Where Should I Go For Quick Passport?

[bunnytails2000]

Where is the most reliable place to go to apply for passports needed on spring break? My travel agent recommended going on just birth certificates BUT I just got my travel itinerary and we only have a 3 hour time span from airport arrival to cruise departure and if our layover in atlanta is delayed we will miss the boat. I'm a bit upset because I requested a night before arrival in Miama and got a reservation arriving 3 hours before departure. She is now highly recommending passports because I refuse to pay $1750 to change what I requested originally. Now I need to have passports in hand by the end of March. Where should I go? We are a family of 5 and one of us has a delayed birth certificate even though it has a seal it will delay the passport process for just a tad longer.

[fantavet]

See this link for official information:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_831.html

[serene56]

when you booked--- did you pay for an air diviation to pick flights that are better?

[cruisinbuddy]

Run don't walk to the nearest passport office. With th increased demands for passports, so many more people are getting them and hence the wait time is longer.

[serene56]

buying expediated passports will probably cost you what the air fares will cost.

If possible see if you have an agency like a city hall. I took mine to the city hall office and I didnt have to pay the 30.00 handling fee.

[gizmo]

Google "passports". There are lots of places listed including passports in 24 hours, same day etc. You can pay big $$$ to one quickly.

[Kruisin Kruisers]

My wife and I applied for our passports 2 weeks ago at our county clerks office. They gave us an option for a 3 day process time instead of the 8 week process time for an additional fee of $60.00 per passport on top of the $97.00 for each of the passports. I do not recommend using internet for this one. You will need to bring your birth certificates with you and they send them with the application then mail them back to you with the passports. For passport photos we went to Walgreens drug store and paid $7.99 for 2 photos per person which is required. Good luck.

[Kruisin Kruisers]

My wife and I applied for our passports 2 weeks ago at our county clerks office. They gave us an option for a 3 day process time instead of the 8 week process time for an additional fee of $60.00 per passport on top of the $97.00 for each of the passports. I do not recommend using internet for this one. You will need to bring your birth certificates with you and they send them with the application then mail them back to you with the passports. For passport photos we went to Walgreens drug store and paid $7.99 for 2 photos per person which is required. Good luck.

[Kruisin Kruisers]

My wife and I applied for our passports 2 weeks ago at our county clerks office. They gave us an option for a 3 day process time instead of the 8 week process time for an additional fee of $60.00 per passport on top of the $97.00 for each of the passports. I do not recommend using internet for this one. You will need to bring your birth certificates with you and they send them with the application then mail them back to you with the passports. For passport photos we went to Walgreens drug store and paid $7.99 for 2 photos per person which is required. Good luck.

[bunnytails2000]

I just want to say a HUGE thanks for everyone's help. We applied for our passports yesterday. I had checked into switching our flights but it was gonna cost $1753 to do it so we spent $900 on passports. I just have to hope and pray my husbands will go thru (he doesn't have an official birth certificate but a delayed birth one).

 

In answer to one's question, I didn't know you could pay a deviation fee to get a particular flight (this is our first time traveling) but I am irritated with our travel agent because I gave her 2 specific beginning non-stop flights that I wanted (in case there weren't enough seats for 5) and I even gave her the flight numbers and she didn't request them so we would have had to paid that much more to get it switched to the flight I had originally requested. I also had asked for adjoining cabins that had the connecting door and we didn't get that either. I think next time I will just use this site more and attempt to make my own reservations online.

[serene56]

In answer to one's question, I didn't know you could pay a deviation fee to get a particular flight (this is our first time traveling) but I am irritated with our travel agent because I gave her 2 specific beginning non-stop flights that I wanted (in case there weren't enough seats for 5) and I even gave her the flight numbers and she didn't request them so we would have had to paid that much more to get it switched to the flight I had originally requested. I also had asked for adjoining cabins that had the connecting door and we didn't get that either. I think next time I will just use this site more and attempt to make my own reservations online.

 

 

Did you book a guarantee cabin?? Now that you are aware-- look at deck plans before you want to book and tell the agent what exactly it is you want.

 

I dont think you can requests flights when booking through the cruiselines.

But there was an air diviation that costs 50 bucks pp more but sounds like you would had to pay the difference in flights. NEXT time--- you will book your flights yourself and get the ones you want.

[bunnytails2000]

serene.....now i can really tell i know nothing about traveling via cruise. i don't know what a guarantee cabin is to know if that is what the travel agent booked or not. i do have 2 cabin numbers though; that is how i found out that they do not have the adjoining door between them that I asked for. i'm sure i will still run into some surprises that i'm totally unaware of. but regardless....we will still have a great time on the cruise.

[lvtotrvl1]

I am sorry about your problems. As a TA I can say your agent made a few mistakes. Most agents know that you cannot request air flights from the cruiseline unless you pay a deviation fee..she should have known this and should have told you. Secondly, if you booked a guarantee she cannot confirm adjoining cabins..If she did not book you as a guarantee I'm not sure why you didn't receive adjoining? If there were none available, you should have also been told that at the time. I would definatly change TA's your next trip. Please don't hold this fiasco against all agents:( ..There are alot of good ones out there. I hope you enjoy your cruise after all of this.

[mollyeilis]

You've already gone to get your passports so I can't help you, and I'm sorry about all the flight stuff! Also, normally I'm very pro-passport even when they aren't strictly NEEDED quite yet for many cruises.

 

BUT I do have a question. What exactly is the problem you were anticipating with the birth certificates? I don't understand. Thanks in advance for satisfying my curiosity!

[bunnytails2000]

lvtotrvl1 - thanks for your insight. no, we will not let this spoil our trip. the travel agent i used ended up admitting her mistakes AFTER the fact. i am supposed to pick up my documents this weekend so hopefully everything will be fine. from now on...i will not use them again.

 

mollyeilis - in terms of passports and my feared problem with birth certificates is this. i checked on our passport progress and 4 of the 5 have been sent. DH is still on hold which is what i feared would happen. he simply doesn't have a real certified birth certificate because the hospital messed up when he was born. someone wasn't doing their job and forgot to file any births at that hospital for a 3 day period and my DH happened to be one of those. He has a Delayed Order of birth which is acceptable IF it was issued within 1 year of his birth, but guess what it wasn't. Somehow he managed to get thru school without a certified birth certiicate and he didn't file a delay until he was 25. Because of the delay in issuance, he is required to get a notorized seal from the Doctor that delivered him or both of his parents but he can't because they are dead. All we could do is provide the hospital statement showing his mom had a baby boy there, and his hospital birth certificate (which is not considered a valid document). That is the only document we had within 5 years of when he was born. I can understand the passport process at trying to prevent someone from taking someone else's identity but still its causing us some stress! We still don't know if they will approve his passport or not since it is currently on hold. 4 of our family's 5 passports have been approved and sent. Once we get on the boat we'll definitely be able to relax and enjoy the vacation!

[Happy ks]

Although I lost track of the first TA who booked our very first cruise, I thank my lucky stars for him, he guided us pretty well.

 

I do hope everything turns out well for you, it's such a shame your agent wasn't as skilled as they should have been. But, don't feel bad about any of this, we were all newbies at one time, many of us learned things the hard way.

 

Now that you have found this site, your next cruise (most of us do a next and a next etc ...:) ), you will be able to do so much of the planning yourself.

 

It's so easy to book your own air, hotel, ground transportation, insurance, shore excursions, but we just don not know about it the first time around.

 

I always check the cruisline airfare, although I haven't used it except for the very first cruise. We can usually find fare much lower and even if it is about equal, we at least can control our own flight times and seat assignments doing it ourselves.

 

I'll have to add, there are so few connecting cabins onboard ships, they are not always available, especially for guarantees. When you purchase a guaranteed cabin, you are buying blind, all you are guaranteed is your category or better. The next time you will know to book specific cabins, if you need a specific location.

 

Good luck to you, I hope everything turns out well and you have a great cruise!

[mollyeilis]

mollyeilis - in terms of passports and my feared problem with birth certificates is this. i checked on our passport progress and 4 of the 5 have been sent. DH is still on hold which is what i feared would happen. he simply doesn't have a real certified birth certificate because the hospital messed up when he was born. someone wasn't doing their job and forgot to file any births at that hospital for a 3 day period and my DH happened to be one of those. He has a Delayed Order of birth which is acceptable IF it was issued within 1 year of his birth, but guess what it wasn't. Somehow he managed to get thru school without a certified birth certiicate and he didn't file a delay until he was 25. Because of the delay in issuance, he is required to get a notorized seal from the Doctor that delivered him or both of his parents but he can't because they are dead. All we could do is provide the hospital statement showing his mom had a baby boy there, and his hospital birth certificate (which is not considered a valid document). That is the only document we had within 5 years of when he was born. I can understand the passport process at trying to prevent someone from taking someone else's identity but still its causing us some stress! We still don't know if they will approve his passport or not since it is currently on hold. 4 of our family's 5 passports have been approved and sent. Once we get on the boat we'll definitely be able to relax and enjoy the vacation!

 

 

Good gracious! How incredibly stressful.

 

(For other reasons) I was looking on the state dept's site and saw:

 

"A Delayed Birth Certificate filed more than one year after your birth may be acceptable if it:

 

Listed the documentation used to create it and

Signed by the attending physician or midwife, or, lists an affidavit signed by the parents, or shows early public records. "

 

Since he was in school and such, do those count as the early public records? Could he get those notarized or certified (by the school district perhaps?) and just have that for the future, if this gets messed up somehow? Or have you already done that, having read what I read? :)

 

 

Oh der, it goes on:

 

"If you do NOT have a previous U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate, you will need:

 

Letter of No Record

Issued by the State with your name, date of birth, which years were searched for a birth record and that there is no birth certificate on file for you.

 

AND as many of the following as possible:

Baptismal certificate

Hospital birth certificate

Census record

Early school record

Family bible record

Doctor's record of post-natal care

NOTES: These documents must be early public records showing the date and place of birth, preferably created within the first five years of your life.

 

You may also submit an Affidavit of Birth, form DS-10, from an older blood relative, i.e., a parent, aunt, uncle, sibling, who has personal knowledge of your birth. It must be notarized or have the seal and signature of the acceptance agent."

 

 

 

I hope all this is moot and that you had all the stuff prepared, and he's just one of the passports being sent through so quickly they never appear in the system and just show up. :) But if it doesn't, perhaps you can find an uncle or elementary school record etc etc?

 

 

I'm being a dork, I'm sure you've already thought of all that...

 

I can't even imagine the stress this must put on your hubby and you...just the fact that WA b.certificates look absolutely fake to me caused me immense stress that somehow my MIL had messed up with DH's records...it wasn't until our son was born and *his* certified b.certificate from WA looked just the same as DH's that I was able to relax about the whole thing! Good luck!

[bunnytails2000]

Believe it or not, I actually had a hard time sending what I did in with his passport application. The Post Office we went to (and we picked that one because it was the only one who took pics and seemed to know what they were doing) claimed they didn't need it. We sent what we had because I hadn't found all the information you had just showed me until AFTER I sent it in. I just knew we couldn't get the docs signature or both parents. We sent in his Delayed birth order along with the original hospital certificate with the Doctor's signature, the paper and letter from the hospital (signed and appropriate seals) and County showing his birth at the hospital but no record was found that allowed them to issue the Delayed Order.

 

What gets me is the Online status tells us its in processing but they may have tried to contact us and possibly provide further info and to call but when we call they know nothing about what they need. And we have to have it in 4 weeks. When I picked up our travel documents, I let my travel agent know AGAIN why I had origianally requested the day before flight. She just couldn't understand why he wouldn't have a birth certificate even though i've been upfront with her from day 1. Its just getting to be TOO stressful. If it hasn't shown up as sent on Tuesday we will call the passport center again.

[mollyeilis]

Oh that all sounds so hard! I hope it all works out, and quickly!

 

Don't you hate it when people don't listen to you, when you've given them all the info they need on the FIRST time around? Frustrating.

[trvlgtut]

Just an FYI for anybody else in a rush(2008 is coming!!!)The Post Office is also a great place to get your passport, and Express Mail both ways plus expediting it will really speed things up.

[mollyeilis]

I dunno, trvlgtut, sounds like the PO is the place that told the OP something wasn't needed, when it was! :p

[para]

I am not sure where you are traveling from or where you are going. I found this info on Bahamas.com

http://www.bahamas.com/bahamas/about/general.aspx?sectionid=170450&level=2&lid=HOMEFMA_170439

If you apply for a U.S. passport now through March 24, 2007, and visit Nassau/Paradise Island by March 31, 2007, you can get a rebate of the costs for your entire family! All you need to do is make a reservation at a participating Nassau/Paradise Island hotel for a minimum 2-night stay, download the Passport rebate form and send in the supporting documents. You will then receive a rebate check to cover the application fees for a US Passport ($97 for Adults and $82 for Children) for up to 4 travelers per room.

 

Like many others my husband and I just applied for our passports at our local post office. Not all location offer this,so call first.Normally it takes about 6-8 weeks for a passport and is 97.00pp for adults, but they offer quick passports 2-3 weeks for an extra 60.00pp.The post office also charges 15.00pp if you need pics.Our local cvs was cheaper only $7-8 for pics.We did not need one for the Bahamas, but we felt better getting them.

http://www.usps.com/passport/ us postal services site

 

I hope this helps.Good luck and have a great trip!

[EscapeCruises]

Where is the most reliable place to go to apply for passports needed on spring break? My travel agent recommended going on just birth certificates BUT I just got my travel itinerary and we only have a 3 hour time span from airport arrival to cruise departure and if our layover in atlanta is delayed we will miss the boat. I'm a bit upset because I requested a night before arrival in Miama and got a reservation arriving 3 hours before departure. She is now highly recommending passports because I refuse to pay $1750 to change what I requested originally. Now I need to have passports in hand by the end of March. Where should I go? We are a family of 5 and one of us has a delayed birth certificate even though it has a seal it will delay the passport process for just a tad longer.

 

You can go through your local post office, and hope that you get it in time, or visit one of the Regional passport centers. I'm not sure where you are from, but they are located near major cities. I actually got mine same day at the Philadelphia Passport Agency; it couldn't have been easier.

 

Turnaround times are about 8 weeks now according to passport site; expedited is 2 week turnaround.

 

For Regional Passport Agency Locations, visit:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/about/agencies/agencies_913.html

 

Also, regarding the delayed birth certificate, the site says:

 

A Delayed Birth Certificate filed more than one year after your birth may be acceptable if it:

• Listed the documentation used to create it and
  
• Signed by the attending physician or midwife, or, lists an affidavit signed by the parents, or shows early public records.

To get a passport at one of the regional centers, you have to be traveling within 14 days, so you must call to schedule an appt. 14 days from your trip.

So, basically, you either go to the post office, pay expedited fees and return shipping, or you can wait until 14 days from trip and go to regional center and get it same day; you still pay expedited fees, but not shipping.

 

If you think you may have a problem with the delayed birth certificate, I would go for the post office and expediting it.

 

Good luck and happy sailing!:D

[ponygirlgt1]

I applied for my passport last Friday and was given an "estimated" 6 week return time.

 

My husband applied for his the following Monday, the clerk remembered me and said they got a notification from the US Dept of State that the return time is now 8 weeks.......

 

So if you need them...get them....its only going to get longer and longer

[Dremac373]

As EscapeCruises stated you can go to your regional office with your paper work, photos and pay the fees and expedite fee, if you are flying out within a certain lime like less than a week or so you can get it that fast. I took the drive to D.C. and paid the addtion expedite fee and we got our passports in 11 days our flight was like 2 weeks after. Also FYI if you are not sure of the acceptable phots(they are very picky, there were quite a few places on the same block that takes passport photos, I say that cause the Walmart Photos were not acceptable and had to run out and take new ones...the whole time elapsed was aprox. 30-45 minutes from time the doors open til we got our receipts, good luck to all