Passport vs Driving License

[Kay S]

OP must be very confused by now.  The answer is simple.  Ask Princess.  Ask the State Department.  Ask Cruise Critic.  Ask your neighbor's cousin's hairdresser who went to Hawaii once during high school.  Then go get a passport.  🙂

[memoak]

Just get the passport !

[Cruise Raider]

Here is the definitive answer from the Princess website:

 

[wcook]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

Here is the definitive answer from the Princess website:

Hey, no fair. You aren’t allowed to bring actual facts into a thread like this. Don’t you know how the internet works. 

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Here is the definitive answer from the Princess websit

 

In case anyone wants to save it - The document requirements can be found here, including the requirement for the entire party to have passports no matter what the itinerary if minors are traveling with only one adult.

https://www.princess.com/en-us/faq/pre-cruise

[memoak]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Here is the definitive answer from the Princess website:

 

The important word there is SELECT. RT cruises that call on Columbia also need passports. Don’t assume anything as countries can change requirements at any time. Best to just get a passport 

[Cruise Raider]

29 minutes ago, memoak said:

The important word there is SELECT. RT cruises that call on Columbia also need passports. Don’t assume anything as countries can change requirements at any time. Best to just get a passport 

 

Right next to the Caribbean out of Ft Lauderdale is ^, which below indicates a passport is required for Central and South America.  The OP is going to Hawaii .. I don’t think any of those ports would be a problem for them, even if they don’t know how to read a document with a footnote / reference.  
If they choose to make the decision to use their BC and driver license, that is their choice and they can always calculate their own risk level for being as far as Ensenada from the US border.  Personally, I’ve done it while we had to wait weeks and weeks for our new passport in the mail last year.  I knew the risks and since they were extremely low, we took the chance.  

 

Edited May 25 by Cruise Raider

[Teechur]

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Here is the definitive answer from the Princess website:

 

This should have been the definitive answer but clearly, we are not done whipping this dead horse yet. 😂

[CRUISEWITHH]

My friends were not allowed to board without a passport on cruise out of Los Angeles going to California Coast and stopping in Ensenada.  They had all other types of I.D, but did not have their passports. 

They spent many hours at the port talking to everyone but were told that Immigration would not allow them to board.

As everyone here has said, much easier to just get a passport.

[startedwithamouse]

4 minutes ago, CRUISEWITHH said:

My friends were not allowed to board without a passport on cruise out of Los Angeles going to California Coast and stopping in Ensenada.  They had all other types of I.D, but did not have their passports. 

They spent many hours at the port talking to everyone but were told that Immigration would not allow them to board.

As everyone here has said, much easier to just get a passport.

Did they have a certified copy of birth certificates and driver's licenses? Apparently they didn't bother to read what was required. 

[JamieLogical]

6 minutes ago, CRUISEWITHH said:

My friends were not allowed to board without a passport on cruise out of Los Angeles going to California Coast and stopping in Ensenada.  They had all other types of I.D, but did not have their passports. 

They spent many hours at the port talking to everyone but were told that Immigration would not allow them to board.

As everyone here has said, much easier to just get a passport.

 

Was it a closed-loop cruise?

[STLCARDS82]

It all comes down to this! you can't save stupid people.If people don't want to get a passport and travel to foreign countries then what happens to them ..is on them! I've been a police officer, a firefighter, and EMT,a soldier...you start to learn you can't fix dumb people.

[Torfamm]

4 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Did they have a certified copy of birth certificates and driver's licenses? Apparently they didn't bother to read what was required. 

 

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Was it a closed-loop cruise?

What was their citizenship? Were they all adults? Princess is very clear about document requirements. It’s sad, but true, that many people just don’t take the time to read them.

[cr8tiv1]

My travel mate was going to try to get on a California Coastal out of LA with just a driver's license.  I made her drive home to get her passport.  At the cruise terminal, I asked the agent about JUST a driver's license and he told her she would have been denied boarding.  

 

Some closed loop voyages may allow a driver's license AND a certified birth certificate if the passenger was born in the United States.  Too many ifs/ands for me.  I'm glad we drove (in the opposite direction) to pick up the passport she left at home.

Edited May 30 by cr8tiv1

[Kay S]

I've done that California coastal several times and always taken my passport.  Maybe because it's short and "local" people get the idea it's not international.  Those cruises always call in Ensenada, which is definitely in Mexico.

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, CRUISEWITHH said:

My friends were not allowed to board without a passport on cruise out of Los Angeles going to California Coast and stopping in Ensenada.  They had all other types of I.D, but did not have their passports. 

They spent many hours at the port talking to everyone but were told that Immigration would not allow them to board.

As everyone here has said, much easier to just get a passport.

 

If they are residents of California and presented their driver's licenses, they would be denied as immigration requires and enhanced ID, not a regular CDL or REAL ID, which California is currently in the process of changing over to.