Denied Access with International Passport

[Travel_Patti]

Hello,

We arrived on cruise day and realized I brought my Hungarian passport instead of my U.S passport. They looked me up, and admitted that they see I am a U.S. citizen, but would not allow me to board without my U.S passport. We are now out about $3000 and experienced major emotional damages. Royal Caribbean will not refund us, only for taxes and gratuity. Do I have a case against them? 
thank you!

[Tatka]

I am so sorry.

I am originally from another country. I believe if you are US citizen you need to leave and enter US with US passport. (if you are natural born here you can board with Birth Certificate + DL)

If you are not and have a Green Card then you can use GC + other passport.

 

 

Edited February 9 by Tatka

[smokeybandit]

Like many posts like this, I'm sure there's more to the story.

[mjkacmom]

They are not responsible for folks who do not have proper documentation to board, travel insurance (besides CFAF) won’t cover it either.

[GetToLivin]

Ugh, I am so sorry you weren't able to go on your trip.

[time4u2go]

No.

[onthewater51]

“Major emotional damage “…..oh brother 

[birdofsong]

I'm just a legal assistant, and not a lawyer, but I would say no.  The website and app state specifically that you have to bring your legal document with you to the port that you listed when you checked in.  

 

It's a very sad and stressful situation, but unfortunately, I think you're out of luck. 

[Baron Barracuda]

Don't know your embarkation port or where you live but is it possible to return home retrieve US passport and try to join ship at next port?

[ChittyChittyBangBang]

Wow!  I'm very sorry for this unfortunate situation.

[Ashland]

Sorry...but the cruise line has no responsibility for "your" error in not bringing the correct documentation.

[ticketsunlimited]

Its very unfortunate that you forgot what was needed to board the ship legally.  This is clearly not the fault of Royal Caribbean.  As for far as "Emotional damages" goes that would be the least of my worries compared to the Ass kicking I would get from my wife for being so irresponsible to forget my documents.

Please report to the boards with any progress you have made on this unfortunate event.

 

Also would love to know where your travels originated from, when you arrived and where, and the biggest question, what port and ship.  Good Luck

[Ferry_Watcher]

Assuming that you are living in the US, why would you grab your Hungarian passport and not your US passport?

[fac429]

23 minutes ago, birdofsong said:

I'm just a legal assistant, and not a lawyer, but I would say no. 

 

Don't know what jurisdiction you're in, but in a lot of places this would be considered giving legal advice without a license.  Might want to delete this one.  

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Travel_Patti said:

d not allow me to board without my U.S passport. We are now out about $3000 and experienced major emotional damages. Royal Caribbean will not refund us, only for taxes and gratuity. Do I have a case against them? 

What port? Unfortunately it sounds like you screwed up if from a US port. Then you don’t have a case. They can’t violate the law. 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Travel_Patti said:

Do I have a case against them? 

Welcome to CC.

Probably not but send a concise email explaining the situation to mbayley@rccl.com.

[Ferry_Watcher]

This situation isn't making a lot of sense.  Hungary is an EU country, so unless a particular visa was for a specific country on the cruise itinerary, generally a EU country passport would have been accepted.

 

Other possibilities is that the passport was expired. Or it had a different last name than the name booked for the cruise (change due to marriage); or perhaps the passport photo looked very different than the passenger currently looks (people change over the 10 yr passport).

 

Another question I would have for the OP, did a supervisor get involved?  What exactly was the reason for denial that you were given?

 

The other possibility is that this is a troll post.  For some reason the OP photo looks very familiar - anyone else have that same thought?

[wolfganghowell]

This was a mistake on your part, not Royal's.  I'm sorry that this happened but they are in no way liable for your mistake.  Major Emotional Damages- sorry ruining your own vacation doesn't seem to qualify. And welcome to CC.

[livingonthebeach]

1 hour ago, Travel_Patti said:

Hello,

We arrived on cruise day and realized I brought my Hungarian passport instead of my U.S passport. They looked me up, and admitted that they see I am a U.S. citizen, but would not allow me to board without my U.S passport. We are now out about $3000 and experienced major emotional damages. Royal Caribbean will not refund us, only for taxes and gratuity. Do I have a case against them? 
thank you!

 

Had they allowed you to board, RCI would have broken US law. Whether you are a U.S. citizen or Dual US citizen, the law requires you to enter and exit the country with your U.S. documents. While they can not deny any U.S. citizen to enter the U.S., you will have a very difficult time with Customs and Border Patrol. 
 

Do you have a case? Only an attorney can answer that question. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Never mind. @livingonthebeach summed it up.

Edited February 9 by WrittenOnYourHeart

[Itchy&Scratchy]

9 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Hungary is an EU country, so unless a particular visa was for a specific country on the cruise itinerary, generally a EU country passport would have been accepted.

Foreign born US citizens need a US passport to come back to the US.

 

ETA: I know I am slightly paranoid about forgetting to bring our US passports on a cruise with us, but I triple check my purse before leaving the house, then check again on the ride to the airport, at the airport, then again at the hotel.  Yes, it is clearly an overkill, but at least I am not the one at the pier with a passport from another country.

Edited February 9 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Pochi Hanaki]

43 minutes ago, fac429 said:

 

Don't know what jurisdiction you're in, but in a lot of places this would be considered giving legal advice without a license.  Might want to delete this one.  

Ddi you not just give legal advice in telling them to delete? Are you an attorney? 

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

My thought on it was the OP did all the pre-cruise check in with her US passport - and possibly is even registered for the cruise as a US citizen.

As you may know, I check-in passengers for cruises in Seattle.  We do get dual citizens with multiple passports.  Last season we had dual citizens from Argentina (which needs a Canadian visa to board for an Alaska cruise), but also had a passport from Portugal which doesn't need a Canadian visa.  This passengers used their Portuguese passport to embark.  Same with a passengers who had a Chinese passport (Canadian Visa required) and a passport from Hong Kong (although the Ship Documentation Officer wanted to look at the HK passport on that one).

 

Agents checking in passengers usually know the citizenship of the passenger standing in front of them  I personally never came across a US citizen using their other dual citizenship passport to get on a cruise ship  Now that I think about it, if I was faced with this situation, I would probably bring it to my supervisor's attention, and see how they would want to handle it.

[fac429]

5 minutes ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

Are you an attorney? 

 

It so happens that I am.

[Pochi Hanaki]

9 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Foreign born US citizens need a US passport to come back to the US.

That is not correct. The US requirements for airlines is for all passengers to have passports including US citizens. That is an airline requirement and they can get fined big time for letting someone without a passport on a flight. However the US does not require its citizens to have a passport to enter the country by sea or land. They will keep you in secondary until they get proof of your citizenship.