Top Places to Cruise Without a Passport NCL Travel Blog

Table Of Content

• Cruises That Do Not Require a Passport
• Why Many Cruise Passengers Want to Sail Without a Passport
• Travel document requirements for sailings from Canadian homeports
• You can cruise without a passport from Seattle to Alaska
• Pacific Cruises Without a Passport
• Which cruise ports require a passport?
• Should you bring a passport on closed-loop cruises?
• Accepted Identification for U.K. Citizens

However, Hawaii is right there, and since it’s a U.S. state, there’s no worry about passports. Whether you want to cruise along Mexico’s Caribbean side or the Pacific coast, you can do so without a passport, so long as your cruise starts and ends in the same port city in the United States. On these closed-loop itineraries, you only need to present a government ID and birth certificate (or a passport card).

Where can you travel without a passport? Places to visit as passport backlog continues - CBS News

Where can you travel without a passport? Places to visit as passport backlog continues.

Posted: Sat, 15 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Cruises That Do Not Require a Passport

It’s important to understand the information provided above is limited to either land or sea border crossings. This means that if you’re heading to the Bahamas by air, you’re going to need to bring your passport to reenter the U.S. Be aware that these requirements only dictate reentry into the United States. You’ll want to research entry regulations for your destination country or countries before you leave to ensure you have proper documentation on hand. It’s important to note that this documentation is only valid for reentry to the United States through a sea or land border crossing — it won’t work for air travel.

Why Many Cruise Passengers Want to Sail Without a Passport

Regent Seven Seas features the Wonders in the Caribbean cruise that departs from Miami with stops in the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Key West. Royal Caribbean’s seven-night Southern Caribbean Holiday cruise embarks in San Juan and visits Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago, St. Vincent, and St. Maarten. The majority of closed-loop cruises to Alaska originate and return to Seattle. However, American Cruise Lines’ Southeast Alaska cruise boards in Juneau and returns to the same port after visiting Glacier Bay and several Alaskan towns.

Travel document requirements for sailings from Canadian homeports

Carnival Confirms Documentation Requirements After Rumors - Cruise Hive

Carnival Confirms Documentation Requirements After Rumors.

Posted: Mon, 01 May 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

On the rare occasion of a ship evacuation or a diversion to another country to disembark, a passport would also be essential for getting home. An enhanced driver's license is another alternative that you can use for land and sea port crossings, but not for international flights. If you do have a passport, read our guide to the Best All-Inclusive Cruise Lines.

You can cruise without a passport from Seattle to Alaska

Or, maybe you have children nearing age 16 and can't justify paying for passports that will only be good for five years. You can't cruise just anywhere on a closed-loop sailing, but the choices are more interesting than you might expect. Below, we've compiled a list of seven places to visit without a passport, from scenic Alaska to the beachy Caribbean. Even better, you might not have to pay for coverage out-of-pocket.

As the sun sets, find yourself mesmerized by the bioluminescent bays or the rhythms of bomba and salsa. It’s a place where the Old World romances the new, and your cruise ship grants you a front-row seat to the spectacle. If you had an emergency and were forced to disembark due to illness or other reason in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, the Bahamas, Bermuda or Canada you would need a passport to return home by plane.

Erica Silverstein is a cruise and family travel expert, who has been covering the industry for more than 15 years. Her articles have appeared on Cruise Critic, Porthole, TravelAge West, and USA Today. A staunch advocate of cruising as an ideal family vacation, she has, on occasion, banned her own children from cruising with her. It's your responsibility to research the proper documentation in order to cruise, and if you go on a cruise without a passport, you won't be allowed on and risk the entire cost of the cruise. Opponents argue that the chance of you missing the ship is low, and it’s more likely that your passport will get lost or stolen while you’re exploring in port. In that case, your passport is better left in the safe in your cabin.

Regardless of what you decide, you should always bring some form of official photo I.D. You might also need a passport for shore excursions that take you from one country to another, such as certain tours on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad that takes passengers from Alaska into Canada. Starting and ending in Seattle or San Francisco, an Alaskan cruise takes you to charming waterfront cities and villages like Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan.

Don't forget that islands such as Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix are U.S. territories, so visits never require passports for U.S. citizens. There are sailings aboard Celebrity Cruise Line's Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Eclipse that don't require passports as they depart a U.S. port, travel to Bermuda for a few nights, then return to a U.S. port. As luck would have it, you’ve suddenly got a few open days in your schedule and a yearning to travel somewhere exotic. 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. For a closed loop cruise, a birth certificate and a government issued ID are the only forms of documentation required. The birth certificate must be the original or a certified copy with the raised seal.

Most Bermuda cruises leave from New York or Cape Liberty, New Jersey. A few also depart from Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, and occasionally some southern ports like Florida. If you are looking to cruise without a passport, Bermuda is another popular choice. This British territory is home to some of the friendliest people and arguably the best beaches and natural landscapes in the Atlantic. The Caribbean offers that picturesque tropical vacation of which you are dreaming. With itineraries generally divided into Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and Southern Caribbean routes, you will have plenty of choices when it comes to a Caribbean cruise.

It’s the passenger’s responsibility to check with the appropriate government agencies and their cruise line to determine what documentation is required. Remember that cruise ports such as San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, are actually part of the U.S. This four-night departure aboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas makes a visit to Cozumel before returning back to Texas.

Certain cruises do not require cruisers to present a passport when boarding which is good news for the many Americans suffering from long passport processing times. If you board in Miami, make a few ports of call, sail through the Panama Canal and end in San Diego, you’ll need to bring your passport. There are occasions when you’ll need to bring your passport for a cruise. If you’re cruising outside of the U.S. — such as a jaunt through the Mediterranean — you’ll need to have your passport with you.

Our suggestion is to always sail with a passport that’s valid for at least six months after your cruise. But if that’s not possible, then you can sail with a birth certificate and a government-issued photo ID. However, you do need some sort of citizenship proof, meaning either a passport or a birth certificate/ID.