Our Passports Arrived!

[Whimsy]

Gettting your passports may not be as exciting as getting your cruise docs but it is still a step closer towards our cruise!

 

We applied on April 27 and they arrived today. 5 weeks to the day for inquiring minds.

[LILynn]

I know the feeling - mine just came too... never needed one before and even though I don't leave till 9/1 I feel like I am halfway there.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Lynn

[Hello-Kitty]

Congrats!!! It is exciting

[misslou]

Getting your passports may not be as exciting as getting your cruise docs but it is still a step closer towards our cruise!

 

We applied on April 27 and they arrived today. 5 weeks to the day for inquiring minds.

 

We only applied for our passports this year too. Having never really needed them before now, our birth certificates always seemed to suffice. Anyway we applied back in April, then last month we each got letters requesting we get more official copies of our birth certificates. :confused:

We are both in our 60's, not that old, but it took awhile for them to dig mine out of the dusty cellar, now I don't know if there will be enough time for the passport to arrive before the cruise on 7/1.

I'll be sitting on pins and needles too. Luckily, this year we don't need them and I ordered two copies of our birth certificates, just in case they didn't get to us either.

Congratulations on yours arriving without a hitch. :D

[Spikesgirl]

The last time we renewed our passports, it took two weeks. At least you have beaten the rush. After this year, you'll need the passports for jsut about everything, so at least it's done and you won't have to worry for awhile. Also not to worry about the birth certificates, we had to submit notorized coipes of ours and that was well before 9/11. Things are so much tighter now.

 

Whimsey - not to worry about getting excited - take advantage of all the excitement. You should have seen the dance I did when our China visas got here.

 

Happy sails,

 

Charlie

[mrscaribbean]

Gettting your passports may not be as exciting as getting your cruise docs but it is still a step closer towards our cruise!

 

We applied on April 27 and they arrived today. 5 weeks to the day for inquiring minds.

 

Good for you...It is exciting because at least now you have that worry behind you.

 

My DH had to renew his & started the process on April 14th. Our 2 boys, & our son's girlfriend also went the same day to get theirs (I already have one). My boys & the girlfriend received them in 4 weeks, but they misspelled the last name on my son's girlfriends passport, so she had to send it back. Then, my DH followed-up on his because he still hasn't received it, & found out that they received the pictures damaged. So now he had to go get his pictures retaken & start the process over again. They will reimburse him & the girlfriend, but, my point to all this is, it's a good thing they went now, because you never know what obstacles you may run into.

[Fuzzzy]

Congrats!!

 

Passports make everything so much easier when traveling. I have had one (Actually several) for 33 years now.:)

[margaritagirl424]

So now he had to go get his pictures retaken & start the process over again.

 

Any tips on where & how to get passport pictures done? Do them ourselves or have them done somewhere?:)

thanks

[Lynda90]

Any tips on where & how to get passport pictures done? Do them ourselves or have them done somewhere?:)

thanks

I know you can do them yourself and then just size them correctly on your computer. However, I wanted to make sure mine came out correctly the first time. Did not want to receive my application back because photo wasn't right. So I had mine done at Walgreens for $7.00. Everything went off without a hitch. And it was rather exciting to get the passport in the mail. Got mine last year and it makes things move much faster.

[margaritagirl424]

I know you can do them yourself and then just size them correctly on your computer. However, I wanted to make sure mine came out correctly the first time. Did not want to receive my application back because photo wasn't right. So I had mine done at Walgreens for $7.00. Everything went off without a hitch. And it was rather exciting to get the passport in the mail. Got mine last year and it makes things move much faster.

 

I agree, I know I would somehow not get the picture right. So I can just go into Walgreens and ask to have a passport photo done? How long then to get the picture? Then go to a passport office to turn in the paperwork, and then wait for the mailman?

thanks:)

[scopewest]

We found the cheapest place for photos (for us) was Costco. Our passports actually expired in June 2005, and I said to DH we could take our time about renewing since we weren't planning on crusing for another year or so, and much to my surprise he insisted we renew them because "you never know" if you're going to need them. Surprise, surprise...we ended up taking a cruise in December 2005 that we booked in November as a last minute trip! Can't hurt to have an up-to-date passport at the ready.

[Plant]

Here's the link to the government passport site:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

 

Everything you ever wanted to know, and more! You can print out the forms you need (just don't sign them until you apply!), and look up the passport office closest to you, too (some locations have photographers available).

 

There are very specific rules about the photos, so IMO, I wouldn't take them myself. If you belong to AAA they'll take them for free.

 

Wherever you have your photos made, they will give them to you almost immediately.

 

Good luck :) !

[DeltaOne]

Any tips on where & how to get passport pictures done? Do them ourselves or have them done somewhere?:)

thanks

I used my digital camera and Photoshop for our passport pictures. No problems at all. I just followed the directions for sizing, etc.

[jlp20]

Ours came in, 5 weeks and 1 day, not bad.

[irisheileen]

Mine's in for two days, DH should be a couple days behind me! (BTW, this photo is MUCH better than the last one from 10 yrs ago!)

Eileen

[pooflady]

We only applied for our passports this year too. Having never really needed them before now, our birth certificates always seemed to suffice. Anyway we applied back in April, then last month we each got letters requesting we get more official copies of our birth certificates. :confused:

We are both in our 60's, not that old, but it took awhile for them to dig mine out of the dusty cellar, now I don't know if there will be enough time for the passport to arrive before the cruise on 7/1.

I'll be sitting on pins and needles too. Luckily, this year we don't need them and I ordered two copies of our birth certificates, just in case they didn't get to us either.

Congratulations on yours arriving without a hitch. :D

 

Same thing happened with us because my husband was born in the Canal Zone during the war (evidently the State Department no longer considers that that was US territory). Anyway, I sent the new birth certificate in on a Saturday and received his passport the following Saturday. I was pretty impressed.

[longislandfamily]

Thankfully we found this out before the absolute last minute, when I was trying to complete the online cruise information. You must have a passport that is valid for 6 months after your return date, not your start date. Our daughter's passport was 3 weeks short of the 6 moths. So, last Thursday we sent out an expedited application, with express mail service both ways. The new passport arrived express mail today, 9 days ( and $180) later. So, check your passport as soon as you make your reservation.:o

[Casshew]

Our passports just expired (mine and my 12 year old daughters) I sent them in 2 weeks ago, I see my credit card was charged for mine a few days ago, but not my daughters yet. I guess they are processed separately.