Anyone Else Told They Would Need A Passport To Cruise Soon?

[Tluvs2talk]

We just cruised October 10th - 13th and were told at check-in that DCL was going to start requiring a passport for U.S Citizens to cruise. We were told this would be in affect for all cruise lines in the next month or 2 and that some of the cruise lines were already inforcing this policy. I told the lady that we had just checked with DCL and were told all we needed was photo I.D and a Birth certificate. She was very surprised to hear this and insisted that we should have been told this information. Has anyone else heard this???

 

[peagreenid]

Were covered with a HUGE bright orange Sticker.....(signifying its importance) on documentation that was necessary. It says
It says that U.S. citizens have to have one of the following....

1. Valid u.s. Passport

2. Birth Certificate And a Picture ID (no ID necessary for kids under 18 traveling with parents)

3. Certified naturalization Certificate and a picture I.D.

This is for the 11/9/02 cruise

smiles Patty

 

[mmouse37]

I must say I am not a bit surprised that DCL and other cruise lines are going this route. It makes sense. Birth Certificates can be too easily altered.

Tightened security is top priority these days. We have had our Passports for about 5 years and it is much easier to handle than bringing the birth certificates.

MJ

 

[mickeymom629]

If I want to be sure, how do I go about getting a passport now for our January cruise? I thought it was a big expense, but I want to err on the safe side.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

peagreenid,
I also told the DCL lady that I also had an orange sticker saying I had to have either a passport or Photo I.D. and Birth Certificate. She said I would have to have a passport . I was a little worried she wasn't going to let us on at first. She seemed very surprised that I didn't have a passport. I told her I had just called DCL cruise line and was told all I needed was a photo I.D and birth certificate. She acted like she didn't believe me. She said this was suppose to be in affect in a few weeks. I will make sure I have a passport when I cruise again.

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

hmmm, my docs have the orange sticker, and I have talked to two DCL cast members during booking my cruise, and they both said, photo ID and birth certificate are fine, that is what the DCL web site lists as well, and there was no mention of a change, by either the DCL phone person or on the web site. I wonder if it was just the person you talked to. I haven't heard anyone else mention this yet... I can't see how they can send out Doc's without letting people know of thise change. I can see passports being prefered... hmmm.. interesting, Maybe Michelle will have an answer for you. She knows all !

 

[Michelle]

DCL has NOT made any announcements regarding a change in their documentation policy, other than for Canadian citizens (which they made a while back). They DO require passports for Canadians now, in the past they only required the photo ID and certified birth certificate for them.

I am quite certain that if DCL were to institute such a policy they would give AMPLE NOTICE to folks regarding the requirement.

It is also unlikely they would do this as currently no other major cruise lines require you to have a passport for the ports that the Disney ships visit.

If we hear anything different I'll be sure to post it. But for now, what is on the documents is all you need.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

DISNEYGATOR,
I am also wondering wether this person was full of it!!!! She was very intimidating and acted like I didn't know what I was talking about. I assured her that I had done my research and was more than prepared. I figured I would find out if any one else had had this problem. She even walked away for a few minutes when I told her I didn't have a passport. She looked like she was discussing this with another person as they both kept looking at our I.D. and at us. When she came back she told me to make sure I had a passport next time I cruised. This was our 4th Disney cruise, and the first time we had any problems(minor thank goodnes) checking in.

 

[eskimo]

Well if we get this woman hassling us about my families 4 birth certificates and 2 drivers lisences, she is really going to hear it from my DH!!! He can get very,very loud when people start pulling this kind of "stuff"! You can be ASSURED we will be on the ship! We leave on the 4 day on Sunday!

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

Tluvs,

I just called DCL, and they said that all US immigration requires is a Passport or Photo ID and Certified Birth Certificate. He even asked a supervisor, and the supervisor said the same thing. He didn't understand why you were given such a problem or why you were told that. Maybe it is a rumor circulating, and she miss-took it?

I'm going to email them now too, and see if I get the same response.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

WebmasterMichelle,
Thanks!!! I told this person that I had never heard of this policy before. She told me that Carnival as well as another cruiseline (Can't remember which one) was already enforcing this rule.She made me feel like I was some ignorant fool who didn't know what I was doing. I do wish that Disney employee's would quit giving false information. I wish I wrote her name down, as I would call and let them know about the false information as well as scare I was given.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

Thanks DISNEYGATOR!!!!
Hope I didn't scare anyone, just wanted to know if this policy was real. You can imagine or picture my face when she asked me for my passport. I was so shocked I could have cried, especially when she took our I.D's and talked to another CM.

 

[tstobb]

Originally posted by Tluvs2talk
I do wish that Disney employee's would quit giving false information. I wish I wrote her name down, as I would call and let them know about the false information as well as scare I was given.

PLEASE FOLLOW THRU! We've noticed more & more of this at WDW and if we let it continue, it will just get worse! Years ago, they used to put the cast members thru something called "training". Every cast member had to be able to CORRECTLY answer any question a guest asked or find the answer & not make it up as they saw fit.

 

[albiats]

Originally posted by mickeymom629
If I want to be sure, how do I go about getting a passport now for our January cruise? I thought it was a big expense, but I want to err on the safe side.

Here's a link to the Website from the US Department of State that discusses Passports: http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html

I went to the website and downloaded a copy of the application. I filled out everything except the signature block, which needs to be signed in the presence of the clerk. I got my passport photos at the local AAA office. Then I took all of the documents and found the nearest passport office and it took about 10 minutes to process our applications. I paid the fee and the passorts and the dopcuments were returned to us with 8 calendar days. Very easy and very smooth.

hope that helps

 

[mickeymom629]

I'm going to check it all out today!

 

[thebecka]

It's still a good idea to get a passport. We got ours after our last RCL cruise. We were held to the side when getting off the ship. My DH took photocopies instead of certified copies of birth certificates. The ship was fined about 3K per person cause they let us on the ship with the photocopies.
Passports are very easy to obtain - forms are at your local post office. You complete the forms, include a picture(proper size), certified copy of birth certificate and a check. They have you swear that the info is correct and then you get the passport in the mail. It took less than a month for us to receive. Just double check the info as they had wrong birthplace on DH's passport. We notified them and got it correted.
I hope this helps!

 

[Padre Disney]

Getting a passport sounds easy enough but no one has mentioned how much it cost. Can anyone that has went through the process please tell us how much$$$$?
Thanks bunch

 

[jrabbit]

In the middle of August the cost went up $25 per person. age 16 and over is now $85 (good for 10 years) and under 16 is $70 (good for 5 years). If you need rush/expidited service add $60 per passport - wow!!

 

[Padre Disney]

WOW
I sure hope Disney doesn't change and want everyone to have passports. I think our family of six would end up not taking the cruise and just going to WDW instead. We have only had a short 3 day over a year ago and have a 7 day planned in March 2003. Don't think we will be taking anymore for a while so can't see spending that much money on passports that we would only use 1 time.

 

[albiats]

Originally posted by Padre Disney
WOW
I sure hope Disney doesn't change and want everyone to have passports. I think our family of six would end up not taking the cruise and just going to WDW instead. We have only had a short 3 day over a year ago and have a 7 day planned in March 2003. Don't think we will be taking anymore for a while so can't see spending that much money on passports that we would only use 1 time.

I would doubt that Disney would change their policy without it being mandated by the Department of State and probably by the policies of the other countries involved as well.

It may come to a point in the future where it will be necessary to prove you haven't been 'denied travel privileges' by producing a passport that can be tracked through databases. I may not be using the best words to describe it here, but I'm suggesting we may need to have a passport that links to a database entry that doesn't have any travel restrictions listed on it. Kind of similar to having a driver's license, they can verify that you don't have warrants or restrictions when driving, the same could be possible with the bar code on your passport.

I look for it to be a requirement for travel between countries, even with friendly countries that rely on our tourism, in the not too distant future and I prefer to be prepared for it, with passport in hand.

Just my opinion.