Cruise Holidays Still Urges Travelers to Get Passports

To Whom It May Concern:

We came across this information in the trades and thought it would be of
interest to this newsgroup as well.

Happy sailing,
John Sisker, SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY®
(714) 536-3850 or toll free at (800) 724-6644 & (pagoo ID: 714.536.3850)
www.shiptoshorecruise.com



Cruise Holidays is still strongly urging all future cruise vacationers who
do not already have passports to apply for them immediately. The newly
amended Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has delayed the mandatory
passport deadline for cruise passengers until June 1, 2009, but the U.S.
government will require all air travelers from the Caribbean, Canada,
Mexico, Central and South America (including Panama), and Bermuda to have a
valid passport in order to enter or re-enter the U.S. by Jan. 8, 2007.
"Confusion over passport deadlines has grown considerably in the past couple
of days. Even though the deadline for cruise passengers traveling close to
home has been extended, traveling with a valid passport is still the easiest
and simplest way to go," said Peter Thomson, vice president and COO of
Cruise Holidays. "That is why we are still stressing how important it is to
obtain a valid passport and, because of the upcoming air travel deadline,
for travelers to get their applications in sooner rather than later. The
continued demand for passports may dramatically slow down the processing
time." Processing of a new U.S. passport application usually takes six
weeks. Expedited service is available for an additional fee. As recently as
1996, only 31 million Americans possessed valid passports. That has now
increased to more than 69 million people, but still only represents 26
percent of all Americans. In a poll of Cruise Holidays stores, when asked
"What percentage of your customers have a valid passport?" the majority (53
percent) responded that between 50 and 74 percent of their customers hold
valid passports. While encouraging, that still leaves gap that could hinder
future travel plans for would-be cruisers. For more information, visit
www.cruiseholidays.com.

John Sisker wrote:
[...] The newly
amended Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has delayed the mandatory
passport deadline for cruise passengers until June 1, 2009, but the U.S.
government will require all air travelers from the Caribbean, Canada,
Mexico, Central and South America (including Panama), and Bermuda to have a
valid passport in order to enter or re-enter the U.S. by Jan. 8, 2007.

Weird. So does this mean that you could get on a Caribbean cruise
without a passport, but then be denied re-entry to the US on a medical
emergency flight from that cruise? Hmm. It seems that getting a
passport would be very very prudent.

Cheers, Kev

According to the US Department of State, changes to the WHTI is still pending legislation so, at least for the time being, the following information is still valid:

January 8, 2007 - Requirement applied to all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.

January 1, 2008 - Requirement extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.