Another Birth Cert Question..Sorry!!

[tcowgs21]

My family of 5 is leaving on the Dream in Nov. I just recently went to the court house and got new certified copy of Birth Cert from the dept of vital statics for all of us. We had older ones but I figured this way everyones was new and fresh. Took the children to the county office and got county photo ID cards for them. Carnival requires gov issued photo id for over 16year olds, but NJ does not issue non drivers licences and you have to be 17 to get a Driver Lic. Photo is not on their Driver Permit. Daughter is 16 so this is the only photo ID I could get besides school ID. Should I be OK boarding with these Docs. I know I need to get passports, but I want to know if the above will be ok. Thanks for all your help!!

[Cool Waters]

My family of 5 is leaving on the Dream in Nov. I just recently went to the court house and got new certified copy of Birth Cert from the dept of vital statics for all of us. We had older ones but I figured this way everyones was new and fresh. Took the children to the county office and got county photo ID cards for them. Carnival requires gov issued photo id for over 16year olds, but NJ does not issue non drivers licences and you have to be 17 to get a Driver Lic. Photo is not on their Driver Permit. Daughter is 16 so this is the only photo ID I could get besides school ID. Should I be OK boarding with these Docs. I know I need to get passports, but I want to know if the above will be ok. Thanks for all your help!!

 

Hi Tcowgs21,

 

No need to apologize! You have a question and that is what the boards are for. But honestly....after the last post about birth certificates and ID#'s I could call carnival and ask them so you can explain your situation in detail. Or if you know a Travel Agent in your area....maybe you could stop in and ask them if the documents are okay so they can see them.

 

Everyone here has the best intentions for giving you the correct answer, but carnival has the final decision. I hope it all works out of you.

[rsinj]

You are playing with fire. Suggest you go and read the thread showing for "Denied boarding".

 

1. If you are taking the advice of those here with regard to what documents you need (or "should" be ok), then what happens when you are at the dock and they deny you? Are you going to say "well those folks on Cruise Critic said this was enough"?

 

2. Get the passports. In NJ you know about needing 6 points of identification for drivers license issuance/renewal - a passport counts for 4 points. It will also be good for airline security checks (which are becoming more stringent).

 

3. It may appear expensive to get a passport now, however, it will surely be more expensive in the future.

 

You are paying thousands of dollars for a cruise/trip - why have the possibility of messing the whole thing up for something so minor?

 

Howard

[tha sista]

Call carnival as they will be the ones to deny your boarding if they don't like what you have. No one here will be there for you if there is a problem.

[glorialagos]

I am going to agree with the others. You have until November - plenty of time to get passports.

 

What you describe appears to be sufficient. However, everyone who is denied boarding THOUGHT they had the correct documentation.

 

If you absolutely do not want to get passports, I would both visit a travel agent and show them your documents (although I would have some concerns in relying on a travel agent also) AND call Carnival - document with whom you speak, date and time if they assure you that your documents are fine. Then again, seeing and hearing them explained are two totally different things.

 

I would play it safe and order the passports quickly.

[cb at sea]

As long as it's a "state issued" ID, your daughter will be fine. an ID doesn't have to be a driver's license! Since you don't NEED passports, it seems silly to spend all that extra money at this time.

[salty dingo]

You are playing with fire. Suggest you go and read the thread showing for "Denied boarding".

The rules say "government-issued" photo ID, but they don't specify which government. I assume Federal and State are OK but not sure about county. You could argue that a county is a government, but do they have the same security measures built in to the ID they issue? If not, that may be rejected at boarding.

 

Seriously, you are jumping through a lot of hoops here, would it not be much easier to just get the passport if you have any question? You will rest a lot easier.

[carnivaljunkie]

Be safe. Get Passports. No one on this board can tell you in advance what Carnival will accept on the day of embarkation. What if you miss the ship in port or get sick or injured. There is a lot of good advice on this board but "Take a Chance" is never good advice.

[WinnipegCruiser]

Get a passport.....

 

See here if you haven't already

[boaterette]

my neice was able to board with her school id and her BC. But call Carnival and ask them. Try to speak to a supervisor though.

[chasinraynbowz]

Op, if you are going on a closed loop cruise and have state issued ID along with birth certificates, you should be fine. The people who were denied boarding DID NOT have these items. I would call your PVP about your daughter to verify what you have is OK.

 

I see you have 5 people cruising and the cost of passports would be extremely high. I know I will get flamed, but.... you can get passport cards also. They will and do work for land and sea travel (NOT air travel). The cost is much lower than a passport book. If you decide you are going to cruise more, then spend the money and get passport books for your family.

 

My husband and I both have passport cards and have used them while cruising with no problem. We ARE getting passport books within a few months due to our Med cruise next year.

 

Op, have a wonderful cruise!!

[CorvetteLady]

The BC will be fine. The id for your 16 yr old will work. We took our 16 yr old grandson and he only had an id from the local AAA, they barely glanced at it. The county is govt so her id is govt issued. The most important thing is the BC and you have that covered. The agent that checked us in didn't ask for the photo id's, when they showed them she glanced at the id's, looked at the kids and that was it.

 

As far as calling Carnival, if you call them 3 times you will get 3 different answers. When we didn't have enough time to get a govt issued id everyone said he'll never get onboard, they were all wrong. The two people I talked to at Carnival gave different answers but both thought he would get onboard, they were right.

[LemurCat]

NJ does not issue non drivers licences and you have to be 17 to get a Driver Lic. Photo is not on their Driver Permit.

 

Incorrect. NJ State Motor Vehicle Commission does issue non-driver's IDs. They just do not issue them for anyone under the age of 17.

 

You kids who are under 16 technically only need a certified copy or original birth certificate. Your 16 year old can present her school ID and birth cert. You and the spouse can present your driver's ID and birth certs. You've already done the legwork to make sure they're certifiably the correct documents.

 

Passports are handy to have, but I'm not going to beat you up over them. There are enough other people here to do that.

[jmorgania]

I agree that a passport card may be something to consider. Considerably cheaper but only good for land and sea travel. You would save a lot of money over a passport book and for the purpose of this cruise you would have no doudt that you would have proper boarding documents.

 

If not interested in a passport card I agree to call Carnival and ask. All you have on these boards are opinions. You may have stories that the same things worked for someone else. But spend some time and you will see that what works for one doesn't work for all. People interpret rules differently and policies change. Either way good luck and happy sailing.

[LemurCat]

If not interested in a passport card I agree to call Carnival and ask. All you have on these boards are opinions. You may have stories that the same things worked for someone else. But spend some time and you will see that what works for one doesn't work for all. People interpret rules differently and policies change. Either way good luck and happy sailing.

 

Calling Carnival is akin to asking this board. You will get three different answers if you ask three different people. They are notoriously inconsistent and often ill-informed if not out-right wrong.

 

People need to go to www.getyouhome.org (which is the CBP's site) and READ IT to make sure they are in compliance. If they still have questions, they should us their Contact link and ASK THEM.

[5waldos]

Given what has been happening, I would photocopy all the id's and fax them to customer relations to confirm that what you have will be ok. Ask that you receive a written response- email would be fine. And have it with you at the port. i agree that it sounds like what you have is fine- but I'd be happier in your position if I could show the things I faxed and the confirmation that it was fine just in case there was an issue at the port. It would also, should the very worst happen, give you a very strong argument to go back to Carnival with.

[5waldos]

Or even better if you can access a copy machine that turns it all into a PDF file which you can email, and request confirmation of the suitability of your documents. Tell them which one have raised seals- that won't turn up. Keep and print all communication about this.

[Kurbanfan]

Incorrect. NJ State Motor Vehicle Commission does issue non-driver's IDs. They just do not issue them for anyone under the age of 17.

 

You kids who are under 16 technically only need a certified copy or original birth certificate. Your 16 year old can present her school ID and birth cert. You and the spouse can present your driver's ID and birth certs. You've already done the legwork to make sure they're certifiably the correct documents.

 

Passports are handy to have, but I'm not going to beat you up over them. There are enough other people here to do that.

 

OP LemurCat is correct!

 

The people who were denied boarding did not have the correct docs which are CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATES.

I cannot believe the paranoia that thread caused:rolleyes:

[Warm Breezes]

You do not need to have a passport on a closed-loop cruise in the U.S. You need a certified birth certificate and a government issued ID. This is what you have so you will be ok. In the denied boarding post the OP did not have a certified birth certifate which was the reason they were denied boarding...they even said in their post that this was why they were denied boarding...a passport had nothing to do with it.

[kellbellscruise]

We (6) of us all had cert copies of birth certificates that we paid money for from the office of vital statistics.... 5 issued from Florida.. and 1 from Penn, which looked totally diff from the Florida ones and it did not have a raised seal..... everyone got on board with no issues... just telling my story... Thanks and have fun

[MMMD]

Or even better if you can access a copy machine that turns it all into a PDF file which you can email, and request confirmation of the suitability of your documents. Tell them which one have raised seals- that won't turn up. Keep and print all communication about this.

 

You just brought up something interesting. Raised seals on documents. I just received a certified copy of my husbands birth certificate from Queens, NY. Although it has a shiny gold seal on it...the document is smooth, no raised imprint at all.

It states that it should be held up to the light to see it's certification, I guess like our new money.

 

I plan on bringing it naturally, as it's the only BC we now have for him (my NJ BC has a raised seal), and our licenses with our pictures.

 

So I guess what I'm wondering is this: Do all BC's have raised seals? And if not, do the workers know this?

[LemurCat]

You just brought up something interesting. Raised seals on documents. I just received a certified copy of my husbands birth certificate from Queens, NY. Although it has a shiny gold seal on it...the document is smooth, no raised imprint at all.

It states that it should be held up to the light to see it's certification, I guess like our new money.

 

I plan on bringing it naturally, as it's the only BC we now have for him (my NJ BC has a raised seal), and our licenses with our pictures.

 

So I guess what I'm wondering is this: Do all BC's have raised seals? And if not, do the workers know this?

 

People are hung up on the raised seal. Many states and governmental agencies are moving away from this as it's incredibly easy to get a seal made by an unscrupulous stationary store. Many states and governmental agencies use a digital watermark in the paper as it cannot be faked. What you have is just fine. I really wish people would stop harping on the raised seal as it's something from another age and probably won't be used for much longer except in certain circumstances.

 

And yes, the workers know this, as do the CBP agents.

[rsinj]

The rules say "government-issued" photo ID, but they don't specify which government. I assume Federal and State are OK but not sure about county. You could argue that a county is a government, but do they have the same security measures built in to the ID they issue? If not, that may be rejected at boarding.

 

You can argue to your heart's content when denied boarding - that still isn't going to get you onboard. So why take any chances?

 

Howard

[ChefSusan]

If it was me, I would spring for passports for everyone. You never know when the cruising bug will hit, but more importantly, it makes embarkation and debarkation much more easier!

 

If someone can scrimp and save for a cruise, the passport is only a little bit more. Call it "peace of mind".

[LemurCat]

You can argue to your heart's content when denied boarding - that still isn't going to get you onboard. So why take any chances?

 

Exactly. And you can print out all the correspondence from CCL that you like, it's not going to sway anyone.