Passport validity

[only1armband]

Charles...a big male Rooster! Why pay for something if you don't need too?

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, only1armband said:

Charles...a big male Rooster! Why pay for something if you don't need too?

 

If you can determine you don't need too then don't. i was in the same situation for a Caribbean cruise, passport actually expired a couple of months after the sailing  but I knew absolutely that my passport would be good for it. I didn't ask on Cruise Critic because I knew a bunch would tell me to renew even though it was not nessecary for that itinerary. I am not telling you to renew. I don't know about the requirements for that itinerary. It is more complicated than a Caribbean itinerary and then you have Brexit. Don't count on the responses on this board. The cruise lines recommend six months because that is safe. Travel writers will always advise that passports should be renewed six months  in advance of the date. We don't have to take that advise. I didn't myself, but renewing before the cruise will elimnate any doubt. It is your choice. 

[only1armband]

Thank you Charles, the best reply todate. I was hoping someone was in a similar position to what I am currently in. Even playing it safe and spend £70 GBP on a new passport could be a waste of money with March 29th Brexit day looming. I have emailed RCCL and asked for the third time if they will allow a passenger to board with 5 months 20 days left on the passport. So far I have had 2 customer service replies, 1 saying yes it will be fine and 1 saying they recommend 6 months. I've had over 2 years of people sitting on the fence with Brexit and now getting it from RCCL. 

 

Thanks again

[Globaliser]

1 minute ago, only1armband said:

I was hoping someone was in a similar position to what I am currently in.

 

...

 

I've had over 2 years of people sitting on the fence with Brexit and now getting it from RCCL. 

 

I just don't think you're going to get a reliable definitive answer from anyone, because nobody knows the definitive answer, because there is no definitive answer. Anyone who has already cruised has not been in a similar position to the one that you are in, because the UK had not left the EU when that cruise was taken. And anyone who has a cruise booked for after 29 March is in the same boat as everyone else at present: nobody knows what's going to happen.

[MisterBill99]

9 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

The date format on US passports is day month format. Not “month day”. Also day month should not be confusing to those who travel internationally.

 

Yes, but the month is letters so it's obvious that it's in that order. My point was that using all numbers with the day first is confusing for those of us not used to it being in that order and especially when the day is low enough that it could be either format.

Edited February 12, 2019 by MisterBill99

[Globaliser]

11 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

My point was that using all numbers with the day first is confusing for those of us not used to it being in that order and especially when the day is low enough that it could be either format.

 

Welcome to our world!

[only1armband]

With respect, the date format is irrelevant to the question asked. Passport with 5 months 20 days left. Apologies if you were confused.

[UnorigionalName]

why risk it? is it that hard/expensive to renew the passport?  Is it worth putting all your travel plans at risk for such a trivial thing?

[MisterBill99]

6 hours ago, UnorigionalName said:

why risk it? is it that hard/expensive to renew the passport?  Is it worth putting all your travel plans at risk for such a trivial thing?

 

Did you read reply #28? Makes a lot of sense with Brexit looming and the possibility of a new UK passport being a waste of money.

 

BTW passports and tips seem to be the two subjects that get the most heated discussion here.

Edited February 13, 2019 by MisterBill99

[broberts]

On 2/12/2019 at 12:13 AM, MisterBill99 said:

 

Just wanted to suggest that when you post dates on a board that has a majority of US users, you should either post the date is mm/dd/yy format or just use "month day" format to avoid confusion. I understand that it was obvious with the second date you posted.

 

And as 1025cruise suggested, post it in the correct board.

 

I think the most universally understood (also an ISO standard) format is yyyy-mm-dd. YYYY-MMM-DD is also good (MMM is short month name) but suffers in multilingual contexts.

[gnome12]

On 2/12/2019 at 3:05 AM, Charles4515 said:

 

The date format on US passports is day month format. Not “month day”. Also day month should not be confusing to those who travel internationally.

 

 

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Sorry, the only numeric that makes sense to me is 2019-02-13, which also allows sorting by date. (It is also the SI metric standard.) If that isn't used, it would help if the month was 3 letters rather than a number 13-FEB-2019 or FEB-13-2019.

[gnome12]

On 2/11/2019 at 4:12 PM, Globaliser said:

 

And depending on where you go, you can still get the full 10 years out of it. For example, if a Canadian passport holder travels to the UK, the passport only needs to be valid for the period of intended stay; and for return to Canada, the passport only needs to be valid on arrival. So you could arrange your travel so that you fly back on the last day of your passport validity, getting the full 10 years out of it.

Perhaps, but I don't select my destination based on the timing of my passport. I always want a valid passport available to me for wherever I choose to go. 

[gnome12]

On 2/12/2019 at 3:58 AM, only1armband said:

Thank you all for your input, I have sent an email to the UK Government with my question and await a reply, Brexit is not helping matters as no one really knows what will be agreed or not. I apologise if I am on the wrong thread as this is a genuine oversight. Mt aim on this forum was to see if any other UK passenger has experienced my dilemma.

It isn't up to the UK government. All they can do is try to keep up with the rules for the individual countries, but they probably say something similar to what the Canadian government shows on its entry/exit requirements page for each country. Here is the information for Estonia.

 

"Every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders. The Government of Canada cannot intervene on your behalf if you do not meet your destination’s entry or exit requirements.

We have obtained the information on this page from the Estonian authorities. It can, however, change at any time.

Verify this information with foreign diplomatic missions and consulates in Canada."

 

You need to check with each country you will be visiting; they are the only ones who can give you complete information.

[Charles4515]

Sorry, the only numeric that makes sense to me is 2019-02-13, which also allows sorting by date. (It is also the SI metric standard.) If that isn't used, it would help if the month was 3 letters rather than a number 13-FEB-2019 or FEB-13-2019.

Sorry but it doesn’t matter what makes sense to you. Or to me. Or what would help you. It is a fact that countries use different date formats so that has to be kept in mind when reading dates.


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[Charles4515]

 

Perhaps, but I don't select my destination based on the timing of my passport. I always want a valid passport available to me for wherever I choose to go. 

 

That of course makes sense but if one has multiple trips and destinations the timing of passport renewal has to be planned. When my passport is being renewed I have to send in the old one and won’t have the new one until the new one is returned even though the previous passport has not expired.

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Perhaps, but I don't select my destination based on the timing of my passport. I always want a valid passport available to me for wherever I choose to go. 

 

But that doesn't mean that your passport is only valid for 9½ years, which is what you were suggesting. It's only your desire for flexibility / abundance of caution that is leading you to abandon the last 6 months of its validity, when you could actually still use it to go to many if not most destinations. That's a consequence of your choice, not a feature of the passport.

 

Indeed, it's similar to the attitude of those cruise lines that require a passport that's valid for 6 months beyond the end of the cruise even though there's not a cat's chance in hell on that cruise that any of the countries concerned would require it - although their attitude comes perhaps as much from laziness as from being over-cautious.

[UnorigionalName]

4 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

But that doesn't mean that your passport is only valid for 9½ years, which is what you were suggesting. It's only your desire for flexibility / abundance of caution that is leading you to abandon the last 6 months of its validity, when you could actually still use it to go to many if not most destinations. That's a consequence of your choice, not a feature of the passport.

 

Indeed, it's similar to the attitude of those cruise lines that require a passport that's valid for 6 months beyond the end of the cruise even though there's not a cat's chance in hell on that cruise that any of the countries concerned would require it - although their attitude comes perhaps as much from laziness as from being over-cautious.

 

some countries don't let you in if passport expires in less than 6 months.

[Globaliser]

9 minutes ago, UnorigionalName said:

 

some countries don't let you in if passport expires in less than 6 months.

 

But very many do. Some even let you in if your passport expires the day after you arrive (and won't throw you out immediately for that reason either). So a blanket 6-month rule (whether you adopt it for yourself or have it imposed on you by a cruise line) is either lazy or over-cautious.

 

The OP's situation, in which the cruise line recommends 6 months but does not impose the requirement, allows more flexibility to those who know what they are doing.

[Charles4515]

 

But very many do. Some even let you in if your passport expires the day after you arrive (and won't throw you out immediately for that reason either). So a blanket 6-month rule (whether you adopt it for yourself or have it imposed on you by a cruise line) is either lazy or over-cautious.

 

The OP's situation, in which the cruise line recommends 6 months but does not impose the requirement, allows more flexibility to those who know what they are doing.

 

I think it is more the cruise line lawyers telling them to be cautious. That way those who don’t know what they are doing probably won’t make a mistake. Probably Europeans are less likely to make a mistake but generally Americans are less familiar about passports, visas etc. because those requirements don’t exist in North America for most cruises. You can even take most cruises from the US without a passport.

 

 

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