My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

[Partyatsea]

I'ma, so glad this worked out for you as best as possible. I hope if our family ever runs into a situation such as yours we all handle ourselves as well as your family. We were watching for your return, hoping for a happy ending!

[mitsugirly]

I just read this for the first time and all I can say is WOW. You are such a positive person in such a time of despair. My heart sank when you wrote what you did and I'm so happy that you were able to catch up to your family. I hope you had a wonderful cruise. I can't wait to follow your link to read your outcome.

 

On a side note, we have passports but for some reason, I always bring along our birth certificates and of course ID's too. I always make x amount of copies (one for each port we are visiting) and take them with us (of both passports and b/c and ID's) and put them in my snorkeling waterproof pouch. After my last cruise a few weeks ago, I said to myself "I don't know why I keep bringing all of this because all we really need is our passport". Now after reading this, I guess there would be a good reason to keep doing this. :p

[graphicguy]

OP....so glad things turned out. I read your update and agree with everything you wrote about a cruise being a "hospitality" vacation. It's good NCL went the extra mile to make a difficult situation better.

 

My biggest fear is leaving my passport at home and being left at the dock as a result.

[audal29]

I should be enjoying a sea day on the NCL Star right now with the rest of my family. A long awaited vacation' date=' planned to the most minute detail with help from the wonderful posters of cruisecritic. I say"should be" because I am writing this from a hotel room in Tampa. There is one detail that I did not double check. After xeroxing our passports, I idiotically left mine in the printer back home. I had the remaining three passports rubberbanded together and it appeared to be thick enough for all four. I handed them to the security man at the bottom of the escalator at the port in Tampa. He must have thought there were 4 also because he waved us on to the next check point. We made it through the metal detectors and were sent to Lattitudes check in - this is the point where we realized we were missing one passport - mine. At the time we thought we must have dropped it, since we thought the man at the escalator must have counted 4 passports. We spent 2 hours frantically tracing and retracing our steps even having husband and son walk back to Capital Parking (btw - they are fine and a real deal at the price they charge). When all the searching turned up nothing, I started to mentally retrace my steps to before leaving home. That's when I remembered the printer. We called a neighbor who has our key to go check, and sure enough it was there. UGGGHHHH! That's really not the word I want to type.

 

Time for plan B. The neighbor (who is a lifesaver and who has my undying gratitude) went to FedEx yesterday and shipped the passport - it should be here on Tuesday morning (fingers crossed) I now have an early Wednesday morning flight to Belize where I will meet my hubby and two sons - I will be too late for the cave tubing excursion but as long as I am showered with hugs when I see them, all will be well. They really knocked themselves out when looking for the passport - including looking through a trash can - I hope they can get enjoyment out of the first few days of their cruise and please go ziplining as planned in Roatan!!

 

I would like to take a moment to thank the NCL help desk at the Tampa Cruise Terminal - in particularly Monique. They have a tough job - I wasn't the only one with a document issue. When looking at the long line of check in counters - the help desk is the only one with a box of tissues - I for one needed them - my crying got ugly at times - but the help desk staff remained calm and gave us our options. If the next two days go as planned (please God) I will miss only one port day. All in all, if this is the worst thing that happens to me -my life has been pretty darn charmed.

 

So for all those obsessively compulsive cruise planners out there - take a moment to focus on documentation - without a passport the over the door plastic organizer, the oversized coffee thermal cup, the chocolate easter bunnies for the boys and the extra pair of sandals that match just one outfit...don't much matter.[/quote']

You must have calmed down by the time you posted your experience, you sound to be very level headed. For us Brits we also have to remember to keep our Esta forms up to date, they only last 2 yrs and time flys. With regard to documentation with all the e tickets that are issued now is is easy to mislay a sheet of paper or do as you did and leave it in the printer. My motto. Heck, check and check again

[audal29]

I should be enjoying a sea day on the NCL Star right now with the rest of my family. A long awaited vacation' date=' planned to the most minute detail with help from the wonderful posters of cruisecritic. I say"should be" because I am writing this from a hotel room in Tampa. There is one detail that I did not double check. After xeroxing our passports, I idiotically left mine in the printer back home. I had the remaining three passports rubberbanded together and it appeared to be thick enough for all four. I handed them to the security man at the bottom of the escalator at the port in Tampa. He must have thought there were 4 also because he waved us on to the next check point. We made it through the metal detectors and were sent to Lattitudes check in - this is the point where we realized we were missing one passport - mine. At the time we thought we must have dropped it, since we thought the man at the escalator must have counted 4 passports. We spent 2 hours frantically tracing and retracing our steps even having husband and son walk back to Capital Parking (btw - they are fine and a real deal at the price they charge). When all the searching turned up nothing, I started to mentally retrace my steps to before leaving home. That's when I remembered the printer. We called a neighbor who has our key to go check, and sure enough it was there. UGGGHHHH! That's really not the word I want to type.

 

Time for plan B. The neighbor (who is a lifesaver and who has my undying gratitude) went to FedEx yesterday and shipped the passport - it should be here on Tuesday morning (fingers crossed) I now have an early Wednesday morning flight to Belize where I will meet my hubby and two sons - I will be too late for the cave tubing excursion but as long as I am showered with hugs when I see them, all will be well. They really knocked themselves out when looking for the passport - including looking through a trash can - I hope they can get enjoyment out of the first few days of their cruise and please go ziplining as planned in Roatan!!

 

I would like to take a moment to thank the NCL help desk at the Tampa Cruise Terminal - in particularly Monique. They have a tough job - I wasn't the only one with a document issue. When looking at the long line of check in counters - the help desk is the only one with a box of tissues - I for one needed them - my crying got ugly at times - but the help desk staff remained calm and gave us our options. If the next two days go as planned (please God) I will miss only one port day. All in all, if this is the worst thing that happens to me -my life has been pretty darn charmed.

 

So for all those obsessively compulsive cruise planners out there - take a moment to focus on documentation - without a passport the over the door plastic organizer, the oversized coffee thermal cup, the chocolate easter bunnies for the boys and the extra pair of sandals that match just one outfit...don't much matter.[/quote']

You must have calmed down by the time you posted your experience, you sound to be very level headed. For us Brits we also have to remember to keep our Esta forms up to date, they only last 2 yrs and time flys. With regard to documentation with all the e tickets that are issued now is is easy to mislay a sheet of paper or do as you did and leave it in the printer. My motto. check, check and check again

[shofer]

We had almost the same experience in 2008 but went a day early. Read about my nightmare here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=711800

 

Sue

[I'manewbie]

We had almost the same experience in 2008 but went a day early. Read about my nightmare here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=711800

 

Sue

 

Wow! My stomach was churning while I read your post. I'm glad it worked out for you.

[ceruleansea]

Like so many others who posted here, I am very sorry to hear what happened. I'd also like to say how nicely you are handling it ... you've accepted the responsibility, have done everything to make sure the rest of the gang continues to have as good a time as possible, are resurrecting what you can of your cruise, and you've got a great attitude. Congratulations ... many would not be as upbeat as you have managed to be. :o

 

I always recommend that my clients get a big, bright neon-colored envelope when they first book their cruise, and put any and all documentation in that envelope. Boarding pass, shore excursion receipts, confirmations, passports, copies of visa applications, immunization history ... whatever. Then, when frantically running out the front door (is the stove off, the newspaper & mail on hold, do neighbors have a key, are dogs/cats cared for, hot water heater turned off, alarm turned on , did I remember my glasses, prescriptions, children, etc.) you only need to grab that one neon envelope. It's just one little trick I like to pass along to my clients. :D

[luvcruzing]

Many advise cruisers to pack half the wife's clothes with the husband's clothes in case a bag gets lost. Good thing you had your clothes in your own suitcase. You avoided another big hassle. I'm glad you were able to at least enjoy half a cruise with your family.

[meme56]

i always do a passport check at the edge of town just to be sure and I am the one who packs

[mroberts123]

You are one classy lady! I hope I could react to such a situation the way you did. Kudos to you. You will, undoubtedly, have many more wonderful experiences in your life with your great attitude! Hope you had a wonderful cruise in the end!