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Any cruises where you need to fly to or from a foreign country, including Canada, will necessitate a passport. However, when looking at small ships and larger ships on more expansive routes, keep in mind some islands—including Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Bart’s—do require a passport. Virgin Voyages’ ships are limited to age 18 and up and bring you to Virgin’s classy Beach Club at Bimini. For a fancy small ship, check out sailings on the 298-passenger Evrima, the first yacht from the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, sailing to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale.
Visit the U.S. Virgin Islands With Just a Driver's License ID
She has lived one the East Coast and the West, as well as Mexico, Switzerland, Italy and France. She and currently splits her time between San Francisco and France's Basque Country. No matter which documents you bring, it's a smart idea to take copies of them (either paper ones or photos on your phone) when you leave the ship, in case something happens while you're ashore. Always carry some type of photo identification, like a driver's license, when you head into port. If you are cruising with kids under age 16 on a closed-loop cruise, you'll need to bring a certified copy of their original birth certificate for identification.
Do I Need to Get a Passport Book and Card?
Royal Caribbean requires cruise ship passengers only app check-in with its app from Vancouver - Royal Caribbean Blog
Royal Caribbean requires cruise ship passengers only app check-in with its app from Vancouver.
Posted: Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Princess Cruises offers a seven-day Mexican Riviera with La Paz voyage that includes Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz. Norwegian Cruise Line offers a seven-day cruise from Seattle aboard Norwegian Bliss with stops in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria before returning to Seattle. Holland America Line’s seven-day Alaskan Explorer departs from Seattle and cruises the Puget Sound and Stephens Passage. If your passport has been gathering dust for the last two years, it may be expired. Not necessarily — here’s what you need to know about taking a cruise without a passport. Depart from the Californian cities of San Francisco, San Diego or Long Beach for a quick but memorable cruise to the Baja Peninsula in northern Mexico.
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory, lying 643 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Hop on a cruise ship for a direct route to the island's famous beaches and golf courses. Spring and summer are the prime seasons to visit, but cruises are possible throughout the year.
No Passport Needed to Visit Puerto Rico
Scrambling for a temporary passport can create mounds of paperwork and plenty of headaches, and the time it takes to process is never guaranteed. Isolated incidents have left passengers stranded for longer than anticipated. If you’re applying for your first passport, the cost is $145 – $110 for the passport and $35 for fees.
The Caribbean islands are located in the Caribbean Sea, southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. Exactly how many islands, islets, reefs and cays are found in this area is unclear, but some speculate as many as 700. Some Caribbean islands were created by volcanoes and have towering mountain ranges, like Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Martinique. Others are not volcanic and are quite flat, like Antigua and Barbados. Sail to Bermuda on a closed-loop cruise from the East Coast and a passport isn’t mandatory.
Apart from a few isolated cruises stopping in Bermuda as they come or go from other destinations, there are no one-way Bermuda cruises to confuse the situation. If you plan to sail without a passport, be wary of any Bermuda cruise longer than 10 nights. Those are likely to be point-to-point cruises that happen to include Bermuda. This point should be top-of-mind especially because of COVID-19 and any other medical emergency that would require the trip to be altered or a medical evacuation. You’ll also be glad you have a passport if you encounter other unforeseen circumstances such as a family emergency or a sailing cut short due to bad weather or technical issues.
An enhanced driver's license is another alternative that you can use for land and sea port crossings, but not for international flights. These voyages sail round trip from U.S. ports to destinations in North America such as the Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, Alaska and Hawaii. They depart from such home ports as Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Galveston, Texas and New York City. For small-ship fans, other options include sailings that do not leave Alaska, such as those of UnCruise Adventures, Lindblad Expeditions, and Alaska Native–owned Alaskan Dream Cruises. If you don’t have a passport, you will also run into problems should you miss boarding your ship at the correct time and need to fly home or to the next port of call. Celebrity Cruises’ 12-night New Orleans & the Caribbean cruise departs from and returns to Tampa after stops in New Orleans, Key West, and Honduras as well as Costa Maya and Cozumel.
The Biggest Reason Cruisers Miss Their Cruise Ship in a Foreign Port
While you may leave and enter the United States on a closed-loop cruise with the required identification and proof of citizenship, you should be aware that some countries on your itinerary may require a passport. (Your cruise line should provide that information when you book your trip.) It’s still a good idea to bring your passport on a cruise if it’s up to date, but if it’s not, we’ve got you covered. Here are eight destinations that you can cruise to without a passport (and don’t forget to renew your passport so you’ll always be ready to travel). Be aware that requirements on closed-loop cruises can still change in certain countries, so be sure to check the entry requirements of the specific cruise ports on your itinerary.
Carnival’s six-day Bermuda from Norfolk cruise spends two days at sea and three days in Bermuda. Bermuda Bliss, a seven-day Oceana cruise from New York City, visits Hamilton and St. George in Bermuda and includes two days at sea. If you’re looking for a different kind of cruise, explore parts of New England and Canada with New York City as an exciting starting and ending point. Spend a day soaking up history in Boston, Massachusetts, and tour the Charles River aboard an amphibious duck vehicle. Experience lighthouses, lobster bakes and craggy sea cliffs in Portland, Maine, and enjoy a trip to Saint John, a beautiful city on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada. A stop in the charming fishing village of Halifax, Nova Scotia offers beautiful gardens, more delicious seafood and double-decker bus tours.
They are more conveniently sized than a passport book -- about the size of a driver's license, which makes them easy to fit into your wallet and carry with you. Mainstream cruise lines operate numerous cruises along the U.S. and Canadian coasts that don't require passports. These depart from the ports of Bayonne, Baltimore, Boston, Manhattan, Brooklyn and occasionally Norfolk.
If you take closed loop cruises (meaning your trip begins and ends at a U.S. port), you can sail to a variety of dreamy destinations as a U.S. citizen without a passport. In a nutshell, a passport card is a plastic card that can fit into a wallet and are accepted for land and sea border crossings between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Passport cards cannot be used on cruises from international homeports.
Lauderdale then technically you do not need a U.S. passport booklet (like in the above photo). If you're interested in cruising to Alaska without a passport, look for itineraries that begin (and end) in Seattle, San Francisco or southern California ports, such as Los Angeles or Long Beach, California. The most common length for these closed-loop Alaska cruises operated by the major cruise lines is seven nights. Cruises early or late in the season might be only four or five nights, and trips departing from LA are usually 14 nights.
Royal Caribbean emphasizes that Baptismal papers and hospital certificates of birth are not acceptable. Voter registration cards or Social Security cards are not considered proof of citizenship. Either of these two offices can arrange for a temporary passport (Limited Validity Passport) to get you home. But it could take a few days, especially if you contact either government office over the weekend. If you're headed to one or more Caribbean countries on the list below on a closed-loop cruise, you aren't required to have a passport as a U.S. citizen. Passports and Visas.com is based in Miami, Florida and assists travelers going on a cruise with obtaining an expedited passport, passport renewal, or other passport or visa services.
Closed-loop cruises from New York City, Boston, Baltimore, and Port Canaveral from lines such as MSC Cruises, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean head to the famous pink-sand beaches and golf courses of Bermuda. In October, Disney does sailings from New York that add the bonus of Halloween activities with special spooky movies and “ghoulish treats” for passengers of all ages. Other lines sailing to Bermuda on closed-loop itineraries include the foodie-focused upscale brand Oceania Cruises, also from New York.
