Passports

[realtreebar]

are you stubborn and put off getting pass port to risk a trip, because someone said you could use a drivers license and birth cirtificate? please vote in the poll reply to this post with comments thanks

[doxie_fan19]

It took me four months, but it finally came :eek: !

[Tartessa]

I've had one for a couple of years. If you don't have one yet, I would recommend that you do it soon. There will be a big rush at the end of the year with the new laws.

[MikeNJ1109]

A passport is necessary for us...I'm American, my wife is a German citizen with a US Green Card (and most of her family lives near Munich), and our daughter was born in Guatemala so she carries a US, German and Guatemalan passport.

 

It's enough to make one dizzy...

 

Michael

[jfe724]

Cruise Critic has been warning us since 2003 that the time was coming . It makes it so much easier to go through immigration and customs. I'm glad we got ours a few years ago. We have friends that waited forever for their passport. I can't imagine the panic of waiting for a passport and my trip coming up, it's so sad when you hear of someone having to cancel because their passport didn't come.

[alcheme]

I had never had one, but saw the writing on the wall with the new regulations and expected there would be a backlog, so my wife and I applied back in December. Took about 6 weeks to get them.

[DonnaK]

I will be cruising with an expired passport and my children don't have passports. We aren't cheap or lazy - we just didn't want to risk sending in the original documents and then having to worry about getting them back in time. As well, my daughter turns 16 after the cruise, and we were advised to hold off until then, so she can get a 10 year passport instead of a 5 year "children's" one. Passports aren't required at this time, so I'm not worried. (If the unthinkable happens and we have to fly home from a foreign port, we'll deal with it then. There are provisions in effect at the US embassies to get you home without a passport, although it's a hassle).

 

We will be sending off the applications as soon as this trip is over.

[Onessa]

I've had a passport since the early 1980's. It has allowed me to take advantage of some really good last minute deals - in 1991 for example I flew round trip from a small midwestern city to Munich for $98, my DH, DD and I flew to Milan for $249 per person in 2000, and we'll be doing a bargin Mediterrean cruise in a few weeks. Long before there were requirements to have a passport to travel to and from Canada, I'd bring it because it generally cut time spent on both sides when coming and going. I routely use it for my DD for "proof of age" for sports and other activities (easier to keep track of than a single sheet of paper BC, easier to read for the registration people, less fragile than the paper BC). Finally, when a family emergency forced us to cut short a trip a year ago, it was one fewer worry no delays flying back.

[zuscruiserz]

You don't have "Passport in Progress" on your poll, so I couldn't vote :o . 14 weeks (and still counting) this Friday :( .

[BethCarp]

I didn't vote either. DH and I already have our passports. We've been waiting 17+ weeks for our sons'.

[picabo972]

Applied first week of April - still waiting. Cruising in 12 days. I just reordered birth certs for all of us just in case.

[alphakitty]

Got mine in 2005 at the first talk of needing them for cruise travel.

[SheltieLady]

Got mine and my dh back in November 2005 after I became a citizen in October 05 and dh was out dated.

 

Christine

[MikeNJ1109]

My daughter got her US Passport in 3 weeks & 5 days, in which we paid the Expedite Fee, and also had help from our Congressional Representative.

 

My sister, her husband, and two kids all applied for passports (two renewals and two newbies) on July 7th, and all four passports arrived in the mail this past Monday (they paid the expedite fee only).

 

All of us should be this lucky to get the passports so quickly...

 

Michael

[cot427]

No passport yet, but I have the applications. There just waiting to get sent into the Passport office. I'll send for them soon, but I won't get it for a long time, so I am just using my birth certificates for my October 7 cruise on freedom. I will end up getting them by next year to cruise again anyway.

[Brwill54]

A word of advice to anyone that has been waiting for awhile for their passport. I suggest calling them and saying that you work has you traveling soon to abroad and you need one. If you get the right person usually they will fedex it to you within about 3-5 days. My DW had to do this to get hers. They will usually ask you when you are going but if you tell them your work is holding off on booking the tickets until you get your passport they usually will hurry.

[LABCHICK]

We got ours in Feb of 2005. It was a little cheaper at that time and it only took us 6 wks to get them.

 

Judi :)

[cruiserbryce]

My wife has one...I dont...I will order one within the next couple weeks

[FitzLA]

I have had one since I was a baby.

[jobob]

It must be the people who lie about needing their passport that is making the backlog for those of us that really need them and have applied for them 16 weeks ago. Shame on you. Why do you think you have the right to cut in line?

[cot427]

Good idea on telling them you need it for work, kinda like a shortcut, but my family needs 4 passports, so that will not work. We will just wait like the other millions of people who are waiting for like weeks.

[aqhacruiser]

We got ours last July 2006. Took 4 weeks:)

[MikeNJ1109]

It must be the people who lie about needing their passport that is making the backlog for those of us that really need them and have applied for them 16 weeks ago. Shame on you. Why do you think you have the right to cut in line?

 

That's possible...

 

However here's another suggestion: How about that the WHTI has been known for the last couple of years, and the millions who are now applying could have done so a long time ago but didn't. Now that the deadline was approaching, folks are now realizing, "Gee, maybe I should get a passport too"

 

Between that, plus a colossal screw-up on the part of the State Department for NOT anticipating the demand and NOT hiring enough people at the processing centers...well, that's a pretty lousy combination.

 

Michael

[Mysticks1]

We got ours last July 2006. Took 4 weeks:)

 

I applied in August of 2006 and got mine within 4 weeks as well. I wanted to get it because I expected the wait to be longer (I was right about that one.) and I feared the price would increase as they needed more personnel to process the applications.

[jt58203]

Our applications were submitted last week. The passport clerk told us that they were being sent to Arkansas. They recently opened up a mega-processing center, 200+ employees working 24 hours a day (in three 8-hour shifts). This should shorten the wait time.