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Self inflicted bad experience


easy1969
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I have been on many cruises and have enjoyed each and every one of them.

What I am about to share is the story of one of my close friends and his wife's first cruise.

 

As a regular cruiser I talk about cruising to anyone who is interested I talk about the great times we have had cruising and what a good value I believe it is.

So my friend decides that he wants to book a cruise for him and wife and I give him the name and number of my carnival vacation planner.

he proceeded and booked a 7 day out of Tampa.

He and his wife were so excited about this cruise and counted the days til cruise time.

so the time arrived. My friend and his wife left from Knoxville tn and drove to the port in tampa, parked and proceeded to board the ship , this is when the problem became apparent. My friends wife was good to go all documentation correct, but my friend had forgot his passport back in tn.

to make it even worse his wife had asked him when they were packing if he remembered his passport and he said he remembered it..... he really had not and planed to get it out of the safe but.... being so excited about the cruise and preparing to be out of town for 10 days he forgot to get the passport.

he did not think of it again till they were preparing to board the ship.

 

At the end of the day they were not allowed to board and lost all of the cruise fare.

My friend has told me some of the details of that long drive back to Tennessee with his very unhappy wife and it was as you may imagine it was a tense trip.

 

I felt terrible for them as it would suck to be at the port and watch your vacation leave without you.

 

well anyway the point of this post is to remind everyone that this type of thing happens often, and you don't want it to be you. SO TRIPLE CHECK TO BE SURE YOU AND EVERYONE IN YOUR PARTY HAVE ALL TRAVAL DOCUMENTS.

 

As I stated above I felt bad about them missing the cruise and thanks to a very good casino offer my wife and I were able to treat them to a cruise a few months later( this cruise came with a few jokes about passports..)

we all had a great time.

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Too bad someone at home couldn't have faxed his birth certificate to the port, or that they didn't have the foresight to put a copy on their phone or cloud. It's important to know where the travel documents are but it is also important to know what any alternatives are (after all, even if the passport is brought along it could get lost or stolen en route). (Presuming of course it's a closed loop cruise.)

Edited by sparks1093
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Too bad someone at home couldn't have faxed his birth certificate to the port, or that they didn't have the foresight to put a copy on their phone or cloud. It's important to know where the travel documents are but it is also important to know what any alternatives are (after all, even if the passport is brought along it could get lost or stolen en route). (Presuming of course it's a closed loop cruise.)

 

I didn't even know having a picture of it would work as well. I'm going to do that immediately!

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A tip I got from my dad who was in the military for nearly 30 years. It works for me.

 

My final packing check for the last 30 years is very small.

 

Passport, tickets, documentation, credit cards, cash.

 

Anything I've forgotten I don't worry about because if it's vital I can buy it. Yes, I forget things. No, it's never been a real problem.

 

VP

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A concise check list - maintained during the period leading up to any operation - and periodically checked enough in advance of kick-off to insure completion of required items, and given final check just before "lowering the landing craft" --- learned from training in amphibious warfare operations.

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OP, I just read you post to my DW and had missed your last few lines the first time I read your post- Good for you! Everyone should have such a friend. (I also told DW this is exactly why I show her the passports after I've retrieved them from the safe deposit box, so she knows that we do have them.)

Edited by sparks1093
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I think that if I had been the wife I would have boarded and told him to pick me up in a week! :D

 

That is exactly what I would have done. I would have been like "Enjoy Tampa! Hope you find a good hotel! Good luck! See you in a week!"

 

But I am also the keeper of the passports and would not have allowed it to happen in the first place.

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Oops. I find it helps to have passports etc all in one place- I have a travel wallet where they live, and I know it always needs to come with us. I put all the flight details and tickets and things in there too. (Although I would be screwed it if ever got lost haha).

 

Also we never take the other persons word for it that they have their passport- do a visual check that we both have our passports before we leave!!

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We have seen more then one person turned away from boarding because their birth certificate (used by many on closed loop cruises) did not meet the requirements of the cruise line. The cruise lines (and CBP) have stringent criteria for acceptable birth certificates, so for those that insist on using this type of document...make sure what you have is acceptable. As to Passports, the basic rule for those of us who do a lot of international travel, is to always have a valid Passport with at least 6 months of remaining validity. Once my Passport gets under 1 year remaining, I plan on when we have a few weeks at home (we are out of the country at least 6 months a year) so I can get it renewed.

 

Hank

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I have been on many cruises and have enjoyed each and every one of them.

What I am about to share is the story of one of my close friends and his wife's first cruise.

 

As a regular cruiser I talk about cruising to anyone who is interested I talk about the great times we have had cruising and what a good value I believe it is.

So my friend decides that he wants to book a cruise for him and wife and I give him the name and number of my carnival vacation planner.

he proceeded and booked a 7 day out of Tampa.

He and his wife were so excited about this cruise and counted the days til cruise time.

so the time arrived. My friend and his wife left from Knoxville tn and drove to the port in tampa, parked and proceeded to board the ship , this is when the problem became apparent. My friends wife was good to go all documentation correct, but my friend had forgot his passport back in tn.

to make it even worse his wife had asked him when they were packing if he remembered his passport and he said he remembered it..... he really had not and planed to get it out of the safe but.... being so excited about the cruise and preparing to be out of town for 10 days he forgot to get the passport.

he did not think of it again till they were preparing to board the ship.

 

At the end of the day they were not allowed to board and lost all of the cruise fare.

My friend has told me some of the details of that long drive back to Tennessee with his very unhappy wife and it was as you may imagine it was a tense trip.

 

I felt terrible for them as it would suck to be at the port and watch your vacation leave without you.

 

well anyway the point of this post is to remind everyone that this type of thing happens often, and you don't want it to be you. SO TRIPLE CHECK TO BE SURE YOU AND EVERYONE IN YOUR PARTY HAVE ALL TRAVAL DOCUMENTS.

 

As I stated above I felt bad about them missing the cruise and thanks to a very good casino offer my wife and I were able to treat them to a cruise a few months later( this cruise came with a few jokes about passports..)

we all had a great time.

 

The 1st thing on our packing list, yes you guessed it, 'ALL cruise documents' ( this includes cruise and passports, and we even check behind each other) we even shred and throw ALL old passports away so that in our excitement we don't accidently pack them. I've heard of others saying they make photocopies of current passports and pack them in their suitcase to take ashore on the cruise but I'm not sure you could use them at an embarking cruise port ? Or is this allowable ? Does anybody know? If so, then that's good plan B.

 

Mac

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The 1st thing on our packing list, yes you guessed it, 'ALL cruise documents' ( this includes cruise and passports, and we even check behind each other) we even shred and throw ALL old passports away so that in our excitement we don't accidently pack them. I've heard of others saying they make photocopies of current passports and pack them in their suitcase to take ashore on the cruise but I'm not sure you could use them at an embarking cruise port ? Or is this allowable ? Does anybody know? If so, then that's good plan B.

 

Mac

 

No, a photocopy of your passport won't work when re-entering the country.

 

Regarding the birth certificates, generally, it must be an official copy issued by the state/county where you were born. The fancy hospital one doesn't work. There are some cruise lines that will accept a photocopy of the official copy, however.

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Here is what I usually do. I do not use the spreadsheet or anything like that. When we book a vacation I use a large mailing envelope (think 9" by 12" envelope) into which I put everything we will NEED for the vacation. Things like passports, tickets, luggage tags, etc. That stays in one place and a few weeks before we leave I check to make sure everything we need is in the envelope. When I check the envelope, I also pack the daily pill containers with medicines. That goes either into the envelope, or my carry on if it is on the dining room table.

 

On the day before we leave, I transfer that envelope to my carry-on directly. I do not remove anything.

 

As has been posted by others here in this thread, all I really NEED is documentation, credit card, boarding passes, etc. I can purchase clothes, food, and pretty much anything else I need.

 

But another thing to think about having is a passport card. You can board a ship with just that, and it stays in your wallet as it is the size of a credit card. That would have made the whole forgetting the passport issue in the OP's post a total non-issue.

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...

But another thing to think about having is a passport card. You can board a ship with just that, and it stays in your wallet as it is the size of a credit card. That would have made the whole forgetting the passport issue in the OP's post a total non-issue.

 

You are presuming it is a closed loop cruise. But since card cannot be used for flights, cannot be used for cruises that are not closed loop.

 

Also, if emergency and must fly home card cannot be used.

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You are presuming it is a closed loop cruise. But since card cannot be used for flights, cannot be used for cruises that are not closed loop.

 

Also, if emergency and must fly home card cannot be used.

 

The card may most certainly be used for cruises that aren't closed loop and as a back up document (which is what the PP was suggesting) to be used when the passport isn't available it's not a completely untenable idea.

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"See you in a week, honey! Enjoy the drive home, but be back to pick me up! Or get a hotel in Tampa."

 

When I travel I have all necessary documents in my purse. I check them the morning of departure. I check them on the way to the airport. I check them when I am checking in for my flight. I hope those people got to go on another cruise sometime...and the wife organized everything.

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