Jan115

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The process of obtaining, renewing, or updating a passport is exactly what one would expect when working with a government agency: tedious, mind-numbing, and overly complex. While you'll find everything you need to know about the often befuddling process on the U.S. State Department website, we've made things a little simpler for you by breaking down the basics—from forms to fees to IDs—and providing helpful links to the appropriate forms and websites. To Get Your First Passport To get your first passport, you'll have to show up in person. Make an appointment at an acceptance facility or passport agency; search for the one closest to you here. You likely live near a facility where you can get a passport. Many post offices and even some public libraries can accept passport applications. Arrive at your passport agency with: • Your filled-in DS-11 application form.
• Evidence of U.S. citizenship. Find a list of acceptable documents here.
• Valid identification. Find a list of acceptable ID here.
• A photocopy of the front and back of the identification you're bringing on clean, white 8½" x 11" paper.
• Your application fee. For a first-time adult passport, the total fee is $135.
• Passport photos. You can read more about the specifications for passport photos here. But most major drug stores, such as Walgreens or CVS, will sell appropriately sized passport photos that comply with government standards; this makes things a little easier. Renewing a passport You have two options here: Either you have your old passport or you don't. If the former's true, you can apply through the mail as long as your most recent passport is undamaged, was issued when you were at least 16 years old, and isn't more than 15 years old. If you are nodding "yes" to all of that, simply mail in your old passport with the required documents and photos, and you'll receive a new one in the mail in roughly four to six weeks. (Don't worry. You'll get your old passport back.) Here's what you need: Form DS-82, your renewal fee ($110 for an adult), passport photos, and your old passport. Get more information about renewing a passport through the mail here. Keep in mind that if you've changed your name since your last passport was issued, include an original certificate or court order that documents this; those without such papers must apply for a renewal in person. Don't have your old passport? Then you can't get a passport renewed by mail. Head to a passport agency in person. Lost or stolen passports If your previous passport was lost or stolen, you'll have to apply for a new one in person. You'll need to bring two forms in this case: the standard DS-11 passport application and Form DS-64, which asks you to describe what happened to your little blue book. Unfortunately, a replacement passport isn't free. You'll have to pay the standard application fee—$135—when applying for your new passport. Refer to the "Getting your first passport" section above; it lists everything else you'll need to bring with you, including passport photos and identification. Remember to always report your passport as missing the moment you're sure it's gone. You can do this by calling 1-877-487-2778. Lost or stolen passports abroad First and foremost, be prepared! Always travel with a photocopy of your passport and other identification, such as a driver's license or birth certificate; this will make your situation much easier if (knock on wood) your passport disappears. The State Department advises that American travelers get in touch with the closest U.S. embassy or consulate if they lose their passports while abroad. You'll have to go there in person to get a new passport in order to return home. In What to Do If You've Lost Your Bag, Wallet, Everything, Rick Steves writes, "A replacement passport costs $140 and can generally be issued within a few days, or faster if you make a good case that you need it right away. If you don't have the funds, the embassy will help you contact someone at home who can wire money directly to the embassy." Adding pages to a passport Do you require additional passport pages? If so, we're totally jealous. Beef up your blue book by mailing in Form DS-4085 along with your almost-full passport and the required $82 fee. According to the State Department, it's the right time to ask for more paper when you have two to four empty pages left in your passport. So keep a close eye on the status of your visa pages if you're an avid traveler. Expediting a passport You can get your passport expedited in roughly two to three weeks (door-to-door) via the State Department when you pay an extra $60 plus $12.85 for overnight delivery in addition to the standard processing fees. (Processing times can vary, so check the State Department site for the most up-to-date estimate.) Need it sooner? Schedule an appointment to show up in person at a regional passport agency if you require a passport for travel within two weeks. We don't normally recommend using passport expediting services, which sometimes charge hundreds of dollars to secure passports in as little as 24 hours, unless you're desperate. If you have enough time to get your passport directly through the traditional government channels, do it that way. It'll save you a ton of money. You can check the status of a pending passport application here. Changing your name on your passport Good news: There's no fee for changing the name on your passport if your passport was issued less than a year ago. If the book's more than a year old, though, you must pay standard renewal fees. To change your name, fill out the appropriate form (use Form DS-5504 if your current passport is less than a year old and Form DS-82 if your passport is more than a year old) and mail it with your current passport, original proof of name change, a passport photo, and renewal fees, if necessary. Read more about tweaking your name on your passport here. And congratulations on your new moniker. Passports for kids For children ages 15 and younger, the fees and requirements for getting a passport are a little different than those for adults. Essentially, parents need to provide identification in addition to proof that they are legal guardians for child applicants. Guardians in two-parent households must appear together with the young applicants or provide a notarized statement of consent from the absentee adult. Single parents must appear in person as well. And all parents must show proof of legal guardianship; this would include a birth certificate or a court order. A passport for a minor costs $105. And the usual— Form DS-11, a standard passport photo, and the appropriate identification for parent(s) and child—must be brought to your local passport office. Read more about getting a passport for a child here. By Caroline Costello, SmarterTravel.com For more cruise news & articles go to http://www.cruisecra....com/index.html Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more: http://www.cruisecrazies.com View full article

A perfect choice!

First of all, welcome! Over the past years of cruise and land travel, I have had many "if-only" moments. If only I had reserved that excursion ahead of time, or if only I remembered to pack my water shoes. I have also gathered many helpful hints and much welcomed advice from experienced cruisers I've met over the years. I thought it would be great to have a blog or column just to share some of these morsels of knowledge with my fellow travelers. Some of the travel tips I share here will seem obvious to seasoned travelers, who will be thinking - "yeah, no kidding - I knew that already." Please be patient. My goal is to offer advice to young people just beginning their traveling adventures or new cruisers embarking on an ocean journey for the first time. If my well-traveled friends learn something new in the process, or perhaps a refresher of something old and familiar, all the better! Feel free to respond or offer feedback. This is a community - that's why we're here! And so ... my first and probably best tip to begin this blog: Have a Great Cruise - But Don't Expect Perfection. Stuff happens. No vacation is perfect. Sometimes a meal might not be cooked to perfection. Or an evening show proves to be less than entertaining. Or your toilet clogs up. When I read poor or scathing passenger reviews of cruises, they are more often than not from first-time cruisers with unreasonably high expectations and ill prepared. Other times they seem to have been voiced by chronically picky people or folks who just like to hear themselves complain. Do your homework, learn about the cruise line, the ship and the destination. When choosing your cruise, make sure you and your ship are a good match. If you don't like crowds, long lines and belly-flop contests, pick a smaller ship with a more sedate crowd. Likewise, if you find sitting in a chair and staring out at the sea beyond boring (is that even possible?), pick a super mega-ship with non-stop entertainment. Most of all, be prepared for anything, and approach any mishaps with a positive attitude and calm demeanor. You and everyone around you will be much happier, resulting in a better cruise experience.

Good. By the time we get to the Mediterranean next summer 2014, maybe we'll have the ports to ourselves! One thing I am happy about is that Princess is putting a ship back in the Caribbean again this summer. We sailed that region in 2010 on Emerald, the final year the line had a ship there during the summer months.

Where was your bear excursion - was it Traitor's Cove? That's where we're headed.

That's great to hear - I'm really looking forward to it! Did you see any other sea life besides whales? How was the glacier walk?

Thanks for the port info on Juneau. For our upcoming cruise from San Francisco on Grand Princess, we booked a whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier photo safari, a small boat tour focusing on getting the best shots of nature and wildlife. I hope we have time to see a little of Juneau while we're there.

I hope my flight this August to see bears proves to be more of a success, Michael & Amy.

Thanks for the port info. We will be in Skagway this summer on the Grand Princess from San Francisco. We booked a half day mini-bus to the Yukon with a local company. That way we'll still have time to see Skagway!

I agree - big ships aren't for everyone. My husband likes big ships. I like them, as well, but given a choice with the same itinerary, I'd pick the smaller one. With that said, though, I am curious to see one of the Solstice class in 2014. Last year, we cruised on the Ocean Princess. Just 680 passengers. I loved it! My husband - not so much.

Mercedes - Great, informative and well written review. Aussie is high on my bucket list. We are considering the Equinox in summer 2014, so your review was a huge plus in helping us decide. A lawn on a cruise ship always sounded pretty strange, but the more I hear about it, the more I like the idea. Thanks for sharing!

Have a wonderful cruise, and please share your experience when you return!

Michael & Amy - Have a great cruise next week!

So sorry your cruise was a disappointment. I'd love to hear about the other cruises you've been on - which cruise lines and ships. I hope they were a better experience for you. Don't give up. The next one will be a success!

Thanks - and so do you! Love the view you portray from the crew perspective!

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These days, when it comes to travel, I am a planner. I don’t like surprises. So in order to make an informed decision, every vacation begins with consuming every review and article on every cruise ship and destination, reserving hotels and tours months in advance, and creating a spreadsheet itinerary containing every detail of the trip, reduced to a handy pocket-size guide to refer to when the need arises. I used to create a huge binder with obscene amounts of paper, but thankfully with the advent of iPhone, iPad and Dropbox, I am no longer an environmental hog. I drive my family nuts with the hours I spend making travel decisions. Just ask them. They would probably call it an obsession. I call it enthusiasm. However, I wasn’t always this organized. As a child growing up in the 60’s, I was part of a family that did not travel often. My dad’s idea of a vacation was waking up his wife and four children early one morning, telling us to get up, get dressed and pack a bag – we’re going on a road trip. With excitement and eager anticipation, my siblings and I would pack our stuff and jump into the old Chevy - no seat belts required. The old Chevy didn't even have seat belts. Our impromptu vacation would consist of two or three days to a destination within an easy drive, the scenery of which most often consisted of mountains and trees. Dad was not a city guy. That meant either the Berkshires of northwestern Massachusetts, the Green Mountains of Vermont or, on one occasion, upstate New York. We would drive all day, making a couple of pit stops along the way, and reach our destination late in the day. By that time, Dad had enough of driving and was ready to settle into a room for the night. Yeah, right! Try finding a roadside motel vacancy in a popular destination in the middle of summer without a reservation. I don’t know if it was just my family or if it was the way everybody traveled in those days, but there was no plan. No reservations, no itinerary, no spreadsheet. There was only a map. We vacationed the only way Dad knew … by the seat of our pants. I particularly recall one such summer vacation. Dad was driving us further than we’d ever been – Penn Dutch country. We arrived in Amish country sometime around sunset, looking for a roadside motel with a vacancy. As we drove down the 2-lane highway, the no-vacancy signs glared at us, as if to say , “ha-ha, serves you right, idiots, for not calling ahead.” My brothers and I got very quiet, our choruses of “Ten Bottles of Beer on the Wall” replaced by fear and humiliation that we’d be sleeping in the car that night. Dad finally pulled into a sold-out motel and asked the proprietor where we might be able to locate a room around town. The man, with the most pitiful look he could muster, sent us to a local farm. Yes, that’s right … a farm – complete with tall cornfields, silo and maybe some farm animals. The details remain sketchy. The farm was owned by a nice elderly couple, most likely accustomed to taking in strays like us. I do remember my mom’s displeasure at staying the night in a stranger’s house. Not my dad, though. Being an avid gardener and lover of all things that come out of the ground, he was in his element. My husband and I recreated our own by-the-seat-of-our-pants travel moment one summer early in our marriage. While on a drive through New Hampshire, we found ourselves lost in the woods of nearby Maine on a dark night, in search of a place to sleep. We finally found it – a roadside shack in the middle of nowhere, reminiscent of The Bates Motel. I clearly expected to see Anthony Perkins with that absurd grin waiting for us behind the counter or maybe those hillbillies from Deliverance with their dueling banjos. I don’t remember much about the room, but three words come to mind: “ugly”, “scary” and “dirty”. I would not have been the least bit surprised to find a family of squirrels living under the bed. Did we stay? Yes, but I think I kept my coat on the entire night and stayed clear of the shower. Nowadays, I wouldn’t dream of setting out on a vacation without knowing where I am going to lay my head for the night. Although our preferences in accommodations have changed, much preferring the Hampton Inn instead of the Do-Drop Inn, even inexpensive roadside motels do have their place in vacation travel. All that is required is a little homework and some toleration for the basics. Advanced planning goes a long way in ensuring a great vacation with few surprises. What about you? Should you plan ahead or travel by the seat of your pants? The choice is yours. Just remember the following rule if you happen upon a roadside motel some dark night in the middle of nowhere: If the guy behind the counter goes by the name Norman Bates, and he says he needs to go check with his mother to find out if a room is available, run away – fast!

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