P, E, O, P, L, E - LET'S CONTINUE WITH PREPARATION-
PASSPORTS & VISAS
OBTAINING PASSPORTS/VISAS
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Whether you are getting your first ever passport, or renew an existing passport, we always recommend not putting this off but rather taking care of this sufficiently ahead of time.
For USA citizens, a great source of information is the official US Passports & Travel Site. This site is located at: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports.html and provides pretty much all of the information that you will require to apply for a new passport or renew an existing passport. The site includes applications along with directions.
We wanted to mention a few items to keep in mind:
When traveling abroad some countries do require visas so the key is to do your homework in advance so there are no surprises. The web site that we use does provide information about many countries entry/exit requirements including visas. This is a great source of information as is the web site for consulates of each country located in your own country. Some visas can now be obtained electronically such as Australia and Turkey. Others have to be obtained by filling out a visa application and sending the application along with your passport and money to have the visa application processed.
If you live in a large city, often you can apply in person and either obtain the visa that day or usually within 24 hours. Some countries do not require a visa but do require a reciprocity fee and in the case of Argentina that must be done in advance of your arrival to the country either by flight or cruise ship. If you are not starting your trip in a country that requires a visa, but making stops at one or more counties that require a visa in many instances the cruise ship is able to obtain the visas for all guests while on board. Examples of this include Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Oman. On the other hand this is not possible for places such as Mainland China and India. Also, so much of this varies by the country you are a passport holder of. Some cruise lines are really good about sorting this all out for you while others leave this completely up to you as they don't want the responsibility should something go wrong.
Should you need a traditional visa, unless you live in or nearby a city with a consulate to apply in person, we recommend using a reputable visa service. We find that it makes it much easier to get the visa including filling out the visa application correctly the first time.
When we send our passport and visa applications to a visa service, similar to the passport we will send it via overnight mail so that it gets to the visa service expeditiously and so we can track its delivery. We also will pay the additional fee so that it is returned to us the same way. Depending on when we need the visa and the expected interval to obtain it, we sometimes will pay an additional fee to the visa service to have the visa expedited.
Next we will discuss pre/post cruise Hotels.
For USA citizens, a great source of information is the official US Passports & Travel Site. This site is located at: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports.html and provides pretty much all of the information that you will require to apply for a new passport or renew an existing passport. The site includes applications along with directions.
We wanted to mention a few items to keep in mind:
- Many countries, cruise lines and airlines require that your passport be valid for six months upon your return from your trip so keep that in mind when you are determining when to renew an existing passport.
- Be sure that your passport has sufficient blank visa pages.
- When obtaining your new passport, you can get a standard size passport, but you can also request a larger one. If you plan to do a lot of international travel during the ten-year life of the passport, we would recommend requesting the larger one. Presently, the price is the same for either passport.
- We recommend that when you apply for your passport or for a passport renewal that you send the information using the express mail so that you can track the delivery of the application. We also pay the additional fee so it is returned to us via express mail as well. We prefer not to be without a passport when it is time for us to renew our very own passports, so we pay an additional fee to have all of this expedited.
When traveling abroad some countries do require visas so the key is to do your homework in advance so there are no surprises. The web site that we use does provide information about many countries entry/exit requirements including visas. This is a great source of information as is the web site for consulates of each country located in your own country. Some visas can now be obtained electronically such as Australia and Turkey. Others have to be obtained by filling out a visa application and sending the application along with your passport and money to have the visa application processed.
If you live in a large city, often you can apply in person and either obtain the visa that day or usually within 24 hours. Some countries do not require a visa but do require a reciprocity fee and in the case of Argentina that must be done in advance of your arrival to the country either by flight or cruise ship. If you are not starting your trip in a country that requires a visa, but making stops at one or more counties that require a visa in many instances the cruise ship is able to obtain the visas for all guests while on board. Examples of this include Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Oman. On the other hand this is not possible for places such as Mainland China and India. Also, so much of this varies by the country you are a passport holder of. Some cruise lines are really good about sorting this all out for you while others leave this completely up to you as they don't want the responsibility should something go wrong.
Should you need a traditional visa, unless you live in or nearby a city with a consulate to apply in person, we recommend using a reputable visa service. We find that it makes it much easier to get the visa including filling out the visa application correctly the first time.
When we send our passport and visa applications to a visa service, similar to the passport we will send it via overnight mail so that it gets to the visa service expeditiously and so we can track its delivery. We also will pay the additional fee so that it is returned to us the same way. Depending on when we need the visa and the expected interval to obtain it, we sometimes will pay an additional fee to the visa service to have the visa expedited.
Next we will discuss pre/post cruise Hotels.
