Experienced cruiser makes a DUMB mistake (how can you forget your passports??)

[ajtaylor29]

So, after 17 cruises over the last 10 years, including trips to Europe, i consider myself to be the most organized, streamlined packer in my family. I'm the one who gathers all the "important" documentation, while my husband frets over how many bathing suits he needs and does he really want to take a sport coat or just go casual?! I am always packed and waiting at the door while he finishes all his last minute checks (and of course i make fun of him for being so obsessive).

 

Our last cruise (December 3rd on Symphony out of Miami): same process as always. We flew to Miami the night before, stayed in a local Hyatt, then got up and called Uber to take us to the port. On the way, we had him stop for our usual supply run (wine and a few other misc essentials). Then, cruise port here we come!!!

At this point, i am excited as usual to be boarding a ship, and have not a care in the world.

 

We pull up and as i'm stepping out of the car and looking around at all the excited people about to start their vacation, a thought suddenly hits me: I DIDN'T PACK OUR PASSPORTS. I don't even know what to think, i'm just sort of shocked.....I tell my husband. he says "what does that mean???" I'm not sure. I know we have photos of passports in our phones. Surely we'll be able to work this out. Lets not panic. I've read nightmare stories before of people being denied boarding because they don't have proper paperwork, but we have photos. This will all be ok.

 

The porters take our luggage and we hurry inside. We're in a suite, so we go thru the suite entry (no lines) upstairs and the person greets us ready to check us in. I explain that i forgot our passports....she immediately takes us to a "special" desk (read: problem passengers) where the very nice employee explains to us that photos of passports are not acceptable. Only the originals will suffice. But, if you have a copy (why can THIS be a copy??) of your birth certificate, you're fine. Well, we don't have copies of our birth certificates. We have copies of our passports. We have our global entry cards. We have our vaccination cards. We have all sorts of proof that we're American citizens and we've sailed with RC about 10 times already. You guys KNOW who we are! Come on!!! In a very calm but firm manner she reiterates to me that without either our original passports OR a copy of a birth certificate we will not be able to board.

 

I remain calm (panicking will do me no good at this point). We call our neighbor friend and have her go to our house to look for our birth certificates. Of course, since i'm the organizer, i know exactly where they are in the file cabinet. All she has to do is take a photo and send it to me and off we'll go. So, she starts looking thru the files, and finds my husbands bc. Yea, there's one! She sends a photo of it, we show the RC employee, she approves it. Easy, one down. Now, she keeps going but can't find mine. I keep directing her to another folder, then another folder, then a lockbox, then a 3-ring binder - all the possible places that i know could contain my bc, but nothing. It is not there. 

 

At some point during this search, my husband suggests that we call my mother to see if maybe she has a copy of it. My 95 year old mother who lives in a retirement community and has purged most of her lifetime of "stuff" into a small apartment. I scoff at him, there's no way she'll have it. But, he calls her anyway. And of course, he confuses her with his panicky voice, and she's not sure WHY we need it but she promises to look around. They hang up and i have little faith that she will be any help at all. (spoiler alert - you can ALWAYS count on your mother). 🙂

 

We've now been sitting in this special (read: problem) area for almost 2 hours. I have sent my neighbor home. I am coming to grips with the fact that i am NOT going on a cruise today. I'm trying to convince my husband that he should board with our friends (our new to cruising friends that we brought on this cruise with us and THEY of course have their passports), and that I'll fly home, get our passports, then fly to St. Maarten in 3 days and join them there. They all say no way, we're not going without you. We'll just all go to Key West for a few days instead. I'm fighting back tears.

 

And then my phone rings. It's my mother. She says "I found it". She has a family photo album with all 3 of her "children's" bc's (we're all in our 60's....) She takes a photo, sends it to me, i show the employee, they accept it, here's your boarding pass and off you go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am in shock, it's almost unbelievable but we're getting on the ship! I can't describe the feeling i had walking up that gangway and onto the Symphony. It's always a great feeling but this time - well, this time it was truly awesome!!!

 

From there on, we had a GREAT cruise! Everything was perfect. The food, the drinks (lots of those), the ports, the entertainment. 

 

The moral of this story is....well, i promise that i will NEVER forget passports again! I also will be ordering passport cards so we always have those in our wallets. And, never doubt your mother. She still is sort of confused about what exactly happened, but she understands that SHE SAVED THE DAY! 

 

[Jimbo]

Wonderful ending !!

[mianmike]

Whew!  I was stressed just reading your post.  So glad it worked out for you!

[sandebeach]

Love this story!!! And love your Mom coming to the rescue!!!!

[jagsfan]

30 minutes ago, ajtaylor29 said:

So, after 17 cruises over the last 10 years, including trips to Europe, i consider myself to be the most organized, streamlined packer in my family. I'm the one who gathers all the "important" documentation, while my husband frets over how many bathing suits he needs and does he really want to take a sport coat or just go casual?! I am always packed and waiting at the door while he finishes all his last minute checks (and of course i make fun of him for being so obsessive).

 

Our last cruise (December 3rd on Symphony out of Miami): same process as always. We flew to Miami the night before, stayed in a local Hyatt, then got up and called Uber to take us to the port. On the way, we had him stop for our usual supply run (wine and a few other misc essentials). Then, cruise port here we come!!!

At this point, i am excited as usual to be boarding a ship, and have not a care in the world.

 

We pull up and as i'm stepping out of the car and looking around at all the excited people about to start their vacation, a thought suddenly hits me: I DIDN'T PACK OUR PASSPORTS. I don't even know what to think, i'm just sort of shocked.....I tell my husband. he says "what does that mean???" I'm not sure. I know we have photos of passports in our phones. Surely we'll be able to work this out. Lets not panic. I've read nightmare stories before of people being denied boarding because they don't have proper paperwork, but we have photos. This will all be ok.

 

The porters take our luggage and we hurry inside. We're in a suite, so we go thru the suite entry (no lines) upstairs and the person greets us ready to check us in. I explain that i forgot our passports....she immediately takes us to a "special" desk (read: problem passengers) where the very nice employee explains to us that photos of passports are not acceptable. Only the originals will suffice. But, if you have a copy (why can THIS be a copy??) of your birth certificate, you're fine. Well, we don't have copies of our birth certificates. We have copies of our passports. We have our global entry cards. We have our vaccination cards. We have all sorts of proof that we're American citizens and we've sailed with RC about 10 times already. You guys KNOW who we are! Come on!!! In a very calm but firm manner she reiterates to me that without either our original passports OR a copy of a birth certificate we will not be able to board.

 

I remain calm (panicking will do me no good at this point). We call our neighbor friend and have her go to our house to look for our birth certificates. Of course, since i'm the organizer, i know exactly where they are in the file cabinet. All she has to do is take a photo and send it to me and off we'll go. So, she starts looking thru the files, and finds my husbands bc. Yea, there's one! She sends a photo of it, we show the RC employee, she approves it. Easy, one down. Now, she keeps going but can't find mine. I keep directing her to another folder, then another folder, then a lockbox, then a 3-ring binder - all the possible places that i know could contain my bc, but nothing. It is not there. 

 

At some point during this search, my husband suggests that we call my mother to see if maybe she has a copy of it. My 95 year old mother who lives in a retirement community and has purged most of her lifetime of "stuff" into a small apartment. I scoff at him, there's no way she'll have it. But, he calls her anyway. And of course, he confuses her with his panicky voice, and she's not sure WHY we need it but she promises to look around. They hang up and i have little faith that she will be any help at all. (spoiler alert - you can ALWAYS count on your mother). 🙂

 

We've now been sitting in this special (read: problem) area for almost 2 hours. I have sent my neighbor home. I am coming to grips with the fact that i am NOT going on a cruise today. I'm trying to convince my husband that he should board with our friends (our new to cruising friends that we brought on this cruise with us and THEY of course have their passports), and that I'll fly home, get our passports, then fly to St. Maarten in 3 days and join them there. They all say no way, we're not going without you. We'll just all go to Key West for a few days instead. I'm fighting back tears.

 

And then my phone rings. It's my mother. She says "I found it". She has a family photo album with all 3 of her "children's" bc's (we're all in our 60's....) She takes a photo, sends it to me, i show the employee, they accept it, here's your boarding pass and off you go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am in shock, it's almost unbelievable but we're getting on the ship! I can't describe the feeling i had walking up that gangway and onto the Symphony. It's always a great feeling but this time - well, this time it was truly awesome!!!

 

From there on, we had a GREAT cruise! Everything was perfect. The food, the drinks (lots of those), the ports, the entertainment. 

 

The moral of this story is....well, i promise that i will NEVER forget passports again! I also will be ordering passport cards so we always have those in our wallets. And, never doubt your mother. She still is sort of confused about what exactly happened, but she understands that SHE SAVED THE DAY! 

 

It’s probably because I’m sick, but you had me in tears! I lived through the ordeal with you, especially since I’ve had nightmares of forgetting our passports. 

[Rubyfisch]

I'm sitting in my hotel room, ready to leave on a cruise tomorrow. Reading your post made me get up and double check my passport for the 100th time ...

[binro01]

This is my biggest fear! I can't believe you lived it. I would have had a heart attack! I'm still in awe that a photo of the birth certificate is ok but a photo of a passport is a no go.

 

I always thought you need to have an official raised seal copy of the birth certificate and not a photo.

[fenton04]

Long ago we were directed to the problem passenger desk.  Pre cell phone and lots of paper.  We had our passports.  But on the way to the cruise port I realized I left all the paperwork on the kitchen counter in our haste to leave.  Told the staff when we arrived and for whatever reason told them we were platinum status.  We were whisked to the problem passenger desk.  Slowly all the necessary paperwork was retrieved and off we went.  It’s no fun starting a cruise at the problem passenger desk!  God bless your mother.

[ajtaylor29]

1 minute ago, binro01 said:

This is my biggest fear! I can't believe you lived it. I would have had a heart attack! I'm still in awe that a photo of the birth certificate is ok but a photo of a passport is a no go.

 

I always thought you need to have an official raised seal copy of the birth certificate and not a photo.

i know, right?? They did say it has to be a copy of the "real" birth certificate (ie with seal) not some sort of reproduction that was unofficial.....

[klfrodo]

Wait. Isn't a Global Entry card WHTI compliant?

[FionaMG]

What a story! So glad it had a happy ending!

[ajtaylor29]

11 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Wait. Isn't a Global Entry card WHTI compliant?

i don't know what WHTI means.....? But, i told her we had those and she said nope. Has to be a birth certificate.

 

[Oceansaway17]

33 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

I'm sitting in my hotel room, ready to leave on a cruise tomorrow. Reading your post made me get up and double check my passport for the 100th time ...

I know that feeling.

 

I put a sign on the steering wheel of my car, about passport, credit card, phone and vaccine card.

If I was to drive away without those things, I would deserve whatever happens to me for being stupid

[lovesthebeach2]

Loved this story! Way to go Mom!

[loman]

Nice to hear about the happy ending , you can always count on mom !

My list has passports as the first thing , followed by credit card, cash,  ID and meds .

Everything else i figure i can buy if i forget , but those things get attention first.

[ONECRUISER]

Have always brought everything extra, ML, BC, Student ID's. Last Cruise went on with my Wife she forgot everything. This was few yrs post 9/11 and today wouldn't work but I had Original copies of our ML, our BC's plus my DL & Mil ID. Airline gave us hard time but still got on, Cruise Line was easier.... My Kids are 25, 28 and 32 and I still have Original copies of their BC's

[fenton04]

56 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I know that feeling.

 

I put a sign on the steering wheel of my car, about passport, credit card, phone and vaccine card.

If I was to drive away without those things, I would deserve whatever happens to me for being stupid

I think "being human" is more appropriate.

[superduper123]

This is my biggest fear when traveling. I check, re-check, double, triple, and, quadruple check that I can put my hands on my passport... on the way to the airport, in the hotel, on the way to the cruise port.... ugh

[ajtaylor29]

1 minute ago, superduper123 said:

This is my biggest fear when traveling. I check, re-check, double, triple, and, quadruple check that I can put my hands on my passport... on the way to the airport, in the hotel, on the way to the cruise port.... ugh

And that's always been me too....until this cruise!!! It's almost inconceivable that i didn't have one single thought about it until we pulled into the terminal! Usually, I'm checking and rechecking the pocket where I've zipped up the passports (in their special passport carry case, which also zips up).....😲 

[superduper123]

13 minutes ago, ajtaylor29 said:

And that's always been me too....until this cruise!!! It's almost inconceivable that i didn't have one single thought about it until we pulled into the terminal! Usually, I'm checking and rechecking the pocket where I've zipped up the passports (in their special passport carry case, which also zips up).....😲 

So glad it worked out for you! I can't imagine going throught that. My stress and anxiety would have been off the charts!  😬

[Sea Viewer]

My husband once brought his Mother's passport and proudly presented it. Fortunately we live near the port and he had time to drive home and get his, he was upset that he had to pay for parking twice in the same day and lost his great parking space.

[dada2199cc]

I can’t for the life of me figure out which birth certificate royal wants.

 

plenty of posts say “notarized” but I’ve ordered 3 and each one is just certified with an embossed “county” stamp but no notary stamp.

[BND]

37 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

I can’t for the life of me figure out which birth certificate royal wants.

 

plenty of posts say “notarized” but I’ve ordered 3 and each one is just certified with an embossed “county” stamp but no notary stamp.

An original doesn't need anything as it's the 'original" from the county.  It has to be "certified", not "notarized".  So, a copy of a certified BC apparently works.  Certified just means it's official.

Edited December 22, 2022 by BND

[reallyitsmema]

I am glad you were able to get the documents you needed to get on the ship.  

 

In our house, we have a rule that the car doesn't leave the driveway until the passports are physically produced in the car.  My son used to roll his eyes at me every time I would pull them out of the passport holder in the car and verify we had the right ones, not the expired ones but it works for us!  Now if I can just get my DH to hold onto his phone and wallet we will be all set.  He lost his phone the day before one cruise and we were lucky enough to find it on the floor, under a table at a restaurant we had eaten at an hour prior.  Another time he dropped his wallet in the cab that dropped us off at Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale the night before a cruise.  Luckily, he remembered the phone number on the cab and I remembered the cab number as it was printed on the headrest in front of me on our ride to the hotel.  Dispatch was able to send the cab back and wallet was still on floor as he had not had another fare when he left us.  Nice tip to that driver.  We would have still been able to sail as I had the passports and I carry different credit cards than he does when we cruise just for this reason.  It just would have been a pain to cancel and replace everything.

 

Mistakes happen, I am happy you got to sail!

[dada2199cc]

1 minute ago, BND said:

An original doesn't need anything as it's the 'original" from the county.  It has to be "certified", not "notarized".  So, a copy of a certified BC apparently works.  Certified just means it's official.

thanks!  I brought my most recent certified copy for my cruise this Saturday and plan to see how it goes!