Passports

Yes. That six month rule is enforced.

I work in commercial aviation and that rule is strictly enforced. If passenger is going to a foreign country and the passport expires in six months or less the passenger is denied boarding. It will be the same with any form of travel out of country.

July 28 gives you enough time to do an expedited renewal but your going to have to do some footwork, meaning you can’t do it by mail. You’ll have to find the nearest location to you in order to do an in person renewal.

Thanks for the answer. We cannot renew their passports as we are still overseas. I am not sure the 6-month rule applies to all foreign countries. As a fact, Mexico does not require it. It is clearly stated on the US state website.

I hate to simply refer anyone to GOOGLE...but there are times. you can plug in US PASSPORTS 6 MONTH RULE and the name of any country to get their rule. There are also sites that are a complete compilation of virtually every country and their "six-month rule". As to whether or not its strictly enforced, Ive noticed a wide and sometimes non-existant "enforcement" of such a rule. I think JCOAKML has it exactly right. Trying to second guess anyones bureaucracy is a loser.

I agree and we would usually not mess round with this. But since we are overseas, renewing is not an option. We would have never thought of buying the cruise had we not read that passports are not even needed for closed-loop cruises. But fact that we just read Honduras have the 6-month rule prompted us to ask the question.....we did the Bahamas cruises and we were never asked passports when we disembarked at the different ports; but we never did Roatan.

What a bummer. So here’s a suggestion maybe you can try.

I read that in a foreign country the US consulates and embassies can do passport renewals. It won’t be expedited but it’s faster than in the US. Maybe you can go to the US facility in the country you’re located and do it?

Here’s my source of info:

https://www.usa.gov/passport

If you scroll down it shows a link about doing it in a US embassy overseas.

Hoping you can get it cleared up so you can go on the cruise!

If you are specifically asking about ROATAN, I can tell you we've been there so many times sometimes we don't bother to debark.. We have NEVER been asked for a passport...NEVER...passengers are "advised" to bring a passport, their key card, your genetic codes, your grandmothers birth certificate, and so on...all we ever used was the key card, getting off, and getting on...the guards at the entrance to the pier (when there are any) are usually totally disinterested, or eyeballing tourist females....of course crew security runs it thru their computer...that's it....I really doubt you'll have a problem. Seems to me theres a gazillion folks who cruise with passports expiring shortly after the cruise...course I have no way to prove it..if they'll let you book with it, you're good to go...But that'll teach you!!! good luck..and if you think of it, post how it turned out. inquiring minds etc..

(In fairness, there are horror stories about diddling with the bureaucracy here n there.....KENNICOTTS is a jewel..and he ranks high on my list of experienced cruisers...)

There is an App put out by the State Department called Smart Traveler which gives all sorts of details on each of the countries as well as passport requirements.

Play it safe, apply for a renewal now. Better safe than sorry.

Below is a link that has our sorry Singapore story in it that Yankee refers to here.

With regard to the 6 month rule, I've never even noticed that some countries had that requirement. I always thought it was a cruise line policy thing as they never seem to let us book the cruise if a passport runs out within six months after the cruise. Strange, the cruise line didn't catch that when you booked the kids.

I'm sort of with Yankee here. I wouldn't worry about it at Roatan. Leaving the kids on board there will relieve any anxiety. After the Singapore experience we hardly ever leave the vessel without our passports. Except, sometimes we can't since the cruise line collects them all.

https://cruiseline.com/forum/post/passport-or-other-documents

Sounds like I give you info inaccurate for your situation, I apologize.

I’d read through the government sites available for passports and even make some phone calls. Hope all goes well.