All Larry and Gladys Williams wanted was to go on a cruise to Alaska. However, their dream was denied when they showed up at port in Seattle without passports, according to the Dallas Morning News, Larry Williams had assumed that passports weren’t necessary for the journey, since the cruise began in Seattle and ended in Alaska.
However, the ship wasn’t sailing straight from Seattle to Alaska-there was also a stop at a Canadian port. The final part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a new law that went into effect on June 1, 2009, requires Americans traveling from the US to Canada (or Mexico, or the Caribbean) to carry their passports.
Since they didn’t have the appropriate documentation, the couple was sent home. They planned to try again this year, but the US Department of State required additional documentation when Gladys wasn’t able to present an acceptable birth certificate. She finally has a new passport now, and they plan to set sail next year!
The moral of the story? Apply for a passport as soon as possible. As Gladys told the Dallas Morning News, “You just never know what kind of problem you may run into. I should have done this years ago.”
If you need a new passport, an expediting company like RushMyPassport.com can assist you with the application process. You’ll work with a professional passport specialist and get detailed instructions to help you navigate the application process. Plus, we’ll forward your application by hand to the Department of State, resulting in processing times as short as 24 hours.
Apply for your new passport with RushMyPassport.com today!