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Lost Birth Certificate


lovebelle
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My cruise is 3 weeks away and I decided to gather documents together tonight and noticed my birth certificate is not where it should be. My child and partners BC are right there where mine should be but my documents are missing. I went ahead and ordered a copy from vital statistics in NYC but it’s not guaranteed to get here in time. I do have a passport that expired last year that I was planning on renewing after my cruise. But In the event my BC doesn’t arrive on time, what are my options? Has anyone had success proving citizenship with an expired passport?  

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An expired passport will not be accepted by any official. Best to use it to renew it. You may get fast service, or you may need to dig through your files to find the mislaid birth certificate

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I belive if you contact vital records they have a expidited service. We got new ones last year because the DMV wouldn't take the short version any longer to get a real ID and we needed the long versions. I would call them Monday morning and explain your situation and see if you can pay a fee to put a rush on it. Otherwise it may be 4-6 weeks. 

 

You could also try to get an appointment at the passport office (has to be actual office, not acceptance facility) or wait in the standby line for those who have upcoming travel, since you travel so soon. Agian, Monday morning asap. 

 

-888-874-7793 to make an appointment at the Miami Passport Agency. 

Edited by cruisingguy007
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4 hours ago, lovebelle said:

My cruise is 3 weeks away and I decided to gather documents together tonight and noticed my birth certificate is not where it should be. My child and partners BC are right there where mine should be but my documents are missing. I went ahead and ordered a copy from vital statistics in NYC but it’s not guaranteed to get here in time. I do have a passport that expired last year that I was planning on renewing after my cruise. But In the event my BC doesn’t arrive on time, what are my options? Has anyone had success proving citizenship with an expired passport?  

I think your best bet is to try to get an expedited passport. Are you in New York? Isn’t there a passport office you can go to? I was thinking the bigger cities had them than you could actually go to and pay for an expedited passport. You’ll pay good money but that’s what I’d try to do. 

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6 hours ago, lovebelle said:

My cruise is 3 weeks away and I decided to gather documents together tonight and noticed my birth certificate is not where it should be. My child and partners BC are right there where mine should be but my documents are missing. I went ahead and ordered a copy from vital statistics in NYC but it’s not guaranteed to get here in time. I do have a passport that expired last year that I was planning on renewing after my cruise. But In the event my BC doesn’t arrive on time, what are my options? Has anyone had success proving citizenship with an expired passport?  

If you don't find your birth certificate or replace it within the next week, you can call within 2 weeks of your scheduled cruise for an appointment at the Passport Office in NYC at 376 Hudson Street. Your actual appointment must be within 3 days of your travel. You will pay the new passport rate plus $60 expedited fee.

Site says 2-3 weeks to get replacement BC from NYC and possibly 2 weeks mailing time. I'd keep searching and pay the extra $60 to expedite for your passport.

We did get 2 passports replaced in about 3 weeks before our 12/26 cruise but, I was only risking that with a 5 week window.

Edited by mondello
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2 hours ago, kelkel2 said:

I think your best bet is to try to get an expedited passport. Are you in New York? Isn’t there a passport office you can go to? I was thinking the bigger cities had them than you could actually go to and pay for an expedited passport. You’ll pay good money but that’s what I’d try to do. 

No I don’t I live in FL. I can try to get an appointment at the Miami office which is a 4 hr drive but it’s not guaranteed I’ll get an appt and they only let you schedule within 3 days of travel. 

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As of now I have an appointment scheduled at the vital statistics office in NYC scheduled on the 28th, but Since I live in FL would have to fly in for a day to get this done. I hate the idea of flying up there so close to the cruise especially with so many flight delays and cancellations, but the earliest i could get an appointment was that week. When I get  2 weeks out from travel I’m going to try to get an appointment at the Miami passport office to renew. I have given myself a headache, but I’m praying oneof these options work out.  

I also plan on speaking to Carnival just in case. If the previous interventions don’t work, i hope as a last resort they can just accept my expired passport and my daughters birth certificate which has my place of birth on it, but I’m not holding my breath on that at all. 

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1 hour ago, lovebelle said:

As of now I have an appointment scheduled at the vital statistics office in NYC scheduled on the 28th, but Since I live in FL would have to fly in for a day to get this done. I hate the idea of flying up there so close to the cruise especially with so many flight delays and cancellations, but the earliest i could get an appointment was that week. When I get  2 weeks out from travel I’m going to try to get an appointment at the Miami passport office to renew. I have given myself a headache, but I’m praying oneof these options work out.  

I also plan on speaking to Carnival just in case. If the previous interventions don’t work, i hope as a last resort they can just accept my expired passport and my daughters birth certificate which has my place of birth on it, but I’m not holding my breath on that at all. 

They will not under any circumstances accepted an expired passport.  You won't get past online check in.  Use the expediated option  here https://www.vitalchek.com/birth-certificates/new-york/ny-state-vital-records and you can get a BC is a few days

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45 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

They will not under any circumstances accepted an expired passport.  You won't get past online check in.  Use the expediated option  here https://www.vitalchek.com/birth-certificates/new-york/ny-state-vital-records and you can get a BC is a few days

I did this option last night and there were no options for expedited service. After confirming order it said projected delivery is 2/11/22 which will not be on time. 

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32 minutes ago, mondello said:

@lovebelle Sorry I missed you now live in Florida. Surprised you got an appointment in NYC as their site says in person appointments suspended due to Covid. You'd probably receive the BC before the 28th if you use Vitalchek online as Elaine advises.

Yes there was conflicting Information. On one part of the page it says no in person service, but then another part says few appointments available due to Covid and I was able to get one 4 days before cruising. I’ve already purchased a plane ticket to fly in for the day, so hope I don’t get turned away when I arrive even with the appointment. 

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3 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

They will not under any circumstances accepted an expired passport.  You won't get past online check in.  Use the expediated option  here https://www.vitalchek.com/birth-certificates/new-york/ny-state-vital-records and you can get a BC is a few days

@Elaine5715  is correct, you will not make it past check-in at the terminal.  As someone who has check-in passengers for cruises, I can tell you that when the passport is swiped or scanned it reads the expiration date (among all the other data).  If the passport has expired, the check-in system issues a hard stop, meaning that the process is stopped/suspended.  At that point a supervisor would be called and ironically the first question to you would be asked, 'are you traveling with a birth certificate?'  An expired passport would not be accepted.

 

I am not sure which state you claim residency in, but if you are a NY resident you can get an Enhanced Driver's license, and that could serve as your ID for your closed loop cruises.  Unfortunately, with your expired passport, that option wouldn't work for this cruise. 

(Note to other CC readers - Enhanced Driver's Licenses are only available from 5 states MI, MN, NY, VT & WA.   Enhanced Driver's licenses are different from Real ID driver's licenses.  Confusing, I know.)

Edited by Ferry_Watcher
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2 hours ago, lovebelle said:

I did this option last night and there were no options for expedited service. After confirming order it said projected delivery is 2/11/22 which will not be on time. 

Did you call them?  Sometimes there are two options to secure a birth certificate and one will offer expediated service.  Here, you can't get expediated service from some counties but you can from the State of Mich.  

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4 hours ago, lovebelle said:

As of now I have an appointment scheduled at the vital statistics office in NYC scheduled on the 28th, but Since I live in FL would have to fly in for a day to get this done. I hate the idea of flying up there so close to the cruise especially with so many flight delays and cancellations, but the earliest i could get an appointment was that week. When I get  2 weeks out from travel I’m going to try to get an appointment at the Miami passport office to renew. I have given myself a headache, but I’m praying oneof these options work out.  

I also plan on speaking to Carnival just in case. If the previous interventions don’t work, i hope as a last resort they can just accept my expired passport and my daughters birth certificate which has my place of birth on it, but I’m not holding my breath on that at all. 

You will need to find your birth certificate, get a new one from Vital Records, or get a renewed, expedited passport. They WON'T accept an expired passport. Good luck. I keep my important docs in a safe. That way I always know where they are, etc.

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With this in mind, if you can, order two or more copies of your birth certificate (or other vital docs). Keep one copy in your LOCAL bank safe deposit box and the other in your files for easy access. At least this way you will always know you have at least one copy in the bank box. 

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35 minutes ago, ChutChut said:

You will need to find your birth certificate, get a new one from Vital Records, or get a renewed, expedited passport. They WON'T accept an expired passport. Good luck. I keep my important docs in a safe. That way I always know where they are, etc.

Yes I usually keep everything in my safe. Everyone else’s birth certificates is in there but mine for some reason isn’t which is odd. Honestly haven’t used it in over 10 years since getting a passport. 

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Since getting an appointment with the passport agencies seem to be hit or miss these days I went ahead and scheduled an appointment to get a BC in person in NYC the week of the cruise (earliest appt they had). I’ll have to fly up for a day from FL in order to do this, but can’t take any chances at this point relying on online services to get me documentation on time. 

Edited by lovebelle
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39 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Did you call them?  Sometimes there are two options to secure a birth certificate and one will offer expediated service.  Here, you can't get expediated service from some counties but you can from the State of Mich.  

most states offer this but NYC does not. Most agencies are closed until Monday so have to wait til tomorrow to speak to someone. 

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@lovebelle, do you have a copy of your birth certificate?  While not ideal, even a copy of your birth certificate might be enough.  While I can only reference what happens on Alaska cruises, when a passenger shows up at the pier without the proper travel ID, they are asked if someone at home could look for and send a electronic photo of the birth certificate to the pier.  Staff prints it out, makes sure it matches the photo ID (married women first & middle names and birth date).  if the birth certificate copy is acceptable to the Check-in Supervisor (or maybe the ship's Documentation Office), then you are allowed to be embarked.

 

The ship, the shoreside staff all want to get you on the ship, as long as they can legally do it.  It is possible that the protocols in Florida could be different than in Seattle, but if you showed up with even  a copy of your birth certificate, your current gov't issued ID, and your expired passport you probably would be allowed to embark.  The flip side is you are denied and you don't receive a refund.

 

Good luck.  Keep us updated.

 

 

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29 minutes ago, mondello said:

We're pulliin' for ya, kiddo. Please let us know how this ends.

There is still a chance your new BC will arrive before your flight to NYC, regardless of any projected date.

Omg that would be a relief if it did. Fingers crossed!

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5 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

@lovebelle, do you have a copy of your birth certificate?  While not ideal, even a copy of your birth certificate might be enough.  While I can only reference what happens on Alaska cruises, when a passenger shows up at the pier without the proper travel ID, they are asked if someone at home could look for and send a electronic photo of the birth certificate to the pier.  Staff prints it out, makes sure it matches the photo ID (married women first & middle names and birth date).  if the birth certificate copy is acceptable to the Check-in Supervisor (or maybe the ship's Documentation Office), then you are allowed to be embarked.

 

The ship, the shoreside staff all want to get you on the ship, as long as they can legally do it.  It is possible that the protocols in Florida could be different than in Seattle, but if you showed up with even  a copy of your birth certificate, your current gov't issued ID, and your expired passport you probably would be allowed to embark.  The flip side is you are denied and you don't receive a refund.

 

Good luck.  Keep us updated.

 

 

I love it. You are about the closest thing to a Subject Matter Expert on this topic, and nobody responds to you. Keep trying though.

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