Passport Requirements For Cruise Travelers
With the recent changes over the past couple of years, there is still a lot of confusion on if a passport is needed for travel. Some of our customers have been people going on a cruise and they did not know they needed a passport for a cruise. Or they hear at the last second, they may need one to re-enter the country. I think eventually the cruise companies are going to catch up to let people know right away what the requirements are. But until then there needs to be more information out there so travelers do not have to reschedule or cancel their costly trip.
Also there are some people that do not know until they are about to travel that their passport is expired or about to expire. Of course, once money has been spent on a trip most people who need a passport or a renewal at the last second will try to get a passport quickly instead of canceling a costly trip. So this puts them into the category of “urgent need of a passport”. To prove this, you have to submit a confirmed itinerary along with the rest of your documents. In the case of expedite processing, USPS is not always reliable.
The following link goes to the US Department of State. http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fees/fees_3259.html They are issuing apologies and refund offers to people who used the USPS for expedite processing but ended up missing their trip due to mail delay. To work around this, you can hire a passport courier service that is registered with the US Department of State Passport Agency.
Depending on the type of passport service you are in need of, there are instruction checklists available for every type of processing. The most common procedures for those who hire a passport courier service are passport renewal and first-time adult passport. Although you can also obtain a child passport, passport name change, adding more visa pages to your book and lost passport replacement.
Passport courier services deliver their clients’ applications in person to the Passport Agency and are given pick-up receipts for a specific date. When that date arrives the passport is released to the passport courier service. The service you hired immediately uses FedEx Overnight to ship your passport to you so you do not end up missing your trip. Processing times vary by price. They can be as fast as 1 business day or as long as 12-15 business days.