I have enough to get a passport, isn't that enough?

April 26, 2007 5:59 PM

My wife is going on a cruise this weekend. Her birth certificate and passport are missing. Leaving from California, I'm in Virginia. The ship is stopping in Mexico for fuel. Options?

The facts:

Documents are in disarray, partially due to a small fire. She is in California now, with my two kids, and would like to able to board her ship on Saturday.

She has just learned that she will need either a passport (expired or not) or birth certificate, in addition to photo identification.

She will not be leaving the ship and entering Mexico at any time, unless there is an emergency. The only other stop is Hawaii.

She was born on a Navy base in 1966.

I currently have in my possession tax documents, a social security card, driver's licenses from two states (expired), a baptism certificate, a voter registration card, and the services of a notary public.

She is going on a Celebrity cruise. From their web page:

• For domestic travel which includes: the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico, a passport (valid or expired) is highly recommended.
• In the absence of a passport, a birth certificate (original or a certified copy), plus a picture ID card issued by a federal, state or local government agency is required.
• A voter registration card or Social Security Card are not considered to be proof of citizenship.

From the Department of State:
January 1, 2008 – It is anticipated that on January 1, 2008, U.S. citizens traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid U.S. passport or other documents as determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

Further reading reveals that at worst, she will be subject to some verification upon attempting to re-enter the US.

However, the cruise line is insisting upon the documentation before boarding.

She has an expired passport that I am unlikely to find in time to send overnight. Her birth certificate is likely not here.

Ideas? Thanks.

posted by bh to travel & transportation (15 comments total)

Expited passport service - she can call and try to make an appointment at a regional center to get a passport tomorrow, maybe.

The phone lines are still open for today.
posted by munchingzombie at 6:31 PM on April 26, 2007

I decided to take a last minute trip to canada, but I couldn't find my birth certificate and my passport had expired. I ordered a new birth certificate from VitalCheck, using the rush service, and got it 2 days later. I actually had it sent directly to my hotel in Seattle (where I was stopping before moving on to vancouver). I don't know if it will get to your wife before she boards the ship on saturday, but maybe it can be sent to the port agent at the first port of call (which could be mexico, even if she personally isn't getting off the ship). Call vitalcheck and get the order started, then call the cruise line and see if it will be possible to receive the documentation at the port. If it isn't possible, then in the worst case you just have the certificate shipped to you, you'll need it at some point anyway.
posted by necessitas at 6:48 PM on April 26, 2007

She will still need a birth certificate or expired passport to be able to get a replacement passport, even through an expedited service. (The only exception to this is to have a "Letter of No Record" from a state that has searched, and a number of other family documents.) This is documented in the Proof of US Citizenship section of this page.

Overseas births (including on overseas military bases) are recorded by the State Department office of vital records. Some information about them is here, and you can call them on 202-955-0307. Getting a copy of it tomorrow is going to be very difficult, though.

Now, if she was born on base in the US, vitalcheck.com might be able to help you (but they can't if she was born overseas). They offer an extremely expedient method to obtain a duplicate birth certificate.

The root of the problem is that it's gotten increasingly difficult to prove that you're a US citizen as the US has adopted a more anti-immigration attitude in the last decade. And unfortunately, citizenship is what the cruise line is trying to prove, using the same guidelines that the State Department does.

Your best option (short of postponing the trip) is to find her expired passport in the next 48 hours and get it to her. If it's too late to overnight it, you might be able to send it airport-to-airport via air-cargo or courier.
posted by toxic at 6:56 PM on April 26, 2007

If she's traveling with the kids, then she should check what additional paper work she'll need. Mexico has a rule that adults traveling with children need some sort of proof that the other parent has given consent. I don't know when and under what circumstances they actually enforce this rule.
posted by rdr at 7:31 PM on April 26, 2007

rdr- Thanks, taken care of. Although she won't actually be entering Mexico, the paperwork for the kids is taken care of.
posted by bh at 8:37 PM on April 26, 2007

From the experience of friends, and from my research into my options when desiring to take a similar cruise without a passport, you likely will not be asked for this documentation, but in the unlikely even that you need to get back to the US by an alternate method, say a plane because you broke your head, you will very much need that passport.

Expedited service still take a month or so, but the place recommended by necessitas may differ.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:40 PM on April 26, 2007

Ambrosia: Expedited service still take a month or so

???

I've gotten a replacement US passport in a matter of hours (and yes, it was post Sept 11th). You just have to do it in person, or pay one of the services to do it (appear in person) for you. You have to demonstrate that you need it immediately (i.e. show your ticket leaving tomorrow morning), but it's certainly possible.

You do, however, need to prove citizenship, which the poster's wife can't do until he finds her birth certificate, passport or Consular Report of Birth Abroad.
posted by toxic at 8:51 PM on April 26, 2007

I think your problem isn't entering Mexico, it's getting back into the US.

And I think you should seriously consider the possibility that it's too late, and she shouldn't get on that ship.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 8:56 PM on April 26, 2007

To elaborate on the important point - the issue now is getting onto the ship, not getting back into the US. The cruise line, in a likely CYA move, is requiring paperwork that the State Department does not require. No passengers are disembarking outside of the US - this is a cruise to Hawaii with a quick refueling stop in Mexico.

I have two weeks to find a way to get her back into the country, and numerous ways to get the proper paperwork. My issue is with the previously unknown requirement of presenting the proper paperwork to board the ship.

Postponing isn't an option, either. There are eight people in the party, the cruise is paid for, and of course it is non-refundable.
posted by bh at 9:09 PM on April 26, 2007

bh: to clarify the part I may be right about, they are totally CYAing, and they had just added that language when I had to determine whether they were serious. I didn't wind up going on the cruise because I was waiting for my replacement birth certificate (The bare minimum, and once in hand, I'd hustle for the passport, I thought. ) before I wanted to buy the ticket, and then it sold out.

But my pals who did go, and this was in January, were not asked for documents. I don't believe they verify those papers much of the time despite that very clear language they now use about your documentation needed. If your wife has the ticket and is ready to board, she may as well try, for the luck I bet she'll have. She'll probably wind up on the boat. Just don't let her fall off and swim to shore in Mexico, por supuesto.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:30 PM on April 26, 2007

I have two weeks to find a way to get her back into the country

If this cruise goes from US to Mexico (to fill up on cheap diesel) to Hawaii, she might be re-entering the US in Hawaii on May 3rd. That certainly gives you some days (and more reliable express mail service than Ensenada), but I wouldn't be sure it's two weeks.

Call the State Department office of vital records when they open tomorrow. Call the cruise line, too.
posted by toxic at 9:55 PM on April 26, 2007

In lost paperwork situations like these, the two steps that are reccommended are 1) call the appropriate agencies (State Department and Regional Passport Bureau, in your case). 2) Call your Congressional Representative, who can often seriously expedite these proceedings if you ask him or her to.
posted by muddgirl at 5:32 AM on April 27, 2007

But my pals who did go, and this was in January, were not asked for documents. I don't believe they verify those papers much of the time despite that very clear language they now use about your documentation needed.

I think this depends on the cruise line. I was in a similar situation for a Carnival cruise and once there it was clear that no one was getting on the ship without the proper papers.

Of course, if you don't get a birth certificate/passport in order your wife has little to lose by going there and trying to brazen her way on with whatever papers she has since it is already paid for and all. But be sure to prep the kids ahead of time that they might not be going on the cruise (or they might be going on it with the other people in your party but not your wife, as the case may be).
posted by mikepop at 6:27 AM on April 27, 2007

Just a data point here, I've taken several Royal Caribbean cruises recently and we had to present our passports. RCCL and Celebrity are owned by the same company, so I will respectfully disagree with Ambrosia Voyeur's statement regarding passports, given my experience and the Celebrity statement you quoted.

Try calling Celebrity to see what you can do. Maybe you get corporate approval for this instance with some other paperwork or documentation. I'm sure this happens more often than you think and they have a "response" to address it.

Also, try posting this question under the Celebrity forum on the message boards at Cruisecritic.com. You may want to also try searching the CC boards to see if/how other people have dealt with this issue.
posted by ml98tu at 7:02 AM on April 27, 2007

Just to follow up -

She boarded today, having a notarized faxed copy of a birth certificate. She only needed a driver's license.
posted by bh at 1:47 PM on April 28, 2007