Round Trip Panama - Visa Requirements

[KittyCatRya]

Hello all,

I have a question about Visa's. I just read on Princess that we have to "check visa requirements for each port on your cruise by contacting the consulate of each country visited or by contacting a visa service."

We are US Passport holding Americans and have cruised Royal several times and never done this.

I am looking for advise.

Thanks.

[galfromkazoo]

We are from the US and have been on cruises to Panama and a visa was not required.

 

 

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[marypat01]

We are from the US and have been on cruises to Panama and a visa was not required.

 

 

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I've done the round trip Panama Canal 4 times. Never had to have a visa.

 

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[easyboy]

I have a question about Visa's. I just read on Princess that we have to "check visa requirements for each port on your cruise by contacting the consulate of each country visited or by contacting a visa service."

 

We are US Passport holding Americans and have cruised Royal several times and never done this.

It is a general notice aimed passengers who are not passport holders of countries exempted for visa. You don't need one.

[Shmoo here]

Hello all,

I have a question about Visa's. I just read on Princess that we have to "check visa requirements for each port on your cruise by contacting the consulate of each country visited or by contacting a visa service."

We are US Passport holding Americans and have cruised Royal several times and never done this.

I am looking for advise.

Thanks.

Just to be safe, I'd suggest checking here: https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/americans-traveling-abroad.html for info on entry requirements for various countries.

 

With the immigration issues the US is currently going through, just remember things can change on a dime.

 

We've (US citizens) cruised the Panama Canal twice and haven't required any visas in the past.

[paul929207]

We transited the Canal twice this year and did not need a visa with our US passports

[wheezedr]

You do not currently need a visa for this cruise. The notification is corporates way to protect itself when cruisers who are under other passports and may need visas show up without them.

[KittyCatRya]

Thanks everyone! Have a great day. [emoji924][emoji925][emoji568]

 

 

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[geoherb]

Since you are U.S. citizens with passports, no worry. For our HAL cruise to the Panama Canal earlier this year, we were warned that we had to have passports for our stop in Costa Rica--something we had, so it did not matter to us. I'm not certain if this is HAL's interpretation of Costa Rican law or if all cruise lines enforce this. The other stops on Caribbean cruises allow U.S. citizens on closed-loop cruises to travel with a certified birth certificate.

[skynight]

Hello all,

I have a question about Visa's. I just read on Princess that we have to "check visa requirements for each port on your cruise by contacting the consulate of each country visited or by contacting a visa service."

We are US Passport holding Americans and have cruised Royal several times and never done this.

I am looking for advise.

Thanks.

On your voyage visas were never required for US passport holders. The text you mention is on all Princess bookings. It points out that it is your responsibility to check and have any required visas. Sometimes Princess mentions specific country visa and entry requirements for U.S. and Canadian citizens, for example Brazil. But, not all passengers on any cruise are U.S. passport holders and some may require a visa. Check out this story from a passenger that did not check out Ireland's visa requirements. You can easily check visa requirements on line at each country's web site.

[pablo222]

You do not currently need a visa for this cruise. The notification is corporates way to protect itself when cruisers who are under other passports and may need visas show up without them.

 

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if Princess just told you what you needed?

 

As discussed in another thread, when you get to the port, you may be denied boarding if you don't have the

required visas.

 

Obviously, Princess has some list of required visas to use at check-in to enforce this.

 

Why not share?

[skynight]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if Princess just told you what you needed?

 

As discussed in another thread, when you get to the port, you may be denied boarding if you don't have the

required visas.

 

Obviously, Princess has some list of required visas to use at check-in to enforce this.

 

Why not share?

Entry requirements for U.S. Citizens are shown on the below shown site. It is very easy to look them up. Maybe Princess should reference this site and other sites in their documentation, or on their web page. In some cases Princess does warn passengers of visa requirements. Just this year Princess warned us about the visa for Brazil, and the suspension of the reciprocity fee for Argentina. I don't believe Princess should be the final word on entry requirements just as airlines are not the final word. Cruise ship passengers are from all over the world with all kinds of passports. Princess can't really cover everything in a simple statement, especially when they don't know the citizenship of passengers when booked.

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

[marypat01]

I have found the website https://Travis.com/ extremely helpful, no matter which country or citizen.

 

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[wheezedr]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if Princess just told you what you needed?

 

As discussed in another thread, when you get to the port, you may be denied boarding if you don't have the

required visas.

 

Obviously, Princess has some list of required visas to use at check-in to enforce this.

 

Why not share?

Actually the requirement can change in short notice depending on current diplomatic niceties. It is kind of a way that governments play games back and forth. Princess is just warning each passenger to check their own situation. Also there can be misinformation put out by individuals and lines, the commonest historically being the need for separate Visas for private tours in SPB. At some point individual travelers must take the responsibility for knowing the requirements of where they are traveling to.

Let's be honest and point out that for years Americans were very lucky in that the majority of our travel required no special ID's, think Domestic, Canada, Mexico , the Caribbean. My parents and the bulk of their generation never had Passports and never thought about things like Visas. Overseas travel requires some planning and preparation.

[pablo222]

Actually the requirement can change in short notice depending on current diplomatic niceties..

 

...which Princess has to be current on, or they may accidently embark a passenger lacking the latest visa.

 

It's really rather silly now...

 

"We know the rules. We won't tell you the rules. But, if you don't follow the rules, we won't let you board."

 

Not very customer friendly.

[skynight]

...which Princess has to be current on, or they may accidently embark a passenger lacking the latest visa.

 

It's really rather silly now...

 

"We know the rules. We won't tell you the rules. But, if you don't follow the rules, we won't let you board."

 

Not very customer friendly.

I don't think Princess is being customer unfriendly in this situation. Do you want Princess to post every visa, vaccination and other rule for every passport in the world, or just for the U.S.? Princess already does provide warnings. I have received these warnings for Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Australia. Just like it is up to the traveler to have the correct passport, it is up to the traveler to have the correct visas. I don't see Princess changing this practice anytime soon.

[pablo222]

I don't think Princess is being customer unfriendly in this situation. Do you want Princess to post every visa, vaccination and other rule for every passport in the world, or just for the U.S.?

 

Is princess going to embark people with 'every passport in the world'?

If so, they better know the requirements at embarcation, or they are going to embark people who don't

have the required visa(s).

 

I don't care if they post it, or not.

 

Simply add it to the personalizer.

 

What ever visa list Princess is going to enforce for an individual at embarcation ...

just share it in advance.

 

Seems pretty simple, and very helpful.