I am urging you to DO IT NOW.  I have been reading and hearing about the possibility of HUGE delays in passport processing, because of so many millions of people wanting to travel abroad this Summer, and wait times are increasing and causing some people to have to cancel their trips, because they do not have the proper documents.  

I am booked for a cruise in November, and it's also my birth month, and this is the year my current passport expires.  Many cruise lines require that the expiration date on your current passport be at least six months AFTER your scheduled cruise.  I am sailing on a Disney ship, and they may require proof of current valid passport up to 75 DAYS before your departure date.  So, check all of your travel documents and especially your passport, if you plan to travel outside the U.S. ANY time this year.  I just filled out my application for renewal ONLINE, which was very easy, and they emailed me back some forms I have to fill in and what I need to attach to the forms (including my current passport and recent photo, in the form they require, etc.).

My cruise in November is only going to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, and I might not even get off the ship in those ports -- but I won't rest easy until I have my brand new, hot little CURRENT passport in hand, which should be good for the next ten years.    

Yes, I was told last year when I traveled that less than 6 months is the came as expired. Why don't they make it expire when it expires? So confusing!

Mine is good till 2027, so I am OK!!  I heard that they had laid off employees during Covid, and now are short handed for processing passports.

I renewed mine in 2017, and it came back faster than I thought, but wait times now I am sure are longer!!

They probably don't want you getting stuck in a country for longer than you anticipated and end up with a really expired passport!!

Yeah, when I last renewed mine in 2013, they said "Now, be aware that it could take as long as 6 weeks to receive your new passport," and I think I got it in about 6 DAYS!  I was really surprised.  I am thinking more and more about doing some train travel, and I would LOVE to go back to England and Scotland again, which is going to take some planning.  I am looking at some transatlantic cruises on Cunard, which can be less expensive than Disney!  I think I'm going to need a good travel agent to get the right combination of dates and fares and types of travel.  Maybe a repositioning cruise or something.  I looked at the Cunard website for a while yesterday, and they have some really long itineraries, but they have some transatlantic cruises that are around 7 days or so.  I might be able to afford that.  Or, combine a little visit to England with a 4-day cruise break like this:  Southampton to Amsterdam.  https://www.cunard.com/en-us/find-a-cruise/V427/V427 

LABFIEND said...

don't want you getting stuck in a country for longer than you anticipated and end up with a really expired passport

You're probably 100% right. But it's still kinda funny :D 

At least we don't have to worry about being pregnant, and being so far along that the cruise lines won't let you on the ship.  LOL  (I think the usual limit now is 6 months?)  They get kind of nervous about women who are in their third trimesters, just in case they might go into labor prematurely.  I'm sure that there have been many births on cruise ships in the past, and there ARE medical personnel onboard, but what if the mother or baby needed special medical care that was beyond the ship's doctor's ability to provide - maybe even life-saving measures?  So, I can see why they "cut off" expectant mothers at about 6 months.  But like I said, at least we don't have to worry about that anymore!  LOLOL 

When I mentioned the long wait times for new passports on a Facebook group about the TCM cruise, people were pooh-poohing me, saying "Oh, I just use my birth certificate" or "I've got a Passport card, I don't need to have an actual passport."  I have news for them.  If for some reason your cruise gets diverted to a different port in another country, or for some reason you end up somewhere you did not anticipate you would be, you may not be able to use your BC or Passport Card to get back into the U.S.  So, good luck with that.  LOL      

JulietDeltaOscar (fixin2quilt) said:

If for some reason your cruise gets diverted to a different port in another country, or for some reason you end up somewhere you did not anticipate you would be, you may not be able to use your BC or Passport Card to get back into the U.S.  So, good luck with that.  LOL      

Yes, I would not risk being stuck in another country and not be able to get back!!  And I don't think a birth certificate is valid anymore while traveling.  You need that passport!

No, birth certificate doesn't work, but when you get passport, you can also get a passport card which is easier to carry. I take both with me but during day trips, my full one is locked up at the hotel. :D 

I had to renew my passport it took 10 weeks, including priority mail both directions.  Sent it on February 21 recieved May 2, the passport issue date is April 27.

Jo