Does my 9 year old need a passport for the Alaska cruise?

[_auroraborealis_]

I would at least get passport cards.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Isn't the approx $150 worth the security of knowing you will be able to get home in an emergency without jumping through hoops? It's less than a tenth of the cost of the cruise, and you would spend way more trying to get the necessary documentation to get home if something happened while you were in Canada or Mexico. Not to mention the political climate right now.

 

[Prose]

Actually the White Pass railroad is in Skagway. But, yes, if you're on an excursion that crosses the border there, you must have a passport.

LOL, thanks! It's been a few years since we did Alaska - sounds like it's time for us to do another to refresh our memories!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you have no expectations of leaving US/Canada/Mexico/Caribbean, the passport card is generally enough.

The card won't work for Cuba, Barbados, the French West Indies, Haiti or Trinidad & Tobago.

 

[WildEyed]

There would be four border crossings, minimum:

1. Cross from USA into Canada to get to Vancouver
2. Cross from Canada into USA to get onto the ship to start the cruise
3. Cross from USA back into Canada again to get off the ship at the end of the cruise
4. Cross from Canada into USA to get home.
5 and 6. If you do the Yukon excursion in Skagway that would be two more border crossings.

I would be more comfortable with my child having a passport given the number of times I'd have to worry about crossing borders in one trip.

On a less serious note - all of my kids love using their passports, it adds a bit of magic and makes them feel like world travellers. They like looking at their stamps afterwards.

 

[adSimba]

So what I'm getting from this is it would probably be fine to just use a birth certificate (I will be traveling into Seattle then taking the train in) and every government page and even the disney one say that is so. However most people here are freaked out at the idea of not having one for some reason, even though the odds of an international incident are really low (nearly all of the time will be on or near US soil).

Even so, I will probably get a passport for my kid because it turns out a certified birth certificate from his birth state would be nearly $50, and the passport has bragging rights

 

[Weedy]

So what I'm getting from this is it would probably be fine to just use a birth certificate (I will be traveling into Seattle then taking the train in) and every government page and even the disney one say that is so. However most people here are freaked out at the idea of not having one for some reason, even though the odds of an international incident are really low (nearly all of the time will be on or near US soil).

Even so, I will probably get a passport for my kid because it turns out a certified birth certificate from his birth state would be nearly $50, and the passport has bragging rights

I think you need the birth certificate to get the passport??

 

[adSimba]

I think you need the birth certificate to get the passport??

 

[anricat]

even though the odds of an international incident are really low

This isn't necessarily about an international incident. I'm sure the mom on our cruise whose daughter started unexpectedly having seizures at 10:30 at night on our sea day thought the odds were low, too, but they still were stuck the next day in Nassau without passports and needing to obtain air travel home. You just never know. My daughter has had a passport for her last four cruises and we haven't needed to debark the ship and get home, but it was still worth the piece of mind. (And as others have said, she loves collecting stamps!)

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Actually - if you are travelling by land or by sea, children under 16 do not require passports.

I'm not sure this is true, or at least it wasn't our experience. We entered Canada by Amtrak and the kids did need a passport.

 

[bumbershoot]

They like looking at their stamps afterwards.

Don't expect stamps for a Canada trip. It took us several crossings to convince anyone to stamp our passports in Canada.

it would probably be fine to just use a birth certificate (I will be traveling into Seattle then taking the train in) and every government page and even the disney one say that is so.

Yes.

Even so, I will probably get a passport for my kid because it turns out a certified birth certificate from his birth state would be nearly $50, and the passport has bragging rights

Is VitalChek (making a big assumption that's where you looked) the ONLY option to get the BC from his birth state? Please be sure there isn't a mail-in option for the registrar's office in the county of his birth.

And don't you have one already? For DS to be on our insurance he had to have a SSN, and to get a SS card he had to have a certified birth certificate, so make sure you don't already have one.

I think you need the birth certificate to get the passport??

Ayep.

This isn't necessarily about an international incident. I'm sure the mom on our cruise whose daughter started unexpectedly having seizures at 10:30 at night on our sea day thought the odds were low, too, but they still were stuck the next day in Nassau without passports and needing to obtain air travel home. You just never know. My daughter has had a passport for her last four cruises and we haven't needed to debark the ship and get home, but it was still worth the piece of mind. (And as others have said, she loves collecting stamps!)

With an *Alaska* cruise, for most of it you are right there next to Alaska. Even if a hospital couldn't help in Juneau, a flight to Seattle would be possible. Therefore the passport wouldn't be needed. There's only a brief period of time when they are in Canada.

I'm a major passport person, but being in Vancouver isn't like being in Sint Maarten...

We entered Canada by Amtrak and the kids did need a passport.

Not sure how it was communicated to you, but assuming they are US or Canadian citizens it's not true.

https://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Content_C&pagename=am/Layout&cid=1241267400657

US and Canadian Citizens under 16
(Under 19 if traveling with an organized group such as a school trip)

• One of the above documents, or
• Certified Copy of a Birth Certificate (bearing the raised seal of the issuing office and a statement that it is a certified copy of the original document on file at that office) or
• U.S. Citizen Children Only: Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or United States Naturalization Certificate
• Canadian Citizen Children Only: Canadian Citizenship Certificate Card

 

[anricat]

With an *Alaska* cruise, for most of it you are right there next to Alaska. Even if a hospital couldn't help in Juneau, a flight to Seattle would be possible. Therefore the passport wouldn't be needed. There's only a brief period of time when they are in Canada.

I'm a major passport person, but being in Vancouver isn't like being in Sint Maarten...

This is a fair point. Most of the time, you're in the US. But also, with the incident on our cruise, just the day before, we were in Key West. So...they could be fine for the whole trip and then have something befall them in Vancouver. All it takes is one day.

 

[bcla]

I'm not sure this is true, or at least it wasn't our experience. We entered Canada by Amtrak and the kids did need a passport.

That's not what Amtrak says. I've crossed the border a couple of times with my kid by land and ferry, and both times a US passport card was sufficient, although a certified birth certificate showing birth in the US is also supposed to be acceptable. All "surface travel" between the US and Canada are supposed to have the same requirements. If we flew we would all be required to have US passports.

https://www.amtrak.com/crossing-the-us-canadian-border

Documents Required to Cross the US-Canadian Border
The only acceptable documents to cross the US-Canadian border by land or sea are:

US Citizens 16 and over

• United States Passport, or
• United States Passport Card, or
• Trusted Traveler Card (NEXUS, FAST or SENTRI), or
• Enhanced Driver's License (issued by Washington State, Minnesota, Michigan, New York and Vermont only), or
• Enhanced Learner's Permit, or Enhanced State ID card
  (Temporary enhanced driver’s licenses/learner’s permits/state or provincial ID cards are not
  accepted. The traveler must have the permanent license/permit/card.), or
• Merchant Mariner Document, or
• Military ID with Military orders, or
• Form I-872, American Indian Card
• Amish and Mennonite Old Order only:
  - copy of birth certificate, and
  - signed copy of IRS form 4029, application for exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes and waiver of benefits.

US and Canadian Citizens under 16
(Under 19 if traveling with an organized group such as a school trip)

• One of the above documents, or
• Certified Copy of a Birth Certificate (bearing the raised seal of the issuing office and a statement that it is a certified copy of the original document on file at that office) or
• U.S. Citizen Children Only: Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or United States Naturalization Certificate
• Canadian Citizen Children Only: Canadian Citizenship Certificate Card