ID's for young children on RCCL

[CleoSushi]

Hi there,

DH and I are going on our first family cruise with our DS who is 2. We have our passports for all three of us. Now at the ports we would have our State IDs as well along with our seapass. Do we need a picture ID for DS too? We do not want to take our passports into port with us.

 

We are hitting St Thomas, St Kitts, Aruba and Curacao.

 

Any help would be great. Thanks,

[notentirelynormal]

In those ports you only need your cruise cards. I always take a credit card, my driver's license and my cruise card. All those things can get wet as well if you plan on the beach.

[cb at sea]

Under 16 requires NO picture ID for any ports or boarding the ship... a birth certificate, if you don't have a passport for the kids, is all that's needed. You don't need to take it ashore with you, but YOU should always have your DL on you when not on the ship!

[venusjems]

Sorry for jumping in on your thread.. But it is on topic.

Ive been contemplating getting passports for us for my upcoming cruise. All i ever read is where people leave them on the ship. If we dont need a passport for the close loop cruise, but the advantage is to have one in case you miss the ship or you need to fly back to the states for a medical emergency well if the passport is on the ship.... wont you still have to go thru red tape?

 

Am i missing something? Are they going to deny me entry into the united states forever? will i be stuck on an island, forced to live in paradise for the rest of my life? lol

 

Ive been wanting to ask this, but im afraid of the- well just get a passport you need one anyway, or if you cant afford the passport you shouldnt cruise... kind of responses I assume i will get on the sometimes not so friendly regular board..

 

Thanks!

[Chelley00]

Am i missing something? Are they going to deny me entry into the united states forever? will i be stuck on an island, forced to live in paradise for the rest of my life?

 

They will deny your entry, but there are channels you can go through to get back into the US. It could just take awhile. You wouldn't be stuck forever, but that wouldn't really be that bad, would it :D

[CleoSushi]

Thx everyone, i just wanted to make sure i have crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's :).

[milton333]

Sorry for jumping in on your thread.. But it is on topic.

Ive been contemplating getting passports for us for my upcoming cruise. All i ever read is where people leave them on the ship. If we dont need a passport for the close loop cruise, but the advantage is to have one in case you miss the ship or you need to fly back to the states for a medical emergency well if the passport is on the ship.... wont you still have to go thru red tape?

 

Am i missing something? Are they going to deny me entry into the united states forever? will i be stuck on an island, forced to live in paradise for the rest of my life? lol

 

Ive been wanting to ask this, but im afraid of the- well just get a passport you need one anyway, or if you cant afford the passport you shouldnt cruise... kind of responses I assume i will get on the sometimes not so friendly regular board..

 

Thanks!

 

Rumor has it that, if you miss the ship, the ship's purser will go to your room, open the safe, and look for your passport, which will be left at the pier. Don't know if that is the case, but that's what I've heard.

 

Many take a photocopy of their passports ashore, which makes it easier to quickly obtain a copy from a consulate.

 

Aside from the remote possibility of missing the ship, the more likely possibility is the need to fly home for some reason - your illness, illness or death of a loved one back home, etc. You cannot enter the U.S. by air without a passport. Even from the Caribbean or Mexico. That's why we travel with passports, including one for our toddler.

 

As for the likelihood of needing it, well, most of us have elderly relatives. I have a young child who is also illness/accident prone. And you never do know what might happen.

 

I worry more about the need to fly home due to emergency than the possibility of missing the ship.

[Onessa]

I also find having up-to-date passports for everyone in the family a real plus since we like to find bargins for last minute travel -- got a flight from MPS/STP to Munich for less than a flight to Portland Oregon last year! So instead of visiting friends in Portland, we flew to Munich and spent a week-and-a-half visiting friends in Germany and Austria!

[crusinmama06]

Am i missing something? Are they going to deny me entry into the united states forever? will i be stuck on an island, forced to live in paradise for the rest of my life?

 

Ahhh wouldn't that be nice! :D:D:D Maybe we should all try it together! :D

 

The previous poster is right, rumor has it that they do empty the safes and leave it with the port agents for those that miss the ship.

 

That's what I have always been told. Disney sort of backs this up because in all of their docs, they recommend not taking passports off the ship in certain countries.

 

So I guess it's pretty standard for all cruise lines. I haven't seen anyone say that their passports were still in their cabin as the ship sailed on without them. I haven't wanted to test it...yet. ;)