Self inflicted bad experience

I have both a passport book AND a passport card. The passport book is in a safe place, while the passport card goes with me everywhere. My driver's license is not ReadID compliant, so my passport card will come in handy starting October 20th for domestic flights.

A tip I got from my dad who was in the military for nearly 30 years. It works for me.

 

My final packing check for the last 30 years is very small.

 

Passport, tickets, documentation, credit cards, cash.

 

Anything I've forgotten I don't worry about because if it's vital I can buy it. Yes, I forget things. No, it's never been a real problem.

 

That's about right.

In this day and age, I would add mobile phone, charger and adapter.

Ouch.. I could imagine how awkward that drive home would be. Right after I booked our first cruise a few months ago my wife went in to mom planning mode and created a binder and put everything including our passports in it.

Great idea!

Anyone else that would have left him and went alone?

Meet a couple once sitting by the handicapped door to board. He thought he had his passport until they got to check in. He forgot it and their drive home was too long to go get it. They had checked all their luggage but don't know what happened about that and they were experienced cruisers. My husband always just has our birth certificates in his wallet if need be.

In this day and age, I would add mobile phone, charger and adapter.

To be fair, it'd be fairly easy to find a charger or adapter as well so even if you forgot those, it wouldn't be a big deal. Phones nowadays use basically one of two chargers: Lightning or USB.

My husband always just has our birth certificates in his wallet if need be.

Wow, how fat is his wallet?

We also have a zippered pouch for travel documents and info, thanks Viking. We triple check everything before we leave the house. We always carry a paper copy of our passports with us also.

In addition, I have a copy of passports, driver's license, itinerary, etc. on our laptop. Before each trip I email it to myself, so even if I lose my cellphone I can retrieve it.

Tense ride home.... I think that if I had been the wife I would have boarded and told him to pick me up in a week! :D

same here.

But I AM THE WIFE, so I pack the passports for the entire family and have all of them on me at any given moment. I am also the one who reminds her husband that his passport is expired and sends it off for renewal. I don't want a family vacation spoiled and that's why I ensure that everything is packed.

We live about 5 hours from our favorite port. We don’t go a day early, we go give or six days early and make a mini precruise vacation out of it. (One of the perks of being old).

I did a dumb thing a couple of years ago and that extra time helped save me.

I counted my pills and vitamins into the little pill containers. Everything was fine till I realized I was running out of one of my blood pressure pills.

I forgot I needed double the number if the others because I take it twice a day.

I had to talk my prescription coverage people into covering an emergency supply and then get hold of my dr.

I was lucky we had time to get it done.

Now when I fill those little square holes I talk out loud to myself about needing doubles.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

This is my biggest nightmare after reading about it a few times on here. I will be checking, checking, and re-checking that all passports, BC, ID, etc are in our possession before we leave home and before leaving the hotel on the way down to NOLA and then again when leaving the NOLA hotel before embarkation.

 

We did not get passports for our boys as I didn't see a need and didn't want to spend so much on something that will only last 5 years. I already have their birth certificates in the folder with all cruise documents. One of my son's BC, he was born in 2003, is different from my daughter's and my youngest son's. His BC only has his name, sex, date of birth, county of birth, birth name of mother, and birth name of father on it. The other two have a really detailed BC with all the boxes of ALL info from birth. Is my son's with minimal info on it going to be good enough to board or should I go in and get a copy of it that matches the other two kids'?

Sent from my SM-G892A using Forums mobile app

How do the people at check in know when the birth certificates without a raised seal are legitimate?

More and more are being issued without them.

Doesn’t affect my children or grandchildren, but my great grandson’s birth certificate doesn’t have one.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I am obsessive about all documentation when going on a cruise. I do 100% of the planning. Sometimes I think I drive my wife crazy but hey, we'll always make the cruise. Feel for those guys.

I am obsessive about all documentation when going on a cruise. I do 100% of the planning. Sometimes I think I drive my wife crazy but hey, we'll always make the cruise. Feel for those guys.

Me too! I check that the passports (and other tickets or required docs that aren't just printouts) are packed multiple times before we leave the house, then once again when we get in the car, then again obsessively until we get to our destination.

I always "announce" to my husband where they are, so we both are more likely to have a distinct memory of their location. I do the same with car keys and house keys -- "I am putting the spare car key in the small inside zipper pocket of my carry-on bag" or something like that. I think by making it a statement it helps trigger my memory two weeks later when I'm ready to get into my car and go home!

How do the people at check in know when the birth certificates without a raised seal are legitimate?

More and more are being issued without them.

Doesn’t affect my children or grandchildren, but my great grandson’s birth certificate doesn’t have one.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It doesn't matter, they can't verify any of them anyway. However CBP will be verifying everything during the cruise (from the data supplied by the cruise line) so any anomalies will be discovered. (And the original document is not necessary since copies are allowed under the DHS regulations.)

It doesn't matter, they can't verify any of them anyway. However CBP will be verifying everything during the cruise (from the data supplied by the cruise line) so any anomalies will be discovered. (And the original document is not necessary since copies are allowed under the DHS regulations.)

Things have changed over the years. The original or an official copy with raised seal used to be required.

Copies made by an individual, say on their copier or at Office Depot were not allowed.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Things have changed over the years. The original or an official copy with raised seal used to be required.

Copies made by an individual, say on their copier or at Office Depot were not allowed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Things haven't changed since the DHS regulations were published in 2008. I have no idea what was required before that and it doesn't really matter, all that matters is what is required today.