Passport vs. Birth Cert.

[Tonya2]

How many adults have taken a Disney cruise with just their birth certificate and photo ID(drivers lisc.)? I believe it is stated somewhere that a birth cert. is acceptable in place of a passport. We have state birth cert., but not passports and my husband is not sure whether or not to trust going without a passport, but I say it is more money we can save? So has anyone gone without problem using just birth cert. and drivers lisc.? Thanks!

 

[Christine]

My parents are getting ready to go and my mom is using her birth certificate but my dad went ahead and got a passport because his birth certificate is confusing.

When he was 16 years old, he was adopted by his stepfather and his last name was legally changed, yet it was not changed on his birth certificate. We were told by Disney that, while this is not a problem for a woman, for some reason having a different name on a man's birth certificate can be a problem. Go figure? So to avoid, the problem, he got a passport. My mom sees no problem using her birth certificate. As long as you have state issued certificates with raised seals, there should not be a problem.

 

[Zandy595]

All 10 adults, in our group, used birth certificates and driver's licenses on our last cruise (11/01/01) and we all plan to do the same thing again in October. We didn't have any problems. Just make sure you have the correct birth certificate (not a hospital cert.) with the raised seal and you'll be fine.

 

[TheWog]

While passports are the best way to go for a number of reasons, you will have no problems at all using an official (not hospital) birth certificate and photo id.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but when you go on a cruise and you use a passport, is it stamped in some way to indicate where you have gone? Meaning, is it stamped in each port or something?

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

when you go on a cruise and you use a passport, is it stamped in some way to indicate where you have gone? Meaning, is it stamped in each port or something?

Not on DCL, or on most Carribean itineraries. The cruise lines give a passenger manifest to the ports where the ship will be calling. There is a record kept of you arriving, but they do not do standard "passport control" as they do when you arrive at an airport. You may be able to find out if there's an immigration station in various ports where you could go and get a stamp, but that seems to me like a lot of time and effort when you only have a limited time in port.

I'm not sure how it would work in other parts of the world, but hope to find out someday on a Mediterranean or Baltic cruise.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Actually a lot of states aren't using a seal anymore ... instead birth certificates are computer generated and printed on special paper ... these are just as valid as the older *sealed* versions.

 

[momsgoofy]

My understanding is that DCL only requires adult passengers to have a "certified" copy of your birth certificate and a photo id. For minors only a "certified" copy of the birth certificate is needed. I also understand that "certified" can mean a couple of things...
1) the copy must be issued by the state NOT the hospital
2) the copy must have either a raised seal OR the multi-colored document with state seal.

For my family, this means that DH and I, who were born in Illinois have copies issued for the County Clerk's office where we were born which have the raised seal. For DS, who was born in Florida, he as a laminated birth certificate with many colors on it. (The schools here always comment that "it's such a pretty birth certificate".)

My travel agent and I have spoken about this issue on occasions and she told me, due to the more stringent rules as of late, that AAA is recommending passports. I don't know if this is AAA across the country or just within my area. In addition, when I went to get an additional copy of my birth certificate and marriage license the county clerk made an interesting and eye opening comment. She reminded me that IF someone other than myself has possession of my certified birth certificate, then that person can use it to fraudulently apply for just about anything using my information. In other words...identity theft!

After discussing the issue with DH, we have decided to go with passports. Secretly, I suppose DS and I have underlying motives..we want to go to Europe on a near future vacation and this is one step closer to making it happen.

I guess, it is up to the individuals traveling on DCL to which documentation you want to take - those DCL requires or the alternative they will accept.

Laura ºoº

 

[Phyllisi]

Back to the stamp question in passports. I have lived in Italy and Japan and visited numerous counties in both Europe and Asia. In Europe, our passports were only stamped about 1/3 of the time. Most often, custom inspectors just looked at our passports. BTW, Disney rep said passports are not required for the 14 day Panama sailings. I asked because our daughter passport expired (childern under 16 are only valid for 5 years) and did not want to get another one for her until we take her to Europe when she is a bit older.

 

[momsgoofy]

Same here...my old passport still has me stuck in the Netherlands despite traveling to several other countries. It upset me a younger person...I really wanted to have many stamps to prove I'd been there.

Laura ºoº

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

I was surprised by that with my last trip to Europe, too. I has me arriving in London, and then again in Rotterdam, but no mention of Belgium or France. Just a stamp leaving France. I was surprised that there was no Immigration control between countries. In the end, it really doesn't matter, since I haven't looked in there since I got back.