Do I need a passport?

Clearwater Cruises only recommends traveling with a passport. We have offered this advice for over a decade, irrespective of current rules or changing rules. It has always been good advice, but now it makes sense for a lot more reasons. Most especially, it eliminates all those ifs, ands, or buts, and clears the way for any upcoming changes. It also helps protect you from unforeseen circumstances.

Do you need a passport? Maybe, or maybe not. It depends on where you are going, and when you are traveling.

All travelers will be required to have passports - including U.S. citizens returning to the U.S. by air from throughout the Western Hemisphere - on January 23, 2007. This new requirement includes Canadians, Americans and others who have previously been exempt from having to carry a passport to enter or re-enter the U.S.

Do I need a passport for my cruise? Maybe, or maybe not. It depends on where your cruise goes, or possibly some unplanned events.

No exact date is set but passports will be required for sea or cruise passengers entering or re-entering the U.S. on the same deadline as for land border crossings - some time before June 1, 2009. Here is a circumstance you may not have considered. What if an unforeseen accident or illness prevented you, or your travel mates from returning with the ship on the planned itinerary? For example; what if you slipped and broke a leg on the last stop in the Bahamas, and the ship left before the doctors got you fixed up in a cast? First, I hope you purchased ITravel insurance to cover the unexpected costs. Second, you will be returning home by air. You are required to have a passport. If you are wise and travel with a passport you won’t have a problem.

Personally, I never leave the U.S. without my passport no matter what itinerary I plan to travel. Whether the rules require it or not, I know this is good planning for unexpected circumstances. They are affordable, easily acquired, and they are valid for 10 years.

Travel Industry Association of America launched a new website -- www.GetAPassportNow.com -- to provide information to travelers about documents and deadlines mandated by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The site also provides links to help U.S., Canadian, and Mexican citizens obtain passports. The message is that if you want to travel to or from the U.S., get a passport, said Roger Dow, president of TIA. According to the group, 40 percent of Canadians and just 27 percent of Americans currently have a passport.

Clearwater Cruises only recommends traveling with a passport, because we care about you.