When Should You Carry A Passport?
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Last Updated: May 13, 2008
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Important information about why you need to carry a passport on your next cruise or if you are traveling by car, train, or bus to Canada or Mexico. Traveling today outside the 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands does not require a passport.
 When traveling by car over the border to Mexico or Canada, or taking a cruise ship where you originate from the USA, no passport is required.
But what happens if you take a cruise, or you're in Canada or Mexico and you need to return home early? If you need to fly back home to the United States, Homeland Security requires a passport to re-enter the U.S. by air.
You probably won’t even be allowed to board the plane without a passport. Of course if you were in Vancouver you could drive, or take a train to Seattle to return to the U.S. If you were in Toronto you could get to Buffalo, and from Montreal you could make your way to Burlington (VT). But what happens if your cruise ship is in Barbados and not scheduled to return for another five or six days, but you need to get home sooner?
Purchasing cruise or vacation insurance might help cover the cost of getting you home sooner than planned, but it's not going to help you if you aren't carrying the necessary documentation to allow you back into the U.S. That requires a passport. So if you don’t have one, get one... and do it now, before you need it. That's some of the best "insurance" you can have. Go to www.travel.state.gov/passport
for complete information on getting, or renewing your passport.
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