However, if you're doing an Alaska cruise, and flying in or out of Vancouver, you will need a passport.

If you miss your cruise departure (weather delays, etc.) and have to meet the ship at the first port of call, you may need a passport.

If you must interrupt your cruise and fly home for an emergency, say from Aruba or Cozumel, you will need a passport.

Bottom line: it's adviseable for ALL travellers, even cruisers, to have a valid passport, to meet any and all needs.

I had previously thought the problem was that the technology for the RFID and Bio whatever, was not yet to the standard required? causing the various extensions? Maybe I am wrong, I have not read the latest reports.

I never understand what it is that leads so many to not bothering to get passports, far easier than flaffing around with birth certs and marriage cerificates and so on. But then I suppose as we need a passport here to purely take a cross channel ferry trip, not having one is an alien concept. I have had a passport of my own since since the age of 8; a life without one has never been an option.

There is quite a bit of hubris on the part of many of my fellow Yanks, who feel that we (they) may travel all over the world without any restrictions; I'm sure the overwhelming majority don't even realize that most visitors to the US need to get a visa in addition to their passport!

Now that the govt. has delayed the passport requirement for sea travel, the resorts in the Caribbean are crying "foul", since their revenues may be hurt by people who would spend thousands for a land vacation but refuse to invest in a passport!

Being in the travel industry myself, I wish they would have just implemented the requirement for everyone in January--you need a passport if you intend to travel across International borders, and that's it!

[ 10-14-2006: Message edited by: bmajor ]

As for passports in Australia they are for 10 years and 5 years for senior citizens over 75. There are cruises with P&O that you can take with no passport such as Sydney to Sydney cruises to nowhere or between Australian cities without going international.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sutho:

Personally I cant see how it will effect the travel industry as millions of other people all around the world have to get passports. It is also important to have them for your own security and identification.

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This delay in passport requirements (for US citizens) is mainly affecting the tourism industy of Mexico and the Caribbean, where people must fly in and out. A surprising number of tourists are cancelling their land resort vacations in favor of cruises, where they don't need a passport (technically.)

I do not understand the mentality of people who may spend thousands to stay at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica or Cancun, yet balk at the incidental expense of getting a passport!

The American public will get over it!

[ 10-15-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sutho:
[QB]Everyone I know who has traveled loves the fact you have a passport that gets stamped with all the places you go. It is kind of a souveneir.
[QB]

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The State Department has redesigned passports to imbed an RFID (Radio Frequency Identity) chip that has wifi capability. The chip contains enough personal information that Identity theft is a real possibility.

Following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Washington Post:

RFID chips don't have to be plugged in to a reader to operate. Like the chips used for automatic toll collection on roads or automatic fare collection on subways, these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of surreptitious access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship.
At first the State Department belittled those risks, but in response to criticism from experts it has implemented some security features. Passports will come with a shielded cover, making it much harder to read the chip when the passport is closed. And there are now access-control and encryption mechanisms, making it much harder for an unauthorized reader to collect, understand and alter the data.
Although those measures help, they don't go far enough. The shielding does no good when the passport is open. Travel abroad and you'll notice how often you have to show your passport: at hotels, banks, Internet cafes. Anyone intent on harvesting passport data could set up a reader at one of those places. And although the State Department insists that the chip can be read only by a reader that is inches away, the chips have been read from many feet away.
The other security mechanisms are also vulnerable, and several security researchers have already discovered flaws. One found that he could identify individual chips via unique characteristics of the radio transmissions. Another successfully cloned a chip. The State Department called this a "meaningless stunt," pointing out that the researcher could not read or change the data. But the researcher spent only two weeks trying; the security of your passport has to be strong enough to last 10 years.
This is perhaps the greatest risk. The security mechanisms on your passport chip have to last the lifetime of your passport. It is as ridiculous to think that passport security will remain secure for that long as it would be to think that you won't see another security update for Microsoft Windows in that time. Improvements in antenna technology will certainly increase the distance at which they can be read and might even allow unauthorized readers to penetrate the shielding.
Whatever happens, if you have a passport with an RFID chip, you're stuck. Although popping your passport in the microwave will disable the chip, the shielding will cause all kinds of sparking. And although the United States has said that a nonworking chip will not invalidate a passport, it is unclear if one with a deliberately damaged chip will be honored.

With this chip is it possible to disable it with a magnet?

http://www.difrwear.com/products.shtml

I agree with Linerrich, "Bottom line: it's adviseable for ALL travellers, even cruisers, to have a valid passport, to meet any and all needs."