fight and some things we can't. There are some things worth fighting over and some things not worth the effort. Look at it this way - the passport is just another form of ID. And oh by the way - the bad guys have been forging them for a long time so the arguement that they are essential to homeland security is a little off target.

[FnyFACEnAL]

For Inquiries Contact:

National Passport Information Center 1-900-225-5674

 

I did renew my passport via mail for $55.

 

Hope this helps those with questions regarding obtaining a passport.

[L2J]

And oh by the way - the bad guys have been forging them for a long time so the arguement that they are essential to homeland security is a little off target.

 

 

Huh?:rolleyes:

[gr1634]

Liv all i meant is that the bad guys have been forging passports for time memorial. I do not understand how any move to force passports can be construed as enhancing homeland security. I don't have the answer on how to make all safe and comfy, I am just not convinced that requiring us to have passports is any big improvement.

[L2J]

Liv all i meant is that the bad guys have been forging passports for time memorial. I do not understand how any move to force passports can be construed as enhancing homeland security. I don't have the answer on how to make all safe and comfy, I am just not convinced that requiring us to have passports is any big improvement.

 

Obtaining "illegal" passports maybe, but "forging" them.....doubtful. They're bar-coded, numbered and if I'm not mistaken they have holographic images on them.

[halos]

Let's put the cost of this passport in perspective.

For people traveling with families.....what astronomical amount do you drop in cash for one days' worth of meals/snacks at Disney World????

No one complains about that...ever. Yet I see all this whining about tipping for kids and now, passports possibly being a necessity causing a problem for folks with families...and on another thread (which I haven't checked that one yet this morning...don't know even if it's still there) where despite rules about non potty trained babies, a poster still puts all 3 of her diapered kids in the cruise ship pools.

People..take responsibility for your kids! If you haven't had any yet, please realize what a HUGE responsibility and EXPENSE they are before you start popping them out.

I hate when people have that "Just because I had kids, doesn't mean my life is going to change" attitude. WAKE UP folks...it does change, in a huge way and a BIG part of that change is the lack of cash flow you are going to have. Having a family is a big expense for goodness sake!

Don't whine about it. Accept it and accept the responsibility!

[halos]

Halos, I was stuck for 4 days in Buffalo, and went through the "security" deal 3 times because I had a one way flight.... I did not mind once, had I had something to hide, I guess I would have been nervous.... it actually made me feel much better! I'm sorry, I don't buy these womens stories of how they are SOOOO offended, been there done that about 80 times and never had a problem with it... makes me feel more secure, and once they realize there is nothing hidden "in there", it is all good! LOL!!

 

Travel by air has become such a pain in the you-know-what, hasn't it??? Do any flights run on schedule anymore????? Even in nice weather there is always some issue to contend with. But, I guess as long as the plane I'm on lands safely, it doesn't matter if it's 2 days late :D

9/11 did something good in the fact that it changes your perspective...it ain't worth sweatin' the small stuff, is it???

[douglinc@msn.com]

Ericknow,

I wasn't surprised to see you were from Calif. with your comment about "constitution trampling govt". Personally I think it would be just fine for everyone to have to have a passport or some type of federal ID. I for one put the safety of the American public above personal inconveniences......Does anyone remember 9-11???????

It's kinda like taking a drug test, if you have nothing to hide......what is the big deal? Maybe most of the people protesting these things have something to hide........

 

Doug

[halos]

Ericknow,

 

It's kinda like taking a drug test, if you have nothing to hide......what is the big deal? Maybe most of the people protesting these things have something to hide........

 

Doug

 

YES!!!!

I'm all for drug tests...you know what else gets my goat?? Parents who think it's an invasion of thier child's privacy to get their school lockers searched...what is wrong with people these days???????

Check my kids locker for goodness sake! And if there is something in there that would get her in trouble, I'd be the first to recommend the worst sentence possible. Checking kids lockers keeps my child safe. She doesn't see anythng wrong with it..but then again, she also has nothing to hide.

 

The crazy thing is...I am what everyone would call a Liberal....I am a certified tree hugging/bug loving, freedom of choice liberal...but all this bunk about privacy makes me crazy.

[luv2cruise99]

I really have no feelings one way or the other about requiring a passport for cruise travel. I currently don't have one, but if it ever became necessary I would get one. No problem. However, I have to agree with "gr1634" that requiring a passport does little to improve Homeland Security. It's a little hard for me to believe that any terrorists with the sophistication to pull off an attack such as 911 doesn't also have the ability to fake a passport.

 

Liv all i meant is that the bad guys have been forging passports for time memorial. I do not understand how any move to force passports can be construed as enhancing homeland security. I don't have the answer on how to make all safe and comfy, I am just not convinced that requiring us to have passports is any big improvement.