We can still use our birth certificate and ID, right?

[k_y30]

Hi all.

 

I just wanted to make sure we could still use our birth certificate and DL to cruise. Carnival sent me my boarding checklist and it just said passport and nothing about BC/ID. Just wanting to make sure something hasn't changed 

[ProgRockCruiser]

AFAIK, yes you can still use BC & DL, for closed loop cruises departing the US not going to Cuba or Canada.

[k_y30]

3 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

AFAIK, yes you can still use BC & DL, for closed loop cruises departing the US not going to Cuba or Canada.

Great! Thanks

[peppergal]

The official DHS site on the WHTI still lists BC/ID as acceptable (last updated Dec 2018), but there is some confusion as to when/if the ID requirement will be limited to Real ID (cruises aren't explicitly listed in the roll out phases, but there are other areas that refer to "for all federal purposes" that muddy the waters).  If your ID is already compliant then as far as the government is concerned, you should be fine no matter how that shakes out.

 

As to whether Carnival has made an internal change to their requirements, I don't know, but I suspect they would have been a lot more vocal about it if they did, because that could catch a lot of people unawares. 

[longhorn3233]

10 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

AFAIK, yes you can still use BC & DL, for closed loop cruises departing the US not going to Cuba or Canada.

Are you saying you need a passport on a cruise that goes to Canada? According to carnival's website that is not the case. You would only need it if you were flying to or from Canada.

 

Domestic Cruises (including Canada) that do not include travel to Cuba

For cruises that begin and/or end in a U.S port, the following WHTI-Compliant Documents are acceptable for cruise travel. These standard forms of documentation will enable the Department of Homeland Security to quickly and reliably identify a traveler. If a picture I.D. is not affixed to the WHTI-compliant document, a picture I.D. is required (a valid, unexpired government-issued photo I.D. for all guests 16 years of age or older). If the cruise includes air travel to or from Canada, a valid, unexpired U.S. passport is required.

 

Entry into Canada: If the cruise includes air travel to or from Canada, a valid, unexpired U.S. passport is required. Guests who have committed or been convicted of a crime may not be allowed into Canada - for more information, click here.

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by longhorn3233

[coevan]

We departed from Seattle and needed passports to disembark in Canada. I believe this is because you leave U.S. and then go on to Alaska. 

[longhorn3233]

1 minute ago, coevan said:

We departed from Seattle and needed passports to disembark in Canada. I believe this is because you leave U.S. and then go on to Alaska. 

That is my understanding as well. Any non closed loop cruise you are required to have your passport. 

[VentureMan_2000]

Personally, I would just pursue a passport and passport card.  This would make all your future travel very easy by air, land, and sea.  A passport is good for 10 years, and is easily renewable.

 

WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) establishes document requirements for travel by land or sea into the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Travel between the U.S. mainland and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is not affected.

U.S. citizens who board a cruise ship at a port within the United States, travel only within the Western Hemisphere, and return to the same U.S. port on the same ship (referred to as a “closed loop” cruise), may present a government issued photo identification, along with proof of citizenship (an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular report of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Naturalization).

Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the countries your cruise ship is visiting.

[coevan]

A passport card is somewhat useless you are working across country lines like Canada/US./Mexico. My son did tours from St.Thomas to BVI which does require passports. He did this 6 days a week so a standard passport was not an option, even though he has a passport book for air travel

[sanger727]

I’ve never had a passport card and wouldn’t recommend one. A passport book works just fine for ALL international travel. A passport card is valid only for land crossings and cruising. Kinda defeats the purpose to me since with a passport card you still can’t fly home from a cruise in an emergency. I don’t see what purpose it serves better than a drivers license in conjunction with a passport book.

 

but to the OPs question. For a closed loop Caribbean cruise you can travel with a birth certificate and drivers license only. But I had not thought about the ‘Real ID’ issue. Not sure how that affects it.

Edited April 4, 2019 by sanger727

[sparks1093]

16 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Personally, I would just pursue a passport and passport card.  This would make all your future travel very easy by air, land, and sea.  A passport is good for 10 years, and is easily renewable.

 

WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) establishes document requirements for travel by land or sea into the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Travel between the U.S. mainland and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is not affected.

U.S. citizens who board a cruise ship at a port within the United States, travel only within the Western Hemisphere, and return to the same U.S. port on the same ship (referred to as a “closed loop” cruise), may present a government issued photo identification, along with proof of citizenship (an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular report of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Naturalization).

Please be aware that you may still be required to present a passport to enter the countries your cruise ship is visiting.

Future travel is future travel and if someone isn't in a position to travel internationally by air for some time getting the passport now may not be the best course of action. We held off getting a passport until we could do such travel and then had a full 10 years on it rather than the 4 we would have had if we had gotten them when we started cruising.

28 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I’ve never had a passport card and wouldn’t recommend one. A passport book works just fine for ALL international travel. A passport card is valid only for land crossings and cruising. Kinda defeats the purpose to me since with a passport card you still can’t fly home from a cruise in an emergency. I don’t see what purpose it serves better than a drivers license in conjunction with a passport book.

 

but to the OPs question. For a closed loop Caribbean cruise you can travel with a birth certificate and drivers license only. But I had not thought about the ‘Real ID’ issue. Not sure how that affects it.

If the only travel that someone can do is by land and cruising then it works for them (I know many people in my border community that fit that definition and they have either an EDL or a passport card). Getting home in case of an emergency still happens, although there may be a bit of delay depending on the exact circumstances (the regulations allow for the waiver of the passport requirements for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons). 

 

I wouldn't expect that REAL ID would come into play since that only pertains to entering property under Federal jurisdiction and cruises don't meet that requirement. Besides which any government issued ID is acceptable, so someone who works for a municipality could use their employee ID instead of their drivers license if they wanted to.

Edited April 4, 2019 by sparks1093

[sanger727]

14 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

 

If the only travel that someone can do is by land and cruising then it works for them (I know many people in my border community that fit that definition and they have either an EDL or a passport card). Getting home in case of an emergency still happens, although there may be a bit of delay depending on the exact circumstances (the regulations allow for the waiver of the passport requirements for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons). 

 

 

 

If you live in a border community I can see a use for a passport card. But most Americans don’t. As far as cruise only use, it offers no additional benefits over a birth certificate and driver’s license except costing more money. Yes, if you had to fly home in an emergency, no matter what, you will get home eventually. But the passport card doesn’t work for international flights the way a passport book would. If you want to pay extra for an official passport document, I would always recommend the book.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

If you live in a border community I can see a use for a passport card. But most Americans don’t. As far as cruise only use, it offers no additional benefits over a birth certificate and driver’s license except costing more money. Yes, if you had to fly home in an emergency, no matter what, you will get home eventually. But the passport card doesn’t work for international flights the way a passport book would. If you want to pay extra for an official passport document, I would always recommend the book.

It offers 3 possible benefits to non-border dwelling US citizens, depending on their particular needs 1) it is one document instead of two, 2) if something does happens ones information is already in the State Department system making it easier for them to assist, 3) it is far less expensive than the book. Are those benefits compelling to everyone? No, of course not, but they are factors to consider. I'm not going to make a blanket recommendation because it may not be the best solution for that individual. I'd rather give them the info and let them make up their own mind, because at the end of the day it's their decision. Another consideration is those who use naturalization certificates or consular reports of birth abroad. Both of those documents have to be the original and both of those documents cost money to replace if something happens to them, so having something durable like a passport card keeps from having to bring those documents (last time I looked it costs $550 to replace a naturalization certificate. Once I found that out I looked for something to use in its place since that's what DW has. We settled on EDLs because that is an option for us, but our fall back would have been passport cards.) 

 

 

[SRF]

On 4/3/2019 at 1:46 PM, peppergal said:

The official DHS site on the WHTI still lists BC/ID as acceptable (last updated Dec 2018), but there is some confusion as to when/if the ID requirement will be limited to Real ID (cruises aren't explicitly listed in the roll out phases, but there are other areas that refer to "for all federal purposes" that muddy the waters).  If your ID is already compliant then as far as the government is concerned, you should be fine no matter how that shakes out.

 

As to whether Carnival has made an internal change to their requirements, I don't know, but I suspect they would have been a lot more vocal about it if they did, because that could catch a lot of people unawares. 

 

Why would there be a REAL ID requirement?

 

REAL ID requires citizenship info, which is covered by the BC.

[Canuker]

I would NEVER EVER leave the country of my residency without a valid passport, under any circumstances.
Questions like this seem to be in the "chestnut" category on CC and I think they are more about money than rights and duties.
Bite the bullet. Pay the fee and get a passport.
It's an incredibly powerful document for someone visiting another country, whose rules and regulations we haven't got a hope to learn or understand.
Lastly, the need for a passport isn't about where one lives ("I live in xxxxxxx, so I don't need  passport, right?"). It's all about where you are going to visit. 
 
"Yes but what could possibly go wrong while I'm away.............?"

 

 

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, Canuker said:

I would NEVER EVER leave the country of my residency without a valid passport, under any circumstances.
Questions like this seem to be in the "chestnut" category on CC and I think they are more about money than rights and duties.
Bite the bullet. Pay the fee and get a passport.
It's an incredibly powerful document for someone visiting another country, whose rules and regulations we haven't got a hope to learn or understand.
Lastly, the need for a passport isn't about where one lives ("I live in xxxxxxx, so I don't need  passport, right?"). It's all about where you are going to visit. 
 
"Yes but what could possibly go wrong while I'm away.............?"

 

 

Money is a factor, sure. Why pay $150 times the number of your party for something that you aren't going to fully use (if the only type of travel you can do is closed loop cruises)? For my family it would have been $850 for a 4 day cruise in 2009. Some might consider that a good use of funds but I certainty didn't. We decided that the risk was low enough to go without passports. 

[sherryf]

On 4/3/2019 at 10:57 AM, coevan said:

We departed from Seattle and needed passports to disembark in Canada. I believe this is because you leave U.S. and then go on to Alaska. 

 

Alaska is in the US. 🙄

 

A few years ago, we took a closed loop cruise to Alaska out of Seattle, with a friend who did not have a passport.  He was able to board the cruise, and to disembark in Victoria, the only Canadian port, without needing a passport.  We did not cross into Canada from Skagway, as we had originally hoped to do, because he would have needed a passport for a LAND crossing into Canada.  As far as I know, the rules have not changed since then.

[coevan]

10 hours ago, sherryf said:

Alaska is in the US. 🙄

 

Canada to Alaska, DUH, Why make such a ridiculous comment. Our president doesn't know Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. 

 

[sherryf]

2 hours ago, coevan said:

 

Canada to Alaska, DUH, Why make such a ridiculous comment. Our president doesn't know Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. 

 

 

Cruises that sail round trip from Seattle (or other US ports) go to Alaska first.  Victoria (Canada) is usually the last port stop.  They don't sail from Canada to Alaska.  You said that they "leave the US then go to Alaska." They don't leave the US.  They stay in the US the whole time until the very end, when they make a stop in Canada, but since it part of a closed-loop cruise, a passport is not required.