It can be hard to imagine, but there are cruisers who have run afoul of customs for no other reason than not having their travel documents in order. Not being allowed to board the ship, or stepping off the ship only to miss your flight as you spend the next few hours under the scrutiny of US customs agents is no one’s idea of a good time, and it is an incredibly lousy way to end your vacation.
Avoiding this unpleasantness isn’t helped by the confusing legalities governing cruise travel. The cruise lines—and really anything at sea—operate in the fuzzy jurisdiction of international waters, and an average week long cruise will call at multiple ports in 4 or 5 different sovereign countries, all of who have their own rules regarding visitors and visas.
Passing Through the Port
The easiest way to avoid problems is to simply have your passport. It is the internationally recognized standard travel document, and wherever you travel it will get you through customs. It is, however, not strictly necessary. A closed loop cruise doesn’t require a passport for re-entry into the United States, and the cruise lines usually will normally not require you to present one prior to embarking. They can and sometimes do, but not always. Instead of a passport you can return through US customs with a photo ID and a raised seal birth certificate.
A closed loop cruise is one where the ship departs and returns to the same port it left from without stopping at another US port along the way. A Port Canaveral cruise that heads to the Bahamas and San Juan then returns to Port Canaveral is a closed loop cruise. A cruise that departs from Port Canaveral, stops in Key West then heads to other islands before returning to Port Canaveral is not.
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There are several problems in taking a closed loop cruise without a passport. The first is that getting a raised seal copy of your birth certificate is approximately as—and maybe more—difficult than it is to get a passport. We have a sneaking suspicion that most people who do this got their birth certificate as part of trying to get their passport, and then didn’t have enough time left before their cruise to receive their passport.
It also becomes a problem if one of the ports of call requires you to have a passport before you disembark. At best you won’t be able to get off of the ship. A worst case scenario could see you detained and waiting for the nearest consulate to send someone to plea your case. So we highly recommend making sure that you have a valid passport in advance, and that its up-to-date. All of this applies to US residents. Citizens of other countries are governed by other rules onboard Caribbean cruises.
International Cruiser Travel Documents
Port Canaveral and all of the other Florida ports are international destinations. Travelers from Great Britain and Europe as well as places farther afield like Australia and New Zealand come to Florida for Disney World and often while visitors are here they opt to take a Caribbean cruise. For many, a visa won’t be required as long as their country of citizenship is part of the visa waiver program and they’re staying for less than 90 days. The following countries are a part of this program:
- Andorra
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brunei
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Chile
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Portugal
- Republic of Malta
- San Marino
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- United Kingdom
There are further caveats. Your arrival in the US must be via an approved carrier, a list of whom can be found here. In addition to arriving by the approved channels you must have the proper passports. Depending on the issuing country this could be a requirement for a machine readable code, integrated chip, or the right sort of photo. Country of origin exclusive requirements can be read here.
All in Order
Not too long ago our marketing manager took a cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas. There are many things that might have gone awry for her. After all she hails from the far off and frost bitten land of Canuckia and is unfamiliar with our ways. At the time she had only just interviewed for and received her green card, and in general she had the sort of anomalous paperwork that bureaucrats love to pay extra attention too.
Instead what nearly kept her from cruising was that her husband had booked her cruise under her married name while her identification was still in her maiden name. Fortunately, by sheer luck their marriage certificate happened to be in the documents they’d grabbed on their way out the door and she was able to board the ship for her cruise. Even if she was unable to blog about her cruise later, and has changed the subject every time I’ve brought it up since.
The story does illustrate why it pays to have all your travel documents, and have all of them correctly filled out when you travel. We prefer that you don’t miss your cruise, or your flights, and we are sure that you feel the same.
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