Travel documents - birth certificates

[pescado!]

Hi all,

 

We are going on Carnival Paradise to Baja (Catalina and Ensenada) in January with some friends. Our family has passports, so we are all set. This will be our friends' first cruise, so I want everything to go smoothly for them.

 

A question regarding birth certificates: is it OK if there is no 'raised seal'? In this family of five, two have birth certificates with raised seals, two have birth certificates without the raised seal (and one member will bring naturalization papers).

 

On the carnival website, it says bring an original birth certificate or a state issued copy of a birth certificate (no mention that a raised seal is required).

 

Do you think we will experience any problems with these documents?

 

thanks!

janet

[kitty9]

As long as the birth certificates are original or state issued and not photocopies, they should be fine. Not all states use the raised seals any longer, so they don't demand that anymore.

[Seaya39]

Expect disembarkation to take quite a bit longer for your friends. I did this cruise in April on the Ecstacy. One out of the 4 of us did not have a passport. There were two lines at customs - one for passported US citizens and one for everyone else. We waited about 30-40 minutes in the baggage claim for her to finally come through the line.

 

Beth

[the4thp]

We have used our birth certificates on our last 4 cruises, but have applied for passports for our 5th(we kept putting it off). My sister & husband who are going along on their 1st, are also getting passports.

 

No matter what the site says, I would reccomend at least a certified copy instead of the original birth certificate. Having the seal may seem like a small thing, but it makes it easier if everything you need is there, and you don't have to explain. Also, it removes the possibility of loosing the original.

 

Since you are not leaving until January, I would reccomend at least obtaining the certified copy.

 

Dan

[pescado!]

HI Dan

 

Thanks for the info. How do my friends go about getting a certified copy of their birth certificate?

 

thanks,

janet

[WeBeGone]

Contact the office of Vital Statistics or Records Office in the county where they were born to get a certified copy -- but really, everyone should get a birth certificate. It's only a matter of time before everyone will need one anyway.

[KKB]

took 5 min., filled out form, $7 in NE.

We weren't delayed at ALL on our cruise w/o passports.

Kristin

[pescado!]

HI all

 

thanks for the info! It costs $15 in our county to get a certified copy plus the fee to get the application notarized.

 

Our friends are going to go ahead and get the certified copies just to make sure we don't have problems later.

 

thanks!

janet