documents for cruising question

[WINTER]

taking my daughter and grandson on a fall cruise. Neither at this time have passports. We are doing a 4 night Bahamas cruise. Will birth certificates for both suffice? Also, will any documentation be needed for 7 y/o grandson be needed to sail from father?

 

[Calantha]

taking my daughter and grandson on a fall cruise. Neither at this time have passports. We are doing a 4 night Bahamas cruise. Will birth certificates for both suffice? Also, will any documentation be needed for 7 y/o grandson be needed to sail from father?

Birth certificates are fine, but everyone will always say passports is the better choice.

As for documentation, I've never worried about it - other than one time where the CBP agent had a fit that my son's name didn't match mine - when we were getting off the ship. Travel to certain foreign countries (e.g., Canada) does require documentation and I'd say, if they aren't still married, you might want some sort of notarized letter. No one will likely ask, but better safe than sorry (or having the father on speed dial).

 

[tvguy]

Birth certificates are fine, but everyone will always say passports is the better choice.

Agreed. Especially for the 7 year old, you would be surprised how many non-travel situations come up with kids where the Passports is the gold standard.

 

[teacherdebi]

I have a question that I would like some clarification on, that is somewhat in the same category. No intention of high jacking your question, please forgive me. My daughter just recently got married, she does not have time to get a passport before our upcoming cruise. (She was gifted this cruise as a replacement person) Her birth certificate and drivers lisc. does not match now. I will upload her marriage lisc. and the new drivers lics. that match along with her birth cert. she will bring them along for proof also. Will this work? My mother had to do this as she did not have a passport as she is not a big traveler last time we cruised and it was efficient. This was pre-covid are we ok?

 

[RedHead0186]

I have a question that I would like some clarification on, that is somewhat in the same category. No intention of high jacking your question, please forgive me. My daughter just recently got married, she does not have time to get a passport before our upcoming cruise. (She was gifted this cruise as a replacement person) Her birth certificate and drivers lisc. does not match now. I will upload her marriage lisc. and the new drivers lics. that match along with her birth cert. she will bring them along for proof also. Will this work? My mother had to do this as she did not have a passport as she is not a big traveler last time we cruised and it was efficient. This was pre-covid are we ok?

I would call DCL directly and ask them. This is a pretty specific situation, and not something you'd want to take a chance on getting 'wrong' come sailing day (meaning, not being allowed to sail because of documentation issues). With that said, I don't think any policies regarding documentation required for sailing have changed since COVID, so if you've done this in the past and it worked, it should work now. But again, I would call DCL to confirm.

 

[lanejudy]

Will this work? My mother had to do this as she did not have a passport as she is not a big traveler last time we cruised and it was efficient. This was pre-covid are we ok?

Assuming you are on a closed-loop cruise departing from and returning to the same US port -- yes, a birth certificate plus government-issued photo ID is acceptable in place of a passport. The marriage license isn't required, but occasionally there is an immigration officer who wants to connect the names so it's good to have with her. (I've never been asked for it.)

I would call DCL directly and ask them. This is a pretty specific situation

Actually -- it was a wordy way of asking "what documentation if I don't have a passport? Can I use birth certificate, marriage license and ID?" Not a particularly unusual or situation-specific question.

 

[RedHead0186]

Actually -- it was a wordy way of asking "what documentation if I don't have a passport? Can I use birth certificate, marriage license and ID?" Not a particularly unusual or situation-specific question.

Even if the names don't match? That's what I was responding to, that the names didn't match (which I guess isn't all that unusual), not that they didn't have a passport.

 

[lanejudy]

Even if the names don't match? That's what I was responding to, that the names didn't match (which I guess isn't all that unusual), not that they didn't have a passport.

Not very usual. As I replied to the PP -- bringing the marriage license will show the connection, but it may not even be questioned. Many guests travel with just birth certificate plus photo ID, and many no longer use their birth surname. It's really a pretty common situation.

 

[Mommb]

I will upload her marriage lisc. and the new drivers lics. that match along with her birth cert. she will bring them along for proof also. Will this work?

It certainly won't hurt to check with DCL, but if your daughter does not need a passport for this cruise (she is a US citizen and the cruise leaves from and returns to the same US port) then as long as the marriage license is a government-issued document, the combination of birth certificate, marriage license, and driver's license should be sufficient. As lanejudy mentioned, many people have different names on their birth certificate and driver's license, so this is not an unusual issue for a cruise on which passports aren't required.

 

[teacherdebi]

I would call DCL directly and ask them. This is a pretty specific situation, and not something you'd want to take a chance on getting 'wrong' come sailing day (meaning, not being allowed to sail because of documentation issues). With that said, I don't think any policies regarding documentation required for sailing have changed since COVID, so if you've done this in the past and it worked, it should work now. But again, I would call DCL to confirm.

Thank you all. I reached out to Disney and they said she would be fineto sail as a lot of people.do not have matching birth certificates due to marriage and that her list. would work, but have all documents available to show just in case. Thanks again.

 

[loislane]

taking my daughter and grandson on a fall cruise. Neither at this time have passports. We are doing a 4 night Bahamas cruise. Will birth certificates for both suffice? Also, will any documentation be needed for 7 y/o grandson be needed to sail from father?

Are your daughter and the father divorced?

When my kids were little, my parents and I took them to Canada for a long weekend (land crossing) and while no one cared when we entered Canada, it was not the same coming home. The border patrol agent wanted to know where their father was and when I said we're divorced, he wanted to know if he knew I took the kids out of the country. God bless my son, who was 7 at the time, when the agent asked him, "Does your father know your mother took you to Canada? and my son just looks at him and goes, "Duh!"

Anyway - that's my long version of saying if they are divorced, it's probably a good idea to have the custody paperwork with you and also a letter from the father saying he's aware and ok with them going on the cruise.