Going on a holiday overseas with the family can be exciting, especially if it’s on a cruise ship. Unfortunately for this family, their long-awaited holiday had to be cancelled. Apparently, only one family member was allowed on the ship while the others were denied entry.
The reason? Their passports were almost expired and for your information, you’d need to renew your passport 6 months before the actual expiration date. The mother posted a TikTok video yesterday (Monday, 14th August) to share more details about what happened.
@azuraww_ I anxiety naik flight. Takut naik flight. Dah dapat chances nak kapal laut rasa seronok sgt. Dgn anak2 plak tu. I mmg dah plan this special for them. Tapi Allah tak izinkan. Yang dapat naik anak sulong i seorang. Kami berempat (saya, suami. Aishah dan amir) x dapat naik. Try call the pic tak angkat2. Cuma saya berharap duit saya dapat refund untuk saya naik cruise lain atau trip yg lain at least. cruise worldcruise resortworldcruise cruisemalaysia passportluparenew passport
A businesswoman named Azura detailed her family’s unfortunate experience of not being able to go on their long-awaited holiday on a cruise ship. The entrepreneur explained that she rarely travels because of her fear of flying and decided to book a cruise holiday for her family through a travel agent. While she didn’t specify which cruise it was, from the video, we can see that the family was supposed to board the Genting Dream Cruise Ship.
The TikToker shared that she paid RM5k for the holiday and let the agency handle the reservations for the trip. Unfortunately, the mother-of-three was not briefed nor was she reminded to renew everyone’s passport. She revealed that her family’s passports were 1 to 2 months away from the expiration date, thus preventing them from being able to pass through immigrations.
Her eldest daughter was the only one allowed in as she had recently renewed her passport. The business owner broke down in tears from seeing her younger children crying after not being able to go on the holiday that they had planned for months in advance. She also expressed her disappointment with the travel agency for not briefing her regarding passport validity.
She ended her story by saying she hopes to get a refund for the trip or at least a rescheduled date. After posting her video, most netizens sympathised with the mother and gave comforting words while others were confused and criticised her for not being aware of the passport requirements as it is common knowledge.
Regardless of whose fault it was for the cancelled trip, we hope that the family will get to enjoy a holiday on a cruise ship soon. Let this be a reminder to us all to check and renew our passports when planning to travel overseas.
Source: TikTok
