Cruising with children's friends

[tksauter]

Hi.  We are cruising on Carnival with our daughter and she is bringing a couple friends.  I had heard that we need to have a letter from the friend's parents, but I cannot find anything official on Carnival or the web.  Has anyone here experienced this before?

[VentureMan_2000]

Check this topic out...   

 

[tksauter]

40 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Check this topic out...   

 

Thank you, but this post is about one parent traveling with children.  I have my spouse with me, but traveling with my daughter's friends.  I did read the post though

 

Cheers

 

[Elaine5715]

6 minutes ago, tksauter said:

Thank you, but this post is about one parent traveling with children.  I have my spouse with me, but traveling with my daughter's friends.  I did read the post though

 

Cheers

 

Same issue.  It isn't a Carnival issue.  

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3643?language=en_US

 

[1025cruise]

Yes, you want a form signed by the parents of the friends authorizing you to take their kids out of the country. You also want that form to indicate that you have authorization to make medical decisions on their behalf.

[Organized Chaos]

It's not a requirement, but is recommended. It's not for the cruise line, it's for customs (DHS) when you return back to your home port after the cruise. They may or may not ask to see the permission letter. More often than not, they don't, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We took our son's friend a couple years ago. Carnival doesn't have anything official to print, so I just did a search online for travel authorization letter for minors, or something similar. I found one and adjusted it to our needs. I put the ship, the dates of the cruise, everybody's name, to include ours and the boy's parents (with their contact info.), and a statement authorization us to make medical decisions if necessary. Then had the parents sign it.

[IDKaren]

Took granddaughter on a cruise...had a NOTARIZED letter from her parents and an official birth certificate. We were third degreed by customs whether it was a REAL notary seal..even though their own website does not say it has to be notarized. He 3rd degreed us for 15 minutes AND her! Cover all your bases...have it notarized and maybe even take a copy of their drivers licenses to go with their certified letter. They are NOT pleasant and unfortunately this officer seemed on a total power trip. We were bringing a child back into Cal..NOT taking her INTO Mexico😠

[EBONI325]

I've taken grandchildren, godchildren, nieces and nephews, never had a problem, never had any letters giving permission and no one ever asked. Was I just lucky?

[IDKaren]

16 hours ago, EBONI325 said:

I've taken grandchildren, godchildren, nieces and nephews, never had a problem, never had any letters giving permission and no one ever asked. Was I just lucky?

I guess it depends on which agent you get! The guy we got was a REAL jerk...scared my gdaughter to death. Asked her...who are these people? She said  MY NONA AND PAPA...he looked at us and then asked her..So these ARENT your grandparents?.he wouldn’t believe the stamped notary seal..said it wasn’t the embossed type and ANYONE can make a rubber stamp! I was about to ask for his supervisor when he said.. NEXT time get it right!  Wow...a total jerk!

[kyboymom]

We did this last year as well.  I had a notarized letter from the parents stating that my husband and I were allowed to take them out of the Country and even listed the different Ports of Call we were visiting.  It also stated that we had permission to seek Medical attention if necessary.  I was never asked for this but I always kept it with me when we were boarding the ship on the first day and throughout the cruise when we were getting off and on at the different ports.  I think it's best to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.  

[loanshark]

Wife and I cruised with our daughter and daughter's friend a few years ago.  We were asked for documentation showing that the parents of the daughter's friend authorized us to travel out of the country with their daughter.

 

Since the letter contained the proper information, the customs agent waived us through after reviewing the document.  Had we not had the document on hand though, we could have very easily been detained.

 

On a subsequent cruise cruise about 2 years ago, during debarkation, there was a 15 year old right in front of us who had cruised with his older brother.  However, the brother allegedly went through customs well before the 15 year old, leaving the 15 year old to go through customs by himself.  Our line was then held up because the customs agent spent approximately 15 minutes questioning the teenager who he was traveling with / why was he alone / etc... (within earshot of us) and eventually detaining him.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by loanshark