Cruising Paperless - can it be done?

[rjack22]

But...what if your phone "dies"?   Becomes unusable?   It could happen.   And I'm not talking about just needing a recharge.  What if your phone somehow becomes bricked?  I too always have paper backup.

[rodndonna]

11 minutes ago, rjack22 said:

But...what if your phone "dies"?   Becomes unusable?   It could happen.   And I'm not talking about just needing a recharge.  What if your phone somehow becomes bricked?  I too always have paper backup.

 

We seem to be getting into a much more generalized discussion - but with regards to your question - 

ultimately, everything you have should be "in the cloud" in which case you have to get a new phone.

 

I think what some folks may not get, is a 'paper' copy of anything (not including ID like Passports - but just  things  like boarding passes and booking confirmations etc), are really just a "nice to have reference" but they are not valid proof of anything. 

 

If I show up at an airport or cruiseport with paper documents, but the airline or cruisline (or hotel) has a conflicting info (or no info),  what they have on-line is what ultimately rules. What I have on paper could easily have been altered before printing, be out of date, etc.

 

In the end, beyond having solid ID, you shouldn't need to print anything out. You may want to for ease of reference, but it's not the definitive source. 

 

Baggage tags do need to be paper, but I have learned I can get then when I arrive rather than pre-print at home.

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

f ALL you need to do is print the occasional boarding pass and luggage tag, consider setting an online account at your local UPS Store or Kinkos.  When you need to print something, send them an online file, and an hour later you can stop and pick it up.  A printed color page costs sixty cents, and one of these places is probably near where you shop.

Or, your local library will do it for less than 1/2 that price. And you will be supporting your library! Win/Win

[zqvol]

On 11/29/2022 at 12:02 PM, rodndonna said:

We are getting ready for a cruise this weekend, and preparing to print boarding pass and luggage tags.

Nor surprisingly, we are our of ink, again!

 

 

• When was the last time we used the printer - print tags and passes for a cruise in September.
• When was the last time before that? To print boarding passes and luggage tags for a June cruise,.
• When was the last time before that ... a cruise last December..... (and I am pretty sure that was a new cartridge)

 

......you get the idea ...

 

We have no use for a printer anymore except for cruising stuff and would like to just move past it and go paperless. Not ready to bite the bullet just yet, so are just printing out our baggage tags at Staples and staying electronic for the boarding pass for this cruise.

 

Has anyone migrated to pure paperless to board a cruise? I "believe" if you arrive without baggage tags, they will just write your room number on a bag tag.

 

 

 

 

I haven't printed anything in 5 years for a cruise. It is all on my iPad and phone.

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, rjack22 said:

But...what if your phone "dies"?   Becomes unusable?   It could happen.   And I'm not talking about just needing a recharge.  What if your phone somehow becomes bricked?  I too always have paper backup.

 

One can play "what if" indefinitely though:

 

-- What if my purse (or bag) with the papers gets stolen?

-- What if I forget to print something out?

-- What if the dog ate my homework...

 

At some point you have to figure that those "rare" events are just not going to happen to you. 

[rjack22]

Sorry, I don't buy it.  We rely too much on tech in my opinion.  All I'm saying is to have backup. 

[rodndonna]

2 minutes ago, rjack22 said:

Sorry, I don't buy it.  We rely too much on tech in my opinion.  All I'm saying is to have backup. 

 

What you are missing is, the piece of paper will not count for anything officially, other than a personal reference (which can be of value to you personally)

 

We are cruising in 2 days,

 

I can take the pdf of my boarding documents, edit them (easily in pdf) change my balcony room to a high end suite !

I can change my $300 OBC,...to  $3000 OBC!

If my husband and I have a big fight tonight, I could knock him off, find a new 'beau'  tomorrow , replace his name for my husband as the new passenger!

 

possibilities are endless with what I can show on a printed document -  but what they have in THER system is what matters.

[TheOldBear]

For my most recent check in and boarding experience [25 October, Brooklyn NY] - the most significant item of information I walked in with was the bar code on the boarding pass. No one was interested in proof of vaccination or Cunard's health declaration forms.

 

This could have been presented and scanned from a phone screen - except the paper boarding pass acquired stamps and stickers that were needed for in terminal processing. Stickers after security, stickers assigning priority boarding, stamps indicating check in with agent completed [agent verified passport].

 

I did not see any facilities to add them to electronic passes.

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

One can play "what if" indefinitely though:

 

-- What if my purse (or bag) with the papers gets stolen?

-- What if I forget to print something out?

-- What if the dog ate my homework...

 

At some point you have to figure that those "rare" events are just not going to happen to you. 

And if they do..................................................

[whogo]

A passport and credit card are all you should need to board a cruise ship.

 

I had my covid vaccination record, boarding pass, Holland America Navigator app, Verifly, ArriveCan, and covid antigen test results on my phone. Just to annoy me, staff at the Boston cruise terminal needed a paper boarding pass. I had one. They were willing to print one.

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

One can play "what if" indefinitely though:

 

-- What if my purse (or bag) with the papers gets stolen?

-- What if I forget to print something out?

-- What if the dog ate my homework...

 

At some point you have to figure that those "rare" events are just not going to happen to you. 

It is still best to have a back up, especially if the back up is readily available. I have certainly read threads on CC where someone lost their passport on the way to the port and others where bags were stolen containing the documents. 

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

What you are missing is, the piece of paper will not count for anything officially, other than a personal reference (which can be of value to you personally)

 

We are cruising in 2 days,

 

I can take the pdf of my boarding documents, edit them (easily in pdf) change my balcony room to a high end suite !

I can change my $300 OBC,...to  $3000 OBC!

If my husband and I have a big fight tonight, I could knock him off, find a new 'beau'  tomorrow , replace his name for my husband as the new passenger!

 

possibilities are endless with what I can show on a printed document -  but what they have in THER system is what matters.

This is very true. Even the boarding pass can be printed out in the terminal (which did happen on our last cruise, the printout wasn't clear enough to scan. We were in a suite, but the new boarding pass didn't reflect that, so the people directing passengers in the terminal tried to direct us to the regular line. Of course they didn't have access to the system which did show that we were supposed to be in the priority lane but they did allow us to proceed.). Many ports require you to present your boarding pass and identification documents in order to proceed into the terminal so it's prudent to have that printed out, but I'm sure they have a system in place for folk who show up without one.

[sparks1093]

9 hours ago, whogo said:

A passport and credit card are all you should need to board a cruise ship.

 

I had my covid vaccination record, boarding pass, Holland America Navigator app, Verifly, ArriveCan, and covid antigen test results on my phone. Just to annoy me, staff at the Boston cruise terminal needed a paper boarding pass. I had one. They were willing to print one.

The cruise lines haven't progressed to the point where they have eBoarding passes like the airlines. On our last flight at least half of the passengers were using the electronic version on their phone. I don't trust tech that much and had a paper copy. 

[Mary229]

Since the apps came out I have never been asked to present a paper copy. The only time I get paper for boarding a plane is when I check bags, the agent insists on handing me another worthless piece of paper.  My objection is not noble, it is simply many of these various sheets of paper contain identifying information I do not wish to share with the world and now I have to dispose of them securely while on the road 

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

The cruise lines haven't progressed to the point where they have eBoarding passes like the airlines.

 

Celebrity does; via their app.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Celebrity does; via their app.

I knew I should have qualified that statement. Some have, some haven't.