Birth Certificate vs Passport

[nursewurmy]

Does everyone have a passport for their cruise or do you travel with an ID and your birth certificate.

 

Becky

[cruiseguy1016]

If you are a U.S. citizen, a certified copy of your birth certificate along with your driver's license is an acceptable means of identification on all closed loop cruises originating and ending in the U.S.. With that being said, we have passports and carry them with us when we leave the ship while in port.

[flhokie]

As cruiseguy1016 said the birth certificate and driver's license are acceptable for closed loop US originating/ending cruises.

 

However, if an emergency ever happens and you need to fly home from a port or if you miss your ship and attempt to fly to the 1st port you will need a passport (a few small exceptions like US Territories). Also, check out the post about "What happens to people abandoned by the ship." If you were to miss the ship for any reason you would need a passport to fly home.

 

We travel with passports and plan to get DD one before her 1st cruise next year (she'll be 2).

[Host Faith]

For peace of mind, we travel with passports. No room for error with one. A great investment. I found that as soon as we got ours, we were open to traveling more often.

[cb at sea]

I cruise (on CLOSED LOOP CRUISES) with my BC and DL...never a problem...never a hassle.

 

We don't "miss" the ships departure....and even should something untoward happen, the country you're in will NOT keep you...guaranteed. It might be a hassle, but you will get home.

 

I refuse to give the government any money I do NOT have to give them, just to go on vacation.

[jennmaybe]

We also travel with passports. The thought of what we would go through if, heaven forbid, something happened and we had to fly home from somewhere, makes it all worth it for us to have them.

[Cigar King]

I refuse to give the government any money I do NOT have to give them, just to go on vacation.

 

At the very least you limit your vacation options. While you may be able to cruise from the States and back, you can't do any of the more exotic cruises without have a passport. To address the OP, I use the passport, the extra cost is offset by the peace of mind I get in return.

[Warm Breezes]

Does everyone have a passport for their cruise or do you travel with an ID and your birth certificate.

 

Becky

9 cruises ID and BC.

[Warm Breezes]

At the very least you limit your vacation options. While you may be able to cruise from the States and back, you can't do any of the more exotic cruises without have a passport. To address the OP, I use the passport, the extra cost is offset by the peace of mind I get in return.

 

I don't limit my vacation options. If I choose to travel to a place that requires it, then I will get one. If I am choosing to vacation on a closed loop cruise or a domestic land vacation then one is not required so I won't waste my money getting one before I need to. Since we cannot take off on a whims notice we will have to get one when it is required.

[Azulann]

OP,

I had a passport before I started cruising.

If you have time before your cruise, get a passport.

I know is it not cheap, but it is good for 10 years. It is a proof of citizenship even in the US.

It is alsogood to have a passport if you have a different last name on your birth certifcate and a different last name on your DL or other picture id.

 

It is a beautiful small booklet that says, I can go on vacation anywhere in the big wide world.

 

Enjoy your cruise with whatever documents you take.:)

[Warm Breezes]

OP,

I had a passport before I started cruising.

If you have time before your cruise, get a passport.

I know is it not cheap, but it is good for 10 years. It is a proof of citizenship even in the US.

It is alsogood to have a passport if you have a different last name on your birth certifcate and a different last name on your DL or other picture id.

 

It is a beautiful small booklet that says, I can go on vacation anywhere in the big wide world.

 

Enjoy your cruise with whatever documents you take.:)

 

I had a different last name on my BC and photo ID for all 9 of our cruises...no issues, they always checked the first name and birthdate. Your photo ID needs to match your boarding name.

[Host Faith]

OP,

I had a passport before I started cruising.

If you have time before your cruise, get a passport.

I know is it not cheap, but it is good for 10 years. It is a proof of citizenship even in the US.

It is alsogood to have a passport if you have a different last name on your birth certifcate and a different last name on your DL or other picture id.

 

It is a beautiful small booklet that says, I can go on vacation anywhere in the big wide world.

 

Enjoy your cruise with whatever documents you take.:)

 

And that is why I love having one. More choices, not just for cruising but also for flying to various places. :)

[Hlitner]

We would never leave the US without our Passports. The OP needs to keep in mind that the closed-loop cruise market is only one segment of the cruise market (we have cruised to 6 continents) and not having a Passport really limits your options. Even on a Closed Loop cruise...not having a Passport can create some major problems such as if a passenger needs to leave a cruise for an emergency (they cannot fly home without a Passport). There is always the risk that those using a BC for a cruise will be denied boarding because somebody decides that their BC does not meet the current requirement (whatever that might be).

 

Hank

[Beth C]

As a Canadian I have no choice to have a passport to get out of my own country...errr to get into yours ;) but that $100 every 5 yrs is a small price to pay for ultimate identification and the freedom to go anywhere... I had mine even before it was law that we needed one to get to the USA...it just makes travelling that much easier.

 

I can't imagine being an american going on a cruise without the one piece of ID that could get you home if an emergency happened.

 

 

Sent from my Speak & Spell using Tapatalk

[Keith1010]

Anytime we leave the USA we have our passports with us.

 

Keith

[sparky-elpaso]

OP,

I had a passport before I started cruising.

If you have time before your cruise, get a passport.

I know is it not cheap, but it is good for 10 years. It is a proof of citizenship even in the US.

It is alsogood to have a passport if you have a different last name on your birth certifcate and a different last name on your DL or other picture id.

 

It is a beautiful small booklet that says, I can go on vacation anywhere in the big wide world.

 

Enjoy your cruise with whatever documents you take.:)

 

Agree - that little blue book is my ticket to the world. And in the case of any kind of emergency at home I don't have to worry.

[Grumpy100]

You can go with a certified birth certificate and a driver's license but if an emergency arises then you could not get back to the US. Go ahead and get the passport for peace of mind. Then when you want to go somewhere else in the world you can just make your plans and not worry.

[Happy ks]

We were required to get passports in 2002 for a specific cruise, renewed them just this year.

 

The one thing I can say is a huge benefit over BC's is that you are not limited to just closed loop cruises. I don't want to just cruise to a couple places, we wouldn't have been able to do our Med cruise with just BC's. That cruise was far more exciting and magical than any Caribbean or Mexico cruise could ever hope to be.

[MrCruzeaddict]

Does everyone have a passport for their cruise or do you travel with an ID and your birth certificate.

 

Becky

 

Get a passport! Pretty soon, you will need to have one anyway. They are good for 10yrs.

 

 

Joe<-----On my 4th one...:D

[sail7seas]

If we leave the U.S. fifty, we have passports.

In this day and age, I cannot imagine anyone wishing to leave their home country not having a passport.

 

You cannot fly internationally without it.

 

[Carolin]

I never leave the US without my passport.

[topaz123]

Dont waste the money...why spend so much money, just for something that probably will not happen. This is why people buy hangnail insurance....never had a problem with BC and DL, if you stay in closed loop cruise, you wasting a lot of money for the " what if" idea.

[Travelcat2]

Closed loop cruises are good for newbies (still recommend passports). You basically see more tourists at the ports than locals but the water is beautiful. If you are satisfied with this very limited type of cruising and are not worried about an accident or death of a family member at home that would want to fly home quickly for, by all means use your DL and Certified Birth Certificate.

[Zubsin]

I cruise (on CLOSED LOOP CRUISES) with my BC and DL...never a problem...never a hassle.

 

We don't "miss" the ships departure....and even should something untoward happen, the country you're in will NOT keep you...guaranteed. It might be a hassle, but you will get home.

 

I refuse to give the government any money I do NOT have to give them, just to go on vacation.

 

Still shaking my head on the one.... :confused:

[Warm Breezes]

Originally Posted by cb at sea

I cruise (on CLOSED LOOP CRUISES) with my BC and DL...never a problem...never a hassle.

 

We don't "miss" the ships departure....and even should something untoward happen, the country you're in will NOT keep you...guaranteed. It might be a hassle, but you will get home.

 

I refuse to give the government any money I do NOT have to give them, just to go on vacation.

 

Still shaking my head on the one.... :confused:

 

Why??? I feel the same way as cb at sea. To me, getting a passport for a closed loop cruise is like purchasing expensive insurance for an event that has less than a 1% chance of happening. I don't like to waste my money on odds like that if I don't have to. The government says we don't have to have a passport on a closed loop cruise. Now if I were to be planning a vacation to a foreign country by means other than a closed loop cruise, where it was required, then I would hand over my cash for a passport and consider it part of the cost of taking that vacation. If it isn't required then I get to decide, just like with travel insurance, if the risk is great enough to justify the cost to me....IMHO it's not so I won't spend my money on it.