i hears on the news , thats passport are requied now. if you have booked a cruise say 3 month in advance. do i need to get passports now? how long do they take to get ,? and how long they good for ? going last week of oct.

If you're going the last week of this month, without expediting the passport, there's little chance you'd get it in time. The passports are not necessary this year unless you would have to fly home from a foreign port. Passports are valid for 10 years from the date of issuance. If you're booked for next October, it would be a good idea to start now, they have quite a back log. Best wishes!

hey penny driving to nola. cozumel and back to nola. i thought i heard them say on the new that you needed them. like next year , but i thinkthey upped it ? ill l be p/o ed if i dont get them in time it too close to cancel now. thay said i didnt need them , but i dunno

The news you are hearing is about passports being needed to fly back to the U.S. This actually started months ago but because of the backlog in getting passports they offered a grace period - which allowed air travel as long as proof that you had applied for a passport was given to them - but that grace period expired at midnight.

A lot (perhaps all) US passports are processed through Pease Air Force Base in NH and thus it made the news a few weeks ago that the backlog had been caught up. They showed row on row of empty racks that previously held Passport Applications. Getting a passport can still take a bit but the months and months wait should be over and that is why the grace peroid was ended I expect.

Hi all. We live in north Texas and made application at the County Courthouse...got our passports 2 weeks from the day...and it was regular, not expedited, processing. We were shocked to get them so fast! Maybe they are caught up. Good luck.

On the news today, Oct. 1, they said EVERYONE must have a Passport. They are caught up so as of today only a passport. No application. And don't take any remote control toys. Prohibited.
They said the remote could maybe set off a bomb.
So if you have kids leave their remotes at home.
We are leaving on the 10th for Miami. driving to Key West for 1 overnighter. We have made our own little sidetrip. Boarding the Triumph on the 13th. Very anxious now.
Sherry

Here is the Voice Of America release about the passports. Note the specifics about it being for flights now, and ships later on.

Also, TSA has not prohibited remote-control items. Those bringing them in carry-on luggage may have to go through additional screening. The TSA press release

I think part of the confusion is different News stations. We have one station saying EVERYONE who leaves the country must have a passport. Another station is saying ANYONE WHO FLIES must have them.
We are leaving later this month to the Mexican Riviera, in our docs it states we must have a passport.

Why is there so much procrastination? Everyone is going to have to get a passport; why are so many waiting until the last minute?

Sonny