sparks1093

Sure, but he'll need the documents that I mentioned to return to the US at the land border.

I don't believe this changes onboard practice at all.

If you board in the US and debark in Vancouver you would need an EDL (which Michigan issues), a passport card or a passport, unless the cruise line requires the passport.

It might be $1k to $2k more, but if they include the drinks package, the wifi, and gratuities than for some itineraries the overall price between the two will be much closer, so if one routinely gets those items it is worth looking at (provided of course one wants to try new things, our personal goal is to sail all of the mainstream and as many of the next tier cruise lines as we can. If we can do that for about what we spend on Carnival then that's icing on the cake.).

They were piloting that, have they made it a permanent thing? I hope that they do.

Yes, they see a lot of situations but it must remembered that these situations represent a small percentage of cruisers, especially those on closed loop cruises. You can do all of the math tricks you want to, but the fact is passports costs are due and payable up front, they can't be paid over the course of their validity. When my family started cruising it would have cost around $850 for passports for the 7 of us for a 4 day cruise that cost around $1800. I didn't even get to affordability in the decision making process. DW and I both knew that we wanted to travel internationally by air one day and decided to wait to get passports until that day came. We started cruising in 2009 and our first international air trip was in 2015 and that is when we got our passports. If we had gotten them when we first started cruising they would have been over halfway to expiration before we used them for a trip that we actually needed them for. That, to me, would have been wasteful. Every traveler's travel needs are different and many of them have choices that they can make for travel documentation. The passport is of course king, but some travelers can get by with a queen or a jack. I personally don't need to spend extra money for peace of mind, but again, everyone is different. Cruising with something other than a passport is a viable option for some and what you decide to do doesn't affect them just as what they decide to do doesn't affect you.

I'm not one to let all of that research go to waste.🙂

If her last name is different on the drivers license then it is on the birth certificate then it is recommended. Some people do get asked to show it but I've never heard of anyone being denied boarding for not having it. Bon voyage!

There is a bit of delay while things are worked out but the delay is typically measured in hours from what I've read. There are people on duty all of the time that handle this type of thing and as I said in my last post the arrangements are made between the cruise line port agent and the authorities.

In instances that I've read about the passengers aren't the ones making the call. The cruise line port agent notifies the authorities and they issue the authorization for the passenger to fly home on the first direct flight to the US. When the passenger lands they are sent to secondary inspection where they are cleared to continue their journey. The one drawback to all of this is that if one were to miss the ship then their cruise would be over since they would not be able to fly to the next port. Yes, everyone that works in the business recommends a passport, it does make their job easier but to me that is a poor reason for me to spend my money. People have a choice when it comes to travel documentation for closed loop cruises and as long as they are comfortable assuming the small risk involved that's all that matters.

Yes, your citizenship was conferred because of your father being a citizen, whereas someone born on Guam gets their citizenship from being born in a US territory, just like being born in a state. DW received her citizenship by naturalizing and used her naturalization certificate to cruise with the first few times. (I will note that both the CRBA and NC cost money to replace, so having a more durable form of citizenship proof might be prudent. When I found out that it cost $350 to replace a naturalization certificate we got our EDLs.)

Except that there are provisions in the DHS regulations that allow for the waiver of the passport requirement for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons. The government isn't going to let millions of its citizens leave the country without have procedures in place to get them home if something happens.

They aren't accepted because of PR law, which invalidated all birth certificates issued prior to a certain date because of rampant fraud. I've never read of a similar issue with other US territories.

Most passengers think the muster is only for when the ship is sinking and don't realize the number of events that could cause a ship-wide muster, such as the few that you mention. Mustering the passengers lets the Captain know that all of the passengers are safe and accounted for and keeps them out of the way while the crew deals with the emergency. While I like the new muster the sailor in me is always going "this isn't going to work if the brown stuff hits the fan".

Have to have passengers involved to fully train the crew.

It's a US territory so an official birth certificate issued by Guam should work. Doubtful anything issued by the hospital would work.

I know, that's why I started my post with "I agree" and then added what PVPs will do, so newbies following the thread will learn that.🙂

I agree but my PVP will do the price adjustment for me under Early Saver if I find it.

DW just had to pay for the glass, the shot was covered by Cheers.

They were a thing on Legend.

Did a search and found this: Corkscrews (with no blade) Carry On Bags: Yes Checked Bags: Yes For more prohibited items, please go to the 'What Can I Bring?' page.

Better to bring it and not need it then to not bring it and need it seems to be the consensus to this question.

Call and ask to be re-assigned seems to be the easiest way.

I agree that it is something that is best to have.

Like that wouldn't get flagged in the system so as soon as you land you are pulled out of the line. There are far easier ways to do that (like, just getting on a plane at you home airport and flying off to somewhere else...or even just jump in the car and drive).