You don’t have to have an expired passport to be denied boarding on a cruise ship. In fact, in most cases if your passport expires less than 6 months from the sailing date, you will be left at the pier.
That’s right. Even if your passport is ‘almost expired’ your ship could sail without you.
If you travel a lot, it can be easy to take your passport for granted and not even think of the expiration date as long as you see it’s still valid.
But since many people plan cruises a year in advance, they can overlook that expiration date relative to the actual cruise sailing dates.
I recently talked with a family that was excited about an upcoming cruise. But as they told me about the details of the cruise, it came up that their passports expired within a few months of the cruise sailing date.
I immediately told them they need to get on a renewal as soon as possible.
Of course, a closed-loop cruise (a cruise start starts and ends in a U.S. port) only requires a photo ID and birth certificate, but who really wants to travel with a birth certificate?
Since passport renewals take time (often longer than we anticipate), I recommend renewing them during those quiet travel periods of our lives, even if it’s still good for a while longer.
Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make in regards to their almost expired passport.
1. Assuming it’s valid
A U.S. passport is good for 10 years after it’s renewed. While a decade is a long time, it also means we aren’t used to renewing passports, and time slips away faster than we realize before it’s due again.
It’s easy to assume our passports are still valid because “it wasn’t that long ago” that we had it renewed, right? When planning a cruise, check the date on your passport and make sure it doesn’t expire within 6 months of the sailing.
By the way, for a child, passports are only good for 5 years, so if you’re going on a cruise with your family it’s important to check those passports as well.
2. Not Renewing with enough time
Before I renew my passport, I always look at the average wait times. This will vary at different times of the year. Shortly after the shutdowns, wait times were ridiculously long, and a lot of people missed their planned trips because of it.
You can check the U.S. Department of State website to see the current estimated processing times for reference.
The current wait times are 6 to 8 weeks.
You can choose to expedite the process time as well and that is currently estimated at 2 to 3 weeks.
Keep in mind that this does not include mailing times but the time it will take for your passport to be processed once it’s received.
A third option for urgent passport renewals requires making an appointment with a passport agency. You should only choose this option if you have a planned trip within the next 2 weeks.
These estimated wait times should be taken with a grain of salt, however. You may get your passport back in a couple weeks or it could be a couple of months. The point is to make sure you have plenty of time in case there is a delay.
Also, don’t confuse processing time with delivery time. When filling out the form online you will see an option for a 1-2 day delivery of your passport for an extra cost. But this does not speed up the processing time as that requires the expedited option as well (currently $60).
Read more: How I got my passport renewed in one week
3. Not renewing with the right documents
When your passport is renewed you will send in your old passport. This means you won’t have a passport at all for a period of time.
If you don’t send it in, you are just making the process last longer as you will have to submit everything again.
Accordint to the travel.state.gov website these are the required documents for renewal:
- Form DS-82, completed and signed
- Most recent U.S. passport. Note: if renewing by mail or in person, send us your most recent passport. If renewing online, keep your most recent passport.
- Passport photo
- If changing your name, certified copy of your legal name change document. Note: you must renew by mail or in person if you are changing your name. You cannot renew online at this time.
4. Applying for a passport card since it’s cheaper
Passport cards are a little cheaper, and a lot of cruisers ask about using them for cruise travel instead of a book.
While most cruise lines have stated that passport cards can be used for land crossings or sea port entry when arriving from Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean, these cards cannot be used for international air travel.
I recommend just having the passport book because if something happens while on your cruise and you have to fly back home, you will need your passport book to get on the plane.
Having a passport card is basically like having your photo ID and birth certificate. It’s fine for Caribbean cruises as long as you don’t need to take an international flight.
I know a few cruisers who use a passport card for most of their cruises and they say it works for them. In my opinion, it’s worth it for the peace of mind if I have the passport book instead.
5. Sending in a beat-up passport
If you travel a lot, your passport can get damaged pretty easily. Shoving your passport into your pockets and suitcases over and over again can take its toll.
But you can’t renew a passport if it’s damaged too badly.
What is considered “damaged”?
According to the travel.state.gov website normal “wear and tear” is fine. Any passport book that has this kind of damage could be denied though:
- Water stains
- A significant tear
- Unofficial markings on the data page
- Missing visa pages (torn out)
- A hole punch, or other injuries
If there is this kind of damage with your passport you will have to apply for a new one. And since a new passport can take even longer, I recommend you take care of those little booklets.
6. Not knowing some destinations could have different requirements
Some countries have different validity requirements for passports. These requirements will differ based on the destination but could require your passport to be valid for another twelve months from the cruise date instead of just six.
Do research on the countries you will visit to make sure you will not have any issues.
It’s important to know that some countries only require a passport to be valid for another 3 months or even a shorter period of time. But for almost every cruise line, you will need at least 6 months of validity even if the destination has a shorter period of time required.
Some longer cruises or even world cruises will require that your passport is valid for longer than 6 months as well, so always check with your cruise line ahead of time.
Bottom Line
It’s always an uneasy feeling when waiting for your passport to come back and you have an upcoming cruise. Just know that if your passport does not come back in time and you’re traveling on a closed-loop cruise you can still just use your birth certificate and photo ID and be fine.
It’s just more of a hassle. You also better make sure you make it back to the ship on time when visiting one of the foreign ports of call.
If you have a few months where you don’t have any travel plans, why not break out all of the passports in the family and check those expiration dates. It might be a good time to apply for renewal so you don’t have to worry about it again for another 10 years.
If you need to check the status of your passport you can do so here at passportstatus.state.gov.
