Im so upset...please help!

[J and G]

Well, maybe. But if the person accepting the passport is even half way on the ball, they will hand her hospital certificate or xeroxed birth certificate right back to her and tell her to come back with the proper documents. They will not accept her application without the proper documents (and therefore she will not have official proof of application). So I guess she'd better hope the person processing that day is not paying attention.

 

You are right that an official birth certificate is the preferred documentation. There are several others that are accepted, but would be WAY too laborious to gather at this point. Maybe she really is SOL.....we can only wish her the best.

 

I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

[SheriNtexas]

You are right that an official birth certificate is the preferred documentation. There are several others that are accepted, but would be WAY too laborious to gather at this point. Maybe she really is SOL.....we can only wish her the best.

 

I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

 

I'm hoping that if she does get on the ship, the least that she can do is let us know that she is onboard BEFORE she gets married!;) It would be cruel for her to make us suffer and wonder any longer than necessary!;)

[nrdsb4]

You are right that an official birth certificate is the preferred documentation. There are several others that are accepted, but would be WAY too laborious to gather at this point. Maybe she really is SOL.....we can only wish her the best.

 

I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

 

Me too! I personally think they'll get on somehow.

[impartfish]

All I have is a "Certificate of Birth" the one from the hospital not the state, and a photo copy of a certified copy. I just hope that with it being our wedding they will let us on, everyone will be in their weding attire. Im going to take everything i can think of to prove i am who i am. Also the wedding is in 2 days, i cant go get one because they are not open Saterday or Monday because it is labor day, that is when we are supposed to get married.

 

1. A marriage certificate is NOT an acceptable form of citizenship

2. In my experience, they will NOT let you onboard with a photocopy. It must have a raised seal OR one of those dark purple stamps from the county in which you were born.

 

All you can do at this point is bring every piece of identification you have, hope you have a very easy-going rep. at RCI when you board and hope for the best. Good luck with it! I do feel sorry for you! :(

[Clarkk W Griswald]

As some have posted here for the OP to take her chances and go with the copy, and find a sympathetic woman and shed a few tears, I certainly hope this doesn't work. While I feel for the OP, she has no one to blame but herself. What good is this whole security thing if someone standing in a wedding dress with tears streaming down her face is allowed to board without proper documentation? What excuse will they be allowed to board with next?

[AZjohn]

It just crossed my mind that there might not really be any such problem or person as the OP and that it was just posted to get lots of reaction....could that be?

 

NO, THAT COULD NOT BE

Kind of sad that's where your head takes you:(

She has been on our roll call here at CC for a while now. This marriage and her first cruise has been all she talks about and how excited she is. As she wrote, she thought she had the correct BC all this time until she fianlly pulled them out for our cruise this Monday. This is a very serious issue for her right now.

John

[FunCruiser56]

How about getting the copy of the certified BC notorized? That would make it more official. Might be easier to have a private notary stamp and sign it than an immigration official say No to the copy. Many of us know a notary that will 'fudge' the rules abit.

 

guess we are just hoping for the best.

 

Bev

[Clarkk W Griswald]

How about getting the copy of the certified BC notorized? That would make it more official. Might be easier to have a private notary stamp and sign it than an immigration official say No to the copy. Many of us know a notary that will 'fudge' the rules abit.

 

guess we are just hoping for the best.

 

Bev

 

A notary's job is to witness and verify signatures, not to sign someone birth certificate and certify that it is real. That would never work.

[janabelle61]

Take your voters registration card if you can find it.

 

 

While I sympathisize with the OP and agree that taking every possible piece of ID she has may help the situation, not all states require proof of citizenship to obtain a voter's registration card :eek: (I live in one), so it may or may not be accepted by RCL and/or border security.

[pmshirl]

As some have posted here for the OP to take her chances and go with the copy, and find a sympathetic woman and shed a few tears, I certainly hope this doesn't work. While I feel for the OP, she has no one to blame but herself. What good is this whole security thing if someone standing in a wedding dress with tears streaming down her face is allowed to board without proper documentation? What excuse will they be allowed to board with next?

 

I understand the importance of Aviation/Homeland Security in the USA, but to hope that a person (who has other legal documentation that they are a US Citizen) can not board a Ship due to not realizing they didn't have the Proper documentation needed for a Cruise is really low!!!

It's nice to see some of these posts who must be perfect people, that have never made a mistake, misplaced anything, do everything right their entire life, overlooked something, etc. I am sure with the everyday fast paced life we live in today, with all the hustle bustle going on in the world, let alone planning for a big event such as a WEDDING on your vacation, this exact same thing could of happened to a great deal of people. I CERTAINLY HOPE THIS DOES WORK for her and she can enjoy her cruise and her Special day she has planned for.

 

P.S. There is so much corrupt in this world, with ways to make, copy, produce, etc. of all types of documents (just like a FAKE driver's license, birth certificate, checks, money orders, money, and it goes on and on and on), some illegal immigrants in the USA have FAKE DOCUMENTS and nothing is SAFE IN this world anymore(and I know, this is not the main topic of this post) but we could of built a CEMENT WALL around the USA to protect the USA for less money than we spent on this IRAQ WAR!

I said my piece and may PEACE be WITH ALL!

[J and G]

NO, THAT COULD NOT BE

Kind of sad that's where your head takes you:(

 

That was pretty unnecessary...it was merely a question...not a state of mind....

She has been on our roll call here at CC for a while now. This marriage and her first cruise has been all she talks about and how excited she is. As she wrote, she thought she had the correct BC all this time until she fianlly pulled them out for our cruise this Monday. This is a very serious issue for her right now.

 

Since I am not on your roll call, I was not aware that she has been posting for some time now, and I extend my apologies to her for questioning her existence.

 

Apparently, it is time for me to bow out of this discussion and leave it to others who have more history here.....

 

I will contunie to hope for the best for the OP, as this must be quite a trying time for her.

[Sea Island Lady]

A notary's job is to witness and verify signatures, not to sign someone birth certificate and certify that it is real. That would never work.

Before 9/11, this is what we used to get onboard. Our AAA TA had us bring in a "copy" of our certified birth certificates and she notarized them all. We used this notarized copies for a couple of years or more, until they started requiring the real deal. At that point, we applied for our passports.

 

Hopefully, it will work for the OP. If she has a copy of her birth certificate, then there must be the real certificate somewhere either in her home or her parents home.

 

Some of the OP's post are interesting. Last week, she was mad at her maid of honor because she had not taken care of getting her birth certificate and didn't think she would have it in time for the wedding.

 

QUESTION: If the OP can not get on the ship for the trip, will they let her get on to get married and then make them get off after the ceremony? I know that they let wedding guest on the ship that are not cruising and then send them off before sail-away.

 

Personally, I just don't think that a ship or destination port (those people that take a cruise to a port to get married) are a good place to plan a wedding. Get married on land and then take the cruise. So many things can go wrong.

[dachshunddoglover]

I'm going to say a prayer for you that this all works out okay. Your wedding day should be a happy day and not consumed with anxiety and fear. Good luck to you. And just as soon as you get back - go get that passport young lady. E-Beth

[hersheyl]

Up until DH and I just got our Passports I have used a Certificate of Birth. This has a raised seal that was done at the hospital that I was born in many many many years ago. The seal was done at the Hospital to verify the signatures of those that witnessed the birth. It was then given to the parents to take to the County to register the birth. It has my shot records written by hand by my pediatrician. My parents never took this to have it registered. On the bottom of this document it states that it can be used to apply for a passport. I used this document last year in Galveston and to get my passport.... this has been asked many times......Does your document have any kind of raised seal?????:confused:

[The Moyers]

I hope they accept your documents and you have a marvelous wedding! Please let us know how it all turns out. I know how distraught you must be but............

[bullitt922]

I was just browsing for info and had to register to reply to your post. We had a similar situation a year ago in November. While packing the night before sailing on a Sunday, my husband went to get our birth certificates out of the lock box and they weren't there. After some deep thinking, he realized that he threw them out with our previous cruise docs. Many frantic phone calls later to RCI, travel agents, and parents, I was good to go. My mother had an original bc from our local board of health. My husband however did not. His mother had a photocopy, no seal, no notary, no nothing. Without any other option, (husband was born out of state and it was late Fri./early Sat.) we boarded our flight and crossed our fingers. RCI and a travel agent friend said there was no way we would ever get on the ship. I think I was probably visibly sweating when we approached the counter at the port and most definitely rendered mute. My husband handed over all the documents without mentioning any of our anxieties. The lady looked over everything and never remarked about the birth certificate. Our entire group (20 or so) was holding their breath on the gangway and errupted in cheers as we boarded the ship! We had to show this copy a couple more times during our trip and not a soul ever said a word.

 

I sincerely hope that you have the same luck. I would just present the certificate you have and not mention it unless someone questions you.

 

My prayers are with you,

Marie

[BethCarp]

Up until DH and I just got our Passports I have used a Certificate of Birth. This has a raised seal that was done at the hospital that I was born in many many many years ago. The seal was done at the Hospital to verify the signatures of those that witnessed the birth. It was then given to the parents to take to the County to register the birth. It has my shot records written by hand by my pediatrician. My parents never took this to have it registered. On the bottom of this document it states that it can be used to apply for a passport. I used this document last year in Galveston and to get my passport.... this has been asked many times......Does your document have any kind of raised seal?????:confused:

 

My hospital certificate (from 1976) with my footprints also says it can be used for obtaining a passport. And it has a raised seal/sticker on it. But that doesn't make it an official state-issued document. I think you may have just gotten lucky.

 

This is taken from the passport website

Certified birth certificate issued by the city, county or state

NOTE: A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note that some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.

[Hypo]

Does the photocopy of the birth certificate have a raised seal? Then you would be OK, Arkansas used to use photocopies and then stamp them with the raised seal.

 

Alternatively, do you have a friend that is a notary public who would imprint the photocopy and sign it. All that a notarized copy proves is that you are the person who appeared before the notary.

[BethCarp]

Does the photocopy of the birth certificate have a raised seal? Then you would be OK, Arkansas used to use photocopies and then stamp them with the raised seal.

Oh yeah. My DH's BC kind of looks like a photocopy too. But it's printed on a watermark paper and has the seal embossed on it.

[dachshunddoglover]

Please let this be another reminder to everyone who does not have one - Please get your passport so things like this can be avoided. E-Beth

[wrp96]

June 8, 2007 - The departments of State and Homeland Security relaxed the valid passport rule for air travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda provided travelers can show (a) a government-issued photo identification and (b) an official proof of application for a U.S. passport from the U.S. Department of State which can be secured from http:/travel.state.gov.

 

You don't receive the proof of application (at least not the one referred to by RCCL) when you apply for the passport. The proof of application is a document that you retrieve from the State Department's website after your paperwork has been sent in for processing. It can take a few weeks for your information to appear and before you can even print the official proof of application, so unfortunately even this option wouldn't work for the OP (even disregarding the fact that she doesn't have the proper paperwork to apply for a passport).

 

To everyone else travelling in the next few months, especially those that plan to travel on birth certificates - go right now and check your documentation. Is it correct? Is it a government issued certificate instead of a hospital certificate? Is your passport current? If not, you now have time to go fix this issue so you don't end up in the same situation as the OP.

 

To the OP, I wish you the best of luck in your marriage and on Monday boarding the ship.

[cruiseguy1016]

It still seems to me that the OP's best option is to go ahead and apply somewhere for a passport today and use her application confirmation along with her driver's license to board the ship. She does not have to have the actual passport - just proof of application for one, according to a previous post from RC's website.

 

She won't be able to apply for one because she needs a birth certificate to apply!

[BethCarp]

She won't be able to apply for one because she needs a birth certificate to apply!

And actually, this isn't accepted by RCI, IIRC. This is only accepted by airlines.

[JPerry]

If the OP would have checked her docs weeks instead of days before the cruise/wedding there would be no problem here. In a post 9/11 world it is more important than ever to make sure one has their correct docs when traveling. Tears are no substitute for proper ID. Go ahead flame away.

 

 

 

Thanks for your comment:rolleyes: however, i had everything ready weeks before I thought it was my birth certificate, i have never seen anything other than what i have, how was i to know it was not a birth certificate when it says "certificate of birth"

[JPerry]

I was taking my mom on a trip to the Bahama's. I asked her several times if she had her Birth Certificate to get on the plane. Answer was Yes. Well - when we got to the Atlanta airport, we gave it to the gentleman and he told us it was the hospital BC and not certified raised seal. We were in a panic as you can understand. He asked her if she by chance had her voter's registration card with her. By a miracle, she did. That was proof enough and they let her on the plane. Take your voters registration card if you can find it.

 

Good luck to you. This will be the longest weekend of your life. Please post back and let us know what happened. We really do want to know. When you get on the ship (hopefully), go to the computer lab and hop on real quick and let us know. E-Beth

 

 

I DO HAVE THAT!!!!:) I have tryed everything today, no luck from the vital records web site, my mom is the only one who would have a copy and all she has is photo copys, no originals, i have torn the house apart, no originals.

However what i have put together is my certificate of birth, my photo copy of certified copy, my high school diploma, my fingerprint records as a child, my shot records, my voters registration card, my W2 forms, my social security card, my collage degree, drivers licence, our homestead paperwork.

We have everything we could imagine put together.

We looked on homeland securitys website, and talked to customs, and basically they said bring as much as you can to prove who you are and it will be up to the discretion of the person letting us in. I dont care if they let me on, i just wont get off in mexico.

We have a back up plan, if all else fails and we can not go on the cruise, we will have our wedding on the ship, then leave with all of our non sailing guests, and we will find a nice beach to spend our honeymoon at.