Passport Question

[sparks1093]

On 4/17/2023 at 11:23 PM, LHT28 said:

Do they require a passport to sail??

Good  to have  but  usually US citizens can sail on closed loop cruises with BC & Government issued photo I.D.

 

Or has that changed ?

 

Two people in our party just sailed with ID/BC on our Glory cruise last week. No issues at all.

 

OP, if he is a natural born US citizen he can sail with an original or copy of his birth certificate and government issued photo ID. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by sparks1093

[UGACamper]

Found some interesting info from another site:

---

  We have run into the issue to renew his passport. We started the process in February, asked for expedited service, and still have not received it.

For anyone else in this situation, we wanted to share a little bit of information on how to get your money back when the US Department of State exceeds their Service Level Agreements on time for expedited passport processing.

Steps:

1. Go to https://passportstatus.state.gov/ to check on your status
2. Note the Date it was received and the Application Locator Number
3. Go to https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...st/refund.htmland note how many days they have to complete it based on the date it was received
4. Go to https://www.timeanddate.com/date/weekdayadd.html and put the received date in the box, and the SLA days in the add days box
5. If it is after, go back to https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...st/refund.htmland fill out the form. Make sure to include the date that it was received and the amount of time (from the first paragraph on the page) they had to complete it.
6. "Application number" on that form should be the application locator number.

If you fill it out, you should get your $60 back in 4-6 weeks

[theloo]

Look at what just came!  I never received any email notification!

[Harley167]

Goos news! Our cruise buddy paid extra to expedite his passport and it came in Wednesday! That was 8 days after expediting! We are set to sail! Thanks all!

[wwcruisers]

Thanks to everyone who has posted and updated on this thread -- it has been very helpful. My DH and I are in no hurry -- but quickly realized that we wanted to renew earlier than we had originally planned. Especially when we read about the online renewal option not working, since last month. Printing out forms, cropping and printing photos, and mailing everything in was more work -- but we at least got the process started. We did use Priority Mail (mainly for the tracking option) -- but did not request expedited service. The tracking showed a delivery date of 4/20. The next week, our check cleared, and the passport tracking showed that it was 'in process' -- with an estimated time of 10-13 weeks. Fortunately, we don't anticipate needing our passports until sometime this fall (at the earliest). Will keep checking back, to see how things are going for everyone! 👌

Edited April 29, 2023 by wwcruisers

[UGACamper]

Well, we have still not received the passport. The tracking says it was delivered to our PO Box on April 12. The postmaster has admitted fault and we are pushing for a new issuance which is another headache. Refund for expedited service requested. We are just those “if something is going to happen it’s gonna be us” people. I understand that I will be able to check in online without hubbys passport info and able to update later? 

[Schmink45]

On 4/17/2023 at 4:36 PM, Harley167 said:

Has anyone else had trouble renewing your passport? Our cruise buddies for our May 14th cruise on the Glory out of New Orleans, has been waiting 8 weeks so far for his Passport Renewal, and nothing yet! Starting to get worried!

CBS News reports 10-13 weeks of waiting for the passports.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-passport-renewal-cbs-news-explains/

 

[new_cruiser]

This page has the info on the urgent process (for travel within 14 days):

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html

 

If your passport is taking too long, you can call to make an appointment at a passport office once your trip is within 14 days (the 14 includes the current day - to me that's 13 days). An unexpected trip came up when I was about to renew my passport anyway so I'm having to use that process. I did also call an expediter to see about using them, but they wanted about $900 bucks to do it (though I think that included the government fees as well as their fee). For that price, I decided I was willing to do the drive to our closest Passport office.

[Softail1340]

4 minutes ago, new_cruiser said:

This page has the info on the urgent process (for travel within 14 days):

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html

 

If your passport is taking too long, you can call to make an appointment at a passport office once your trip is within 14 days (the 14 includes the current day - to me that's 13 days). An unexpected trip came up when I was about to renew my passport anyway so I'm having to use that process. I did also call an expediter to see about using them, but they wanted about $900 bucks to do it (though I think that included the government fees as well as their fee). For that price, I decided I was willing to do the drive to our closest Passport office.

The expediter charges never included all the different passport fees

[new_cruiser]

If anyone has mentioned it in the thread, I've missed it, but there is also the debt ceiling to consider. If there is a government shut-down due to that, passport processing may halt for a while. 

[new_cruiser]

10 minutes ago, Softail1340 said:

The expediter charges never included all the different passport fees

The passport expediter who I called doesn't list their fees on-line until you fill-out their form and, since I'm not using them, I don't want to enter that information. Checking a couple of others with websites more upfront about the fees, their 14-day service is priced around $600 so I'm pretty sure that the ~ $900 that the agent mentioned on the phone was the total for their fee plus the government fees.

[Harley167]

Wow ! Thsts crazy money ! We expedited and it was here in a week !

[theloo]

23 hours ago, new_cruiser said:

If anyone has mentioned it in the thread, I've missed it, but there is also the debt ceiling to consider. If there is a government shut-down due to that, passport processing may halt for a while. 

Oh no, I hadn't thought of that.  We're planning to apply to renew in July for a trip in December.  Hope we're not affected.

[sparks1093]

On 5/6/2023 at 8:07 PM, new_cruiser said:

If anyone has mentioned it in the thread, I've missed it, but there is also the debt ceiling to consider. If there is a government shut-down due to that, passport processing may halt for a while. 

It is possible but passport processing is paid for by the fees collected, not by tax dollars, so it is likely that passport processing would continue. 

[Shmoo here]

7 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

It is possible but passport processing is paid for by the fees collected, not by tax dollars, so it is likely that passport processing would continue. 

Well, the processing is paid for by the fees, but the salaries of the people doing it will be affected.  It has in the past.

[sparks1093]

52 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Well, the processing is paid for by the fees, but the salaries of the people doing it will be affected.  It has in the past.

The fees are supposed to cover all the costs, including the salaries. I input "were passport offices affected by the government shutdown" and the search results indicated that services continued, with the possible exception of some offices located in an office building controlled by an agency affected by the shutdown. 

[taba]

On 4/23/2023 at 7:59 AM, taba said:

Mystery solved. DE received a letter via email from the passport processing center that said her photo was rejected because she was wearing glasses. The requirement changed on 1 November 2017. One the rare occasion that she was wearing glasses instead of contact lenses, she had her passport photo taken at a pharmacy. 

 

She had a new photo taken on Thursday without glasses and we express mailed the photo and letter to the passport office. It was received on Friday.

 

I hope this didn't restart the clock. We are now nine weeks away from our trip.

I checked DW's passport status last night. It now shows that it is approved. We paid for 1-2 day delivery, so we expect the new passport by Monday. Total time including sending in a new photo after the first one was rejected  was about 8 weeks with expedited processing. 

[PacnGoNow]

Not much activity here now, but here’s how our renewal went. Paid extra for expedited and priority mail for our passports. Used same envelope and wrote 1 check for both passports.

 

1. Mailed priority mail, expedited Passport renewals on Apr 5, 2023.  

2. Received by Phila. Passport processing office Apr 11, 2023.

3. Approved and shipped May 11, 2023.

4. Due to receive both May 13, 2023 USPS priority. Will be in separate envelopes.

Counting from the date they received them in the passport office to return of new passports:  4 weeks and 4 days.

 

The reason they stopped the trial of the online renewal, was because they did not have a way to locate/trace the passport, if needed.  So, they have to reprogram that software.  That may be why there were problems with those passports being delayed.

 

Interestingly, our new passports were produced in the Tucson processing center. Mailed from there, priority 2 day.

 

 

 

[Softail1340]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Not much activity here now, but here’s how our renewal went. Paid extra for expedited and priority mail for our passports. Used same envelope and wrote 1 check for both passports.

 

1. Mailed priority mail, expedited Passport renewals on Apr 5, 2023.  

2. Received by Phila. Passport processing office Apr 11, 2023.

3. Approved and shipped May 11, 2023.

4. Due to receive both May 13, 2023 USPS priority. Will be in separate envelopes.

Counting from the date they received them in the passport office to return of new passports:  4 weeks and 4 days.

 

The reason they stopped the trial of the online renewal, was because they did not have a way to locate/trace the passport, if needed.  So, they have to reprogram that software.  That may be why there were problems with those passports being delayed.

 

Interestingly, our new passports were produced in the Tucson processing center. Mailed from there, priority 2 day.

 

 

 

Ours was received in Philadelphia but shipped from Hot Springs, Ar. Seems like they are catching up