Passport Question

[Moon Child]

Hello
Just a quick question...
If we are taking a 3 night Disney Cruise to Nassau and Castaway Cay, is a passport a must?
Thought I read somewhere b4 that you do not have to have one, but now I'm not sure
TIA

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello
Just a quick question...
If we are taking a 3 night Disney Cruise to Nassau and Castaway Cay, is a passport a must?
Thought I read somewhere b4 that you do not have to have one, but now I'm not sure
TIA

If you are a US citizen, and the cruise is a closed loop one (one beginning and ending in the same US port) and calling only at Western Hemisphere ports, the minimum requirement is a birth certificate and (for those 16 and over) a government issued photo ID.

That said, you'll find others here who say "passport is the only way to go". Personally, we have passports, but it's certainly not required. Unless you have to fly home from a foreign port, then you must have a passport.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you are a US citizen, a passport for that cruise is not needed.

If, however, while in Nassau you find that someone has an emergency and you must fly home from there, you will need a passport. Or if someone is admitted to the hospital you'll need a passport to be there and to get home. (which means hours in a gov't office...you won't be stranded, but you'll have to get it done) Or if you're on Castaway Cay and something horrid happens and you're airlifted to a nearby island, it'll be the same. A passport will be needed to get home by plane.

It's a pretty low chance for such a short cruise, but it's all about YOUR level of risk, and YOUR level of irritation at having to sit in a gov't office paying way more than you would have paid for a normal passport (and I hear that the emergency passports have a much shorter expiration than the normal ones).

It also depends on how likely or hopeful you are that more international travel will come up.

For instance, I hear that trips to England are a VERY good value right now. I saw a deal for roundtrip tickets to Europe starting at $576, for instance! If you have a passport, taking advantage of that sort of thing is possible.

 

[Moon Child]

Thank You guys so much !

 

[mmouse37]

Not saying you should or shouldn't have one but just want to relate my recent passport scare (I say scare because I insist my family travel with them but that is just me).....after telling my friend who is cruising with us that her passport was expiring soon and that she should go right away and get it renewed....I decided to go look at our passports and realized ours were about to expire as well!!! We are cruising in August and I can't believe I didn't realize they were about to expire. I last used it in October of last year.

So, filled out the renewal forms online, printed them out and brought them to our Post Office to be sent out. Had our passport pic take at the Post Office. Sent them out on a Monday earlier this month and our new passports were back in under 2 weeks! Regular not priority. Now I feel better we have them for another 10 years.

Moral of the story.....check your documents....both passports and birth certificates. So many times we read on here that someone went to get their birth certificates or passports just to realize that were lost or about to expire. Glad I checked!!

MJ

 

[spicycrab]

Is there a requirement that the passport cannot expire within 6 months of traveling? I think this was a requirement on the last carnival trip I took....

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is there a requirement that the passport cannot expire within 6 months of traveling? I think this was a requirement on the last carnival trip I took....

There are several cruise lines that recommend that you have 6 months remaining on your passport. Generally, for a Caribbean cruise, this is not a requirement. There are some countries, say in Europe, that do have that requirement. Some only require 3 months, others have no minimum amount of time, as long as the passport is valid (not expired) on the day you return.

If you have questions as to whether a country you are visiting has such a requirement, you can get that information here (for US citizens): https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

 

[chris31997]

Is there a requirement that the passport cannot expire within 6 months of traveling? I think this was a requirement on the last carnival trip I took....

Some countries require a certain amount of on your passport before you enter. Like PrincessShmoo said not an issue for Caribbean cruises. Now if you were doing a Med cruise, you might want to have the 6 months.

 

[Bear3412]

..is a passport a must? No
.... you do not have to have one... Correct

HTH