Latest US Passport Requirements for Cruise Trips

To continue my digression from choosing the best cruise lines (yes, I'm still working on the best short escape-away cruises ! We had a temporary break from the drizzling, cold weather here – long enough to take one last cruise around Lake Winnepasaukee before stowing our 14’ “yacht” away for this year – and the urgency to plan to get away to warmth was delayed…), the US Department of Homeland Security has issued another reprieve to the impending US passport requirements.

As many people know, the government may issue regulations and laws, but putting them into action doesn’t always happen according to schedule. Such is the case with US passport requirements.

According to the latest set of enforced regulations, a passport is required to enter the United States from any foreign country, including Canada and Mexico and all the non-US Caribbean islands, by air.

If you’re planning a relaxing all-inclusive vacation in the Dominican Republic, or Jamaica or the Riviera Maya and you’re going to fly, you need a passport. Or, if you’re planning to fly to St. Maarten or the British Virgin Islands to start your cruise, you need a passport.

(As a note, there are a few exceptions, including military personnel and “trusted traveler cards,” to the US passport requirements -- but most of us aren't affected by the exceptions. The regulations are complicated enough to try to understand without adding more to the discussion so I'm going to ignore the exceptions to the rules.)

You can cruise to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada with only a certified birth certificate -- the one with a raised seal (if you don’t have one, order it from the Town Hall in the city where you were born) and a government-issued photo ID (such as a drivers license or military ID), but if there’s an emergency and you want to return home by plane, you will be denied entry into the US. Yes, this has happened…. more than once.

In a worst-case scenario, if you’re on a cruise ship that docks in Cozumel, you break your leg while exploring the ruins, and want to fly back home to go to the hospital, you will be denied entry to the United States if you do not have a passport. The airline’s personnel should check your passport before allowing you on the plane. But, even if you somehow get on the plane, the Homeland Security folks are prohibited from allowing you entry into the United States.

Homeland Security can make exceptions. But – and this is a very big but, you first have to get on the airplane – without a passport, it will be a challenge, especially in a foreign country where communicating a sense of urgency may be a problem. If you make it to your US destination, you’ll then have to convince Homeland Security that there is a valid reason you are entering the US without a passport and you actually are who you say you are. Allowing you into the US is at the discretion of the Homeland Security personnel…

Homeland Security projects that by Summer 2008, a passport will be required for land (car, bus, train, motorcycle, foot) and sea travel to every country. The date for implementing the US Passport Requirements has been pushed back several times because the passport processors cannot keep up with demand. This past summer, passport applications were backlogged 3 and 4 months.

The best time to apply for a passport is now, when travel to international destinations is slow and the passport application processors have had a chance to catch-up. By January, February and March, people will be planning their winter getaways and summer vacations – demand for passports will be up and the wait will increase.

Soon enough – even if it takes another year or two – every person, including children, in the United States will need a passport to enter the United States from anywhere in the world except United States territories (the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and Swain Island) and Commonwealth (Puerto Rico).

You will need a passport unless you absolutely positively never ever plan to visit any other part of the world – and this includes taking an Alaska cruise! Only the American-registry small cruise lines are able to cruise in Alaska without stopping in a “foreign” (Canada, in this example) port. Even if you plan to stay on board when the ship docks in a “foreign” port – you need a passport to board the ship at the US port.

What are you waiting for? The cost of a passport isn’t excessive. Why not apply for one now, when you don’t absolutely need it. You’ll be able to go anywhere you want at any time without giving it a second thought. Eliminate some of the stress from thinking about US passport requirements and instead, have fun choosing your best cruise lines.