Passports?

[PrincessShmoo]

Just tagging on to this thread with a question. Our daughter turned 16 in December. She has a PA learner's permit which is not a photo ID, just her info. She is not eligible to take her exam until June in PA, so her only government issued ID is her passport. Since this our first cruise with a child that is 16, (cruising the Fantasy in February) we have not needed a photo ID for them to get on and off the ship. If I am understanding correctly, 16 and over need photo ID, so she would need to take her passport off with her? I'm sure there are others that have been in the same situation, so just wondering what you did. Thanks

Yes, she can use her passport. In fact, that's all she would need, not her birth certificate.

The age 16 photo ID requirement is for returning to the US, not getting on and off in port. The age requirement for a photo ID to reboard the ship is age 18.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

not having valid days for entry.

To re-enter the US on a closed loop cruise, the passport doesn't require any specific number of days/months to still be valid. It only has to be valid on the day you re-enter the US.

 

[scrapbookmom]

Thanks, that is great. I suppose I was confused and thought she needed ID for ports as well. Just as a reply to the original post, we always had passports for the kids and out 16 year old is now on her third. We have always felt more secure in having them. Thank goodness, if you are 16 or older, the passport is an adult version good for 10 years. So glad I did not renew hers a few weeks before I did!

 

[AngelDisney]

To re-enter the US on a closed loop cruise, the passport doesn't require any specific number of days/months to still be valid. It only has to be valid on the day you re-enter the US.

I am worried about entering other countries due to emergency and/or leaving from there rather than US.

 

[bumbershoot]

Am I reading right, that the renewal costs are the same as the new passport costs?

Since yours is only 3 years expired, you pay only the application fee.

If it had been expired over 5 years you would pay the application fee and the acceptance/execution fee.

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/passports/FeeChart/Passport Fees Chart_TSG March2016.pdf

Next time I'm taking them by myself and have 4 international ports and I can't imagine one parent trying to get authorization for a passport in another country (something to consider if you're planning to split up - and I don't know how many people get to get off the boat if there's a medical need requiring transport).

OH I figure they would realize that you're trying to get *home*, to where, I assume, the other parent is. I don't want to sit in a bureaucrat's office when in an emergency situation, but I'm quite sure they would work it out.

I originally let mine expire because given the name change it was almost as expensive as new one, if I remember correctly.

To do a name change when the passport is over a year old would cost money, yes. Now that it's time to renew it'll work out.

Thank goodness, if you are 16 or older, the passport is an adult version good for 10 years. So glad I did not renew hers a few weeks before I did!

Yep.

I managed to time my son's first passport perfectly (though a few years later than intended) so that his current one expires when he's 16. And we just got NEXUS; that's supposed to be 5 years, but for both of us they put expiration 5 years after our birthdays this year, so his will expire at 18. (hyperventilating at how quick times goes)

I am worried about entering other countries due to emergency and/or leaving from there rather than US.

Bahamas cruises allow US citizens to arrive with just a birth certificate (and ID for those old enough). If we have to fly home we aren't suddenly illegally on their soil. They have different rules for cruisers. And trying to get home is different than trying to enter their country (by air).

As much as I love the passport, this is not something I would worry about, and I personally would not worry about renewing it ages in advance to go to a country that would allow me in with just my birth certificate and driver's license.

 

[Alicatt]

My husband also vetoed kids passports. He just felt that it was so unlikely that they out need to fly home that it is a waste of $200+ dollars. It is unlikely that we will use them again in 5 years. I see his point. I tend to err on the side of caution but the worst case is a delay while we get them emergency passports. It would suck but not be insurmountable. Both the adults have passports, so between that and the birth certificates, we should be ok to get them. It's not a long cruise so the risk is minimal. I don't love it but I also can't justify yet another cost to him. And I know it's just a drop in the bucket considering the price of the cruise but that argument only leads to an argument about how the cruise is too expensive and maybe we shouldn't go.

 

[ntmec]

My advice: everyone should have a passport.
DCL Eastern Carb 7 yrs ago. Beautiful day at Trunk Bay, St. John. Calm, beautiful water. Just as we're getting ready to leave all of a sudden a huge wave crashes and everyone around us things get soaked. We then hear our 8 year old yell in a scared voice, "guys, something is wrong with my arm!" He'd been playing right at the waters edge and the rogue wave had picked him up and crashed him into the hard sand! He had a completely displaced, broken (not fractured, broken) arm!
DH is a physician so he immobilized it with a towel and we got on the ferry back to St. Thomas. Taxi from Red Hook took DH & DS to hospital, the rest of us (me, DS5, DM, DDad) back to ship. Thankfully the navigator was in my beach bag and I was able to call the ship on our way and let them know the situation. Disney said that my DS would be refused back on the ship for liability purposes (which we assumed, it was bad, we knew we were headed home). Crew helped us quickly get everything packed and debarked. I had about 25 different forms to sign for the cruise line and the port authority. We ended up flying home the next morning.
Seven years later DS is just fine.
All this to say: the cruise line crew, the port authority liaison in St Thomas, the hospital staff, and security at STT airport all told us that the situation was much better because we all had passports. And that was with a problem in a US Territory. I can't imagine the mess it would be in BVI or Bahamas.
If you have a scary situation like we did, the last thing you'ok want to deal with is a bunch of border security issues.
Will not travel w/o a passport.
You never think anything will happen to you until it does.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My advice: everyone should have a passport.
DCL Eastern Carb 7 yrs ago. Beautiful day at Trunk Bay, St. John. Calm, beautiful water. Just as we're getting ready to leave all of a sudden a huge wave crashes and everyone around us things get soaked. We then hear our 8 year old yell in a scared voice, "guys, something is wrong with my arm!" He'd been playing right at the waters edge and the rogue wave had picked him up and crashed him into the hard sand! He had a completely displaced, broken (not fractured, broken) arm!
DH is a physician so he immobilized it with a towel and we got on the ferry back to St. Thomas. Taxi from Red Hook took DH & DS to hospital, the rest of us (me, DS5, DM, DDad) back to ship. Thankfully the navigator was in my beach bag and I was able to call the ship on our way and let them know the situation. Disney said that my DS would be refused back on the ship for liability purposes (which we assumed, it was bad, we knew we were headed home). Crew helped us quickly get everything packed and debarked. I had about 25 different forms to sign for the cruise line and the port authority. We ended up flying home the next morning.
Seven years later DS is just fine.
All this to say: the cruise line crew, the port authority liaison in St Thomas, the hospital staff, and security at STT airport all told us that the situation was much better because we all had passports. And that was with a problem in a US Territory. I can't imagine the mess it would be in BVI or Bahamas.
If you have a scary situation like we did, the last thing you'ok want to deal with is a bunch of border security issues.
Will not travel w/o a passport.
You never think anything will happen to you until it does.

I agree. You never know what may happen.

I read about a family (I believe it was on a Wonder Mexican Rivera cruise) Mom, Dad and 2 kids. One kid gets acute appendicitis. Medi-vac in Cabo San Lucas. Thankfully, they all had passports. Dad & one kid remain with ship (it was the last port stop). Mom & sick kid remain in Cabo until kid is safe to travel, and were able to fly out as soon as possible. But the story could have been different had they not had passports.

Every time I read someone's post about "we're perfectly healthy, so we don't need medical coverage" I hope that remains true during their whole trip.

 

[Alicatt]

It's not that I don't think there is a chance something could go wrong. Of course it can but since it sounds like the worst that could happen is that we would have to wait for emergency passport we're playing the odds. My husband and I both have passports and we'll have the kids birthday certificates, we we'd have all the ID we'd need to get them. Has anyone had to get one? I'd be curious.

 

[bumbershoot]

Alicatt, can you explain how you feel that the adults having passports will help the situation? It's not going to hinder it but I personally doubt it will help much.



ntmec oh I know things change on a dime. No passport involved but one second my son was in his last half of the last rehearsal for a dance convention closing show and the next second he slipped and broke his arm. Whole end of the week changed, had to upgrade to first class home so his arm had room, then we dealt with delta being down that morning etc.

It was hard enough waiting a few extra hours at the airport let alone at some embassy getting passports.



Oh and be sure to find the embassy hours for getting passports! Was it a post here about leaving passports on the plane to Canada? It worked out because they had something else like global entry that let them get through to Canada itself and then the passports were found, but it was a weekend that was a combo of both a US and Canadian holiday so not only did the embassy only do passports on weekdays, but the next weekday was a holiday and the embassy was closed for passport purposes. If the airline (and not even the poster's airline i believe) hadn't found the passports they would have missed their cruise.


And I don't mean any of this as a "horror story" or as a "you must get them" but as a "really think this through" moment.

If someone in your party broke something in Nassau and got it set (ghastly experience by the way, just getting it numbed to be set) and hard splinted and now the ship is gone and you need to get home, how much fun will it be to sit in that embassy office?

Will it feel worth that $200 for the kids' passports then?

That's the kind of thing I think about.

But if there are already arguments about how expensive it is that the $200 is a problem, then that's no fun.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The worst that could happen is to wait for an emergency passport... in a foreign country with a child in a hospital or in surgery or beside you and miserable because of pain... on a long weekend so the embassy is closed when the hotels are all booked up and your credit card's been cancelled because it was used at a hospital in a foreign country that was suspicious and you left your phone charger on the ship under the bedside table and only have 23% power left.

That wait could really suck. And those things happen.

 

[Alicatt]

Alicatt, can you explain how you feel that the adults having passports will help the situation? It's not going to hinder it but I personally doubt it will help much.
I was saying that because my husband and I have passports we would have sufficient ID to show that we ate citizens and the parents who appear on the kids birth certificates in order to get them passports. I was not implying that they would waive the kids through immigration because of it.


ntmec oh I know things change on a dime. No passport involved but one second my son was in his last half of the last rehearsal for a dance convention closing show and the next second he slipped and broke his arm. Whole end of the week changed, had to upgrade to first class home so his arm had room, then we dealt with delta being down that morning etc.

It was hard enough waiting a few extra hours at the airport let alone at some embassy getting passports.



Oh and be sure to find the embassy hours for getting passports! Was it a post here about leaving passports on the plane to Canada? It worked out because they had something else like global entry that let them get through to Canada itself and then the passports were found, but it was a weekend that was a combo of both a US and Canadian holiday so not only did the embassy only do passports on weekdays, but the next weekday was a holiday and the embassy was closed for passport purposes. If the airline (and not even the poster's airline i believe) hadn't found the passports they would have missed their cruise.


And I don't mean any of this as a "horror story" or as a "you must get them" but as a "really think this through" moment.

If someone in your party broke something in Nassau and got it set (ghastly experience by the way, just getting it numbed to be set) and hard splinted and now the ship is gone and you need to get home, how much fun will it be to sit in that embassy office?

Will it feel worth that $200 for the kids' passports then?

That's the kind of thing I think about.

But if there are already arguments about how expensive it is that the $200 is a problem, then that's no fun.

 

[Alicatt]

Figmentspark- I thank you for you concern and the concerns of everyone here. We will not be there over the weekend and I did check the embassy hours and they seem reasonable. An emergency passport, if granted, takes as little as 30 min. I know there are no guarantees. But even with a passport having all of my credit cards cancelled and my cell phone die would be an awful experience in that situation. I would keep all of my documents on the ship anyway so I would think that DCL would at least help me by pack up or borrow a charger or make a call. The credit card thing I'm totally glad you mentioned. I will call them before I leave so that they know I'm traveling.

 

[FigmentSpark]

All the best Alicatt. Have a great trip.

 

[jrabbit]

I would prefer to get the passports and be on the safe side, but my husband does not share my concern and thinks it's not worth the money considering that "nothing will happen" and we will only be on one non-US island. I'd rather have the passports and have nothing happen, but, it would be a big investment.

Probably a silly question, but this is my first cruise -- do you leave the kids' birth certificates on the ship while you're out?

Frankly, I think with the way the World and USA is going, a Passport will be THE form of Identification in the future (I don't know how far out that will be but IMHO that is where we are heading). Between 9/11 and many years ago, when I flew domestically, I never was "random" screened when I used my Passport as ID, and EVERY TIME I used just my Drivers License I was "randomly selected" for screening.

Passports
It is a "big" investment, but MUCH LESS than the price of your trip. As adults, they are good for 10 years. For the Under 16 (or is it 18?) year old's they are good "only" for 5 years.

And finally, opportunities arise, sometimes on a short notice - like my last cruise - booked it less than a month before departure (one way from Galveston to San Juan) where we needed our passport. And if you ever visit Canada, having a passport for your kids makes crossing the border MUCH easier!! (How do you prove that your child is yours and is an American citizen without it). Breezed through with the passports, 20-30 minutes of interrogation (mom was there too) with just the birth certificate (again I get selected for "random" screenings - I'm a BSG - Big Scary Guy)

 

[Alicatt]

Frankly, I think with the way the World and USA is going, a Passport will be THE form of Identification in the future (I don't know how far out that will be but IMHO that is where we are heading). Between 9/11 and many years ago, when I flew domestically, I never was "random" screened when I used my Passport as ID, and EVERY TIME I used just my Drivers License I was "randomly selected" for screening.

Passports
It is a "big" investment, but MUCH LESS than the price of your trip. As adults, they are good for 10 years. For the Under 16 (or is it 18?) year old's they are good "only" for 5 years.

And finally, opportunities arise, sometimes on a short notice - like my last cruise - booked it less than a month before departure (one way from Galveston to San Juan) where we needed our passport. And if you ever visit Canada, having a passport for your kids makes crossing the border MUCH easier!! (How do you prove that your child is yours and is an American citizen without it). Breezed through with the passports, 20-30 minutes of interrogation (mom was there too) with just the birth certificate (again I get selected for "random" screenings - I'm a BSG - Big Scary Guy)

I agree. I do think it will be the ID to have pretty soon. But for us right now our kids will have to renew in 5 years and we don't travel much. We live near Canada and have been back and forth several times with the kids and never been detained. I'm sure some of that is luck. Again it's not about the money exactly. It's that my husband doesn't think the kids really need passports. We talked about it and none of my (really the DISboard's) arguments impressed him. It's that the risk/cost analysis doesn't make sense. Worst probable case is that we have to spend a few extra days stranded in the Bahamas while we wait for passports. That would not be cheap and it would be annoying because we'd really rather be home but it's not so horrific. On the other hand we do have trip insurance ( which I realize wouldn't pay for the passports etc) because the worst case is a lifetime of debt due to an airlift.

 

[Beth06015]

At this point it seems we will be going ahead and getting them. However my husband is off the grid at work for a few weeks so it will be mid-Feb earliest we can get to the post office together to apply. It seems a little daunting to handover all the paperwork I have documenting our citizenship etc and sending it in the mail!! Hopefully the state department is still functioning LOL!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

It goes quickly at the post office. And you guys are killing 4 birds with one stone, right? Are you bringing pictures with you or do they take them there? You will need checks for at least some of the fees, not cash or credit card. You will get your paperwork back, but I understand the trepidation. Word is that right now the bureaucracy is running fast. Should still be true in February. The crunch comes later in the spring for Summer trips. I remember when we first started filling out the forms for our kids passports it seemed so complicated, but by the time we got to the post office, it was rather easy as long as you have your supporting documentation organized!

 

[Beth06015]

It goes quickly at the post office. And you guys are killing 4 birds with one stone, right? Are you bringing pictures with you or do they take them there? You will need checks for at least some of the fees, not cash or credit card. You will get your paperwork back, but I understand the trepidation. Word is that right now the bureaucracy is running fast. Should still be true in February. The crunch comes later in the spring for Summer trips. I remember when we first started filling out the forms for our kids passports it seemed so complicated, but by the time we got to the post office, it was rather easy as long as you have your supporting documentation organized!

That's my plan, all four at once! I have the paperwork done and copies made. I found an app that will take passport photos and sized them to print, it was super easy! Except for the strange faces we all made LOL!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

That's my plan, all four at once! I have the paperwork done and copies made. I found an app that will take passport photos and sized them to print, it was super easy! Except for the strange faces we all made LOL!

"Hey, I wasn't making a strange face!"

Oops. My bad. That must be your....normal face? LOL