Name amendments after final payment and after check-in - how worried should I be?

[mikkelhansen]

Hello,

Background story: We booked an January 2021 Equinox while onboard Equinox in January 2019, then cancelled this booking and instead booked an April 2021 Apex cruise with a US online TA, which was in turn Lift&Shift'ed to the April 2, 2022 Apex cruise, still with the same online TA. Somewhere along the way, I (in charge of booking/payment etc.) didn't enter two of four passengers' legal second given names. Ie. the passengers' legal given/first names are [NAME1 NAME2], but on the booking only NAME1 of each passenger is shown. Final payment was in December, and check-in opened about three weeks ago. When doing the check-in for both cabins, I realized the names couldn't be amended on celebrity.com, since the booking was done with a TA. I therefore completed check-in with the "faulty" names and contacted my TA to request the amendment ultimo February 2022. A week passed without any reply, and I then wrote them an e-mail with the same request, specfiying the correct given names. I received a reply that the case was already in the urgent queue, and that everything would be in order by any given deadlines (I reckon they refer specifially to the, I think 72-hour deadline before embarkation, for Celebrity to submit the final passenger lists to authorities). 

Yet, here I am exactly 14 days before embarkation, the names still haven't been corrected on the booking, and honestly I'm starting to get a bit anxious about the case. On top of having to do two negative antigen tests before the cruise (we're from Denmark, so one before flying to US and another before embarking due to >48 hours from the first test), I'm now also worried that the amendment will lead to minor or major problems, be it additional charges, denied boarding, or ultimately that we'll have to cancel the booking and book from scratch at going prices (which are almost double of our original price).

 

Essence of the case/the actual question: Should I worry a lot, a bit, or not at all, about a name amendment at this time; 2 weeks before embarkation, ie. after final payment and after check-in? As written above, the case is explicitly NOT about replacing passengers in a booking, it's purely a name amendment, so the passengers' given names will show on the booking as in their passport. The current first given names are spelled correctly, but the second given names are missing from the booking.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies/past experiences from you all, hopefully I'll be able to settle my nerves a bit.

[jwlane]

19 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

due to >48 hours from the first test

This doesn't help your name issue (and may not fit your situation), but >48 hours is not the testing requirement---it's 2 days before Day Zero (the day of the cruise).  Example:  Test anytime on Thursday for a Saturday cruise.

[canderson]

We have never bothered with more than first and last names when making a cruise booking.  Only the airlines ever include it in our reservations.

[mikkelhansen]

22 minutes ago, jwlane said:

This doesn't help your name issue (and may not fit your situation), but >48 hours is not the testing requirement---it's 2 days before Day Zero (the day of the cruise).  Example:  Test anytime on Thursday for a Saturday cruise.

Sorry, that was an error on my side. I am fully aware that both US entry and embarkation is respectively 1 and 2 CALENDAR DAYS before, not 24/48 HOURS. This still doesn't change anything for us though, as we fly to the US on a Thursday and embark on a Saturday, and we are not able to take a test in Denmark on Thursday, thus we have to do it on Wednesday, meaning that test can't be used for embarkation.

 

18 minutes ago, canderson said:

We have never bothered with more than first and last names when making a cruise booking.  Only the airlines ever include it in our reservations.

Do you have two given names in your passports/other official ID? The "missing" names in question are not middle names, they are second given names. Normally I probably wouldn't bother too much either, but in these times where covid tests/doctor attestation for recovered persons has to match exactly with the passportname, I reckoned the boarding passes needed to as well. During the check-in procedure, it is explicitly noted that the names mutch match those of  government-issued IDs.

Edited March 19, 2022 by mikkelhansen

[canderson]

41 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

Do you have two given names in your passports/other official ID? The "missing" names in question are not middle names, they are second given names. Normally I probably wouldn't bother too much either, but in these times where covid tests/doctor attestation for recovered persons has to match exactly with the passportname, I reckoned the boarding passes needed to as well. During the check-in procedure, it is explicitly noted that the names mutch match those of  government-issued IDs.

Our particular U.S. vaccination cards don't have a middle name or initial recorded at all, and since this is quite common, Celebrity isn't requiring them, either.  They get many vaccination U.S. cards with only first/last.  So long as the first given name and last name appear on your vaccination and other documents, and match whatever other identification you are carrying, Celebrity will be happy to have you.

 

You just can't have Mikkel on one document and Malthe on another document as the first name shown!

Edited March 19, 2022 by canderson

[gerelmx]

I have 2 names and 2 surnames, celebrity only uses the first name and the two surnames in the reservation, I always include my second name at check-in

Edited March 19, 2022 by gerelmx

[mikkelhansen]

18 hours ago, canderson said:

Our particular U.S. vaccination cards don't have a middle name or initial recorded at all, and since this is quite common, Celebrity isn't requiring them, either.  They get many vaccination U.S. cards with only first/last.  So long as the first given name and last name appear on your vaccination and other documents, and match whatever other identification you are carrying, Celebrity will be happy to have you.

 

You just can't have Mikkel on one document and Malthe on another document as the first name shown!

This is not about legal middle names. The persons in question both have two legal first names, which show in their passports as well as in their covid vaccine records (we don't use vaccine cards in Denmark/EU, we use a covid passport phone app or alternatively a print with a unique QR code , verifiable worldwide).

To continue with your example, in my case the issue would be ( [ ] denote first/given names and last name):

Celebrity booking: [Mikkel] [Hansen]

Vaccine records: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

Passport/ID: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

 

Does that make sense?

 

18 hours ago, gerelmx said:

I have 2 names and 2 surnames, celebrity only uses the first name and the two surnames in the reservation, I always include my second name at check-in

That's part of my issue - I can't amend/correct the full names during check-in (as I had expected to be able to), as the text boxes are greyed out with a note to contact Celebrity to edit the information. I called Celebrity, and they promptly refer me to my TA, and the case is now "stranded" there, as per my original post.

[gerelmx]

18 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

This is not about legal middle names. The persons in question both have two legal first names, which show in their passports as well as in their covid vaccine records (we don't use vaccine cards in Denmark/EU, we use a covid passport phone app or alternatively a print with a unique QR code , verifiable worldwide).

To continue with your example, in my case the issue would be ( [ ] denote first/given names and last name):

Celebrity booking: [Mikkel] [Hansen]

Vaccine records: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

Passport/ID: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

 

Does that make sense?

 

That's part of my issue - I can't amend/correct the full names during check-in (as I had expected to be able to), as the text boxes are greyed out with a note to contact Celebrity to edit the information. I called Celebrity, and they promptly refer me to my TA, and the case is now "stranded" there, as per my original post.

 

My 2 names and 2 surnames are legal and my passport and covid certificate says name 1 name 2 surname 1 and surname 2, it's important that everything matches

[canderson]

2 hours ago, mikkelhansen said:

This is not about legal middle names. The persons in question both have two legal first names, which show in their passports as well as in their covid vaccine records (we don't use vaccine cards in Denmark/EU, we use a covid passport phone app or alternatively a print with a unique QR code , verifiable worldwide).

To continue with your example, in my case the issue would be ( [ ] denote first/given names and last name):

Celebrity booking: [Mikkel] [Hansen]

Vaccine records: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

Passport/ID: [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen]

 

Does that make sense?

 

That's part of my issue - I can't amend/correct the full names during check-in (as I had expected to be able to), as the text boxes are greyed out with a note to contact Celebrity to edit the information. I called Celebrity, and they promptly refer me to my TA, and the case is now "stranded" there, as per my original post.

Yes, it makes sense, but, again, if it's Celebrity you're concerned about, I'm trying to assure you that it doesn't matter.  Your issues and our issues are equivalent as far as Celebrity is concerned.  If you had 10 names, providing your first "first" and your "last" names are both shown as first/last among your Celebrity booking, vaccination records and photo identification, that's going to be just FINE with them.

 

What I'm telling you is that any additional names beyond your first "first" and "last" are as irrelevant to Celebrity as our middle names are here.  If those "first first" and "last" two match on your documents, they're not going to be stopping you from boarding.  As far as Celebrity is concerned, the absence of additional names on a particular document hasn't been a problem. 

 

The only downside is that if you liked to be called by both of your first names, a crew member looking at your card will only see your first, just as is the case for everyone else that doesn't have more than one first name.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by canderson

[jelayne]

My passport has my full legal name.  My vaccination record does not  and neither has any of my Celebrity Bookings.  I have never had a problem boarding.  .  

[mikkelhansen]

3 hours ago, gerelmx said:

 

My 2 names and 2 surnames are legal and my passport and covid certificate says name 1 name 2 surname 1 and surname 2, it's important that everything matches

That's exactly my point.

 

31 minutes ago, canderson said:

Yes, it makes sense, but, again, if it's Celebrity you're concerned about, I'm trying to assure you that it doesn't matter.  Your issues and our issues are equivalent as far as Celebrity is concerned.  If you had 10 names, providing your first "first" and your "last" names are both shown as first/last among your Celebrity booking, vaccination records and photo identification, that's going to be just FINE with them.

 

What I'm telling you is that any additional names beyond your first "first" and "last" are as irrelevant to Celebrity as our middle names are here.  If those "first first" and "last" two match on your documents, they're not going to be stopping you from boarding.  As far as Celebrity is concerned, the absence of additional names on a particular document hasn't been a problem. 

 

The only downside is that if you liked to be called by both of your first names, a crew member looking at your card will only see your first, just as is the case for everyone else that doesn't have more than one first name.

 

Thanks again, that gives me a bit of a relief. Clearly I'm not worried about the passport and vaccination records, as the names here match exactly. 

Just to clarify, the example from above with [Mikkel] [Hansen] with Celebrity and [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen] on my ID etc. wouldn't be an issue when boarding? I guess my worries stemmed from Celebrity explicitly mentioning that the names with them must match those in the official ID.

Neither use their second given names in the everyday, so that wouldn't be an iusse here - and if it would, then tough luck for them!

 

26 minutes ago, jelayne said:

My passport has my full legal name.  My vaccination record does not  and neither has any of my Celebrity Bookings.  I have never had a problem boarding.  .  

Thanks, that really helps.

Edited March 20, 2022 by mikkelhansen

[canderson]

11 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

That's exactly my point.

 

Thanks again, that gives me a bit of a relief. Clearly I'm not worried about the passport and vaccination records, as the names here match exactly. 

Just to clarify, the example from above with [Mikkel] [Hansen] with Celebrity and [Mikkel Malthe] [Hansen] on my ID etc. wouldn't be an issue when boarding? I guess my worries stemmed from Celebrity explicitly mentioning that the names with them must match those in the official ID.

Neither use their second given names in the everyday, so that wouldn't be an iusse here - and if it would, then tough luck for them!

 

Thanks, that really helps.

Wait -- did I actually GUESS correctly that your 2nd first name is really Malthe???  Or are you just going along with my example?!?

 

Anyway, as far as Celebrity is concerned, it doesn't look/function any different than a middle name to them, and there is only space for two names when doing the online check-in anyway.  When you enter passport details, they do not ask for the name again, so there is no real mismatch there, either.

 

[mikkelhansen]

5 minutes ago, canderson said:

Wait -- did I actually GUESS correctly that your 2nd first name is really Malthe???  Or are you just going along with my example?!?

 

Anyway, as far as Celebrity is concerned, it doesn't look/function any different than a middle name to them, and there is only space for two names when doing the online check-in anyway.  When you enter passport details, they do not ask for the name again, so there is no real mismatch there, either.

 

Unfortunately, no - I was just using your (great) example. 😄 Actually, I'm the only person of us four travelling, who only has one given name and one last name (which isn't Hansen anymore, by the way).

 

I suppose I shouldn't worry about the issue anymore - the case is still with my TA, but if they should happen to not get the names corrected before the sailing, it sounds like we wouldn't have a problem when embarking, or at any other time while onboard, as long as at least our passports' and vaccine records' names match.

[mikkelhansen]

Just to update on this issue - I got a reply from my TA today, the names have been corrected with Celebrity, and all is good. Thanks for everyone's replies.

[helen haywood]

Have a great cruise!