Birth Certificate vs Passport

[pdmlynek]

[COLOR=navy]If anyone is keeping score, I don’t leave the US without my passport. It seems very weird and provincial to be traveling with a birth certificate. A passport is a travel document, a birth certificate is not. Further, a US passport is the ultimate ID within the US even if a person does not travel, for employment, banking services, obtaining other IDs, etc.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=navy] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=navy]Also, forgive me for being naïve because I do not cruise as much as others, but if a person is in another country without a passport, isn’t that person simply an undocumented alien? Just exactly what would prevent a cop from throwing a gringo without documents into jail until it is sorted out who the person is and what is he doing there? [/COLOR]

[njhorseman]

[quote name='pdmlynek'][COLOR=navy]If anyone is keeping score, I don’t leave the US without my passport. It seems very weird and provincial to be traveling with a birth certificate. A passport is a travel document, a birth certificate is not. Further, a US passport is the ultimate ID within the US even if a person does not travel, for employment, banking services, obtaining other IDs, etc.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=navy] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=navy]Also, forgive me for being naïve because I do not cruise as much as others, but [COLOR="Red"]if a person is in another country without a passport, isn’t that person simply an undocumented alien? [/COLOR] Just exactly what would prevent a cop from throwing a gringo without documents into jail until it is sorted out who the person is and what is he doing there? [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

No...you're not an "undocumented alien" if the country permits you to enter without a passport, and that is the case with every country visited by the cruises we're talking about. You wouldn't have been allowed on the ship to take the cruise if you did not meet the entry requirements of every country being visited by that cruise.

[Warm Breezes]

[quote name='pdmlynek'][COLOR=navy]If anyone is keeping score, I don’t leave the US without my passport. It seems very weird and provincial to be traveling with a birth certificate. A passport is a travel document, a birth certificate is not. [COLOR=red]According to the US Govt. a BC is an acceptable travel document on a closed loop cruise. [/COLOR]Further, a US passport is the ultimate ID within the US even if a person does not travel, for employment, banking services, obtaining other IDs, etc.[/COLOR][COLOR=red] I have never needed a passport for any of these items in the US in my 46 years.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=navy]Also, forgive me for being naïve because I do not cruise as much as others, but if a person is in another country without a passport, isn’t that person simply an undocumented alien? Just exactly what would prevent a cop from throwing a gringo without documents into jail until it is sorted out who the person is and what is he doing there? [/COLOR][/quote][COLOR=red] You really have no clue as to what you are talking about:rolleyes:. Try reading WHTI.[/COLOR]

[Zubsin]

[quote name='njhorseman']No, you don't need a passport if you're not flying...you can drive to Canada using an Enhanced Drivers License, and in fact Washington is one of the states (the others being VT, NY and MI) that offers the EDL.[/quote]

Ok yes you can get an enhanced DL which costs more money then a DL but I believe the OP mentioned not wanting to pay the government extra money to go on vacation. In Washington an EDL is $95 for 5 years if you are applying for the first time but upgrading your current WDL to and WEDL is like $15. Renewal is $60

[Zubsin]

[quote name='njhorseman']I seriously doubt that you have firsthand knowledge of this being true, but even if you did, cruisers being denied boarding because they didn't have proper documentation is not what I'm disputing. Of course you won't be allowed to cruise without proper documentation. What I'm disputing is the Cruise Critic urban myth that somehow passengers with proper documentation are being denied boarding because of the arbitrary actions of misinformed agents at the port who mistakenly think a valid birth certificate is not proper documentation. There is no evidence of that happening...not one iota. A small number of Cruise Critic posters show up on thread after thread perpetuating this myth and use it to scare inexperienced cruisers who have questions about needed documentation.[/quote]

Nevermind....I read this quote wrong and now I cannot delete my comment.

[BruceMuzz]

Not so long ago a Carnival ship had some serious problems on a Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Diego.
The ship had a big fire at sea off the Mexican Riviera, which stopped propulsion and electrical power shipwide.
Carnival could have had the ship quickly towed to the nearest port - Puerto Vallarta - to disembark the passengers the next day and fly them home.
But the cruise line soon discovered that most of the passengers were US Citizens without passports. They would not be allowed to fly into the USA without passports.

Carnival had to decide to either take them to PV the next day and get fleets of buses to take them back to the USA (a very long and bumpy trip), or to leave them aboard the crippled ship for 3 more days (without toilets, aircon, or cooked food) while they towed it back to San Diego - avoiding the passport problems.
They chose option 2. All those passengers without passports were not too happy.

Last year in San Juan, a Princess ship and a RCCL ship were embarking passengers for an evening sailaway. A tropical storm was quickly approaching. The port authority instructed the ships to depart several hours early. They did. Many passengers did not make it onboard. The Princess people offered to fly their unlucky passengers to the next port to catch up with the ship. Unfortunately most of those passengers did not have passports and were not allowed to fly. They went home instead. Really too bad.

When my ship sails out of US Ports, we deny boarding to one or two cabins every cruise, due to improper Birth Certificates, expired driving licenses, or people showing up with just the BC or just the driving license.

In the grand scheme of things, the odds of something like this happening to you are quite small. If you are willing to gamble $100 that it won't happen, go for it. My ship is always fully booked, and I rely on those denied boarding people to give me the empty cabins I need for upgrades and emergencies.