Some thoughts on passports

One of my clients mentioned this to me yesterday and I thought it was worth passing on.

She is cruising on the Celebrity Century later this month and her 4 year old grandson doesn't have a passport. Right now, he doesn't need one, since the cruise is leaving and returning to a US port. Cruisers are getting a bit of a reprieve. If you are arriving back to the US by plane, you need a passport, but if you are cruising back to a US port, you don't need a passport until sometime in 2008.

Let's use a scenario that happened to my family in 1999. We were cruising from Miami to the Western Caribbean. We were docked in Cozumel when my husband got sick and was taken to a hospital, where he stayed for 4 days while Carnival found a hotel for myself and my kids. Luckily our trip insurance (more on why trip insurance is so highly recommended another time) covered the cost of the hotel and arranged air back to Newark for us. Back then, we didn't need passports to fly back to the US. Fast forward to 2007, my kids might not have been able to get back into the US. They, at that time, didn't have passports.

Remember, we left on a cruise where passports weren't needed but we flew back home where passports are required for proof of citizenship.

My recommendation, get a passport now. Don't wait. Don't worry. A passport is the best known form of ID.

You can get passport applications on my website. www.myvacationlady.com
Click on LINKS and scroll down to passport info.
Print out the form. Get some pretty pictures taken and apply for your passport at most post offices.

Looking to send you away very soon!