Cruise without a passport?

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home. She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.
--
Ari Silverstein, C.T.A; C.T.A.S, Cruise Travel Advisory Services
www.cruisequick.com - able to offer some of the lowest prices and best
values added in the industry.

"Bill" wrote in message
...
On 6/28/2010 10:20 PM, Jack Hamilton wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:46:30 -0500, D
wrote:

On 6/28/2010 7:37 AM, GV wrote:
Are there any cruises available for U.S. citizens that don't require a
passport? Hawaii or possibly a river cruise? I'm not even sure about
Hawaii, though. Are there any U.S. flagged vessels that cruise there
that don't have don't have to stop in a foreign port?

TIA.

Gary

Hi, Gary,

Yes, you can do Hawaii--NCL is the sole cruise line granted permission
to do Hawaii without making an international stop.

It might be long wait, but eventually NCL might put the Jade, originally
the Pride of Hawaii, back into Hawaii service, and they might have a
sailing from Los Angeles to Honolulu when do it. NCL mentioned this as
a possibility, but there's no schedule and will require a big upswing in
demand. We did the trans-Pacific trip from Honolulu to Los Angeles when
they took the ship out of service, and the only ID needed was a drivers
license.

Or they might, someday, send the Pride of America back to the mainland
for some kind of refurbishment. Again, I know of no plans, but it's a
possibility.

Neither of these sound like something that an 88 year old woman wants to
wait for. Look, the bottom line is that she doesn't NEED a passport for
a Caribbean cruise. It's highly recommended in case you need to make an
emergency return at an intermediate port (which, sadly, is more of a
possibility in her case than with a younger person), but she can go
without it.

Also, you don't say where she is. A Canada/New England cruise out of NJ
might be reasonable for her if she's in the NY area.

Bill

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful replies and suggestions. It's been
over ten years since I did any cruising and way longer than that since she
has and I hadn't kept up with all the new rules and regulations. I wasn't
aware that it was even possible to do a Caribbean cruise without a passport.
I admit that, at her age, it's probably not a good idea but I'm also
painfully aware that illness and death isn't limited to the elderly. We'll
be looking at the options you've all suggested.

B-) Diana, I like the thought of your MIL's three "last cruises"!

We're probably going to go ahead and start her passport application so that
she'll have it when she does decide to go. Who knows, she might get the yen
for travel back and want to go back to Europe some day. After my Dad passed
she had said that she wasn't going to go anywhere without him. But, she's
been known to change her mind! After all, she came up with this cruise
idea out of the blue! B-)

--

Gary
Visit our website and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home. She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.

Most people I've heard from are getting 2-3 week turnaround. You can
pop $65 to expedite yourself with in the passport office.

BUT!!!! Hurry. Rates go up on Tuesday. $35 up. Getting new pages in
your book goes from free to $82. But you can order the enlarged book
for no extra charge.

Best one? It now costs $400 to renounce your citizenship.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Toby (Tri-Umph That's the Sweet Truth)
March 1998 - June 2010
What a dog. What a dog!

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:29:00 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home. She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.

Most people I've heard from are getting 2-3 week turnaround. You can
pop $65 to expedite yourself with in the passport office.

Self-service is cheaper.

BUT!!!! Hurry. Rates go up on Tuesday. $35 up. Getting new pages in
your book goes from free to $82. But you can order the enlarged book
for no extra charge.

Best one? It now costs $400 to renounce your citizenship.

Which is becoming a more viable option, btw regardless of the Nazi
inspired exit taxation laws.
--
Ari Silverstein, C.T.A; C.T.A.S, FREE Cruise Travel Advisory Services
Sign up for special email deals @ www.CruiseQuick.com - able to offer
some of the lowest prices and best value added in the industry. (not
affiliated)

Thanks, again, for the replies everyone! Actually, we broke down and
decided to renew our passports so that we'd have them if we wanted to go
somewhere that we'd need them. We did the renewals at the local Post Office
on Friday (07/09/2010) If anyone is interested I'll let you know how long
it takes to get them!

Gary
Visit our website and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
...
[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just
add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother
has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home.
She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided
that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.

Most people I've heard from are getting 2-3 week turnaround. You can
pop $65 to expedite yourself with in the passport office.

BUT!!!! Hurry. Rates go up on Tuesday. $35 up. Getting new pages in
your book goes from free to $82. But you can order the enlarged book
for no extra charge.

Best one? It now costs $400 to renounce your citizenship.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Toby (Tri-Umph That's the Sweet Truth)
March 1998 - June 2010
What a dog. What a dog!

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:29:00 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home. She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.

Most people I've heard from are getting 2-3 week turnaround. You can
pop $65 to expedite yourself with in the passport office.

Self-service is cheaper.

No, as in take it to the post office, get an overnight envelope
(whatever they're called) and pay the $65 expedite fee. Get it back
in three busines days for a renewal, five for a new one.

Walking into a passport office requires an appointment and a valid
reason. And the $65 fee. You should have it in six hours.


BUT!!!! Hurry. Rates go up on Tuesday. $35 up. Getting new pages in
your book goes from free to $82. But you can order the enlarged book
for no extra charge.

Best one? It now costs $400 to renounce your citizenship.

Which is becoming a more viable option, btw regardless of the Nazi
inspired exit taxation laws.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Toby (Tri-Umph That's the Sweet Truth)
March 1998 - June 2010
What a dog. What a dog!

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:33:27 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:29:00 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:

[Default] Thus spake Ari Silverstein :

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:15:02 -0500, GV wrote:

It's not really all that problematic but it's something that would just add
one more barrier that I'd like to avoid if I can. My 88 year old mother has
just decided that she'd like to go on another cruise but she let her
passport expire years ago when my father had to go into a nursing home. She
never expected to travel outside the USA again but now she's decided that at
least one last cruise might be nice.

Gary

Gary, as an aside, a new passport can be had if you choose an
expedited service doggone quickly.

http://www.americanpassport.com/ is one I have used, there are many,
many others.

Most people I've heard from are getting 2-3 week turnaround. You can
pop $65 to expedite yourself with in the passport office.

Self-service is cheaper.

No, as in take it to the post office, get an overnight envelope
(whatever they're called) and pay the $65 expedite fee. Get it back
in three busines days for a renewal, five for a new one.

Walking into a passport office requires an appointment and a valid
reason. And the $65 fee. You should have it in six hours.


BUT!!!! Hurry. Rates go up on Tuesday. $35 up. Getting new pages in
your book goes from free to $82. But you can order the enlarged book
for no extra charge.

Best one? It now costs $400 to renounce your citizenship.

Which is becoming a more viable option, btw regardless of the Nazi
inspired exit taxation laws.

That's what I meant by self-service
--
Ari Silverstein, C.T.A; C.T.A.S, FREE Cruise Travel Advisory Services
Sign up for special email deals @ www.CruiseQuick.com - able to offer
some of the lowest prices and best value added in the industry. (not
affiliated)