Passport Expiration

[CupcakeSusie]

I guess what it comes down to is what you would prefer to lose: 6 months off the passport (value $5.50) or your cruise (worth a lot more).

[98Charlie]

You have 5+ months until the cruise. Plenty of time to sort out any problems if you apply for new passports now.

 

If it were me I'd get the renewal in ASAP. The current turn around time according to the State Dept. is 6 weeks. If you haven't yet received an offer on the house what is the average closing time in your area? (Ask your realtor.)

 

And if all else fails you can still go on a closed loop from US port cruise using your birth certificate and government I.D.

 

Charlie

[sail7seas]

You can access the Fathom website directly from the Carnival website. In fact if you look at carnival.com There's a big green box on Carnival's home page that says "Cuba?" and "Book Now Cuba". Although the cruises are technically offered on Fathom, it can easily be construed to be a Carnival cruise.

Fathom is going toCuba after Dom Republic[/b]

[Extra Kim]

I'm gonna lose more then 8years of my driverslicens and more then 3 years on my passport. I*got a new driverslicens january 2015, they are valid for 10 years.I got a new passport december 2015, they are valid for 5 years.I got a new ESTA december 2015, they are vaild for 3 years.*My old passport expired 5 months after we got back home from our last cruise from Florida and that's why I needed to get a new passport and ESTA. My old ESTA was from january 2015.

 

One month and I hadn't needed the new passport and ESTA in december 2015..

I will get married this summer and will change my last name = I will be needing to re-new all of them and get a new Visa card in july.. But it will take around two weeks and all will be sorted out.

 

I lost nearly 2 years on mine, as I was almost out of pages - based on the number required by each country on my recent cruise. While annoying, not the end of the world.

 

If the original poster is concerned about it being lost in the mail due to a move, it might be worth the extra to pay for overnight mail so that it is trackable on the way back.

 

J

[njhorseman]

Fathom is going toCuba after Dom Republic

 

Fathom started cruising to Cuba last month. It is going to Cuba on some weeks and the Dominican Republic on others. Not sure if it's precisely on an alternating week schedule, but the Cuba cruises started in May.

[sparks1093]

I don't understand someone risking b eing denied boaabrding bec ause they delayed renewing their passport. I know for sure there are people on almost EVERY cruise who do not board.

 

If one determines that there is no need to renew early then that would mean there is no risk of being denied, especially if one is on a cruise where people are using birth certificates and government IDs to board. To think that someone with even 1 month remaining embarking on a cruise like that is at any risk of being denied boarding is something indeed.

[sparks1093]

I know of one country that Carnival now visits on a closed loop cruise Caribbean cruise where they are requiring 6 months remaining passport validity: Cuba.

 

As other US-based cruise lines start offering itineraries that include Cuba, the 6 month requirement will become increasingly common for Caribbean cruises.

 

A Carnival Corporation cruise line visits Cuba but Carnival cruise line does not. Time will tell how Cuba shakes out for the cruise industry.

[Shawninrye]

To save the $5.50 I would probably just not take a cruise until I have my new passport.

You could spend that vacation time you have now researching future cruises.

I once went on a vacation where I rented a car and my drivers license was to expire during the trip.

I had to renew my drivers license before it expired.

What a waste of money. I could have used that license one more week.

 

Sorry for the sarcasm.

I do understand as I hate waste but this time you just need to renew early.

It is such a small cost.

Take the cruise.

[ScottsSweetie]

Well, thanks for all the responses - some helpful, some not so much. :rolleyes:

 

To address some of your questions: cruise would be closed loop, visiting Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk.

 

Yes, I would do change of address at the P.O. - but I do know that there are some envelopes (and I'm guessing some of the official government type correspondence) that say "Do Not Forward".

 

Yes, $5.50 is very little money - but it's the principle of the matter. The passport is actually only good for 9 and 1/2 years, not the ten that it is advertised (plus add in the 6 weeks processing time and you've lost more).

 

I realize I can use birth certificate and drivers license - I like the security of having a passport. I was really hoping to hear if anyone had cruised during the last 6 months of a valid passport - surely someone has made travel plans and not realized that their passport was due to expire 6 months later.

[cherylandtk]

ScottsSweetie,

1. Well, now that we have the details of YOUR cruise, the answer for you is: No problem on that itinerary on Carnival using a passport with less than 6 months until expiry. Since that itinerary falls under the WHTI, you are right in knowing that you could cruise with just a valid DL and a BC; as such it does not require a passport, much less one with 6 mos+. As long as your passport is valid on the date of return, you are set.

 

2. Should you decide to renew early anyway, you can include a prepaid express envelope (Priority mail, FedEx, whatever you want) with your renewal application and they will use that to return your passport to any address you choose. You can even have it delivered to your workplace or mailed 'in care of' a trusted family or friend at their address.

 

Many posts above have gotten lost in the hair splitting details of OT hypothetical examples, but this answer is specific to your actual question.

[whogo]

How strict are the cruiselines (specifically Carnival) on the "passport must be good for 6 months after the cruise"?

I don't see the 6 month requirement on the Carnival website. Carnival's requirement is only 3 months for European cruises. This Carnival webpage may be reassuring: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3409

[cherylandtk]

I don't see the 6 month requirement on the Carnival website. Carnival's requirement is only 3 months for European cruises. This Carnival webpage may be reassuring: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3409

 

It's listed as a recommendation, not a requirement, but it is the first line of the second paragraph on the page you quoted. If one goes further into the FAQ's for each specific itinerary category you will get to the actual 3 month requirement for the Schengen countries as well as the WHTI acceptable options for the domestic/Caribbean cruises (without mention of any excess validity on a passport).

Edited June 4, 2016 by cherylandtk

[Langley Cruisers]

To address some of your questions: cruise would be closed loop, visiting Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk.

 

The six month validity rule does not apply to any port/island on your itinerary.

 

http://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/six-months-validity-rule/

 

Enjoy your cruise. :)

.

[njhorseman]

The six month validity rule does not apply to any port/island on your itinerary.

 

http://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/six-months-validity-rule/

 

Enjoy your cruise. :)

.

 

The website you're referencing is for a business...a company that sells "expedited" passport services, probably to people who don't know any better and think they have to pay a third party to receive expedited service. Never, ever believe what appears on the website of a company like this.

 

Only cite official government sources, or the cruise lines own websites for information on cruise passport requirements, not some dot com site found by an internet search engine.

 

In this case the answer happens to be correct, but as the saying goes, even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn.

Edited June 4, 2016 by njhorseman

[Langley Cruisers]

Only cite official government sources, or the cruise lines own websites for information on cruise passport requirements, not some dot com site found by an internet search engine....

 

Right... instead of chastising me, why don't you provide a link to an official government website which would help OP and others in this situation????

 

EDITED to add: Nevermind, I did it myself. Here is the official government link, and apologies to all for not finding this sooner. I had to go to work.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

 

.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Langley Cruisers

[njhorseman]

Right... instead of chastising me, why don't you provide a link to an official government website which would help OP and others in this situation????

 

EDITED to add: Nevermind, I did it myself. Here is the official government link, and apologies to all for not finding this sooner. I had to go to work.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

 

.

 

Even finding the official government information is insufficient. You need information from your cruise line too. As has been pointed out numerous times, it's very common for luxury cruise lines to require all passengers to have a passport with 6 months remaining validity regardless of whether any countries on an itinerary require it. There are a few of us who post here who understand that fact, and we repeat it on thread after thread. Frankly I'm pretty tired of having to explain that over and over again. It's not hard to remember.

[sparks1093]

Well, thanks for all the responses - some helpful, some not so much. :rolleyes:

 

To address some of your questions: cruise would be closed loop, visiting Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk.

 

Yes, I would do change of address at the P.O. - but I do know that there are some envelopes (and I'm guessing some of the official government type correspondence) that say "Do Not Forward".

 

Yes, $5.50 is very little money - but it's the principle of the matter. The passport is actually only good for 9 and 1/2 years, not the ten that it is advertised (plus add in the 6 weeks processing time and you've lost more).

 

I realize I can use birth certificate and drivers license - I like the security of having a passport. I was really hoping to hear if anyone had cruised during the last 6 months of a valid passport - surely someone has made travel plans and not realized that their passport was due to expire 6 months later.

 

A passport is valid up until expiration date for re-entry into the US, it is only your individual travel plans that might require it to be renewed prior to that. Some countries will tack the unused portion of a passport onto the new one if it is renewed early, unfortunately the US is not one of those countries.

[sparks1093]

Even finding the official government information is insufficient. You need information from your cruise line too. As has been pointed out numerous times, it's very common for luxury cruise lines to require all passengers to have a passport with 6 months remaining validity regardless of whether any countries on an itinerary require it. There are a few of us who post here who understand that fact, and we repeat it on thread after thread. Frankly I'm pretty tired of having to explain that over and over again. It's not hard to remember.

 

It's only being repeated because of a sense that all the bases have to be covered in every answer just in case someone else reads the same answer and acts on it without doing any further due diligence. Frankly if someone traveling on a luxury line reads a response to a poster who is traveling on Carnival and acts only on that advice and is denied boarding as a result I kind of feel they deserve what they get;).

[The Merrill]

This is just my experience with a passport that was expiring within 6 months of travel. While I was entering the US through my local airport ( Toronto, Canada ) I was sent to a "special" line-up after the initial visit to the US kiosk where you answer specific questions and your picture is taken all through a computer system which also scans your passport. I knew my passport was not expired and I had at least 6 months left on it. The nice US Customs person told me that there was not a huge problem with the expiry on the passport but they needed to be sure that I would be exiting the US before my passport expired. The expiry is all up to the country you visit and not cruise line specific. However if you need 100% accuracy you should check the internet sites of the countries you will visit to check what the requirements are. It's best, in my opinion, to get this information first hand.

 

IMHO of course .. :D