Marriage license needed?

[Homosassa]

3 hours ago, cb at sea said:

I've never needed my marriage lic, either...ever.  They understand that a married woman's BC will never match her ID if she changed her last name upon marriage.  They are looking at the birth date.

As usual, wrong information is posted on women that changed their name upon marriage.

 

Several other posters have caught this misinformation and posted the correct information.

 

For those who have not read all the posts:

 

It is not just the birth date that is checked. The name on the ID must match the name on the birth certificate or a bridge document explaining the change in name must be provided if asked for.

 

By the way, the need for a bridge document is not just for married women. It is for anyone where the name on the ID does not match the birth certificate.

[neverbeenhere]

FYI... Men sometimes change their names upon marriage. 

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, if the booking shows the name in the passport. 

Thanks Biker.  I happened to notice about a month ago that the reservation had her maiden name.  Her C&A number was also under her maiden name so had to call to get everything to match.

[cruisinfanatic]

44 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

As usual, wrong information is posted on women that changed their name upon marriage.

 

Several other posters have caught this misinformation and posted the correct information.

 

For those who have not read all the posts:

 

It is not just the birth date that is checked. The name on the ID must match the name on the birth certificate or a bridge document explaining the change in name must be provided if asked for.

 

By the way, the need for a bridge document is not just for married women. It is for anyone where the name on the ID does not match the birth certificate.

so if this was such a hard and fast law (rule), why do poster after poster say they did not provide the marriage certificate and boarded with no problem.

Reason is because their picture ID matched the cruise documents. The BC doesn't have to. That is the major requirement.

If it was the rule to need the marriage certificate because a woman's BC did not match anything else, there would be countless posts here complaining that they were denied boarding.

Edited July 6, 2019 by cruisinfanatic

[helen haywood]

Well, one instance I could see that a marriage license would be required is on Celebrity a cabin cannot be booked by people under 21 (or something close...) unless traveling with parents in a connecting or nearby cabin.  An exception is made for married couples under 21....and perhaps proof of the marriage is required....

[Thorben-Hendrik]

7 hours ago, d9704011 said:

Needed for what?

The love and marriage show!👍🤣

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

so if this was such a hard and fast law (rule), why do poster after poster say they did not provide the marriage certificate and boarded with no problem.

Reason is because their picture ID matched the cruise documents. The BC doesn't have to. That is the major requirement.

If it was the rule to need the marriage certificate because a woman's BC did not match anything else, there would be countless posts here complaining that they were denied boarding.

Overly broad, incorrect statement.  Just because it isn't caught every time, does not mean there haven't been problems reported (and there have been many)

[pstone1]

It never ceases to amaze me that people continue to argue.  Why not just bring the documentation the RCL rules state you will need.  What is the big deal?

 

By the way, the state of Florida requires exactly the same bridge documentation when you renew a Driver's License if the required documents don't match.

[Homosassa]

21 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

 

 

By the way, the state of Florida requires exactly the same bridge documentation when you renew a Driver's License if the required documents don't match.

And didn't that cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth among women that had multiple marriages and divorces and changed names each time? (Answer, yes, it did).

 

It made me very glad I didn't fall into that trap when I married and I still have the same name I was born with.

[pstone1]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

And didn't that cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth among women that had multiple marriages and divorces and changed names each time? (Answer, yes, it did).

 

It made me very glad I didn't fall into that trap when I married and I still have the same name I was born with.

 

It sure did!  Sadly, my name was different (just one change 😇) so I had to produce all the required documents.  

[gatour]

10 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Not sure if this is still the case, but it was reported in the past that RC did not allow hyphens in last names on the booking.  Taking the hypen out for RC's purpose did not cause a problem at check-in.

Nor do they allow apostrophes in the first name while booking and I just booked a cruise earlier this week.  This has been an ongoing issue ever since I married my wife.  Booking engines cruise, hotels etc, don't like special characters.  Being in IT, I know why and it is something that is fixable, but it can be a PIA.  As long as the first and last name are fairly close you should be fine.

 

Having said that, for our honeymoon, we took a cruise.  At that time my wife had a passport under maiden name.  I had my BC with DL.  I made sure my dad handed me the marriage certificate, when we departed the wedding reception.  At the time, having a marriage certificate was the  recommendation when one person just recently had a last name change.

 

I am of the opinion, better to have too much documentation, than not having enough and being denied boarding.

[cruisinfanatic]

5 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Overly broad, incorrect statement.  Just because it isn't caught every time, does not mean there haven't been problems reported (and there have been many)

If it was incorrect there would be droves of unhappy cruisers denied boarding. I don't see that.

Caught every time? You either show up with the right documents or you don't. There is no grey area

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

If it was incorrect there would be droves of unhappy cruisers denied boarding. I don't see that.

Caught every time? You either show up with the right documents or you don't. There is no grey area

And the proper documents include a “bridging” documents for any name disparity. 

 

Have you not read the accounts here  of people being denied boarding without this documentation? 

 

Just because it did  not happen to you  does not mean it doesn’t happen. 

[hftmrock]

1 hour ago, cruisinfanatic said:

If it was incorrect there would be droves of unhappy cruisers denied boarding. I don't see that.

Caught every time? You either show up with the right documents or you don't. There is no grey area

its a documented rule that you cant bring hard alcohol on the cruise yet many people posted that they have done so successfully

 

people's experiences do not judge whether there is a rule or not and whether you should bring the correct documentation or risk being denied boarding

[cruisinfanatic]

8 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And the proper documents include a “bridging” documents for any name disparity. 

 

Have you not read the accounts here  of people being denied boarding without this documentation? 

 

Just because it did  not happen to you  does not mean it doesn’t happen. 

No, where.

The bridging document is for example a new bride who books her cruise in her new married name, but doesn't have picture ID in that name. Lots of instances of this but not the other

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

No, where.

The bridging document is for example a new bride who books her cruise in her new married name, but doesn't have picture ID in that name. Lots of instances of this but not the other

You just can’t admit when you are wrong, can you? There are at least 3 examples of denied boarding in this thread alone (one from me) and she was hardly a newly wed, probably 25-30 years married at the time. 

 

If my birth certificate says my name

is Tom Smith, but my photo ID says I am Joe Blow, according to you this would be a perfectly acceptable ID pairing; and it just isn’t. 

[SRF]

On 7/6/2019 at 7:57 AM, d9704011 said:

I read post 2.  Certainly, that is a possible explanation and if the OP had described that scenario in her post then OK.  All that was said was that some FB posters are saying you need a Marriage Certificate..... for what specific purpose?

 

Born Sally Smith.

 

Gets married to John Jones, now name is Sally Jones.

 

Shows up to cruise with a BC for Sally Smith and a DL for Sally Jones.

 

How does cruise line or immigration authorities know that Sally Jones and Sally Smith are the same person.

 

THAT is why it is a good idea to have a copy of the marriage certificate.

 

If you have a passport, the name change is already documented (unless you changed it after you got the passport).

[Homosassa]

4 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

No, where.

The bridging document is for example a new bride who books her cruise in her new married name, but doesn't have picture ID in that name. Lots of instances of this but not the other

 

Again, just because you aren't aware of the problem, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

Other cases or questions that have shown up on Cruise Critic over the years include:

 

Family adopting a new baby and planning to cruise after the baby reached the age of six months. Problem was that by their local state law, a new birth certificate showing the new last name of the adoptive parents would not be issued until six months of finalization of the adoption.

 

Again a case of family names. An adult was planning to cruise. He had been using the surname of the family who were his legal guardians since his teenage years. There was never a formal name change and yet all his ID was in that name. His birth certificate was in his birth name.

 

 

 

 

[SRF]

21 hours ago, Homosassa said:

 

Again, just because you aren't aware of the problem, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

Other cases or questions that have shown up on Cruise Critic over the years include:

 

Family adopting a new baby and planning to cruise after the baby reached the age of six months. Problem was that by their local state law, a new birth certificate showing the new last name of the adoptive parents would not be issued until six months of finalization of the adoption.

 

Again a case of family names. An adult was planning to cruise. He had been using the surname of the family who were his legal guardians since his teenage years. There was never a formal name change and yet all his ID was in that name. His birth certificate was in his birth name.

 

And there was the one case where the person had used a certain name for MANY years, but when they went to get a government issued birth certificate (for many years, most people only had the hospital issued one), and found that there had never been a legal name change, so they could not even get the BC.

[Tatka]

On 7/6/2019 at 7:42 AM, hannahsnana said:

I have read several comments on Facebook Mariner group of people saying marriage license was needed as well as birth certificate. I know birth certificate or passport but in my 25 years of cruising have never had to have a marriage license before I had a passport. Is this something new? Taking family members without a passport but they have the required BC and state ID.

 

 

 We were married in the different country. Our certificate was not translated and we ended up losing it several years ago. Nobody ever asked us about it.

All you need is a passport, so you won't need to worry about anything else.

[maryred]

Why is a marriage, divorce, or other name change papers possibly needed for a cruise?

Well the simplest answer is the CBP might ask for it if the name on the DHS manifest (booking name) does not match the proof of nationality for repatriation at the end of the cruise. Without the name change bridge documents between the proof of nationality and the photo ID being used if whatever database the CBP uses is down or does not have the 2 names already linked it could cause a significant delay in the person being allowed out of the cruise terminal on debarkation day. This is something no one involves wants, not the government clerks, not the port personnel, and most certainly not the passenger that might have flights or other travel plans in place.

A birth certificate is a proof of nationality. A driver's license is proof of identity. A Passport, book or card, is both, acting at the same time as your proof of nationality and your photo identification and name change proof. Also acceptable to the CBP is a Real ID act compliant enhance DL (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington are the only states that currently meet the federal requirement). Any document (excluding proof of current residency) needed to obtain a Passport or federally recognized EDL can be asked for by the CBP for reentry to the USA at the end of a cruise when a Passport is not being used as your documentation. So as long as a booking matches the name on the Passport then no other paperwork is needed. BUT if only cruising using separate proofs of nationality and photo identity then all paperwork showing the links from name to name should be on hand.