bringing Passport book vs Passport card

[mandwcruise]

We are 2 US Citizens, with residences in the USA, with active Passports and Passport cards. The plan is to take a Celebrity cruise from Florida to Nassau to Cozumel and back to Florida in December.

 

My friend would prefer to sandbag the passport book (leave it at home so it doesn't get lost before international flights) and use the passport card if possible. Will the cruise terminal or Celebrity have any problems with the passport cards for getting onto the boat or returning to the USA?

[Shmoo here]

23 minutes ago, mandwcruise said:

We are 2 US Citizens, with residences in the USA, with active Passports and Passport cards. The plan is to take a Celebrity cruise from Florida to Nassau to Cozumel and back to Florida in December.

 

My friend would prefer to sandbag the passport book (leave it at home so it doesn't get lost before international flights) and use the passport card if possible. Will the cruise terminal or Celebrity have any problems with the passport cards for getting onto the boat or returning to the USA?

For a closed loop cruise (out and back to the same US port), legally a passport card will work fine.

 

That said, there are some cruise lines that require passport books, regardless of what the actual legal requirement says.  I'm not sure whether Celebrity is one of those.

 

Another thought, if, heaven forbid, there were an accident and your friend has to fly home from a foreign port, a passport card will not work, a book is required for flying.

 

 

[Z'Loth]

1 hour ago, mandwcruise said:

My friend would prefer to sandbag the passport book (leave it at home so it doesn't get lost before international flights) and use the passport card if possible. Will the cruise terminal or Celebrity have any problems with the passport cards for getting onto the boat or returning to the USA?

 

Show them this page from the State Department: What is a Passport Card?

 

Then, ask them if they feel lucky. 

[mandwcruise]

thanks guys

[sparks1093]

Some people on a closed loop cruise will have simply a birth certificate and a government ID. Someone with a passport card will be a bit better off if something were to happen. In any event DW and I had a similar discussion- we have EDLs (same functionality as a passport card) and passports. I asked if we wanted to just cruise with the EDLs and leave the passports in the safe deposit box. She said, "we have the passports, we might as well use them". We bring our passports and they go into the cabin safe once we are onboard and stay there until we disembark, so the risk for losing them is very slight.

[Z'Loth]

4 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

She said, "we have the passports, we might as well use them". We bring our passports and they go into the cabin safe once we are onboard and stay there until we disembark, so the risk for losing them is very slight.

 

See https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/do-you-need-a-passport-to-go-on-a-cruise . Get the passport book and passport card, have it live in the safe unless told otherwise, and put it in a nice passport holder.

[sparks1093]

18 minutes ago, Z'Loth said:

 

See https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/do-you-need-a-passport-to-go-on-a-cruise . Get the passport book and passport card, have it live in the safe unless told otherwise, and put it in a nice passport holder.

The passport card is a niche document and for most travelers it's an extra that doesn't really help them. It's primarily designed for crossing the land borders or for returning from cruises from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. I live 8 miles from the northern border and many folks in my community have either the passport card or an EDL since the only travel they are going to ever do is crossing that border. Someone in the Midwest would have less of a need for a passport card (unless they get it as a stand alone document for cruising or they have a need to cross the land borders often). 

[Z'Loth]

I prefer to have the passport card because, quite frankly, it's is a secondary form of Government-issued identification. While you cannot use a passport card for international flights, it is RealID compliant, so just in case you don't have a RealID compliant drivers license, either the passport book or passport card will qualify for both domestic flights and entering federal facilities. 

[sparks1093]

12 minutes ago, Z'Loth said:

I prefer to have the passport card because, quite frankly, it's is a secondary form of Government-issued identification. While you cannot use a passport card for international flights, it is RealID compliant, so just in case you don't have a RealID compliant drivers license, either the passport book or passport card will qualify for both domestic flights and entering federal facilities. 

And for you it's a good choice, but it's not a universal need or benefit.