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6 month passport rule


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Hi,

 

We're going on Allure in 3 weeks out of FLL. Our intenerary includes St. Maarten, PR, and Labadee. My mom and sisters passports don't meet the suggested 6-month validity rule, they only miss it by 4 or 5 days, and renewal isn't an option. I don't want them to miss any fun.

How strict is RC about the 6-month passport rule?  

 

Thanks!

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11 minutes ago, Crimsontidecruiser said:

Hi,

I

We're going on Allure in 3 weeks out of FLL. Our intenerary includes St. Maarten, PR, and Labadee. My mom and sisters passports don't meet the suggested 6-month validity rule, they only miss it by 4 or 5 days, and renewal isn't an option. I don't want them to miss any fun.

How strict is RC about the 6-month passport rule?  

 

Thanks!

I believe it is the US government, not RCI that enforces the rule.  One option is to have the other appropriate documentation, e.g., approved ID and birth certificate as explained in RCI guidance.  Stand by for comments from members with personal experience on this issue.

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Royal Caribbean didn't like my dates I put in (mine expired like 6-month minus 1 day of our return). I wasn't going to renew, but talked to my travel agent and she recommended I do, because while 9 out of 10 of the people checking probably wouldn't bat an eye, I could get that ONE guy in training who would make a huge issue of it. I ended just going ahead and renewing because I would need it for my next cruise anyway. I guess just bring the other documentation (birth certificate, etc...) as a back up plan.

 

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Just found this here: https://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/six-months-validity-rule/

Caribbean

Most countries in the Caribbean require you to have a passport with at least six months validity. The ones that do not are US Territories like US Virgin Island and Puerto Rico or The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The ones that do require are Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

For a fee you can expedite your passport renewals.

 

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18 hours ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

Just found this here: https://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/six-months-validity-rule/

Caribbean

Most countries in the Caribbean require you to have a passport with at least six months validity. The ones that do not are US Territories like US Virgin Island and Puerto Rico or The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The ones that do require are Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

For a fee you can expedite your passport renewals.

 

That is strange, I was on the ALLURE in August and go off and back on in St Kitts and I have NO PASSPORT, although that link you supplied states that in St Kitts it is required.  This may not be a very good link to follow regarding those rules.

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Just now, VinceC said:

That is strange, I was on the ALLURE in August and go off and back on in St Kitts and I have NO PASSPORT, although that link you supplied states that in St Kitts it is required.  This may not be a very good link to follow regarding those rules.

I believe the closed-loop cruise rule that allows the use of a birth certificate and valid state ID in lieu of a passport supercedes the passport requirements for these islands when you are arriving by cruise ship.  

What I did with my expiring passport was that I checked in with my birth certificate and ID with Royal.  I still took the passport with me just in case but I figured I would be safer for boarding with the birth certificate and ID just in case someone got in a tizzy about the expiration date.

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22 hours ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

Just found this here: https://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/six-months-validity-rule/

Caribbean

Most countries in the Caribbean require you to have a passport with at least six months validity. The ones that do not are US Territories like US Virgin Island and Puerto Rico or The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The ones that do require are Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

For a fee you can expedite your passport renewals.

 

The above link does not address closed loop cruise requirements, only air and land travel.  While on a cruise you are more governed by the WHTI, and actually never "enter: the country, rather you are considered "in transit".

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The problem can come to the surface when any common carrier decides to exceed rules and regulations to protect themselves.  

If a common carrier transports a passenger in violation of rules and regulations they can be held accountable and be fined for allowing it to occur.  As a result you often see an airline or cruise line exceed the regulations just be make sure they are not putting themselves at risk.  

They often derive their own policy based on lowest common denominators.  They don't expect or train check in agents on the matrix of "if citizen of country X visits country B, then this rule applies".  Instead they take the worst case scenario and apply that across the board.  This is the safest approach for them since it exceeds actual law or regulations.  So they might train agents on the 6 month rule.  If not valid for 6 months, flag it and deny even though actual law may not require that for a US citizen.

It's not a problem until it is a problem.  All it takes is one new person sticking by their rules and once you are flagged talking yourself out of that hole can be very difficult, even if actual law is on your side.

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2 hours ago, Flacruiser99 said:

I agree you are "in transit" you are not entering.

The concept of "in transit" is open for countries to interpret differently.

In New Zealand they interpret in transit meaning that you are immediately connecting to another departure out of the country.

They've determined that cruise passengers arriving at a port of call are not "in transit", they are visitors and they are requiring cruise ship passengers to pay the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy.  In transit passengers such as those connecting to another flight in the airport do not have to pay the levy.   

 

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To add another layer to the puzzle, the check in people in the terminal are not cruise line employees, nor are they immigration lawyers.  

The company that provides the contract check in people also want to protect their company so the cruise line can't come back at them if a mistake is made, so they train their contract people to err on the side of caution.  If in doubt deny, regardless of the impact on a family's travel plans.  This way they don't get blamed by Royal and Royal doesn't get blamed by any government.  Every layer adds more CYA factor.  No one wants to be the scapegoat so CYA.  

In the case of OP, they are probably better bringing but not presenting the passports.  Use DL and BC to check in.  Bring passports in case something happens and they have to fly home, but as soon as you declare yourself out of compliance (soon expiring passport) it can be very hard to convince them otherwise because no one wants to lose their job.  

In somewhat related news, a British couple were denied re-boarding after their passports were lost mid-cruise.  Their stuff went missing in a small restaurant on land mid-cruise.  They notified the cruise line upon returning to the ship their passports had been stolen.  The problem now is that they basically told to the cruise line they were out of compliance to cruise - they didn't have passports anymore.  The cruise line can't turn a blind eye to this.  They now know these guests are non-compliant to travel.  The only choice the cruise line had was to deny them re-boarding.  

Had they simply got back on board and remained quiet they would have remained on board and dealt with it at the end of the cruise.  By informing the cruise line they were in violation of international travel requirements the cruise line had to act.  

The cruise line will always protect itself first and foremost.  

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