Passports aren't required, but...
 

We're going on a cruise (our first) this spring. We don't have passports and time is running short. I am ordering certified birth certificates for everyone, but will probably not have passports in time for this trip.
I know passports aren't technically a requirement at this point, but I wonder if the majority of cruisers have them at this point?

You better check with someone in authority. I thought passports were required for everyone entering the country after a certain date, and I thought that date was Jan 1. I am sure someone will post with the correct date, but I would get going on getting passports --- NOW !!!!

Go the web site of the cruise line. I am 100% you need passports as of 28 Jan. anyone leaving the country upon entering needs passports. The cruise line can instruct you. You still have time to get a passport. You can even pay extra and put a rush on the passport.

Not required. It's been a moving target. Check the US State Dept website for the latest:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

Just went and checked -- as usual I am half wrong -- or right. Readed it yourself at

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

If entering the US by air the deadline is Jan 23, 2007. And Jan 1, 2008 for everything else including cruise ships. I would play safe and get passports, HS cannot argue about a passport but they could decided that the birth certificate was deficient in some way. Go get the passport. This one area that you do not want a problem.

I have always wondered why people will spend thousands on a cruise or other trip but balk at spending $97 for a passport that is good for 10 years and makes travel out of the country so much simpler.

Well that is interesting. So basicall on a cruise if you leave from miami you would not need one. Very interesting. As Curt says I would not take a chance. I would not leave home without it period.

I also wonder what will happen when/if someone becomes ill or has accident and has to be flown home if they left on a cruise ship with no passport. Will they have trouble getting out of the country they are in by air with no passport and will they be able to get back into the USA when arriving by air with no passport? I assume the feds will work with people in that case as long as they can prove they left on a cruise ship but what a hassle.
I think the gov. should have just sat a deadline for everyone regardless of mode of travel and stuck with it, but money talks and I guess the cruise lines have some inside track.

You do not need passports to cruise asof yet but will need them to re-enter the US in case you have an emergency and need to leave the ship in a foreign port and return home. To re-enter, passports are required.

Visit the US Immigration website and the facts are quite clear.

The time line is the major snag right now. I should have moved quicker on all this, but we only recently made final decisions on the cruise date, etc. I assumed we had certified birth certificates, but recently noticed that one of them is only a hospital certificate, so we're waiting to receive that.
I was just wondering how common it is to cruise w/o a passport.
Thanks for your advice.

Technically you do not need a valid US Passport to cruise to the Caribbean ( you do need one to take that Alaska cruise stopping in Canada however !) until Jan 2008. However, if you need to leave the ship on that Caribbean cruise , it will be a problem to re enter the US. Pay the fee to expedite the passports now.

How common it is to cruise without passport is really difficult to answer - since passport rule tightening is so new.

We are cruiseing on Celebrity next month and have been getting all sorts of info from them strongly urging us to get passports.

What if you did the passports for which you have birth certificates now the usual way and the other paying the additional expedited fee when you get the birth certificate.

If you live near a city with passport center (Boston, Phila, Washington I know of but info is on Dept of State website) you can cut a little time off by going there.

Also, if you are including any minor children in the passport processw, read directions on website carefully. There is an age under which both parents must present themselves at passport application place to file application (I think it is 14) or go thru some notary process. And minor child must be present at application filing as well - makes for an annoying family outing.

Have you applied for the passports but assume you won't have them in time? I need to gt mime renewed and was told the wit time as of last Wed. was about 6 weeks. Perhaps you can try to expedite getting yours.

Expediting a passport application is a good idea. My husband did not do the expediting last May. He applied for the passport 60 days before travel date and did not get his passport in the mail before the travel date. The estimate they give you regarding mail delivery is just that, an estimate, and if the volume of applications is large, it can take longer, perhaps much longer.

My husband applied for his passport, shortly after the holidays and it was receieved in about 4 weeks. I am sure you have time. I even got the birth certificate once overnight with the "seal" on it many years ago. You can expedite anything these days for an additional cost. You do have time but you must act quickly. We went directly to the post office in our town. (PHL suburbs.)