Do I need them??? YES OR NO?????

[kg66]

We are cruising another cruise line in March 2006, and they informed our TA, probably 3 months ago that all passengers are req'd to have passports to ease boarding. She said that all cruise lines are following suit with Norweigan Cruise Line. We got them right after our DCL cruise in Feb 2005 because I was worried boarding would be a hassle without them .Now we never have to worry again Yes it's a lot of $$$$$ but it's peace of mind now. For those of you who are Canadian, you get them within 10 days.

 

[El Capitan]

Good morning Cindy72, MJasp, and Kg66,

I am going to try and hit all three of your questions at once.

Kids can be the toughest members of your family to get through customs depending on their age due to a lack of a photo identification. They pulled my DS9 aside in Canada, away from his parents and interviewed him about who we were and where he lived before letting him get on a ship with us from Victoria Island back to Bellingham, Washington. We had his certified birth certifiacte with us with the raised seal just like they told us to have. A passport would have been so much simpler and less stressful.

Why all the hoopla about the need for a passport. Well a passport is the best form of identification when your travelling abroad. Unfortunately they cost a lot of money that everyone would take with them on the cruise.

Many cruises are just telling people to have a passport becasue it is the best identification and it does ease the customs march. The other form of identification which I have talked about before in this thread can cause delays in customs becasue they are all different. It is very hard for them to verify their authenticity.

This is why I keep stressing, bite the passport cost bullet, you will have no worries and an awesome cruise!!

 

[Cajun Princess]

We cruise the end of Feb Took the family of four and applied for our passports 2 weeks ago. I just feel better having them. We should get them by early Oct. I didn't want to have to wait and there be a mad rush for passports at the end of the year. It was a good bit to dish out but now it is done and we can travel anywhere