Ever forget your passport?

We were booked on the Grand Princess to leave 2/2/08 from Ft. Lauderdale traveling with our adult children and their spouses. The plan was to leave Chicago on Friday, 2/1/08 and stay overnight one night pre-cruise to allow for any weather delays. It started snowing on Thursday and continued for 24 hours, dumping about a foot of snow in Chicago, canceling 600 flights on Thursday and continuing on Friday. Lucky for us, we were flying United which has its hub in Chicago and we not only had an aircraft at our gate but our flight was on time. The anxiety over the weather had overshadowed everything else on our minds.

As we winged our way to Ft. Lauderdale, I turned to my DH and asked if he had brought the passports as they had been sitting on his dresser. The horrified look that he gave me confirmed my fears. We weren't going to land for another 2 hours and we frantically discussed this with the kids.

The girl sitting next to me suggested that we have someone go to the house and FEDEX them to us. The problem was that no one else had a key to the house. She suggested that we get a friend to get a locksmith to open the house and then send the passports. This sounded like a good idea to me but DH felt that there were too many parts to the plan that could go wrong and his plan was to fly immediately back to Chicago and come back the next day.

We called Donna, our trusty travel agent for advice and she called Princess to confirm that we needed passports or a certified copy of your birth certificate which you could get from a national data base here in the States. The fly in the ointment for that idea was that DH was not born in the USA.

She started checking flights from Ft. Lauderdale when I mentioned the locksmith idea. She became very excited and said that she had a good friend who was a locksmith and she would call him and ask if he would do this for her. While we went down to baggage claim, we also talked to the Princess rep who met us for the bus transfer to the hotel and told her that DH might not be coming with us.

Donna called back and said that while the locksmith would open the house, he would not go in it because of the liability. His best friend however was Donna's ex-boyfriend and he agreed to go along and get the documents off DH's dresser and take them to a FEDEX-KINKOS for next day delivery.

We boarded the bus to the hotel and Donna called us about 10 minutes later and conferenced us in with the locksmith who was having trouble opening the lock and he said that he had to make a key and did my key have a number on it. It did and he was able to open the door. We gave Donna the hotel address and she called us later to confirm that the package was on the way and should be delivered by noon, guaranteed.

Our SIL asked us to get the tracking number and he would check it for us the next day. Donna called us back that evening with it and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were so grateful to her for going above and beyond for us, we could not thank her enough! You would not get someone to do this for you from an online agency. She charged the locksmith fee, about $100 and the FEDEX fee about $44 to our credit card. This was a small price to pay for our stupidity.

The next day, Jeremy checked the tracking number and said it was in Pompano Beach which was the next town away. We went in for breakfast anticipating that it would be there shortly. By eleven it was still not there and I asked him to check it again and it came up with an "exception". I called 1-800-GOFEDEX and they told me that the address was incorrect! But the package was on the truck and I could pick it up at the facility when the driver came back and they were open until 7:00 PM. Small comfort when the ship was sailing @ 5:00! They asked for the correct address and said that they would leave a message for the driver.

The hotel had given us a letter telling us to meet downstairs @ 11:30-12:00 for "pre-check-in". We sent the kids down and checked out of our room and anxiously awaited a call back from FEDEX. Unbeknownst to us, Donna had also noticed the incorrect address that morning and was also calling FEDEX.

I tried again around 12:15 and got the same response, that they would send a message to the driver. In the meantime, we pulled our luggage out of the Princess pile so it wouldn't get on the ship without us and waited while the Holland America reps boarded about 12 buses for their cruise.

We discussed our problem with the hotel manager and he assured us that the FEDEX depot was only 10 minutes away and most Saturday deliveries were over by 1:00 so we should have no problem getting there to get our package and making it to the ship on time. He even said that he would arrange a towncar for us that would be the same cost as a cab and would wait for us. So we had an alternate plan. Meanwhile, DH was waiting outside looking for any FEDEX truck that came by so he could throw his body in its path just in case it was the one with our passports.

We tried to call again @ 12:50 and the FEDEX person noticed a message that said that the driver would be there in 15 minutes! As soon as I hung up, Donna was calling us with the same news. She was feeling responsible since it was her friend who had put down the wrong address!

DH, DS, DIL, SIL all waited outside for the FEDEX truck to make an appearance while DD stayed with me calming my frazzeled nerves. A few minutes later, FEDEX pulled up and DH ran to him to claim our envelope. The driver questioned him because our name was spelled incorrectly but DH pulled out his drivers license to prove it was him and then tipped the guy.

And yes, inside were the passports, the bill for the locksmith and the key he had made to get into the house. Princess was still boarding buses and had not yet called our color. Our luggage went back into the pile and we were finally on our way!

Had we ever discussed our passports before leaving? Yes, a few days earlier I had asked where they were thinking that if they were in the bank vault, I would have to go get them. But DH had assured me that they were on his dresser. And we then promptly forgot about them with all the anxiety over the weather. From now on, they will be the first thing on my list! Donna saved us from having to make another flight back home and saved our vacation with our children.

Wow, that's quite a story. Glad it all worked out for you and hope you relaxed and really enjoyed your cruise!

Wow :eek: i'm glad everything worked out and you were able to make the ship. . I would have been a nervous crazy wreck if that happened to me. . and its very good you had such an awesome travel agent to help you with that. I'm pulling mine out of the safe a good week before we go and making sure its right by my luggage and documents so I don't forget it.

OK, I'm sure I'll get a little flack for this, but this is exactly why DH has NO major responsibilities ;) I love him to death but he would forget his head if it weren't attached.

I'm very happy that your cruise wasn't ruined and you didn't have to make that roundtrip to get them!

I'm getting my passports out RIGHT NOW so I don't make the same mistake!!!

Great story and I'm so glad it worked out for you!!!

Wow, thats some story, I actually just had a nightmare the other night about this! I am usually good about putting all my paperwork in order, but hey, you never know and you certainly had a lot on your minds prior to sailing. Glad it worked out for you!

When I am traveling internationally, as soon as I get the tickets, or print out the e-ticket information, I make up a travel pack and have everything together: passport, ticket or e-ticket printout, hotel confirmations, travel insurance information, check books, transfer information. Everything I can think of. I have never left passports at home, but have twice left the whole pack on the airplane - once I remembered 10 minutes later, ran back to the plane and got my stuff. The second time I didn't remember until I'd left the airport - then American Airlines Fedexed the stuff back to me.

[quote name='shofer']
Meanwhile, DH was waiting outside looking for any FEDEX truck that came by so he could throw his body in its path just in case it was the one with our passports.

[/quote]

Great story, with a great ending.. I am glad you were able to have your vacation with your family.

The above quote is something that I hysterically laughed at as I was reading, since I can see this as something I would be doing as well. :eek:

Oh My Gosh! You handeled it soo well! I think I'll get my passport out TODAY...I still have 82 days to go!! All I can say is Oh my gosh! Those Angels are wonderful aren't they ;) ;)
So how was the cruise?

We left home in on a Friday evening in May of 05 with our passports in the front flap of our carry on. Before we got to the border, we pulled them out "just in case" (they were not [I]required[/I] for land crossings, but wanted to have them handy).

After leaving the border terminal, we slid them in the glove compartment, saying we would get them back into the luggage later.

We then spent 3 nights in Maine before going to the airport to fly to Orlando (to spend the pre-cruise week in Florida). We left the hotel via. a hotel shuttle. We checked our luggage in and got our boarding pass at the airport, and waited for the gate call. Our gate call came, and we got in line... got to security and discovered the passports were NOT in our carry-ons... they were still in the glove compartment of the car back at the hotel.

Mad rush out of the airport... no taxis in sight... (Bangor airport at 5 or 6 am). There was someone dropping off a passenger... we "hired" him to take us back to the hotel and then back to the airport. We got through security, they closed the door behind us... we JUST made it.

We would [B]NEVER[/B] do [B][COLOR=red]ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, RIGHT?[/COLOR][/B] [SIZE=4][COLOR=darkgreen][B]WRONG?[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]

Last fall, we flew to Miami, taking great care of our passports etc. Checked to make sure all was in order while at the hotel (the night before the cruise). Got a taxi to the port, left our luggage on the dock with the porters. Went and got in line... and when we went to pull our papers out of our carry-on... [B]oh no[/B]... the [B][SIZE=3]papers were NOT[/SIZE][/B] there. We realized we had somehow placed them in the front section of one of the larger pieces of luggage, that we had given to a porter on the dock.

Out I ran, found the area where we had left our luggage, and started looking at the "luggage cages" looking for our pieces. A porter asked me what I was up to, I told him, he questioned other porters, and one of them recognized me and knew which cage it would be in... (fortunately we were some of the very first at the terminal, and things were still slow, and the cages had not started to be loaded yet)... he helped me dig out our luggage, and I found the cruise papers and passports.

I went back in and found DW and we were on the Valor by about 10:45 am.

Do you think we will do things right this coming May? [B]I sure hope so[/B].

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Put passports with cruise docs...highly unlikely you'll forget 'em[/FONT] ;)

OMG! I'd freak out!

I posted this on the major cruise line boards as a reminder to everyone. If it helps even one person, then I did a good deed. We had all our documents in one place, except for the passports which we totally blanked on. A hard earned lesson, believe me! And yes, we did send Donna flowers and a gift card for saving our family cruise.

I have never actually forgotten it before, but I did have a dream that I did. Man talk about wanting to throw up! I can't imagine how must feel to actually forget it!

Wow what a story. :eek: Passports are always the first thing on my list. My spouse is way more responible than me at most things. But when I come to cruises I make sure I have them for the family. :rolleyes: I usually like check them a hundred times on the way to the airport or ship.... They always go in a wallet thingy ( one from a cruiseline that came with a snap) with the tickets cash and credit cards. This always goes in the top front flap of my carry on.

Tom in Long Beach

Our passports are already packed in my laptop case and our cruise documents will go there when they arrive. Our hotel and flight confirmations are already packed as well. Oh yeah, we don't sail until April 5th. I'm not OCD, I just plan ahead a little....OK perhaps more than a little! :D

I have to ask "Why did you trust your DH w/ something this important:eek: ???" We would get to the cruise ship w/ nothing but a coozie for our beer if I left it up to my DH. I'm just teasing you about entrusting your DH w/ the passports, mine, you can forget it, I'm in charge of packing everything. What a frazzled start to your vacation. Hope you were able to relax and have a good vacation.