Got my passport - need some advice

[FirstTimeCruisette]

Hello all,

Thank you to anyone who may respond. I got my passport for my cruise in May and was very excited when I got it so quick. Took only two weeks.

My excitement turned into a bit or worry when I realized that they put

La Belle instead of LaBelle with my last name. I don't put a space between the La and the Belle. Do you think this will be an issue for travel because my cruise ticket say's LaBelle not La Belle.

Thanks!!!

[loubetti]

Don't sweat it. :)

[A2Mich]

My guess is that it wouldn't be an issue, as some reservation/ticketing systems simply do not allow spaces in various fields. You might want to call the cruise line you are sailing with and check with them just to be sure. You can always bring a birth certificate as additional identity documentation, or a marriage license, depending on your situation.

[gma_pat]

No problem. That is the way that it is usually done as the letters are all caps. The space designates the change from lower case to Caps. Without the space it would be considered Labelle for the passport.

[FirstTimeCruisette]

Thanks everyone! I called the cruise line and had them change my reservation information to La Belle just in case. They couldn't tell me exactly if it would be an issue which I thought was weird but they told me they would change it just in case to avoid any problems at check in.

 

Thanks again for all your responses.

[cb at sea]

From now on, don't put a space there when reserving anything....problem solved!

[sail7seas]

When you call a cruise line, you get which ever Rep picks up the phone. Some are well trained and some are not. Some have been on the job a while and some are new. You often can call twice, get two different Reps and two different answers. They do not 'know all' and, unfortunately, we have to rely upon their sometimes uninformed responses.

 

[FirstTimeCruisette]

From now on, don't put a space there when reserving anything....problem solved!

 

There was no space in my name on the Reservation. My reservation with the cruise line was put in as LaBelle which is correct. My OP was talking about my passport which my last name was put in as La Belle, not about my reservation.

 

[A2Mich]

There was no space in my name on the Reservation. My reservation with the cruise line was put in as LaBelle which is correct. My OP was talking about my passport which my last name was put in as La Belle, not about my reservation.

 

I'm sorry...I mis-read your original post. My apologies. Though it may be an issue with the passport office's software, or a simple typo by the agency clerk.

[ferfoodle]

Hello all,

Thank you to anyone who may respond. I got my passport for my cruise in May and was very excited when I got it so quick. Took only two weeks.

My excitement turned into a bit or worry when I realized that they put

La Belle instead of LaBelle with my last name. I don't put a space between the La and the Belle. Do you think this will be an issue for travel because my cruise ticket say's LaBelle not La Belle.

Thanks!!!

 

Isn't having one of "those" names so much fun? In my case, my last name does have the space between the "La' and the "Belle" (OK - not my name but same principle and will use this as example.) Half of my legal documents do not have the space because the computers could not seperate the last name or the "La" would fall off back when I first got those documents first issued. My DL and SSN card have my last name scrunched into one because of it while my passport is correct with the space.

 

Funny thing is, I have had on the same reservation (just various places on receipts, tickets, etc.) it scrunched and not scrunched with both airlines and cruise lines. And the comment I have received numberous times is "oh - you have one of 'those' names." Like others have said, don't worry about the discrepancy.

[rvsullivan]

Plus, your going to Bermuda, don't need a passport except to fly. Enjoy!!!:D

[johneeo]

Hello all,

Thank you to anyone who may respond. I got my passport for my cruise in May and was very excited when I got it so quick. Took only two weeks.

My excitement turned into a bit or worry when I realized that they put

La Belle instead of LaBelle with my last name. I don't put a space between the La and the Belle. Do you think this will be an issue for travel because my cruise ticket say's LaBelle not La Belle.

Thanks!!!

 

Change your name to Smith.;)

[FirstTimeCruisette]

Funny thing is, I have had on the same reservation (just various places on receipts, tickets, etc.) it scrunched and not scrunched with both airlines and cruise lines. And the comment I have received numberous times is "oh - you have one of 'those' names." Like others have said, don't worry about the discrepancy.

 

I'm glad I have one of "those names" hehe. Thanks for the input!

[FirstTimeCruisette]

Plus, your going to Bermuda, don't need a passport except to fly. Enjoy!!!:D

 

I know! I am just bringing it just in case, so I don't have to carry my Birth Certificate with me. And it's good to have in case of emergency. I will enjoy, thank you! :)

[FirstTimeCruisette]

Change your name to Smith.;)

 

Great idea! Smith is so uncommon :p Once again thank you to everyone who took the time to reply. I didn't think it would be an issue, just wanted to see what others thought. Happy sailing everyone!

 

[Treven]

If you're old enough, change your first name to Patty & start a singing group and name them The Blue Bells.:D

[Capt_BJ]

same thing happens to we Irish with an '

 

an ' means things to some computer systems

 

I have dropped using the ' in my name because

many computer systems do not digest it well

[lisiamc]

I just got my passport renewed, and never noticed that my surname on the old passport had a space until the passport office rang me to ask if I wanted a space there or not! My new passport (correctly) does not have a space. However, my old passport never caused a problem, even though it did have a space.

[FirstTimeCruisette]

I just got my passport renewed, and never noticed that my surname on the old passport had a space until the passport office rang me to ask if I wanted a space there or not! My new passport (correctly) does not have a space. However, my old passport never caused a problem, even though it did have a space.

 

So strange! I got in touch with other people from my side of the LaBelle family and they too never noticed that they had a space between LaBelle as well until I brought it up. It makes me realize that it wasn't an error on my part - they told me I put La Belle on my application and that's far from what I would have done. Their recommendation was to send it into the processing center to have it put as LABELLE instead of LA BELLE as it was an error on their part. But good to know that it likely wouldn't have been an issue if I would have left it that way. Thanks everyone!

[dread_pirate]

My passport has both my first and middle names. My airline tickets to Europe put my first & middle names together (no spaces). I freaked out but the airline told me that's just the way their system does it.

 

I had no problem either to Europe or back.

[FirstTimeCruisette]

*UPDATE*

The processing center which I was told to send my passport to for corrections called me this morning confused as to why I asked for a correction when it was correct to begin with. Apparently, as my pass. was originally printed, there IS in fact supposed to be a space (to differentiate between the La and the Belle). So, after going through all this mumbo jumbo for nothing, it turns out those of us with one of "those names" is how it's supposed to be which some of you explained you never had problems with yours. The processing center told me they get this all the time, and are working with the calling center to make sure they don't tell anyone that the space is incorrect!

 

WHEW. After all of that I am so ready for my cruise!

[PennyAgain]

Yes, the airlines sometimes do strange things with names as well. When the Positive ID thing started I worked with my most flown airline to put as many of my names into my record as possible. I ended up with my first name (no space) middle name and then my maiden name and last name.

 

Thought I was in good shape until the passport office deleted my maiden name.

 

I'm just taking all sorts of ID with me when I travel.