Cruise passengers often struggle with changing rules that can leave them not having the proper paperwork to enter countries on their cruise.
In some cases that can just mean not being allowed off the ship. And, while it only happens rarely, not having certain documents could, in comes cases, mean not being able to board your ship.
There are also rules that many American cruise passengers would just never think about. Some countries, for example, have very strict rules on vapes that can result in being jailed.
Related: Another Caribbean cruise destination raising port fees
In some countries in the Caribbean, camouflage clothes are considered military gear. That’s not something the average American would realize.
The cruise lines do a relatively good job telling people about everything they need, but it’s important for cruisers to take responsibility.
Elena from Life Well Cruised has the full story on everything cruisers need to know about travel rules that will change in 2025.
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4 key travel rules changing in 2025
Transcript:
There are several major travel changes coming into effect in 2025. This includes air travel both domestically and internationally, and if you’re flying to your cruise, these are things that you’ll want to know.
Hi there I’m Elana from the website lifewellcruised.com. Welcome or welcome back to my channel.
Now, maybe you are planning a Mediterranean cruise, or maybe you’re going on a British Isles cruise, or maybe you’re taking an Alaska cruise or even a Caribbean cruise. With many of the travel regulations and requirements changing from early to mid-2025, there are some things that you need to know and plan for.
Now, in this video, I’m going to go over four major new travel regulations and requirements, as well as two new airline policies.
One is pretty bad for some people, and the other one is pretty good. Now, before I get started, I did want to mention two things. Firstly, I am a cruise YouTube channel so I rarely talk about air but the reality is most of the time, people are going to be flying to their cruise, and these are questions that have come up a lot within the community so if you have any additional questions or information to share please leave that down in the comments below.
And secondly, if you like this video, if you find it helpful, informative, or enjoyable in any way, then please do give this video a big thumbs up. I really appreciate it. Please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already. Let’s get started.
Okay, so first, let’s talk about international travel and some of the new travel requirements that are likely to come into effect in early 2025 to mid-2025. Now, this affects people who typically wouldn’t need a visa to go to these countries, and a passport would be enough, for instance, people from the United States or Canada.
So if you are traveling to the UK or if you’re traveling to anywhere in the European Union, so as an example, if you’re going on a Mediterranean cruise and it leaves from Greece or it leaves from Italy or it leaves from Spain then you would need the ETIAS or the E-T-I-A-S and that stands for European Travel Information and Authorization System which is basically a new travel authorization system that is required for visa-exempt travelers entering the European Union and this is supposed to start in spring 2025.
Now, it has already been delayed in 2024, so you never know, but it does seem like it is going to take effect at least some time within 2025. Now it looks like it’s not going to be very complicated so don’t worry but you are going to have to do this a little bit in advance.
So the application is online they say that for approval it’s going to take approximately 96 hours so definitely not very long and it’s going to be good for three years and by the way the cost of it is going to be 7 euros so definitely not something that’s very expensive and if you are over 70 or if you’re under 18 then there is no cost for it however before warrant it doesn’t mean you don’t need to get it if you’re under 18 or over 70 it simply means that there is no cost.
Now, if you’re flying into the UK because, for instance, you’re going on a British Isles cruise or maybe you’re going on a Mediterranean cruise and it’s leaving from the UK, so you need to fly there, then you’re going to have the UK’s ETA.
Now, by the time you watch this video, it may already be in effect because for US and Canadian travelers, this does come into effect starting on January 8th, 2025.
Now for the UK’s ETA you’re going to be able to apply online or you can also apply by downloading the app. The cost is 10 euros and it is good for a duration of two years. According to the website, you should usually get a decision within three days, but it is possible that it may occasionally take a little bit longer, so I suggest that you do this in advance. by the way, within that two-year time span you can travel as many times as you want. The EES now is actually much simpler than it sounds, and again, it’s when you’re traveling internationally, and it stands for the Entry Exit System.
Now, the EU is launching its separate digital monitoring initiative, the EES, and it uses face and fingerprint scans instead of passports to identify non-Europeans. Now, this is very similar to systems that have already been in place in Canada and the United States, and there really is nothing that you’ll have to do. Now it’s supposed to come into effect sometime in 2025 but it has already been delayed from November 2024.
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US has new airline rules as well
All right, let’s move on to domestic flights and, in particular, to the United States. By the way, I am going to talk about those airline policies soon. Real ID compliance is supposed to go into effect on May 7th, 2025, for US travelers. Now, anyone 18 or older is going to need a real ID to travel domestically by air.
Now, real ID could be a compliant driver’s license, state-issued ID card, or other acceptable form of identification to pass through airport security checkpoints when traveling domestically by air. Now you’ll notice, especially if you have a state-issued ID, that real ID-compliant cards are generally marked with a star, either a black or a gold star, in the upper portion of the card. Now accepted forms of real ID include the US passport as well as a US passport card, DHS trusted traveler cards like Global Entry, Nexus, and Sentry, and state-issued enhanced driver’s licenses in select states.
So, by the way, I know I just mentioned that, but if you are using a passport for your cruise and for your travel already, this is going to be just fine, and later on at the end of the video perhaps I’ll talk briefly about if you need a passport to cruise and why it could be a good idea.
Now, while we’re talking about flying and air travel, let’s talk about something good and something not so good. In particular the carry-on rules for at least one airline that is doing something a little bit new that a lot of people are not liking.
But first let’s talk about some good news and this is the Find My Item app. This has to do with AirTag where several airlines are partnering with Apple to be able to collaborate so that the passenger can actually share the location of their item with the airline. So if you are using an AirTag in your luggage in your bag and it is lost and you are able to see your location what you can do now is share that location with the airline.
In the past, you weren’t really able to do that. Sometimes, you could show them where it is, but they didn’t really have a way that they could actually take that information and be able to act on it quickly. So now they are going to be able to do that and this is all coming into effect in 2025.
Now I know people always ask is it only AirTag or is it also maybe another type of Bluetooth tracker? So right now this is only with AirTag but there is a lot of speculation that once this rolls through with AirTag and several different airlines that this will hopefully roll out to Tile and other Bluetooth trackers.
Now, by the way, if you do not have an AirTag already, I use an AirTag in every single one of the bags that I have, even including my handbag or my purse. I just think it’s absolutely genius, and it’s great when you’re cruising.
The new carry-on rules now this is not going to affect every airline so this honestly might not affect you but I know it does affect many people who view this channel, and this is the fact that Air Canada, if you have an economy ticket, so basically a basic flight and an economy seat you no longer get carry-on luggage as part of your fare and instead you either need to upgrade to a higher level for instance like Comfort or instead you do need to pay for that carry-on bag as if it’s checked luggage.
Now the cost is going to be $35 for the first bag and an additional $50 for the second bag and if you don’t check it and it is gate checked instead it will be $65 instead. Now, Air Canada does say that this is in range with what other airlines do now I realize this is true for certain low-cost carriers and budget airlines so for instance Ryanair or Spirit or Frontier but the other airlines that we would have normally considered more similar to Air Canada like American Airlines or Delta don’t have a cost for carry-on luggage.
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In any case, this is something that is coming into effect for Air Canada in early January, so it is something to be aware of. However, if you have purchased your flights before January 3rd, then this does not apply to you. Now, please do let me know your thoughts on whether or not this affects you.
I do think that when an airline does this, it always leaves a little bit more room for other airlines to follow suit, and let’s face it, when something costs more for some customers, it always does leave a little bit more leeway for the cost to go up for all of us.
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More changes for US passport holders
Now, getting back to passports, I know a passport to go on a cruise and yes and no for many itineraries, yes you are going to need a passport; however, if you are going on what’s called a closed loop cruise, this is a cruise that is leaving from a U.S. port and is coming back to usually the same U.S. port oftentimes you do not need to have a passport but what you do need is an original or certified copy of your birth certificate and a state-issued government ID.
Now unfortunately, sometimes what happens is people don’t realize that there are exceptions to this rule because certain countries or destinations sometimes they are a little bit more strict, and even though the itinerary is closed loop for those itineraries, people might need a passport so you really do want to verify these specific countries that your cruise is traveling to or the specific islands to see if that rule is in effect and you can ask the cruise line as well.
However, beyond that, there is something to think about, and that is the fact that there could be an emergency that happens during your cruise. Nobody thinks that it will happen, but it has happened to some people who have needed to get off at a certain port. Maybe they just needed to go to the hospital, they had an accident or something like that, and they did need to get off the ship in a port of call, and then later on, they would need to fly home back to the United States.
If an emergency situation like that happens, then it does become difficult to get the proper ID to be able to fly home, so that could require getting in touch with a consulate or an ambassador and procuring that emergency passport information so you can fly home. So if at all possible, it’s always recommended to travel, including on a cruise with a passport.
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Now, it’s still early on when it comes to the ETIAS so when we get any additional information, I’ll be sure to share it here on the channel but it is something to plan for knowing that there’s a good likelihood that this is going to be in effect if you are going on a Mediterranean or European cruise this summer.
Now I hope that this video was helpful please let me know any questions that you might have down in the comments below and let me know as well when is your next cruise? I hope that you enjoyed the video if you did please do give it a big thumbs up I really do appreciate it and please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already.
Bye for now and happy cruising!
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