Celebrity Cruise Birth Certifcate

[SmithOl]

Hi everyone. My fiance and I want to go on a Celebrity cruise and he does not have a passport.
 

His birth certificate says:

”Certification of Live Birth”

It has a watermark and raised seal.

“This document is a legal certification of the birth record on file in the Vital Statistics Bureau of the Columbus Health Department” 

Signed (stamped and then below typed) by an acting registrar

 

I just want to make sure it is the right kind of birth certificate and not a birth notice. I called Celebrity and she just said it looked fine as long as it was official and he has a drivers license but I’m not convinced!!

 

Thank you!!

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

If it isn't issued by the hospital, but by the town, city, county or state of his birth it should be fine.  Sometimes the hospital issued 'birth announcements' have the baby's footprints - these birth announcements are not acceptable.

 

[Charles4515]

23 minutes ago, SmithOl said:

Hi everyone. My fiance and I want to go on a Celebrity cruise and he does not have a passport.
 

His birth certificate says:

”Certification of Live Birth”

It has a watermark and raised seal.

“This document is a legal certification of the birth record on file in the Vital Statistics Bureau of the Columbus Health Department” 

Signed (stamped and then below typed) by an acting registrar

 

I just want to make sure it is the right kind of birth certificate and not a birth notice. I called Celebrity and she just said it looked fine as long as it was official and he has a drivers license but I’m not convinced!!

 

Thank you!!

 

Why are you not convinced? What more would you expect? 

 

Have him get a passport then no worry. 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Charles4515

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

If it isn't issued by the hospital, but by the town, city, county or state of his birth it should be fine.  Sometimes the hospital issued 'birth announcements' have the baby's footprints - these birth announcements are not acceptable.

 

If she is not convinced by the document she descibes and by what the Celebrity rep saying it is fine why would she want to be convinced by random strangers on the internet. Simple solution if he has time is to get a passport. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Charles4515

[navybankerteacher]

Maybe ask him to get a passport - perhaps as a wedding gift to you -- kind of suggesting he would like to share the world with you.

[CruiserBruce]

Well, as we don't know where this cruise is, and where it goes to, nobody is going to be able to give you an answer with confidence. Unless of course,  a passport is obtained. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, SmithOl said:

Hi everyone. My fiance and I want to go on a Celebrity cruise and he does not have a passport.
 

His birth certificate says:

”Certification of Live Birth”

It has a watermark and raised seal.

“This document is a legal certification of the birth record on file in the Vital Statistics Bureau of the Columbus Health Department” 

Signed (stamped and then below typed) by an acting registrar

 

I just want to make sure it is the right kind of birth certificate and not a birth notice. I called Celebrity and she just said it looked fine as long as it was official and he has a drivers license but I’m not convinced!!

 

Thank you!!

 

First - Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Two questions - Is the Columbus Health Department a government or a department of a hospital.  If a government agency good so far.

The second is where is the cruise?  If a closed loop cruise from the USA a birth certificate is all that is REQUIRED.  UNLESS - note the emphasis - he needs to disembark because of illness, injury or something else in a foreign country.  In that situation he has a big problem in returning to the US.   Getting a passport overseas with a birth certificate in order to return to the US / board an airplane is complicated and can take some time.

[lcpagejr]

Assumimg you are going on a closed loop cruise originating and ending from the same US port to most eastern, western and southern carribean itineraries ...He will be fine . It would be helpful to know your planned itinerary to give you 100% confirmation

[Homosassa]

OP,

Check the ports of any itinerary you wish to take.

 

While the birth certificate and government ID is all that is needed to leave and enter the US for US citizens, that are still countries that are included in closed loop cruises from the US that do require passports for cruise ship passengers,

[LGW59]

11 hours ago, lcpagejr said:

Assumimg you are going on a closed loop cruise originating and ending from the same US port to most eastern, western and southern carribean itineraries ...He will be fine . It would be helpful to know your planned itinerary to give you 100% confirmation

The rep they spoke with at Celebrity knows where they are going and gave them the answer based on that.  

[bEwAbG]

You can contact the agency for your state that issues birth records to make sure that the certificate you have is the one they issue.  If not, you can order one from them. 

 

Is this Ohio?

 

https://odh.ohio.gov/know-our-programs/vital-statistics/how-to-order-certificates

 

One other consideration when traveling without a passport is if he were to miss the ship in a port, then how he catches up to the ship can be limited.  If you think you're going to start going on cruises more often, it does make the most sense to just get a passport so you don't have to worry about it.

[CruiserBruce]

29 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

The rep they spoke with at Celebrity knows where they are going and gave them the answer based on that.  

But the OP is here questioning things, and we don't have that info.

 

Plus, expecting the basic person at Celebrity to know all the passport and visa issues is asking a lot. That is why you are responsible for those issues, not the cruise line.

[lcpagejr]

11 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

But the OP is here questioning things, and we don't have that info.

 

Plus, expecting the basic person at Celebrity to know all the passport and visa issues is asking a lot. That is why you are responsible for those issues, not the cruise line.

So True.  There are definite pluses of traveling with a Passport. However I don't find the risks very high if you don't (the liklihood of needing to travel home early during a cruiseis very unlikely). I personally have cruised over 20x to carribean or mexico (west coast) since the mid 90's and have only used a BC and DL. Everyone has an opinion on this... but obviously either form of ID is acceptable...so to each their own

[Charles4515]

22 hours ago, lcpagejr said:

So True.  There are definite pluses of traveling with a Passport. However I don't find the risks very high if you don't (the liklihood of needing to travel home early during a cruiseis very unlikely). I personally have cruised over 20x to carribean or mexico (west coast) since the mid 90's and have only used a BC and DL. Everyone has an opinion on this... but obviously either form of ID is acceptable...so to each their own

The risks are low but you limiting yourself to Caribbean and Mexican itineraries. So boring. Every port is the same. There are wonderful experiences to be had outside of the closed loop itineraries. I can’t imagine not having a passport and only doing cruise vacations. 

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

The risks are low but you limiting yourself to Caribbean and Mexican itineraries. So boring. Every port is the same. There are wonderful experiences to be had outside of the closed loop itineraries. I can’t imagine not having a passport and only doing cruise vacations. 

For some reason or other US lags far behind most other developed nations in the world in percentage of citizens who have a passport, I believe we are at 35ish%?