Lost our passports on the way to the ship....

[ivanova]

You want to talk about scary....

I had my passports along with DD's ... DH carried his own ... we used the passports as ID in Ontario airport (CA) to board our plane on Saturday. But by the time we arrived at the Radisson in Port Canaveral, DD's and my passport were missing. And this is the night before the cruise. No way to replace them, and nope, we didn't bring birth certificates (cuz we has the passports).

I called DCL first thing Sunday morning and the Reservation Supervisor could only tell me she "thought" it would be okay since DH still had his passport and we had pic ID for me (driver's license) and DD (school ID) but that she was not the final authority. If Customs/Immigration wanted to be a putz at the terminal, they could refuse to let us board the ship (!!!).

And yes, DH would have sailed without us (my alternate plan was to rent a car and for DD & I to return to Orlando for some not-as-fun-days at WDW).

At the terminal we had to sign forms swearing we were US citizens, and then luckily they let us board.

Ironically, on our way home on Thursday at the gate just before boarding our plane in Orlando we were paged & the airline employee said we'd left our passports at the ticket counter ... I told her they'd been missing since Saturday. Apparently they'd fallen out of my tote bag on the leg from Denver to Orlando, and they were holding them in Orlando until our return flight on Thursday.

 

[kristen821]

Wow i am happy they let you on. My worst fear is that I will leave our birthcertificates in chicago and they won't let us on.

 

[glindamood]

Thank heavens they let you on - and kudos to the airline that held on to them for you. That is truely a 'Disney' ending!

 

[SueM in MN]

Wow! What an ending to the story. You are really lucky you go them back.

 

[ivanova]

I expected to have to deal with the State Dept in getting new passports issued once we returned home.

I am so thrilled with United Airlines though (can't believe I just said that about an airlines these days ) and I'm really really glad that Customs/Immigration wasn't a putz about letting us on. I shudder to think what would've happened if we'd lost DH's passport too.

 

[DrCavin]

I would have been going sleepless that night!! That would be worse than leaving the laptop, with EVERY photo taken during the trip loaded on it, at the rental agency counter

Yep I did that in May.. THANK GOODNESS it was still there when I called them to see if it was around... I would still be in the dog house if it was gone

 

[mississaugamom]

Wow, Susan - what a scary experience !!!!!

I'm glad you were still able to board and got them back too! You'll be triple-checking for them on your next cruise!

Arlene

 

[ivanova]

Arlene, you are oh so right!! I think I'll not only have the passports with me, but every one else in our group will have photo copies of the picture pages so worst case I can say "see, I had a passport 'til I lost it, this is what it looked like."

 

[piglet33]

This is one of my worst nightmares. I check and double check the whole time just to make sure that I don't lose them. I'm so glad that they let you board. That would have been horrible if you couldn't go.

Reneé

 

[jrabbit]

Originally posted by ivanova
Arlene, you are oh so right!! I think I'll not only have the passports with me, but every one else in our group will have photo copies of the picture pages so worst case I can say "see, I had a passport 'til I lost it, this is what it looked like."

You should have a copy of the ID page of your passport left at a safe place at home and you should carry another copy with you when you travel with your passport - just keep the copy in a totally seperate bag from you passport.

So glad that you had a great ending to your situation.

 

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

A few years ago my DW and I went on a Carnival cruise in January. We left the house at 5:30 in the morning in the middle of a snowstorm to get in my car and go to the airport. The birth certificates blew out, but got stuck in a snowdrift. My dad found them and was able fax a copy of them to the ship. Customs let us use the fax copies to go ashore in Key West.

From now on, I make copies of everything and keep them in a separate piece of luggage. I also copy the airline tickets and reservation numbers.

Now I don't worry about something getting lost.

 

[JC Butterfly]

wow, now I have something new to my list of worries . . . although I become quite OCD when it comes to a trip. My husband even laughs at me when I check to see if I have my drivers license like 5 times on the way to the airport . . . I can definitely see how this could happen though. I am so glad you were able to enjoy a wonderful vacation!!

 

[RKB]

I thought you were going to say "and then I woke up"! I am glad that this story had a happy ending. And I thought it was just a nightmare....