Help with question. Somewhat urgent

[coevan]

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

We have cruised 37 times and we have always had to show our passports to Customs when leaving the ship.....always!!!

 

 

only because you had a passport and chose to produce your passport instead of your DL, it is clearly not mandatory to have a passport

[BigCruze]

ID or Driver license is just fine. Simple as that. 

[Tiger0613]

2 hours ago, wr813 said:

Daughter and three friends are on sensation right now.  One friend somehow lost her passport or birth certificate (unsure which).  They disembark tomorrow morning.  What can she do without having the passport or Birth certificate?

If the friend is a US citizen, then she can't be kept out of the country.  There would be nowhere for her to be deported to.  She might be hassled, but she would still get in.

[naxer]

This wouldn't be the first time this happened.  I'm sure there's a protocol.  They probably know what it is at Guest Services.  

 

(I keep a photocopy of my passport with my documents, and one at home with a friend.  No, it isn't the same, but it's a start.  At least there's a number to trace.)

[kchughes]

In Tampa (12/27/18), they scanned our sign and sail card and said buh bye. No id beyond that to disembark.

[coevan]

9 minutes ago, kchughes said:

In Tampa (12/27/18), they scanned our sign and sail card and said buh bye. No id beyond that to disembark.

 

 

Customs does not scan or care about your sign and sail card, guaranteed. Once you leave the ship your S&S is a useless piece of plastic

[kchughes]

1 minute ago, coevan said:

 

 

Customs does not scan or care about your sign and sail card, guaranteed. Once you leave the ship your S&S is a useless piece of plastic

Not customs, Carnival scanned it. Customs did not ask for any ID or anything. Just told us to travel safely and Buh Bye. At least in Tampa, the Customs agent did not ask to see any form of ID. In J'ville they did, in Port Canaveral they did once and did not once.Ft. Lauderdale asked, but they also have more non-US travelers. I think its kind of a crapshoot as to whether they care when you are coming back whether they check ID or not.

 

[BoDidly]

Seems like they're getting paid to sit on their arise. Are they Union or some ship?

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, MontezumasRevenge said:

Our cruise in December we had to show our passports getting off the ship in Port Canaveral.

 

I find that hard to believe. I have sailed on Carnival 24 times and the only thing I have had to show to get off the ship is my S&S card. Now getting thru customs is another story. 

[MontezumasRevenge]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I find that hard to believe. I have sailed on Carnival 24 times and the only thing I have had to show to get off the ship is my S&S card. Now getting thru customs is another story. 

 

Sorry, will make it simpler for you to understand. We were able to get off ship with sign and sail. We were unable to go through customs without documentation. Please go back and read the original question.

[MontezumasRevenge]

4 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

 

no you didn't, many cruise passengers do not possess passports. All you need is photo ID, like a drivers license. If your only photo ID was a passport that's what they want to see picture ID, customs could not give a crap about your birth certificate.

 

Sorry, will make it simpler for you to understand. We were able to get off ship with sign and sail. We were unable to go through customs without documentation. Please go back and read the original question.

[MontezumasRevenge]

What a bunch of morons on this post. Block!

[trish4801]

My daughter lost her ID on the last cruise. She went to guest services and they had her wait got security to escort her to customs. Can't remember what she had to do then but she said it was the fastest she ever got thru customs

[PhillyFan33579]

24 minutes ago, MontezumasRevenge said:

What a bunch of morons on this post. Block!

 

Getting off the ship and going thru customs are two separate and distinct processes. Your post clearly stated “getting off the ship.”  I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don’t cruise too often and you are not aware of the differences. 

[Coltsgal87]

When we got off of our cruise in October I had already put our birth certificates in my purse (thankfully not my suitcase) We has our drivers license out but they made me get the birth certificates out. 

 

I kinda thought, “ummm ok. You already had it when I board, my place and date of birth, parents and where I was born didn’t change in 5 days”. Lol 

 

how did did it work out?

[lcpagejr]

23 minutes ago, Coltsgal87 said:

When we got off of our cruise in October I had already put our birth certificates in my purse (thankfully not my suitcase) We has our drivers license out but they made me get the birth certificates out. 

 

I kinda thought, “ummm ok. You already had it when I board, my place and date of birth, parents and where I was born didn’t change in 5 days”. Lol 

 

how did did it work out?

Carnival doesn't really care when you embark. They want to verify the cruise passenger is you and compare to their Maniifest. We have always just cruised with BC.  They briefly look at it to see if the reservation names match and that is it. They never make a copy.  The passport/BC is most important when you reenter the US. WE have cruised over 20x ...mostly out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami....and customs has always looked at our DL and BC when going thru customs 

[Coltsgal87]

We had to show BC and drivers license boarding and leaving our cruise. 

 

[bbtbear]

If I found someone's passport on the ship, the first thing I'd do would be to head to guest services to turn it in. It may be waiting for her in the lost and found.

[summersigh]

In December returning to Port Canaveral we had to show our passports at Customs.  Not sure if the DL and BC both had to be shown by folks that travel with just those.

[ProgRockCruiser]

10 hours ago, Coltsgal87 said:

When we got off of our cruise in October I had already put our birth certificates in my purse (thankfully not my suitcase) We has our drivers license out but they made me get the birth certificates out. 

 

I kinda thought, “ummm ok. You already had it when I board, my place and date of birth, parents and where I was born didn’t change in 5 days”. Lol 

 

how did did it work out?

 

Protocol says they need to ensure that you are entering the country legally - CBP cannot know that you didn't somehow sneak onto the ship at one of the ports.  CBP usually doesn't scan your ID when you arrive back in the US (never have for me, at least), so there is no electronic correlation to your docs used at embarkation.  A (non-enhanced) DL does not establish citizenship, so you need a (US) BC to prove that.

 

Yeah, it is probably a close-to-zero percent chance that you are trying to sneak into the US illegally using a valid DL that you somehow acquired, but I can imagine scenarios where it is possible. 

[mandadfarmer]

I know this from experience.  My 80year old Grandma didn't bring her birth certificate or passport to our last cruise.  It was a very long embarkation day with lots of calls and we learned a lot so I know way more than I should about cruise documentation.

 

You HAVE to have it to get off the ship.  In fact, you really don't need them legally to get on the ship.  Carnival makes you show them when you get on so they know you have them to get off.  You have to show them to get into the country, not out.

 

Someone needs to get a copy of her birth certificate or passport and email it to carnival.  She should go to guest services and they will give her an email address.  They will print it and get it to her.  If noone has a copy, she can call from the boat and try to get one faxed or emailed, but this needs to be done during the week.  They are close don the weekends (when we needed one :)).  Or someone can go and get a physical copy from the state she was born if that is an option.

 

By law, she has to have either a passport or BC to get through customs.

[Cruiser_1977]

7 minutes ago, mandadfarmer said:

I know this from experience.  My 80year old Grandma didn't bring her birth certificate or passport to our last cruise.  It was a very long embarkation day with lots of calls and we learned a lot so I know way more than I should about cruise documentation.

 

You HAVE to have it to get off the ship.  In fact, you really don't need them legally to get on the ship.  Carnival makes you show them when you get on so they know you have them to get off.  You have to show them to get into the country, not out.

 

Someone needs to get a copy of her birth certificate or passport and email it to carnival.  She should go to guest services and they will give her an email address.  They will print it and get it to her.  If noone has a copy, she can call from the boat and try to get one faxed or emailed, but this needs to be done during the week.  They are close don the weekends (when we needed one :)).  Or someone can go and get a physical copy from the state she was born if that is an option.

 

By law, she has to have either a passport or BC to get through customs.

This! If you are one of the posters saying you didn't have to show A) Passport OR B) your US government issued photo ID and proof of citizenship (a certified copy of your birth certificate or similar documentation) then the US CBP was NOT doing their job. They are required documents to prove travelers belong in the country. 

[coevan]

customs does not care about a BC is does not have a picture and is not accepted as valid ID. Carnival accepts BC in addition to photo ID upon embarkation.

[Tapi]

I think that the big question is not what’s “normally” needed to go through Customs upon returning from a cruise, but what the OP’s friends need to do if their documentation is lost or stolen while overseas. There’s a section in the Department of State’s travel website which addresses that, and with information and number to contact in case someone finds themselves in that predicament. 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Tapi

[ProgRockCruiser]

9 minutes ago, coevan said:

customs does not care about a BC is does not have a picture and is not accepted as valid ID. Carnival accepts BC in addition to photo ID upon embarkation.

 

Customs (well, technically the "Immigration" portion of CBP) should care about citizenship, though, and that is where the BC comes in, in conjunction with some other form of photo ID like a DL.

 

Carnival wants you to provide both BC+DL (in lieu of a passport) at check-in so that you will have both when (or "if", apparently) CBP demands to see them after debarkation.

 

The fact that CBP often does not ask to see a BC when shown just a DL is a failure on CBP's part, not that the BC isn't required.