Monday, April 1, 2024

U S. Passport Card Vs. Book: What You Need to Know

do you need a passport on a caribbean cruise

These round-trip sailings typically embark from Los Angles, Long Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco. If your cruise also visits other countries, you may be required to have a passport on hand—usually the cruise lines will ask to see it but you likely won’t need it on shore. Lines doing the sailings include Princess, Holland America, Disney, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. That is cheaper than a passport book, can get you on the ship but are valid for entering the USA by land and sea only.

Bermuda

Mexico's Caribbean and Pacific coasts are both accessible to cruisers who do not hold passports. If you want to visit Mexico's eastern shores, you can find three- to 15-night cruises to Costa Maya, Cozumel and Progreso. Sailings depart Florida from Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral; you can also find itineraries from New Orleans, Galveston and Mobile, Alabama.

What Caribbean Nations Require a U.S. Passport?

To cruise without a passport, you need to stay in the Western Hemisphere and sail from the United States on a “closed-loop” itinerary, which means you leave from and come back to the same U.S. port. The rules for sea travel were established under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Cruises to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Alaska, Canada, New England, Mexico, Bermuda, and Hawai‘i all fit these criteria.

Hawaii

Along the way, stop by Catalina Island for a day packed full of outdoor enjoyment. Kayak in and out of secret coves, zip line through the trees or try parasailing. In Ensenada, the “Cinderella of the Pacific,” you can ride horses along mountain trails, tour the wine country, shop for souvenirs and taste the local tequila. In the Eastern Caribbean, find dream destinations like Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos archipelago.

If you're taking a closed-loop cruise without a passport you'll need proof of citizenship and, if you are over age 16, a government-issued photo ID. But again, your best and safest route is to spend the money to get a passport before you travel. On my first few cruises to the Caribbean I did not need a passport. I simply had a state issued photo ID (driver’s license) and a notarized copy of my birth certificate and I was allowed to go on a closed-loop cruise. Right now (December 2017) that is all you need to go on a closed-loop cruise, but almost every cruise line from Royal Caribbean to Carnival recommends you have a passport.

do you need a passport on a caribbean cruise

From water sports to American history and Hawaiian culture, there's a lot to experience on a Hawaii cruise. The best part might be the ability to hop from island to island, sampling the flavors of each as you go. A few longer, seven- to 15-night itineraries stop in the Bahamas on their way into the Caribbean.

do you need a passport on a caribbean cruise

Visiting the Caribbean Without a Passport

Whether it's a tropical beach vacation, a river trip in Europe or a glacier cruise in Alaska, there's something enjoyable about kicking back on a ship, exploring a handful of ports and taking it easy for a few days. In addition to offering different levels of travel flexibility, price is also a major difference between a U.S. passport book and passport card. You need a passport to go anywhere outside the borders of the United States, right? If you're leaving on a jet plane, the answer is probably yes, but it's not necessarily true when you're leaving on a cruise ship.

Embarkation day - Royal Caribbean Blog

Embarkation day.

Posted: Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Visit castles, take a ride on a horse-drawn trolley, stroll through beautiful Butchart Gardens or get your fill of shopping and dining downtown. When you arrive back in Seattle or San Francisco, take time to explore those cities for even more vacation fun. Matt started Royal Caribbean Blog in 2010 as a place to share his passion for all things Royal Caribbean with readers. He oversees all the writers at Royal Caribbean Blog, and writes a great deal of content on a daily basis. He has become one of the foremost expert on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Speaking of unexpected events, you should also purchase travel insurance to cover any medical emergencies and evacuation .

Whether you need a passport depends on numerous factors, including where you embark and disembark the ship, where you're sailing to and which line you're cruising with. On one-way sailings, such as between Montreal and Boston on Holland America Line, you will need a passport to fly to or from Canada. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provides a detailed description of the requirements. If you have any questions, check with your travel agent or cruise line.

Closed-loop cruises travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda but start and end at the same U.S. homeport. However, there are some caveats you'll need to know about ID requirements. You can cruise to The Bahamas from a number of U.S. ports along the Atlantic Coast. Located just southeast of Miami in the Atlantic Ocean, The Bahamas offers an ideal island getaway. With soft-sand beaches, vibrant coral reefs, and pastel-colored British colonial architecture, the Bahamian capital of Nassau makes a popular port of call for cruisers. In Freeport, you can shop till you drop at the Port Lucaya Marketplace or kayak through the mangroves at Lucayan National Park.

You don’t want to be turned away at the pier for lack of proper identification. If you are age 16 and up, and without a passport, you will also need to present a photo I.D. All cruises everywhere else in the world that sail in destinations outside the United States require a passport. If you get the urge to cruise and your passport has expired, or you have made a last-minute decision to take the kids and they don’t have passports, you may be wondering, do I need a passport to go on a cruise? In select destinations, you do not need a passport to go on a cruise. Whether you should cruise without a passport is another matter (there are some risks that we’ll get into below).

The British Virgin Islands are a mere stone's throw away from St. Thomas and St. John, and accessible by ferry or private boat. You may also present an Enhanced Driver’s License (allows you to re-enter the U.S. only by land or sea and only from Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean) or a Passport Card. It's accepted as legal identification, negates the need to bring multiple forms of ID and provides peace of mind if the worst should happen — such as flying home unexpectedly or docking elsewhere during your trip. Let's look at the options for where you can cruise without a passport.

No comments:

Post a Comment

500+ Long Hairstyles and Haircuts for Long Hair to Try in 2024

Table Of Content Locs in Jumbo Kinky Twists Bohemian Bun Ongoing Maintenance Time Long Butterfly Locs Crochet Hair Blong Long Butterfly Locs...