Cruise lines might be a little more lenient with their dress codes on first and last nights — here’s why

Re: “Royal Caribbean’s Dress-Code Flip,” Need to Know, by Rosemary McClure, May 13: As far as requiring appropriate evening clothes in formal dining rooms on cruises, some lines look the other way on the first and last nights of a cruise.

As was explained to me by a dining-room staff member, on the first night some passengers may have not receive their luggage, and on the last night they may have packed everything and prepared their luggage for pickup.

Paul Burns, Granada Hills

Panic over passports

I thoroughly enjoyed Christopher Reynolds’ article about his scramble for his daughter’s passport (“Dad Dances Quickly to Get Kid’s New Passport,” On the Spot, May 6.

I had a similar panic on a recent Sunday night when I pulled out my passport in preparation for a Monday morning flight to Mexico City…only to find it had expired in March. Panic!

Encouraged by online blogs that indicated it wasn’t impossible to get a same- day passport, I completed and printed the online form, visited my local 24/7 Fedex Business office location for a new photo, and got up way too early to trek from my home in Orange County to the Federal Building in West L.A. I arrived promptly at 6:45 a.m. without an appointment, but with my nicest smile and most patient demeanor.

The employees at the passport office are miracle workers; I had a new passport in just two hours! I had to reschedule my flight for two hours later but I still made it to Mexico City in time to get my work done.

I’m in the process of renewing the rest of the family’s passports now so we don’t run into this problem again.

It is worth noting that travelers should be aware that passports must be valid longer than your intended stay, and, in some countries, must be valid for six months beyond your intended return date. If it expires before that, you may be denied entry and have to go straight home.

Barbara Kuntz, North Tustin

Pick a winner

The Need to Know column reported that the old Monte Carlo hotel/casino on the Vegas Strip has been refurbished and replaced by the Park MGM (“Park MGN Now Open,” by Jay Jones, May 13).

As part of the giant MGM Resorts International, it joins Bellagio, MGM Grand, the Mirage, Mandalay Bay and other MGM properties. Caesars Entertainment includes such places as Caesars Palace, Bally’s, Paris, Harrah’s and the Linq. The little guys on the Strip are Steve Wynn (Wynn and Encore) and Sheldon Adelson (Venetian and Palazzo).

Strip patrons have a smorgasbord of playtime scenarios to spice up their lives. And if variety is the spice of life, so where else on this planet could one pick and choose among the available and varied spices other than the famed Vegas Strip?

Bill Spitalnick, Newport Beach

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