Documents Question with a unique situation

[Elaine5715]

I'm glad to see this post today! We are in a similar situation. My DH and I each have a child from a previous marriage. We have a two cruises planned for 2016. My Step-son's (13) bio Mother is a drug addict and currently in rehab (for the fourth time...but I digress :rolleyes:). Their divorce degree gives her joint legal custody, but we have primary physical custody. We've sent a parental consent form to her via email and her known address, but who knows if she'll get it, as we've had no contact with her in months.

 

My DD's (12) Father has agreed to sign the consent form, as we have shared legal and physical custody.

 

From what I'm reading here, how concerned should we be about Carnival asking for the form? My DD and I have different last names, but SS has the same last name as DH and myself. My SS is certainly old enough to explain who everyone is and where we're traveling. I'm so nervous that we won't get the form from her and we'll be that one family who cannot board without it! Should we bring our divorce decrees just to be sure? We're traveling to Mexico on the February cruise and the Bahamas in September.

 

Carnival simply recommends this letter "just in case". If they did not recommend that non custodial adults traveling with minor children and a problem (missed the ship, medical, delinquency, etc) happened then those folks would be the first to holler "no one told me". Is it needed? Probably not but maybe so, no cruise line is going to say "nah, never mind". They only know what you tell them about the relationship with the other parent and since exes never, ever fib.... Who know how many times a vengeful ex calls Carnival and reports a child kidnapped?

[Elaine5715]

Carnival only stongly suggests you have an original letter. So, no you shouldn't need one. But if you want one for your own peace of mind, just write one yourself. It doesn't say anything about being notorized.

 

Many people confused something being notarized with something being made legal. A notarized statement simply verifies that the signature belongs to a person who has provided proper identification to someone who has been notarized.

[N2Mischief]

Ok, so I am gonna ask because people here seem to be well educated on the subject. We are traveling with my daughter and HER daughter, who will be 5 1/2 years old and has non-verbal autism. Her father and mother were never married, and have never been to court, though he is on the birth certificate. Because he has never gone to court, in our state, the mother automatically has full custody....but there is no court paperwork to show she has full custody, it is just automatic. Dad lives less than a mile from our home, and has seen his daughter once in the last year

 

I have a feeling if we ask him for permission, he will say no, just to be difficult.

 

Mom's name on the birth certificate hasn't changed...she has never married so it matches, but her daughter has the last name of the father.

 

What do you guys think...do we need to try to get a letter?

[lizardhowson]

you have said this twice and in some situations you would still have a problem. in divorce cases where there are specific custody situations, if the BIOLOGICAL MOTHER did not have this paperwork and the father wanted to cause a problem, he could call authorities if she did this without his permission and she would be stopped when boarding or detained when leaving.

 

so its not just because she is the BIOLOGICAL MOTHER. there can be other situations that can be problematic

 

it doesn't appear as this applies in the OPs case

 

Yes, anyone can call and lodge a complaint, whether related or not. As you finally acknowledge, my comments, along with everyone else's comments, were in specific response to the threadstarter's situation and not a general proclamation meant to apply in any other set of circumstances.

[n6uqqq]

Ok, so I am gonna ask because people here seem to be well educated on the subject. We are traveling with my daughter and HER daughter, who will be 5 1/2 years old and has non-verbal autism. Her father and mother were never married, and have never been to court, though he is on the birth certificate. Because he has never gone to court, in our state, the mother automatically has full custody....but there is no court paperwork to show she has full custody, it is just automatic. Dad lives less than a mile from our home, and has seen his daughter once in the last year

 

I have a feeling if we ask him for permission, he will say no, just to be difficult.

 

Mom's name on the birth certificate hasn't changed...she has never married so it matches, but her daughter has the last name of the father.

 

What do you guys think...do we need to try to get a letter?

 

I will use a couple of clichés

 

Let sleeping dogs lie &

Don't open a can of worms :D

Edited December 17, 2015 by n6uqqq

[hftmrock]

Yes, anyone can call and lodge a complaint, whether related or not. As you finally acknowledge, my comments, along with everyone else's comments, were in specific response to the threadstarter's situation and not a general proclamation meant to apply in any other set of circumstances.

 

ok, we can sort of agree...

 

in the OP situation, the quote

You are his biological mother, you do not need anything except his birth certificate.

 

is probably going to be true

 

 

in other situations, the quote

 

You are his biological mother, you do not need anything except his birth certificate.

 

may absolutely not be true...

 

im ok with this IMO

[lizardhowson]

 

in other situations, the quote

 

You are his biological mother, you do not need anything except his birth certificate.

 

may absolutely not be true...

 

im ok with this IMO

 

Didn't we both say this already

Edited December 17, 2015 by lizardhowson

[berrieh]

I have and will be traveling with my former step daughter and I had to provide Carnival with a notarized letter from her father (my ex) allowing her out of the country with me. I have had friends that took some of their kids friends with them and they were held at the port until they received a letter from the parents. I say get it. Not worth the risk.

 

But wouldn't step-daughters, kids' friends, etc, all be different than biological kids? Did your notarized letter have BOTH parents signatures? Because OP is a biological parent of this child and that is a big difference, no?

[singbluesilver1]

My son has autism and is non verbal he was 15 on our cruise to Bermuda. Like I said we were asked for the letter from his dad who we really don't see but thankfully I had his info and he did send me a form back and notarized it.

 

It may also depend on what port you are visiting on the cruise but I'm

No expert

[emm126]

I have traveled with my sister and her 3 children on about 12 cruises, my sister's passport is in her maiden name. I also brought my youngest nephew on another cruise. We always brought a notarized letter from the kid's dad. In 8 Carnival cruises we were never asked for the letter however we were asked for it on Royal Caribbean, 1 out of 2 times. I did ask the woman who checked us in what would have happened if we didn't have it- she said we would have not gone on the ship.

 

As for Carnival's strong recommends? I think it is legal mumbo jumbo, to protect Carnival if someone asked for it. To say strongly recommends instead of required I would say it doesn't happen that often.

 

I would also like to add, always thought it was funny that my sister's credit cards were in her married name- which she showed at check in and passport was in a maiden name and that was never questioned- LOL (that was on all the cruises)

[DebJ14]

I suggest that single, divorced or estranged parents unable to get a letter from a parent or a passport for their kids stick with Carnival, since they are the most lax about checking documentation. We sail RCCL quite a bit and have seen several instances where people were asked for the letter at check-in. Those who had it boarded promptly. Those without it scrambled to get a letter faxed and those with no hope of getting one were denied boarding.

 

Princess goes one step further:

PASSPORT REQUIREMENT WHEN MINORS TRAVEL WITH ONE ADULT ON VOYAGES GOVERNED BY THE U.S. WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRAVEL INITIATIVE (includes travel within BERMUDA, CANADA, CARIBBEAN, HAWAII, MEXICO, PANAMA CANAL, UNITED STATES) When minors are traveling with only one adult 21 years of age or older, Princess requires that all guests must be in possession of a valid passport. We have implemented this requirement because we want to ensure that your party remains together should an emergency arise that requires one or more in your party to be disembarked in a non-U.S. port. We cannot guarantee that all members of your party will be allowed to disembark with just a WHTI-compliant document or birth certificate. Failure to present a valid passport for all guests traveling together will result in denial of boarding without refund of the of the cruise or cruisetour fare.

[shdixon]

Learn something every day. I dont have children so I had no idea that you needed both parents signature for a passport. Thats insane to me. As many "deadbeat" men there are out there, children wouldnt get to go anywhere with their mothers. There has to be some way around this. What if you cant find the father? smh

[topofE]

It's not a requirement by Carnival. Never has been.

 

I call baloney on 99% of the people who say they were asked/demanded to get one.

 

I also know who the previous poster was talking about with the one woman with horror stories. I also talked to her in a thread. She was cruising out of California and supposedly they made like her and her kid stay behind while her husband and THEIR kid got to go or some other ridiculous scenario.

 

Carnival doesn't require it. If anyone at embarkation asked for it, I would ask to speak to their supervisor. Carnival doesn't require it and therefore you DON'T NEED IT.

 

It is recommended for your convenience. To avoid a 20 second "questioning" IF somehow the noncustodial parent gets the FBI involved and they put out a nationwide alert that gets flagged at the border for a custodial parent kidnapping. The noncustodial parent who hasn't been involved and doesn't know about the travel plans is going to somehow out of the blue get into this whole thing. And if somehow they DO, they will simply check to see if you have kidnapped your child with the intent of running away to Mexico. It's not THAT serious. I have never heard legitimately of anyone EVER not being allowed on a Carnival ship OR off at any of the ports due to a "recommended" letter. It is recommended for YOUR convenience, not required by law.

[loxley]

Learn something every day. I dont have children so I had no idea that you needed both parents signature for a passport. Thats insane to me. As many "deadbeat" men there are out there, children wouldnt get to go anywhere with their mothers. There has to be some way around this. What if you cant find the father? smh

There is a procedure you can go thru, but it is time consuming.

 

Cruise lines can require anything they want to, and some do require the letter, but carnival does not.

 

As I said before, it is buried in the faq that it is required for pax debarking in Mexico. That means ending your cruise in Mexico.

 

I remember the lady supposedly left at the pier with her child because she said she did not have a letter, and I believe the child was denied boarding, but there wss more to that story than she was telling.

 

I always figured the ex knew about the trip and made trouble for her. As someone else said, a patent you can not even find is not going to know our care.

 

Note if the other parent does not want the child to go and you decide to take them anyway, there could be trouble.

 

My fav story was the lady who had taken her kids on a cruise and had the signed notarized letter and all wss good.

 

She later decided to take them again but this time the ex wss in jail. She managed to get his lawyer to take the new letter into the jail to get it signed, but this time the ex did not want them to go and would not sign the letter.

 

After several weeks of what to do, someone at carnival told her to change the dates on the paper she had gotten signed for the first cruise and that is what she did. They went on the cruise and ask was well.

 

The fact she was openly telling carnival that the ex did not want the kids to go was not a problem apparently.

 

The ex probably thought because he did not sign the paper the kids could not go, but I bet if he had known she took them anyway, he would have caused her problems at the port if at all possible considering his situation at the time.

 

So, do not take them if the absent parent objects, but if you don't even know where they are, there is no chance they can object.

 

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[It's a Ship!!!]

It's not a requirement by Carnival. Never has been.

 

I call baloney on 99% of the people who say they were asked/demanded to get one.

 

I also know who the previous poster was talking about with the one woman with horror stories. I also talked to her in a thread. She was cruising out of California and supposedly they made like her and her kid stay behind while her husband and THEIR kid got to go or some other ridiculous scenario.

 

Carnival doesn't require it. If anyone at embarkation asked for it, I would ask to speak to their supervisor. Carnival doesn't require it and therefore you DON'T NEED IT.

 

It is recommended for your convenience. To avoid a 20 second "questioning" IF somehow the noncustodial parent gets the FBI involved and they put out a nationwide alert that gets flagged at the border for a custodial parent kidnapping. The noncustodial parent who hasn't been involved and doesn't know about the travel plans is going to somehow out of the blue get into this whole thing. And if somehow they DO, they will simply check to see if you have kidnapped your child with the intent of running away to Mexico. It's not THAT serious. I have never heard legitimately of anyone EVER not being allowed on a Carnival ship OR off at any of the ports due to a "recommended" letter. It is recommended for YOUR convenience, not required by law.

I'm amazed that people fight so hard to have their horrible advice followed. I don't know why you and the other stubborn people on this thread don't get it, but you absolutely CAN be denied boarding without a letter from the absent parent. It usually doesn't happen, but it can, and it has in the past. It is not Carnival who decides this, but the workers at the pier.

 

To the OP, you will probably be fine, but just go in with the knowledge that there is a slight possibility you won't be able to sail if you are asked for a letter and can't provide it. If you have any divorce or custody papers that state that you have sole custody, then you can bring that instead of the letter. Good luck and have a great cruise.

[DHnDWplus2]

I can only speak from experience... when my daughter was 16, hubby and I took her AND HER 16 YEAR OLD BFF on a cruise. We had the notarized form from the friend's parents, but we never needed it

 

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[singbluesilver1]

My story isn't baloney I was asked for a letter, however I was on rccl not carnival

[n6uqqq]

I'm amazed that people fight so hard to have their horrible advice followed. I don't know why you and the other stubborn people on this thread don't get it' date=' but you absolutely CAN be denied boarding without a letter from the absent parent. It usually doesn't happen, but it can, and it has in the past. It is not Carnival who decides this, but the workers at the pier.

 

To the OP, you will probably be fine, but just go in with the knowledge that there is a slight possibility you won't be able to sail if you are asked for a letter and can't provide it. If you have any divorce or custody papers that state that you have sole custody, then you can bring that instead of the letter. Good luck and have a great cruise.[/quote']

 

Who would these " workers at the pier " be? I have never gone through customs at embarkation.

[sparks1093]

Who would these " workers at the pier " be? I have never gone through customs at embarkation.

 

They are the workers checking everyone in and if they reject your documents you don't board.

[topofE]

They are the workers checking everyone in and if they reject your documents you don't board.

 

I'm sorry but it just doesn't make sense. It's simply not logical to think that your plans would be destroyed based on a piece of paper that isn't even a requirement.

 

They also strongly recommend you bring bug spray to Belize but, again, that is simply for your own convenience.

 

The requirement is to bring a birth certificate and photo ID or a passport. That's it.

 

I am not fighting to get someone to follow my advice, I am simply asking people to not fall for the fear mongering that people on here love to do.

[topofE]

When I travelled with my son on rccl to Bermuda I was asked for a letter from my sons father, luckily he had sent me a notarized one even though he hasn't seen my son in years and we have no contact

 

But yes they did ask not sure what would have happened if they hadn't

 

 

But with all the child abductions it worries me that so many people have no issues traveling in and out of other countries with children who aren't theirs

 

Seriously this is bad

 

 

FWIW, I didn't call balony on you specifically. I said 99% because I didn't know RCCIs rules. However, I have since then read the rules and I now DO question it. Not what happened to you per-say. But what were they thinking. According to RCCI, 1 parent is all that is needed. Either in person OR by notarized letter so as your son's legal guardian, I am not sure why they would insist on additional paperwork that they don't say they need...

 

 

 

 

Should the last names of the parent and minor child traveling with them differ, the parent is required to present the child’s valid passport and visa (if required) and the child’s birth certificate (original, a notarized copy or a certified copy). The name of the parent(s) and the child must be linked through legal documentation. Adults who are not the parent or Legal Guardian of any minor child traveling with them are required to present the child’s valid passport and visa or the child’s birth certificate (original, a notarized copy or a certified copy) and an original notarized letter signed by at least one of the child’s parents. The notarized letter from the child’s parent must authorize the traveling adult to take the child on the specific cruise, must authorize guardian to sign legal documentation/waivers for participation in any activities requiring them (i.e. Rock Climbing, Flowrider, Bungee Trampoline, Inline Skating, or Ice Skating) and must authorize the traveling adult to supervise the child and permit any medical treatment that must be administered to the child. If a non-parent adult is a Legal Guardian, the adult must present a certified certificate of Guardianship with respect to the child.

[sparks1093]

I'm sorry but it just doesn't make sense. It's simply not logical to think that your plans would be destroyed based on a piece of paper that isn't even a requirement.

 

They also strongly recommend you bring bug spray to Belize but, again, that is simply for your own convenience.

 

The requirement is to bring a birth certificate and photo ID or a passport. That's it.

 

I am not fighting to get someone to follow my advice, I am simply asking people to not fall for the fear mongering that people on here love to do.

 

I'm not saying that it makes sense, but I know that I have read on here that people have been turned away because of it. Now, it is entirely possible that there was something wrong with another document and that is the reason they got turned away. If they do get turned away though it is because one of the countries on the itinerary requires the document (and those requirements change so it may no longer be required), I too doubt that anyone would be turned away for not having something that they aren't required to have, but again I know what I've read.

[loxley]

I'm not saying that it makes sense, but I know that I have read on here that people have been turned away because of it. Now, it is entirely possible that there was something wrong with another document and that is the reason they got turned away. If they do get turned away though it is because one of the countries on the itinerary requires the document (and those requirements change so it may no longer be required), I too doubt that anyone would be turned away for not having something that they aren't required to have, but again I know what I've read.

When have you read that? I have read this forum almost everyday for the past ten years and there was one woman from years ago that claimed her son was denied boarding. She never could keep the story straight and there wss more than one hint there were other problems.

 

There was also another woman that claimed her friend could not board another cruise line because of not having the letter. Note that is possible because some cruise lines are stricter about what they require for boarding.

 

Require being the operative word.

 

 

 

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[JinxyB]

I have been on a Royal Caribbean ship twice with just my child and have never been asked for a notarized letter from his father. My child and I share the same last name and we both have passports so I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I have seen the show that a few people have referenced about a family being denied boarding. It was about the Oasis of the Seas and I believe the child in question did not have the same last name of the mom (she had remarried) and a permission form from the child's biological father was faxed in. They were permitted to board after the letter was sent in. I can't remember if they had passports or not. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. One of the RC sailings I did with my child was on Oasis of the Seas and there were no questions asked of me or my child. One time going through customs in Long Beach, the customs agent at debarkation asked my child who I was, but that is the only time anyone has ever asked us anything in the 11 cruises I have taken as single parent.

 

While I have no interest in cruising Princess with my child, I find it interesting they require both parent and child to have passports-I guess that's a good thing. While my child's father did sign for his initial passport when he was a baby, I don't think he will be so agreeable when it comes time to renew it (he is estranged and I have no idea where he lives/we were never married). I have been meaning to file for sole legal and physical custody, so I guess I will ask a lawyer to also include I do not need his signature for a passport...I'm hoping this can be done!

[Jackie81]

WOW!! Thanks for all of the responses. A quick background, my son has his biological fathers last name. We never went to court or got a divorce, we were never married. Sole custody automatically goes to the biological mother where we are from so there has never ever been a need to get any sort of documentation. In all these years (again, he's 15) we've never had a need to go to court and spend senseless money on a lawyer. In all honesty, its something that as a single mom, I never had the money to spend anyway, weather some may deem it senseless or not, it wasn't feasible. I've only been married now for just under 4 years. Now, where maybe getting a lawyer and the paperwork going for some sort of paperwork is more affordable with 2 incomes; it still seems senseless since my son is so close to 18 anyway. So, that being said, I did see on Carnival that it was "strongly recommended" not really required, maybe I'll just have a letter handy that has a signature that isn't very legible. lol