Urgent Urgent Urgent!

[Merrilymeggily]

Can someone please tell me if hospital-issued birth certificates with raised seals are OK for boarding a Celebrity ship? My friends just realized that this is what they have, as opposed to state-issued certs, and we sail at 4:30 TODAY! Info, please!!

[Char]

Can someone please tell me if hospital-issued birth certificates with raised seals are OK for boarding a Celebrity ship? My friends just realized that this is what they have, as opposed to state-issued certs, and we sail at 4:30 TODAY! Info, please!!

Hospital issued certificates are not "official" birth certificates that prove citizenship. Good luck to your friends!

[hdawson]

Generally, the hospital issued certificates are not acceptable. Have them go to the ship very early and beg.

[joeyanddavid]

Can someone please tell me if hospital-issued birth certificates with raised seals are OK for boarding a Celebrity ship? My friends just realized that this is what they have, as opposed to state-issued certs, and we sail at 4:30 TODAY! Info, please!!

Sorry to tell you .....Carnival let me on with hospital, HAL did not, now i Have both City registered certificate and a passport.. good luck.

[patrioticgirl]

Ohhhh Meg! :eek: I'll be hoping that they let your friends board! Follow hdawson's suggestion... we'll all keep our fingers crossed!

[Fisherlady48]

Can someone please tell me if hospital-issued birth certificates with raised seals are OK for boarding a Celebrity ship? My friends just realized that this is what they have, as opposed to state-issued certs, and we sail at 4:30 TODAY! Info, please!!

 

I would look "NOW" at your documents and call the number listed for questions on day of sailing. Good Luck.

[MortgageChick]

I hope all goes well. Here is an example of why we should all have a passport!!

[Lois R]

Hi Mortgage Chick:) I was going to say the same thing. I wonder if this is the friend's very first cruise.

If so, I would have hoped their TA (If they used one) would have given them all this important information way ahead of time.

Hope everything goes ok.

[mahdnc]

Or even an expired US passport will do as far as establishing citizenship.

 

Celebrity is pretty clear on what documentation is required. But here is a US embassy website that gives a more comprehensive list of acceptable proofs of US citizenship. Hospital birth certificate is discussed but in very specific cases that probably do not apply here. http://usembassy.org.nz/usservices/passports/proof.shtml

 

Good luck.

[mari10]

As a rule, Hospital Certificates will not be accepted as proof of citizenship.

I would contact Celebrity immediately. Sorry to say, your friend miay not be able to cruise and will not get a refund. I'm hoping this is not the case, let's us know how you make out. By the end of this year passports will be required for Caribbean ports.

Wishing you luck.

 

Mari

[AACJ]

If your drivers liscense has been recently issued or re-issued, a birth certificate or some other proof of citizenship might have been needed to get it. If so, you might be able to work with the powers that be and persuade them that you had to go through hell and high water to provide citizenship to get your drivers liscense and that might qualify.

 

Some states, such as Virginia where I live, require proof of citizenship now, post-9/11. Actually, that is how I got BACK into the US last week. We left our passports in our luggage thinking we would meet back up (with the luggage) before going thru customs. When we were stopped by customs, I explained that I left my passports in my luggage but had proof via the drivers liscense (just reissued in September of 2004). He said, "Do you know how easy it is to get a liscense in Virginia." I told him I had one of the worst time doing so and that it was not as easy as he said, then mentioned the proof of citizenship that Virginia requires and he let us pass through.

 

I think getting on the ship would of course be the major issue, getting off, not such a big deal.

 

Just my .02 cents and GOOD LUCK!

 

art

[AACJ]

Oh, go early, call Celebrity NOW and bring anything and everything you think MIGHT help your chances.art

[TPKeller]

Some states, such as Virginia where I live, require proof of citizenship now, post-9/11. Actually, that is how I got BACK into the US last week.

 

[...]

 

He said, "Do you know how easy it is to get a liscense in Virginia." I told him I had one of the worst time doing so and that it was not as easy as he said, then mentioned the proof of citizenship that Virginia requires and he let us pass through.

Hi Art,

 

You were really lucky. Or perhaps you are an excellent poker player! ;)

 

Virginia does not require proof of citizenship to renew unless your current license has expired! You bluffed your way through!! ;)

 

Read the first three bullets here.

 

Passports... if you could only buy stock in that company!

 

Theron

[AACJ]

Hi Art,

 

You were really lucky. Or perhaps you are an excellent poker player! ;)

 

Virginia does not require proof of citizenship to renew unless your current license has expired! You bluffed your way through!! ;)

 

Read the first three bullets here.

 

Passports... if you could only buy stock in that company!

 

Theron

 

Actually, I was moving BACK to Virginia from North Carolina and had to re-apply completely. But poker, no, I don't gamble.....just dumb luck that my passport was in my luggage.

 

Only trying to help with their situation. I didn't mention the scare I had with the second customs agent when he asked if we had anything to declare and my wife just looked at me......not going any futher than that!!

 

art

[boydsdaughter]

When we boarded the Infinity to Hawaii my brother only had his hospital issued BC (I about had heart failure). He had no problems at all, they didn't question him. Possibly it was because it was Hawaii and not a foreign county. Good luck, I hope your friends get on board.

 

Rita

[TPKeller]

Actually, I was moving BACK to Virginia from North Carolina and had to re-apply completely.

Ahh.... well you know what they say when you assume.. I assumed you were renewing! :)

 

I wonder if the friends of the OP made it on the ship. If they aren't CC regulars, we might not find out for a week!

 

Theron

[Bollinge]

Get a passport: Get a life!

 

 

Yours must be the only country in the world whose residents can swan around it on the strength of a driving licence or 50 odd year-old birth certificate.

 

Try entering the States with just a driving licence from Europe - you'd get no further than the departure lounge at the airport for the next flight home!

[wrp96]

Get a passport: Get a life!

 

 

Yours must be the only country in the world whose residents can swan around it on the strength of a driving licence or 50 odd year-old birth certificate.

 

Try entering the States with just a driving licence from Europe - you'd get no further than the departure lounge at the airport for the next flight home!

 

Don't worry we'll all have to soon (i've had mine for years) but I don't think that will help the OP as they posted on day of travel.

[mikiew]

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A PASSPORT. ..............AND REMEMBER, MOST COUNTRIES WILL NOT LET YOU IN IF IT EXPIRES IN SIX MONTHS. PLAN AHEAD,

[wv4891]

Yeap, this is really going to help the OP out, a lot!!! But it is good advice. To the OP, all I can say is Good Luck.

 

 

 

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A PASSPORT. ..............AND REMEMBER, MOST COUNTRIES WILL NOT LET YOU IN IF IT EXPIRES IN SIX MONTHS. PLAN AHEAD,

[canderson]

Can someone please tell me if hospital-issued birth certificates with raised seals are OK for boarding a Celebrity ship? My friends just realized that this is what they have, as opposed to state-issued certs, and we sail at 4:30 TODAY! Info, please!!

Hope it worked out for you. For others --

 

The itinerary involved can make or break the deal on documents. Even the Hawaii trips drop down through Mexico on one end or the other (an archaic law requires a foreign port stop for ships not registered in the U.S.), and soon you'll need a passport just to get back home from Canada and Hawaii. In short, unless you're on a Hawaii/Hawaii run on NCL (they have ship(s) registered in the U.S. just for this itinerary), good luck. Like the airlines, Celebrity isn't going to be letting you on the boat knowing you're going to be in deep doo with Immigration upon return to your embarkation port.

[tuggers]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[boltnut55]

My TA told me that an expired passport is not acceptable. <sigh> I have a new passport, but I can't find it... it is in my house. Because I booked the tickets in my married name, but my drivers license and my birth certificate (raised seal but not from the hospital) are in my maiden name, I will also be bringing my marriage certificate.

 

Do you think these three items combined will be okay? I will be going to Alaska, but the ship will stop in Vancouver and Victoria. My expired passport is in my maiden name.

[tuggers]

You might as well leave the passport home. Not only is an expired passport no good, it wasn't any good 6 months BEFORE it expired. No one will let you use a passport to go into a foreign country if you have less than 6 months left. So a ten year passport is really only good for 9 and 1/2 years!

 

(I've always secretly laughed at the fact that you can't use an expired DL or passport just for id, like to cash a check. What do they think, when these documents expire so do you? LOL!)

[Bollinge]

In England there have been a lot of complaints about the "9 1/2" year passport.

 

So now when you renew, the new passport is valid for ten years from the expiry date of the old passport. So the new one can be up to a "10 1/2" year passport.