Birth Certificate or Passport

We will be sailing on RCI from Vancouver to Seward Alaska. Will I need to get a passport for my 7 months old? My older 2 have passports but I didn't know if the Birth Certificate would be enough for the baby.

Keep in mind that while birth certificate maybe enough for the cruise line, you may need the passport for airline or border crossing so it probably makes the most sense to get the passport

Since you will have to get IN to Canada, you will need a passport.

You can use BC only when you are sailing from and returning to the same US port.

You can drive across the border still with a birth certificate for children, but you can not fly to Canada anymore without a passport. So yes- if you are flying in or out of Canada you will need a passport.

Flying into the United States: All children and infants will require a passport.

You can drive across the border still with a passport, but you can not fly to Canada anymore without a passport. So yes- if you are flying in or out of Canada you will need a passport.

From the US. border patrol website. "Flying into the United States: All children and infants will require a passport."

We will be sailing on RCI from Vancouver to Seward Alaska. Will I need to get a passport for my 7 months old? My older 2 have passports but I didn't know if the Birth Certificate would be enough for the baby.

No...the 7 month old will need a passport.

Thank you for the replies. We used a birth certificate for driving into Canada last year so didn't realize it was different for flying in

Thank you for the replies. We used a birth certificate for driving into Canada last year so didn't realize it was different for flying in

It's not just that. Closed loop cruises are an exception to the passport requirement. The cruise you are on is not a closed loop cruise so does not qualify for the exemption. Since it's leaving from Canada and ending up in the U.S., I bet that every person on the boat will need to have a passport.

Check this CBP link out, in particular the second paragraph which describes that even a US-to-US voyage does not have an exemption if it ends in a different port from where it started: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139/~/documents-needed-to-take-a-cruise

Oh, what the heck:

If, on the other hand, you - say -

board a cruise ship in San Diego,

California, sail through the Panama Canal (stopping at a foreign port during the cruise),

and end the cruise in Miami, Florida,

 

you have not taken a closed loop cruise

 

As of June 1, 2009 you need a passport (including infants).

FWIW, kids passports are a piece of cake. We had more trouble getting the SS card (due to the hospital's lack of competence) than the passport. Ours took like 2-1/2 weeks door to door with no special handling. That said, I'd do it right away.

At the time, it was $10 additional for the PP card. They are pretty worthless for actual travel unless you are near a land crossing, but for proof of age.... for instance for a flight... they come in handy.