Green lane with Birth Certificate?

[Scottdalfonso]

If you are all checked in, all info says it's complete on the app and you have your medallion, can you be green laned if you are using a birth certificate or will you still need to get in the blue line? I'm just guessing without a passport you aren't going to be able to just walk on through the easy line? 

[skynight]

I don't know the exact answer. I do know that in Ft. Lauderdale passports were checked before security, plus the blue lane was a very brief detour, less than 5 minutes. I think it could depend on where you are boarding. Don't forget you have to have an original birth certificate with seal along with a government issued ID and the itinerary has to be a WHITI one to travel without a passport. 

[Ombud]

I've been Green lane with just birth cert when doing a closed loop out of San Francisco (passport renewal was taking too long in 2022). Do you not have a current passport? Are you near a State Dept passport office? Processing time is significantly shorter now

 

Edited June 16 by Ombud

[Cruise Raider]

If you have your medallion and all BC info is entered into your app, you will be able to go through the green lane without any problem.  

[JGmf]

Green v. Blue: not a whole lot of time savings with either.  Almost a non-factor.

 

Go with what your app tells you and if there's a snag, the green lane staff are trained to rectify it.

 

Enjoy your cruise Gritty!!

[Scottdalfonso]

Thank you all! 

[Crystabel]

5 hours ago, skynight said:

I don't know the exact answer. I do know that in Ft. Lauderdale passports were checked before security, plus the blue lane was a very brief detour, less than 5 minutes. I think it could depend on where you are boarding. Don't forget you have to have an original birth certificate with seal along with a government issued ID and the itinerary has to be a WHITI one to travel without a passport. 

Long story short, we forgot our passports for a Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I spoke with the port supervisor on the phone who said we could board with a copy of our birth certificates but not a copy of our passports. Go figure! Our daughter emailed the birth certificates, and we printed them out. We already had our medallions, and breezed right through check in. I was holding my breath until sail away, thinking they might kick us off, but they didn’t. I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I know we got lucky. Believe me, we will never forget our passports again! 

[Scottdalfonso]

1 minute ago, Crystabel said:

Long story short, we forgot our passports for a Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I spoke with the port supervisor on the phone who said we could board with a copy of our birth certificates but not a copy of our passports. Go figure! Our daughter emailed the birth certificates, and we printed them out. We already had our medallions, and breezed right through check in. I was holding my breath until sail away, thinking they might kick us off, but they didn’t. I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I know we got lucky. Believe me, we will never forget our passports again! 

Yeah, we have cruised with our birth certificates before, just not on Princess, so didn't know if the embarkation process was different. But we ALWAYS carry the original with us 

[cr8tiv1]

38 minutes ago, Crystabel said:

Long story short, we forgot our passports for a Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I spoke with the port supervisor on the phone who said we could board with a copy of our birth certificates but not a copy of our passports. Go figure! Our daughter emailed the birth certificates, and we printed them out. We already had our medallions, and breezed right through check in. I was holding my breath until sail away, thinking they might kick us off, but they didn’t. I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I know we got lucky. Believe me, we will never forget our passports again! 

 

How was this possible?  An email COPY would not have a certification stamp on it.  I always thought it had to be a REAL certified original birth certificate.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

How was this possible?  An email COPY would not have a certification stamp on it.  I always thought it had to be a REAL certified original birth certificate.

All I can say is someone got real lucky I have never heard of this happening with a copy

[Crystabel]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

All I can say is someone got real lucky I have never heard of this happening with a copy

You have no idea how lucky we felt. We hardly believed it ourselves. The gods were on our side! 

[annmarz]

On our Caribbean Princess Cruise out of Ft Lauderdale in late April the Green Lane was significantly shorter than the Blue Lane,

[debster11]

18 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

If you are all checked in, all info says it's complete on the app and you have your medallion, can you be green laned if you are using a birth certificate or will you still need to get in the blue line? I'm just guessing without a passport you aren't going to be able to just walk on through the easy line? 

I used a birth certificate and was green lane. Not an issue.

[skynight]

17 hours ago, Crystabel said:

Long story short, we forgot our passports for a Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I spoke with the port supervisor on the phone who said we could board with a copy of our birth certificates but not a copy of our passports. Go figure! Our daughter emailed the birth certificates, and we printed them out. We already had our medallions, and breezed right through check in. I was holding my breath until sail away, thinking they might kick us off, but they didn’t. I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I know we got lucky. Believe me, we will never forget our passports again! 

Interesting, plus the cruise line was actually breaking WHTI rules. Note that not all RT Ft. Lauderdale Caribbean cruises qualify under WHTI rules. Cruises that have port stops in Martinique and/or Guadalupe are two examples where passports are required.  

[Crystabel]

5 hours ago, skynight said:

Interesting, plus the cruise line was actually breaking WHTI rules. Note that not all RT Ft. Lauderdale Caribbean cruises qualify under WHTI rules. Cruises that have port stops in Martinique and/or Guadalupe are two examples where passports are required.  

It was a b2b Eastern and Western Caribbean cruise. During our turnaround day, all we had to do was get off the ship and be identified by our picture at the kiosk and then reboard the ship. Never needed our passports on any island. 

[skynight]

1 hour ago, Crystabel said:

It was a b2b Eastern and Western Caribbean cruise. During our turnaround day, all we had to do was get off the ship and be identified by our picture at the kiosk and then reboard the ship. Never needed our passports on any island. 

Yes, this is how it is done in Ft. Lauderdale.

You should have noticed that there were a few immigration agents hanging around. When I did the turn around in Ft. Lauderdale this past March I saw one person in our group be directed to go see the agent. 

[Eaglecw]

We use our enhanced drivers license now for most cruises.

[Crystabel]

Not every state issues enhanced driver’s licenses.

[memoak]

10 hours ago, skynight said:

Interesting, plus the cruise line was actually breaking WHTI rules. Note that not all RT Ft. Lauderdale Caribbean cruises qualify under WHTI rules. Cruises that have port stops in Martinique and/or Guadalupe are two examples where passports are required.  

How about Columbia ?

[reedprincess]

40 minutes ago, memoak said:

How about Columbia ?

Not part of WHTI.. and usually only part of a Panama Canal cruise, whether partial or full crossing - this not fitting the parameters for using BC and DL.   Passport required.

Edited June 17 by reedprincess

[memoak]

54 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Not part of WHTI.. and usually only part of a Panama Canal cruise, whether partial or full crossing - this not fitting the parameters for using BC and DL.   Passport required.

I have always considered a partial canal to be a Caribbean cruise since to doesn’t cross to Panama

[reedprincess]

16 minutes ago, memoak said:

I have always considered a partial canal to be a Caribbean cruise since to doesn’t cross to Panama

That's cool, you can consider it however you like. 

Per Princess, they consider partial Canal sailings as Canal sailings, not Caribbean sailings, regardless of what any of us may consider them...