4 Day Dream Cruise - Passports or Birth Certificates?

[DCTooTall]

So I'm still debating if I want to go thru the hassle and expense of getting a passport for my honeymoon cruise.


Most of the official recomendations I tend to see say "get a passport" in case you need to fly back, or because of general cruise guidelines that cover all the different cruise options.

BUT.. Specifically the 4 day Dream cruise, I'm wondering if i should get a passport for our honeymoon cruise. i've never had one before and I'm not sure if that $100+ would be worth it for me to spend on the passport since I'm not sure when, if ever, I'd need one again. (That $100 could be spent onboard). My Fiance also has one currently, but she's expressed a desire to not use it on the cruise because she wants to travel under her married name (Drivers license, Marriage Certificate, and Birth Certificate verified), and not under the maiden name on her passport (Not enough time between the marriage and trip to have the passport updated).


So.... What would you suggest? Do I really need to get a passport for this cruise, or will i be fine just sticking with my Birth Certificate as my documentation? Besides the extremely unlikely chance I'd need to fly back, is there any real practical reason or benefit from traveling with a passport instead of other valid forms of documentation?

 

[jjje]

I don't know the itinerary for that cruise but if it says it's not required I probably wouldn't bother. There's very little risk of anything happening that would require a passport. Be aware this is not a popular opinion here so most likely the consensus will be that you should get it.

 

[bumbershoot]

For such an itinerary, the only reason (to fly somewhere without a problem in case of emergency) is a pretty good one.

I don't consider it a hassle at all to get a passport; pretty fun, IMO. I still remember the day I got the picture taken for my first one, you can see my excitement about my upcoming trip on my face.

If I weren't getting one now, I wouldn't spend the money on the ship, I would put it aside. If you suddenly have airfare for, say, a trip to Scotland fall in your lap, you wouldn't want to have to scrounge for the money for passports.

How much time IS there between wedding and cruise? Have you worked out how she's going to get the certified copy of the marriage license/certificate? We had a week between our wedding and honeymoon cruise, and we opted to let our minister off the hook with the license, let him go home (from Portland to Seattle), and on Monday we actually stopped at the registrar's office in the county, turned it in, and got our certified copies right then and there. We didn't *need* them for anything; neither of us changed our names and we had passports anyway, but we wanted them.

Depending on how long there is betweentimes, I recommend doing something like that for you, too, to make sure you have that certified copy to prove she is who she's saying she is, even though that will be the ONLY thing she's likely to have to prove that.

(most brides with honeymoons directly after the wedding travel (internationally) under their maiden name, even if they plan to change names, FYI)

 

[Uncleromulus]

All I can say is this--most Birth Certificates (unless they are government issued or certified) won't pass muster just to even GET a Passport.

Do you really want to risk some functionary somewhere deciding on his or her own that YOUR BC or marriage certificate just dosen't quite measure up?

Not likely perhaps, but possible.

Get the Passport---I did, and I am no big fan of Passports or the passport obtaining process.

 

[Ofinn]

We have done two Bahamas cruises with birth certificates. I'm not sure what pp poster was referring to. All birth certificates are government issued. I would make sure you have the long form which has your parents signatures, and the official seal. I know the long form is what is required to get a passport now. My birth certificate has my maiden name, and my DL has my married name, and it's never been a problem.

 

[Uncleromulus]

NOW they may be goverment issued, but when I and my wife were born, the government had NOTHING to do with issuing Birth certificates.

They were issued by the Hospital and then filed with the local health Department.

This was 1945 and 1955, respectively. And in Baltimore City.

 

[Meghatron]

I am more concerned about your fiancé than you. She will NOT be allowed to travel on reservations booked in her married name without a certified marriage certificate issued from the county; a copy of the license that you sign on the wedding day will not be sufficient because it hasn't been processed yet. If you are honeymooning soon after the wedding you might not have time to get the certified certificate. I did research once for a book on weddings and every single source said that brides planning on changing their names should NOT book honeymoon travel soon after the wedding in their married names, regardless of how much they want to be Mrs. So and So on the paperwork. It's better to be on the ship under different names than be rejected at the port with the same name. Save it for an anniversary trip.

ETA: The Oasis of the Seas episode of Extreme Cruise Ship had this same situation; the bride somehow managed to get one of her doctors who happened to have a piece of paper in her medical file that had both her names on it to fax that paper to the port. Without that, no honeymoon, no exceptions.

 

[deanimal]

There was a report a few months back about a mom who had to take her young daughter off the ship in Nassau for a medical emergency. She had to deal with the stress of the situation PLUS the stress of not being able to get back home if the child had to be admitted and the ship sailed without her because they didn't have passports. (Fortunately for them they cleared her to go just before the ship was about to sail.) There's just no way I'd take that risk with a loved one. At least your wife could get use her old passport in a pinch, but you'd be stuck.

And they're good for ten years! Maybe you'll get the travel bug after this trip. Who knows what adventures may await you!

 

[tweis]

We have done two Bahamas cruises with birth certificates. I'm not sure what pp poster was referring to. All birth certificates are government issued. I would make sure you have the long form which has your parents signatures, and the official seal. I know the long form is what is required to get a passport now. My birth certificate has my maiden name, and my DL has my married name, and it's never been a problem.

I think the PP was referring to the fact that now you have to have a very specific bc to obtain your passport. My husband's was a government issued BC but it was not good enough for a passport. We had to pay to have another one issued and expedited from the state that he was born in. Many BC were issued by the hospital and not by the government. ALOT of BC are rejected when trying to obtain a passport.

To the OP, I would cruise with whatever I felt comfortable with. For me and my family, that's a passport.

 

[neg58]

Your wife-to-be should take her passport just in case. She can use the other documents to board the ship, but if she needs a passport in an emergency, she HAS one, and she also has the other documents to show it is HER (birth certificate with that name, marriage license).

All birth certificates are NOT government issued, and that's the problem. Hospitals issue certificates that look official but they aren't. States and counties issues BC's that don't have the required information on them, including a seal or embossing, so they aren't official. Some people have been allowed to sail with copies, BC's with a maiden name, the unofficial certificate from the hospital. They are lucky. Are you in the lucky line or the unlikely one?

To the original question, on a 4 day trip to the Bahamas, chances are you'll be just fine with a BC. Low risk. Are you good with that level of risk?

Nancy

 

[Uncleromulus]

tweis: That is exactly what I was saying

And if the Passport folks are rejecting BC's right and left, what MIGHT happen when a local "official" gets involved and suddenly decides yours is no good???

 

[tweis]

tweis: That is exactly what I was saying

IF the Passport folks are rejecting BC's right and left, what MIGHT happen when a local "official" gets involved and suddenly decides yours is no good???

I definitely get what your saying. My DH was born in PA and had what we thought was a perfectly good copy of his BC but the passport folks didn't seem to think so. I don't know if it would have passed muster to board the ship or not but we chose not to find out.

 

[Weedy]

To insure very important information such as will they let me on the ship with a different name because of marriage you need to contact the U S. Passport Office. Be sure to get the names of the people you have talked to and have them email/fax you the correct information.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/

Dis board people are great with information but the customs guy won't care if you say to him "they said I could on the Disboards"

 

[N365PA]

Get a passport. If something happens and you get stuck in Nassau its a royal pain in the rear to get back into the US. We're not the friendliest people towards those without passports trying to get into the US, citizen or not.

 

[luvslikepi]

I would call DCL and see what their recommendations are for this cruise. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[MikeAndNick]

You are getting married to someone with a passport. That tells me that she likes to travel. You cannot go out of the country except for a cruise without a passport. Living in Pennsylvania I would think a great vacation for you and your wife would be Canada but you cannot go without a passport. You see a deal to travel to London for $300, cannot go without a passport. Texas secedes from the United States and you want to travel there, you need a passport. Do your new wife a favor and vacation with her.

 

[DCTooTall]

You are getting married to someone with a passport. That tells me that she likes to travel. You cannot go out of the country except for a cruise without a passport. Living in Pennsylvania I would think a great vacation for you and your wife would be Canada but you cannot go without a passport. You see a deal to travel to London for $300, cannot go without a passport. Texas secedes from the United States and you want to travel there, you need a passport. Do your new wife a favor and vacation with her.

Good in theory... not in practicality. She actually has a recently expired passport from a post-graduation european trip. It's much easier for her to renew than for me to get a new one.

Add in the costs of international travel, and the fact that kids will further limit our ability to travel internationally, and I'm not really seeing much international travel in our immediate future.

once kids get older and finances stabalize a bit more, I could potentially see us traveling internationally, but that could be years down the road and I would feel like i've wasted money if I got a passport for this cruise when i didn't really need one, and then we didn't travel again because of $$ and family for over 5yrs.

 

[k3chantal]

So I'm still debating if I want to go thru the hassle and expense of getting a passport for my honeymoon cruise.


Most of the official recomendations I tend to see say "get a passport" in case you need to fly back, or because of general cruise guidelines that cover all the different cruise options.

BUT.. Specifically the 4 day Dream cruise, I'm wondering if i should get a passport for our honeymoon cruise. i've never had one before and I'm not sure if that $100+ would be worth it for me to spend on the passport since I'm not sure when, if ever, I'd need one again. (That $100 could be spent onboard). My Fiance also has one currently, but she's expressed a desire to not use it on the cruise because she wants to travel under her married name (Drivers license, Marriage Certificate, and Birth Certificate verified), and not under the maiden name on her passport (Not enough time between the marriage and trip to have the passport updated).


So.... What would you suggest? Do I really need to get a passport for this cruise, or will i be fine just sticking with my Birth Certificate as my documentation? Besides the extremely unlikely chance I'd need to fly back, is there any real practical reason or benefit from traveling with a passport instead of other valid forms of documentation?

I say get a passport. It is one of those 'life documents" (yes it does need to be renewed of course) but you never know when you may really need it.

Going on a port adventure? Find yourself in a foreign hospital? Need to be flown home? Life in all that chaos will be much easier with a passport in hand.

 

[bumbershoot]

All I can say is this--most Birth Certificates (unless they are government issued or certified) won't pass muster just to even GET a Passport.

Do you really want to risk some functionary somewhere deciding on his or her own that YOUR BC or marriage certificate just dosen't quite measure up?

Not likely perhaps, but possible.

Get the Passport---I did, and I am no big fan of Passports or the passport obtaining process.

My mom was born in '44 in Connecticut, and her BC was not from the hospital, it was from the county, and had both of her parents' names on it. That means it was totally legal for today's international travel.

I don't know why your parents did not choose to get you a certified birth certificate from the registrar's office, but even in '45 that was an option.

While some people do get confused when their hospital issues something (the hospital i was born in did not, nor does the one here in town, nor did the one where my husband was born in), that doesn't mean the gov't issued, certified, ones weren't available.

YES hospitals file the forms for you. Midwives will, too, in some states. But it's still up to the PARENTS to contact the registrar's office to GET one. Some parents, probably even today, don't understand that, but it has been the case for a long time now.

There was a report a few months back about a mom who had to take her young daughter off the ship in Nassau for a medical emergency. She had to deal with the stress of the situation PLUS the stress of not being able to get back home if the child had to be admitted and the ship sailed without her because they didn't have passports. (Fortunately for them they cleared her to go just before the ship was about to sail.) There's just no way I'd take that risk with a loved one. At least your wife could get use her old passport in a pinch, but you'd be stuck.

And they're good for ten years! Maybe you'll get the travel bug after this trip. Who knows what adventures may await you!

FWIW she wasn't told by a customs official that she couldn't stay. As far as I could tell in her post she was told this in the doctor's office. I don't know who said it, but it wasn't said by anyone official that I could tell.

Good in theory... not in practicality. She actually has a recently expired passport from a post-graduation european trip. It's much easier for her to renew than for me to get a new one.

Have you seen my suggestion to take your marriage license in to your registrar's office yourself? So that you can have it processed right then, pay for the certified certificate, and have it in your hands immediately?

Currently valid (check with your registrars offices from the counties of your births) certified BCs, valid certified marriage certificate to show the name change, and a photo ID, and she should be fine.

Make sure she knows to hang on to the passport! It's expired, yep, but she can get it renewed up to 5 years after it expired. renewals can be done if it "Was issued within the last 15 years". I renewed mine just days before that mark; got it in '95, it expired in '05, renewed just before the date in '10! I love that they allow that for adult passports. And it was right before the big price increase. Whew!

Since she had that passport, and since you're pretty sure you won't be traveling because of children (I wanted to travel MORE once my son arrived! We went to Canada before he was a year old and it was awesome!), I would just make sure you've had that conversation WITH her. The run-up to a wedding can get a little confusing, where you think you have had the important discussions, but you just might want to make sure she's on the same page, travel-wise, as you. Travel is actually quite important in my life, and it is in DH's, too. Neither of us could have married someone for whom travel was not important and who did not want to see the world. Good conversations to have and revisit every so often.