Do I need a passport for roundtrip cruise from Florida to the Bahamas?

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Several of us, @sparks1093 most persistantly over the years, have posted that info but the doomsayers won't accept it. 

Ha!!!! Back to post #20.  A Yogi Berra moment.

Edited January 23 by d9704011

[Another_Critic]

51 (now 52) posts and the answer was in post #2.  😱   

[alfaeric]

35 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

On your list ONLY Martinique has a passport requirement at all for cruise passengers; and even they don’t have a 6 month rule. 
Passport information on the state dept site does not take cruising into consideration. 

Ok, I'm just pointing out that this past weekend, when I checked in with a passport that expires later this year, the system would not let me.  However, it would allow me to use an enhanced DL.  

 

Everyone is very welcome to ignore what happened to me, but I'm not lying. 

[alfaeric]

28 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The EDL is intended for people along the Canadian border who travel back and forth over the border regularly. And you can't fly with international with it. If you have one great but I don't see the point in spending extra for one.if you don't drive often over the border. You could not use it instead of a passport to travel by cruise to Martinique. 

 

Regardless if what it was "intended" for, it can be used for closed loop cruises in the Caribbean.  Royal even accepts it (thankfully).  I fully intend to keep our passports, but the extra cost for the DL was $20 over a normal DL in my state.  Not much extra, and I can go to Canada much easier.

 

For those who really don't want a passport, and are willing to take the risk with all of the other documents, an enhanced DL, if available in your state, is a good option.  

 

Again, feel free to ignore that information.  Especially if you are not in a state that offers an enhanced DL.  

[rolloman]

4 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

Ok, I'm just pointing out that this past weekend, when I checked in with a passport that expires later this year, the system would not let me.  However, it would allow me to use an enhanced DL.  

 

Everyone is very welcome to ignore what happened to me, but I'm not lying. 

May I ask what system and what error message did you get? Earlier last year my passport expired in about 4 months, when I went to do the pre-arrival paperwork on Royals website, it came up with a message informing me my passport had less than 6 months but nothing hindered me from completing the online check in and not another word about it from there on. 

[alfaeric]

7 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

51 (now 52) posts and the answer was in post #2.  😱   

FWIW, the OP has a similar passport situation to us, where we have a cruise where it expires within 6 months.  I planned "around" it by upgrading to an enhanced DL instead of worrying about a really quick turn around from our last to our next cruise.   And I figured it was a PSA to mention the enhanced DL to people who can get it.

[alfaeric]

2 minutes ago, rolloman said:

May I ask what system and what error message did you get? Earlier last year my passport expired in about 4 months, when I went to do the pre-arrival paperwork on Royals website, it came up with a message informing me my passport had less than 6 months but nothing hindered me from completing the online check in and not another word about it from there on. 

It said that my passport expires within the time frame and would not allow me to use it.  I checked in via the app where it enters the passport number by taking a picture.  As soon as it scanned the passport, it rejected it.  

 

I didn't attempt to check in on line, just the app.

 

So I checked in with an enhanced DL.

 

When we sail, we will have both the enhanced DL and the passport when we cruise.

[rolloman]

47 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

It said that my passport expires within the time frame and would not allow me to use it.  I checked in via the app where it enters the passport number by taking a picture.  As soon as it scanned the passport, it rejected it.  

 

I didn't attempt to check in on line, just the app.

 

So I checked in with an enhanced DL.

 

When we sail, we will have both the enhanced DL and the passport when we cruise.

Well, I didn't use that app and I never do for online check in as it is not reliable. If you would have completed your check in via anywhere other than the app, you would have had no issues getting past the simple reminder/ acknowledgement pop up message.

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

Well, I didn't use that app and I never do for online check in as it is not reliable. If you would have completed your check in via anywhere other than the app, you would have had no issues getting past the simple reminder/ acknowledgement pop up message.

So you are saying that I made a mistake.  Got it.  

 

BTW, when I checked in for the first cruise on this B2B, the passport was fine.  Just for the second.  And I really prefer to check in via the app, since it's a whole lot easier to check in than all of the typing via the web page.  Scanning the passport (like they do at the port) is so easy.  Checking in prior to arriving at the port speeds things up considerably- and for us, it's been 100% reliable.

 

But you do you.

 

Just out of curiosity, can you even get an enhanced DL in your state?

Edited January 23 by alfaeric

[goinmobile68]

Covid (& large recent expenses-I'm looking at you HOUSE!) have kept us closer to home lately, but after having my passport for almost 35 years & will not let it expire. DL regs have changed, but the passport goes on & on. My most recent experience was when I took a pile of sticks to our local yard waste dropoff. They chip them into mulch & return it to the residents. My car @ the time was a 20 year old sedan-not exactly the contractors dump trucks. We had just received our renewed passports & I was going to drop them off at the bank box on the way home. The keeper of the dump got in my face as was his habit, so when he asked for ID I produced my newly renewed passport. He went nuts! He yelled at me that it was NOT AN ID! I think he'd just never seen one before! So, although the staff at border crossings should be more professional, you never know what you'll run into. As for me, I'll carry any ID that I have-just in case! (Oh, and the rest of the story is that he's not the gatekeeper @ the dump anymore & the contractors were very nice to me!)

[Charles4515]

20 minutes ago, goinmobile68 said:

p them off at the bank box on the way home. The keeper of the dump got in my face as was his habit, so when he asked for ID I produced my newly renewed passport. He went nuts! He yelled at me that it was NOT AN ID! I think he'd just never seen one before! So, although the staff at border crossings should be more professional, you never know what you'll run into. As for me, I'll carry any ID that I have-just in case! (Oh, and the rest of the story is that he's not the gatekeeper @ the dump anymore & the contractors were very nice to me

I was standing in line at a liquor store and the person in front of me was asked to show ID. He presented a passport. The clerk would not accept it. They had a sign with a drivers license and a date they changed every day to show who was legal to buy alcohol. He could not get her to accept the passport and he said he was going to get her fired. Poor woman was just following orders from the owner to only accept state DL or ID. She didn’t get fired. She was still working there when I went another time. 

Edited January 23 by Charles4515

[alfaeric]

28 minutes ago, goinmobile68 said:

Covid (& large recent expenses-I'm looking at you HOUSE!) have kept us closer to home lately, but after having my passport for almost 35 years & will not let it expire. DL regs have changed, but the passport goes on & on. My most recent experience was when I took a pile of sticks to our local yard waste dropoff. They chip them into mulch & return it to the residents. My car @ the time was a 20 year old sedan-not exactly the contractors dump trucks. We had just received our renewed passports & I was going to drop them off at the bank box on the way home. The keeper of the dump got in my face as was his habit, so when he asked for ID I produced my newly renewed passport. He went nuts! He yelled at me that it was NOT AN ID! I think he'd just never seen one before! So, although the staff at border crossings should be more professional, you never know what you'll run into. As for me, I'll carry any ID that I have-just in case! (Oh, and the rest of the story is that he's not the gatekeeper @ the dump anymore & the contractors were very nice to me!)

Sometimes the timing is really hard to deal with.  We had 6 weeks between cruises, and the prior cruises would have us renew about a year early.  Which doesn't make sense.   While the turnaround is really good right now, I wasn't really wanting to take a risk.

 

They will get renewed in March when we have a large gap between cruises.  But because of the timing, I knew it would be a "risk" for the 6 month rule in some countries, hence why we got the enhanced DL.  Which is considerably cheaper than a passport card (which also has timing issues)

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Several of us, @sparks1093 most persistantly over the years, have posted that info but the doomsayers won't accept it. 

You mean that some people pay attention? LOL. Thank you for noticing. 🙂 

[Biker19]

10 hours ago, alfaeric said:

It said that my passport expires within the time frame and would not allow me to use it. 

That is an RCI IT issue and has no bearing on what happens at the pier. I bet you a D drink that if you didn't check in online and go to the pier with just the passport the check in agent won't even notice the expiration date and won't say anything about it.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, alfaeric said:

Sometimes the timing is really hard to deal with.  We had 6 weeks between cruises, and the prior cruises would have us renew about a year early.  Which doesn't make sense.   While the turnaround is really good right now, I wasn't really wanting to take a risk.

 

They will get renewed in March when we have a large gap between cruises.  But because of the timing, I knew it would be a "risk" for the 6 month rule in some countries, hence why we got the enhanced DL.  Which is considerably cheaper than a passport card (which also has timing issues)

Here in Vermont the EDL is a bit more expensive in the long run over the passport card (last time I checked it was $30). We pay $25 for an EDL and it's only good for 4 years, max. A passport card is good for 10 years. We decided on the EDL because we only have to carry one document instead of two should we decide to go up to Canada, which is 8 miles away.

[sparks1093]

4 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That is an RCI IT issue and has no bearing on what happens at the pier. I bet you a D drink that if you didn't check in online and go to the pier with just the passport the check in agent won't even notice the expiration date and won't say anything about it.

And that can be done regardless of what box one checked in online check in (unless, of course, that has changed).

[rolloman]

8 hours ago, alfaeric said:

So you are saying that I made a mistake.  Got it.  

 

BTW, when I checked in for the first cruise on this B2B, the passport was fine.  Just for the second.  And I really prefer to check in via the app, since it's a whole lot easier to check in than all of the typing via the web page.  Scanning the passport (like they do at the port) is so easy.  Checking in prior to arriving at the port speeds things up considerably- and for us, it's been 100% reliable.

 

But you do you.

 

Just out of curiosity, can you even get an enhanced DL in your state?

I am not saying you made a mistake. I said the app is unreliable.  I also think it is important to clarify for everyone the fact (during check in) the pop up reminder of your passport being less than 6 months does not hinder your ability to use said passport.  As to your question, the State of Florida has had the enhanced DL for several years now. 

[sparks1093]

36 minutes ago, rolloman said:

 As to your question, the State of Florida has had the enhanced DL for several years now. 

No, it really hasn't. It has had REAL ID compliant licenses and IDs, which is a completely different animal. An Enhanced Drivers License has a machine readable chip in it similar to that in a passport and a passport card. Right now only 5 states issue bona fide EDLs and they are all on the northern border (Vermont, NY, Washington, Michigan and Minnesota, if memory serves correctly, which it doesn't always). A lot of people confuse the two documents.

Edited January 23 by sparks1093

[not-enough-cruising]

12 hours ago, alfaeric said:

Ok, I'm just pointing out that this past weekend, when I checked in with a passport that expires later this year, the system would not let me.  However, it would allow me to use an enhanced DL.  

 

Everyone is very welcome to ignore what happened to me, but I'm not lying. 

No one, (at least me) is calling you a liar.

 

Just pointing out that the information posted about the islands requiring 6 months on your passport was errant, that is all.