Mandatory Passports coming by years end!

[Puck]

Hooray, it is about darn time!

 

[Wristshot]

H2Andy,

The "graceful" version would be a genteel "neener, neener" with an appropriately timed pause in between.


Wristshot

 

[socaldiver]

I have had a passport for nearly 20 years and have yet to have a "stamp" put in it because the countries we have traveled to didn't require them. But, as mentioned above, we have always carried them with us as our source of identification.

Will be getting my first "stamp" in 60 days as we will be going to China on a non-diving vacation.

 

[mixdiver]

I broke down and got mine. This was probably the least painfull govt paperwork i have ever done. Just expensive.

 

[mike_s]

Hmmm, how they going to handle the pod people (cruise ship passengers). Wonder if they will need passports to?

Pod People have to clear just like everyone else. (Or they are supposed to).

They just don't clear like people on an airline because the cruise lines "knows" who is on their ships passenger manifest when it sails. They collect your information at checkin, including passport numbers (if you have one) and all this is turned over in "Bulk" to Imigration long before you ever get off the ship on your return to port.

When we got off the ship on our cruise we simply walked up and handed the immigration guy our passports, he looked at them quickly, and we walked away. It was pretty quick.

If anything, it'll make life easier for the cruise lines to make everyone have passports, but at the same time, it'll hurt them some also because many of their passengers don't have them.

Of course you'll have someone every cruise down in Miami trying to get on the boat that didn't know aobut the new rule. Sucks to be them.

 

[Jamdiver]

you're lucky they didn't put Jamaica in France (because they thought Bob
Marley came from French Town)

that was a fight and a half... ("it's TRENCH Town, Guys...")

Lol, now that's quite funny . Not exactly sure why someone would think that it's French town, since we were never a French colony..

 

[Land Locked]

I broke down and got mine. This was probably the least painfull govt paperwork i have ever done. Just expensive.

I would not say painless about my experience. I went to get my passport
with a military birth certificate. US base in California, born to US citizens
in my own country on a military reservation. I was informed that I needed
the state seal certificate to get my passport. After 3 months and the expense
I received my birth certificate from California, a photo copy of the military
birth certificate with a state seal, go figure!