You can fight and get your money back for the cruise, since they denied you to travel. Flying to other countries, IS taking a gamble on whether they will allow entry or not. On many of those travel plans, I would add an insurance to refund you money if they send you back home.

January of last year I went on a cruise and even went to Mexico. I also went to Jamaica. By way of Cruise they dont deny entry its when you come back to the USA that they treat you kinda crappy going through your phone and camera's and anyone with you as well. At least this was my experience Aboard the Carnival Cruiseline. If not for the extreme of pulling me aside I would go again. I would love to fly for a visit but my passport only allows by ground or sea travels

I got a full refund but the hassle we went through along with having to book a new vacation was a pain. @fun12 apparently this is new. We were on a cruise last year with no issues. Different story this years thanks to International Megans Law

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Why did they feel it nessacary to go through your phone?

Now that is a loaded question.... for any citizen there is a myriad of reasons but the most notable I have heard about is those that have any kind of security clearance any time in their life. They not only get stopped by TSA but they take each piece of electronics and place it on a pad type of device. Which I can only assume is to do some kind of search or something on the storage and OS of those devices.

You can partially thank the Patriot act for the invasion of our perceived privacy, which we lost so long ago I doubt most people these days know what real privacy is anymore. Especially those in the younger generations.

But to answer the question at hand... They look at those devices to make sure you aren't trafficking people or child porn or any other thing that is deemed nefarious. And they use the excuse that it is all to protect 'the children'.

I know this doesn't necessaily pertain to this discussion, but as usual my mind is wondering off track.

So I am not mentally challenged, and therefor always knew that the story of Edward Snowden , the supposed CIA whistleblower , was a comete LIE sold to us by our own goverment. He never once disclosed any info that anyone with half a functioning brain didn't already know. Obviously, his purpose was to condition or prepare the American public on the truth of the atrocities our goverment does to us every single day. Now after reading all of your posts, especially the one from Wisconsin, it is so blatantly obvious that the whole Edward Snowden story was a comete lie. So, you have to put all of your electronics on some kind of a pad so it can be searched? Would Edward had to of put his special secret hard drive he downloaded our nations most precious secrets on this pad as well? Hmmm.. If they can restrict all of your travel , yet some how he, who was actively being sought by the CIA, was just allowed to travel freely abroad? And live in an airport terminal for days on end??? Wow.... They must really think we are stupid . I personally feel insulted that that was considered a believable story to sell to the American public. Every person in Washington is a liar, I actually believe it is a stipulation of employment there.

if Snowden was traveling while working for the government then he would probably not be subject to it. As with all security equipment and technology is not every place has the exact same stuff. Not ALL airports frisk you and put you through a full body scanner. Snowden may or may not have been leaking secrets. I wouldnt be surprised if he was, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he was a patsy either. Both of which we may or may not ever know.

This is the information age which is a small part of the technology age, where information and technology can be manipulated to effectively change history almost before it happens.

The pad scenario is something that happened to a family friend of mine who was retired military with some level of security clearance and was on some 'list'. He was essentially harassed at a local airport, where I always find the security would appear tighter.

The fact that in this age of internet and connectivity the ease at which secrets can be stolen are different than they were only 25 years ago. The smart phones we carry have 100 times the power that my first Toshiba Laptop had (which had a 65MB harddrive and Norton Commander was its Operating system, before windows) With that in mind, for all we know Snowden had access to things, and only parts of what he leaked are things the general public didn't know or at least suspect.

@cakies Sorry for not responding to your question about why they had to go through my phone before now. I am thinking it was because of my SO offense of CP they wanted make sure I wasnt taking any inappropriate pictures. I wasnt convicted of taking pictures I was convicted of possession of 1 picture. Which really sucks. A lifetime of registration hassles over 1 picture. That is why I keep seeking somewhere that I could possibly come off this registry. I have done figured out as for registry requirements my state of WV has the least restrictions of anywhere I have checked out. I just want warmer weather and a chance to come off this thing, I could end up 100 yrs old and my birthday present would be going to register. I cant even get into a nursing home so If I get to the point I cant care for myself at all I would just lay there and die especially with no family to do it. These things scare me even worse than the registry itself

Has anyone gone on an Eastern Caribbean cruise? Last time we went in Jan. 2015, all they said we would need (we have passports and they said all we needed was DL) was a drivers license. All the ports were US, is believe.