6 months passport rule for non-US citizens

[thevtravelers]

With my family we decided to go on a cruise with RC Miami - Nassau - CocoCay - Miami. We are non US citizens and we have passports and valid visas to enter the US. Unfortunately, we do not fullfill the 6 month passport validity rule which we didn't check before paying the cruise. Does anybody has experience with this kind of situation? Should we just try to get a refund as soon as possible or do we have a chance to embark the cruise anyways?

Thanks:)

[Zacharius]

I am a dual citizen and always enter the US on my US passport, so I don't have exact experience with this, but I am familiar with traveling to countries that require 6+ months, and know of many people coming to the US on non-US passports...experience has always told me that countries that enact this rule follow it pretty darn closely. Do you have time to renew your passports and get the US visa transferred to the new ones? Also, make sure you have the proper documentation to enter The Bahamas too, as they're an independent country with different immigration laws than the US. 

[Atlantix2000]

The vast majority of the Caribbean countries do not have a 6 month passport validity rule.  (I'm tempted to say none of them have it but I could be wrong.)  This topic pops up often because there are countries in the world that have such a rule so the general recommendation is to renew your passports early just in case.  For US citizens, there is no need to worry about a 6 month rule on the cruise you have described.  For non-US citizens, I'm not 100% positive, but I believe you're still good.

[thevtravelers]

 

16 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Do you have time to renew your passports and get the US visa transferred to the new ones?

I mentioned only the refund or embark options bc our passport renewal can take up to 1 year since we dont reside in our country of residence, so not a chance. But thanks for the advice, we will consider this for planning what we are going to do w/ the situation.

[thevtravelers]

17 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

The vast majority of the Caribbean countries do not have a 6 month passport validity rule.  (I'm tempted to say none of them have it but I could be wrong.)  This topic pops up often because there are countries in the world that have such a rule so the general recommendation is to renew your passports early just in case.  For US citizens, there is no need to worry about a 6 month rule on the cruise you have described.  For non-US citizens, I'm not 100% positive, but I believe you're still good.

We know that The Bahamas demands the 6 months validity rule...this is why we believe that we will not be able to embark. Also, we didnt really want to leave the boat during our stay in the Bahamas because we visited years ago and didn't really liked it...but clearly we understand that even if we dont leave the ship, they still have to ensure that we have proper documentation. 

Thanks for the answer:)

[Zacharius]

40 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

The vast majority of the Caribbean countries do not have a 6 month passport validity rule.  (I'm tempted to say none of them have it but I could be wrong.)  This topic pops up often because there are countries in the world that have such a rule so the general recommendation is to renew your passports early just in case.  For US citizens, there is no need to worry about a 6 month rule on the cruise you have described.  For non-US citizens, I'm not 100% positive, but I believe you're still good.

The US does require six month validity on passports from many countries. There are some exemptions (quite a lot, actually, at https://fam.state.gov/FAM/09FAM/09FAM040309.html), but since OP doesn't state what passport they carry, I am not sure what rules do or do not apply to them. 

 

[Atlantix2000]

3 hours ago, thevtravelers said:

We know that The Bahamas demands the 6 months validity rule...this is why we believe that we will not be able to embark.

I agree the Bahamas requires 6 months validity for arrival BY AIR because you are officially entering the country through customs and immigration.  However, arriving by cruise ship can be different.  US citizens don't need a passport to travel to the Bahamas by cruise.  As long as the cruise departs and returns to the SAME US port, a US citizen can cruise with birth certificate and driver's license.  Unfortunately, getting clear info for non-US citizens on a US-based cruise is definitely more complicated.  I wouldn't trust a call to Royal customer service.  If your country has an embassy in the Bahamas, that might be the safest place to call to get a definitive answer.

[Zacharius]

1 hour ago, Atlantix2000 said:

If your country has an embassy in the Bahamas, that might be the safest place to call to get a definitive answer.

They may likely have a good answer, but I believe the truly definitive answer would come not from OP's embassy in the Bahamas, but the Bahamian embassy with charge over OP's country of citizenship since they're the one that would be granting any kind of visa/permission and would have the official word on rules.