Know What to Ask!!!

[Susa]

I didn't know where to express this so others won't get stuck...

I spent a good part of the day back and forth with Federal Gov officials, my TA, and with X staff to figure out what to do about a misspelled name on a birth certificate.

My 75 yr old MIL didn't recall her name was spelled wrong. Her 2nd ID (state ID) is in her true name.

The places/phone #'s (US Immigration and Fed. Info.) I was referred to said they were not the right agencies, Homeland Security could not be reached and the county she was born in only operates 8am-12noon.

20 days before sailing I'm told I need to request a corrected name which takes up to 4 weeks.

PLUS the issue of maiden name DID come up and after 55 yrs married, no one knows where the marriage certificate is...

I am finally able to re-confirm with X that they need to change her name on her ticket and have it read the incorrect name, as that is on her birth certificate. FINALLY I found that her state ID had both married and maiden names on it so I was told that should do...

ALTHOUGH I was told that the port officials are not associated with the cruislines and have federal rules...

I was told that we should have possports which would have helped (this would have ruined the surprise but if I had known wnat a pain this would be...)

Anyway, I'm told that 2 letters in a name are not an issue. THEN I'm told it is...and that I am responsable to know what documentation we should have.

So forget about surprising someone unless you can access and verify all the ID's in their possession...:eek::eek::eek::eek: (all 4 of us freakin')

[gjules]

My mom had a similar problem. Her BC has her name as SARA, her DL and all work, SS, health records, etc. all have SALLY and a life insurance policy has SARAH. She has also been married twice and had those names thrown in the pot, too! She wanted to get a passport for our cruise. We went to our lawyer, who drew up a paper stating that all those people were one and the same. It was signed by my aunt and uncle, (who have abviously known her with all her names) and notarized. We also got a name change form from the passport office, filled that out, had it signed by aunt and uncle and notarized. We sent all of this, along with BC to the passport office and she had her passport within 3 weeks! The lawyer said it was best to get it taken care of now, because later when she passes, it would have been a real mess with all those names out there that don't match!! OH, and her passport has the name SALLY, same as her most important documents.

[CaptData]

I find with the older the person (over 50) that records were often in to or three different spellings or names. My MIL (who has passed) had four different spellings including her name that I knew her by for over 20 years. Back then record keeping has been proved not to be the best. The church that baptisied the child may have one spelling, the hospital another and the birth cert another. Years ago you never needed a birth cert until the war (either the Great War or the Second), so when you applied for it you may not have known what name to use so had another one entered. The other problem is actual birth place and or records as many people were born at home or in a hunting camp (those records are very spotty). I have an uncle who died recently who was born somewhere in Northern Canada during hunting season in 1918. Now can you tell me where and when he was born from that. He chose his birthday when he joined the forces in 1939 and where he was born. When he died they were checking on his stuff and learned the truth. What a nitmare.

 

Moral of the story if the person has had a name change for any reason or is an older person get a passport ASAP.

[DFritz]

My new step-dad has on his birth certificate under name: baby boy. They decided to wait to name him. This too was a real nightmare. Back in the 1920's and 30's names didn't matter. My mother-in-laws name is Alice but her birthcertificate says , Olive. Real headaches out there. These are all very good reasons why folks should double check their official documentation pre-cruise and make any changes immediately.

[Sante Cruiser]

This is probably one of the most frequent questions I get asked (I am a travel agent at a cruise agency). Your names have to match exactly what is on the master manifest with the cruise line. Due to the security measures in place, even a common mistake like Sara instead of Sarah, will cause you a great deal of trouble.

The easiest thing to do is to check your booking paperwork that you get from your TA or Cruise Line. Make sure the names are spelled correctly. Once you have matched the correct names to the paperwork you received, log onto the Cruise Lines' website and check your reservation yourself. Mistakes do happen so make sure it is correct. If they are not, contact your TA/Cruise line and get it fixed ASAP. Some cruise lines are a bit easier to deal with when it comes to name changes or misspellings. Some are much tougher. Some cruise lines will charge you a "name change fee" - usually $50-100 to fix the mistake. If you have booked your air through the cruise line, it can become even more problematic. If you have booked your vacation as "Cruise Only" meaning you are arranging your airfare on your own (or don't need airfare), most of the time the TA's can get a "Manifest-Only" change for you. What that means is that the master list of passengers will be changed to reflect the change, but the cruise line will not be re-issuing new tickets/documents. This generally costs nothing to do however I have had cruise lines charge the fee for even this. If you have airfare through the cruise line, you will probably need to ship the documents (tickets) back to your travel agent and they will return them to the Cruise Line who will re-issue corrected documents. This is only the case if you are within 30 days of sailing, which is when most of the cruise lines send out documents.

Simply checking your paperwork will ensure that the boarding process is smooth and easy.