8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC Part 15

[jonesing]

Just BTW about the passport situation, DH (RenKnt) works for DHS & he says that while there might be an extension for Mexico and/or the Carribean, since we're travelling to South America (Colombia) the chances are REALLY high that we're going to need passports. Just a random thought for those waiting on passports.

You know, I just thought about something....one of our port calls is Cartagenga, Columbia! The Travel Accommodation states:

This accommodation does not mean that Americans are exempt from meeting the entry requirements of Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or countries in the Caribbean region*, some of which require a passport, certified birth certificate, or other evidence of citizenship for entry.

• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Aruba
• Bahamas
• Bermuda
• British Virgin Islands
• Cayman Islands
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Jamaica (except for business travel)
• Montserrat
• Netherlands Antilles
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Turks and Caicos

It dawned on me to check Columbia. According to TIMATIC, Columbia requires a passport:

/ 13AUG07 / 1537 UTC
National U.S.A. (US) /Embarkation U.S.A. (US)
Destination COLOMBIA (CO) /Visited MEXICO (MX)

Visa Information - Destination Country
COLOMBIA (CO)

Information for Normal Passports
Passport required.

Visa not required for a stay of max. 90 days, provided coming
for touristic purposes.

Colombian Immigration Authorities reserve the right to reduce
the length of stay for nationals of any country.

Tourists must hold ticket and documents required for onward or
return travel and sufficient funds.

All visitors to San Andres Island, who are not native to the
island are required to hold onward/return tickets from the
island.

Special restrictions exist for visiting coffee plantations.
Apply to either "Vegetable Sanitary Control" at the airport
upon arrival, or to a Columbian consulate or embassy.

Refusal of entry and deportation will follow, if arriving with
incomplete travel documents. Heavy fines will be imposed on
carrier.​

So even if the US won't require passports for cruise passengers and extends the deadline (again) it won't matter because Columbia requires a passport. Now maybe DCL will be nice and flag those pax who don't have passports and make it so that their KTTW cards won't work and won't let them off the ship in Cartagena, but that's kinda pushing it in my book.

 

[Diznyfan68]

Congrats!

 

[tom31b]

You know, I just thought about something....one of our port calls is Cartagenga, Columbia! The Travel Accommodation states:

This accommodation does not mean that Americans are exempt from meeting the entry requirements of Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or countries in the Caribbean region*, some of which require a passport, certified birth certificate, or other evidence of citizenship for entry.

• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Aruba
• Bahamas
• Bermuda
• British Virgin Islands
• Cayman Islands
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Jamaica (except for business travel)
• Montserrat
• Netherlands Antilles
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Turks and Caicos

It dawned on me to check Columbia. According to TIMATIC, Columbia requires a passport:

/ 13AUG07 / 1537 UTC
National U.S.A. (US) /Embarkation U.S.A. (US)
Destination COLOMBIA (CO) /Visited MEXICO (MX)

Visa Information - Destination Country
COLOMBIA (CO)

Information for Normal Passports
Passport required.

Visa not required for a stay of max. 90 days, provided coming
for touristic purposes.

Colombian Immigration Authorities reserve the right to reduce
the length of stay for nationals of any country.

Tourists must hold ticket and documents required for onward or
return travel and sufficient funds.

All visitors to San Andres Island, who are not native to the
island are required to hold onward/return tickets from the
island.

Special restrictions exist for visiting coffee plantations.
Apply to either "Vegetable Sanitary Control" at the airport
upon arrival, or to a Columbian consulate or embassy.

Refusal of entry and deportation will follow, if arriving with
incomplete travel documents. Heavy fines will be imposed on
carrier.​

So even if the US won't require passports for cruise passengers and extends the deadline (again) it won't matter because Columbia requires a passport. Now maybe DCL will be nice and flag those pax who don't have passports and make it so that their KTTW cards won't work and won't let them off the ship in Cartagena, but that's kinda pushing it in my book.

So you are out of luck on hoping for any exemption/extension/whatever.

Remember too, even though they gave this one time extension thing where you could travel with a passport application and a birth certificate, this leaves most people out of luck as you must send in your birth certificate with application, so unless you have 2 raised seal copies.....

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html is the passport office website.

I'm glad that someone else (read "other than me") is saying "do it now (or at least soon)." Last summer we applied with ten weeks when they said six to eight needed (now saying 10-12 and horror stories of 16 to 20 weeks being reality) and they came in the mail the week before we were leaving. I ended up taking a day off from work to go to Philly to have DS8's redone as they had converted him to DD8. As there was some DHS ratchet up of security (I think the start of no liquids on planes....), I didn't want to chance being in foreign water and something happening in another part of world meaning we return to heightened scrutiny and some ICE person accusing me of bringing in midget terrorists......

 

[Sarangel]

I ended up taking a day off from work to go to Philly to have DS8's redone as they had converted him to DD8.

I bet your son just LOVED that... Yay you for fixing it for him.

<tee hee, snicker>

 

[tom31b]

I bet your son just LOVED that... Yay you for fixing it for him.

<tee hee, snicker>

He's the easy going one, didn't phase him, now DS10.... he would have been devestated

 

[dahuffy]

Who else, besides myself, is really missing CAPTAINCRASH?
Raise your hand!

 

[Grandma x3]

Hi,
Missed the run - again! I was booking a shuttle on line to take me from Paris airport to hotel - almost forgot it.
Now I'm packed & ready - I leave in 30 hours!!
My dogs sense something is going on - the pup sleeps next to my duffle. But DGS Matt will be with them so they'll be okay.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Who else, besides myself, is really missing CAPTAINCRASH?
Raise your hand!

Whose Captain Crash????????????????????????????????????????
















Yes we miss him! only because my aim isnt that good!

 

[mkygrl]

Do you have a passport? And if so, any problems getting it?

I don't have a passport. I never needed one until this cruise came up and the new laws for cruising.


Chrissie

 

[dahuffy]

CONGRATS!!!! On 1000!!!!!!

Okay - I'm back to packing - Paris here I come!!

ing! And Grandma, I'm so jealous. Have a wonderful time and takes lots of pics. That way we can live vicariously through you and Andrew!

 

[tom31b]

Jay Rasulo's Speech At The Walt Disney Company 2007 Investor Conference
Remarks by Jay Rasulo Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
At The Walt Disney Company 2007 Investor Conference February 7,2007

We've also enjoyed strong demand for new cruise itineraries. Our bookings for the Mediterranean itineraries that begin this coming summer were 70% sold out on the first day they became available. We'll also repeat our West Coast itinerary during Summer 2008 due to strong demand. Reservations for the West Coast just began last week and set a new first-day booking record for our cruise business. In fact, the two trans-canal cruises are already over-sold.

Hi, Everyone ~

Just like everyone on this board, we're excited about the August 2008 cruise through the PC! This itinerary was announced while we were on another cruise so we put in a paper reservation for it and were lucky enough to get a stateroom for this cruise.

I also talked some friends who had never been on a cruise to join us and they made a reservation online on that crazy morning when reservations started. Anyway, they are pretty sure they can't go now. I know there is a long waitlist for this cruise. Is there any word about how many people are waiting? I was just curious.

 

[tom31b]

If you don't have a passport, consider the following:

• The passports are granted by the Department of State but the use is regulated by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is constantly in a state of flux. Recent news articles have shown that 30% or more of upper management is vacant. This means there is little policy continuity and more tendency to change mind on issues. DHS is also under regular fire and threat of reorganization from Congress.
  
• DCL will not let you on the ship without a passport since the ship will be stopping in a non-Carribean foreign port.
  
• The current advertised wait for a passport is 10-12 weeks - translated, that is three months. Fellow cruisers have had their passports take 16 weeks to arrive (4 months). If there is a problem, add to that time.
  
• Three months pre-cruise is the refund cut off date for all categories. Wouldn't it be better to have the passport in hand at that time?
  
• The REAL-ID act implementation takes effect in 2008. This may impact your ability to get a passport as having an approved state ID is a pre-requisite to getting a passport. If your state is refusing to comply with the federal mandate, you may have extra hoops to jump through to get your passport.

 

[dahuffy]

M,try this one on for size. Several years back our accountant did our taxes and sent them off for us. A few days later he called and asked if I had anything to tell him. "Are you an escaped con living under an alias?" It seem the Federal Gov't. in their infinate wisdom, gave me a divorce! They decided that I was not married and I had to go back and resign my papers with my maiden name and then had to send copies of my BC amd marriage license to prove who I was. I could understand if this happened the first year after we were married,but we had been together well over 10yrs at this point and had always filed jointly.

 

[mkygrl]

Hi,
Missed the run - again! I was booking a shuttle on line to take me from Paris airport to hotel - almost forgot it.
Now I'm packed & ready - I leave in 30 hours!!
My dogs sense something is going on - the pup sleeps next to my duffle. But DGS Matt will be with them so they'll be okay.

You must be so excited!

Animals have a way of knowing something is up! My Peanut (cat) has slept in my suitcase,walks in the room and looks at it and my (not very happily) and has been waking me up every morning since the suitcase appeared howling and carrying his toys around!


Chrissie

 

[dahuffy]

Thanks for all the passport help.

Of course another issue popped up.

The State of South Carolina issues small, credit card size BCs. There isn't a seal on the darn thing.

I called one of my aunts last night since she and her husband just went through the passport process last year.(both were born in SC) They didn't have any problems with their BCs.

On top of all of this, the passport application says I need someone to appear with me to vouch for who I am. Why? I don't have the proper government issued ID. See, I'll be 40 in January, but I never learned to drive. According to the application I can't present my permit as ID.

I call another (thank goodness my mom has so many sisters ) aunt who never learned to drive but has a passport. She was able to use her nondriver ID card which was issued by DMV. She said the agent never questioned it, so maybe it's common here. So she doesn't have a driver's license and her BC doesn't have an official seal(yup, she was born in SC) yet she has a passport.

She recommended that I do everything at the main post office downtown Brooklyn.

I had planned to get the ball rolling around Christmas. I'm going to start in October.

Don't feel bad about the driving thing. I didn't get mine till I was 45. Had my permit for over 10yrs but never got behind the wheel. I used to have terrible panic attacks. Got on some happy pills amd I don't have them anymore,still get anxious sometimes. I used a State Issued ID as well. You should be able to get one at your local DMV.

 

[dahuffy]

I would suggest that anyone needing to correct their birth certificate google "correct birth certificate spelling" without the quotes and a bunch of states pop up

One example given says changing Tracy to Tracey is ok, but Jane to Janet is not. What about Brad to Janet?

Do I sense a Rocky Horror fan in the room?

 

[dahuffy]

TA DA! ANOTHER ONE FOR THE WENCHES!!!!!

 

[mkygrl]

Hi Debi

Chrissie

 

[dahuffy]

Afternoon Chrissy!

 

[mkygrl]

Are we the only ones around?

Chrissie