Passport Help!

[bshafercruise]

Here's the situation we are in:

We recently booked a cruise on Oasis sailing February 5, 2023. Our first plan was to travel without passports, using birth certificates and driver's licenses because it is a closed loop cruise out of Miami. The itinerary is Coco Cay, San Juan, and St Maarten, plus 3 sea days. After reading a lot of threads, we are nervous about not having passports. If we paid for the expedited service, they are supposed to arrive in 3-5 weeks. We are currently 7.5 weeks from sailing, with holidays in between which I would assume may slow things down a bit. 

The only real issue/concern for us is that it took forever to get my wife's birth certificate from Arizona. We currently live in Indiana and can't just walk in a pick it up like I can with mine. If we mail off the only birth certificate we have (yes we should have gotten multiples...hindsight is 20/20), and the passports don't arrive on time, we will have neither the passports, nor the birth certificate. 

Any constructive advice is appreciated. Just board with birth certificates and licenses (we have marriage license for name change issues) or go for the passports and hope they arrive in the timeframe they are supposed to?

[Biker19]

Just now, bshafercruise said:

After reading a lot of threads, we are nervous about not having passports.

You shouldn’t be. 

[poocher]

You are going to a private island, not gonna get left behind.  Puerto Rico is in America (cue West Side Story 🎼).  So St Maarten is the only  place you could POSSIBLY have an issue.  Take the BC & DL.  

[Joseph2017China]

10 minutes ago, bshafercruise said:

Here's the situation we are in:

We recently booked a cruise on Oasis sailing February 5, 2023. Our first plan was to travel without passports, using birth certificates and driver's licenses because it is a closed loop cruise out of Miami. The itinerary is Coco Cay, San Juan, and St Maarten, plus 3 sea days. After reading a lot of threads, we are nervous about not having passports. If we paid for the expedited service, they are supposed to arrive in 3-5 weeks. We are currently 7.5 weeks from sailing, with holidays in between which I would assume may slow things down a bit. 

The only real issue/concern for us is that it took forever to get my wife's birth certificate from Arizona. We currently live in Indiana and can't just walk in a pick it up like I can with mine. If we mail off the only birth certificate we have (yes we should have gotten multiples...hindsight is 20/20), and the passports don't arrive on time, we will have neither the passports, nor the birth certificate. 

Any constructive advice is appreciated. Just board with birth certificates and licenses (we have marriage license for name change issues) or go for the passports and hope they arrive in the timeframe they are supposed to?

Do nothing.  You have everything you need, and the .000001% chance that you are left behind not having a passport will be the easiest and cheapest issue you face (last minute air, hotels, etc).  Plus, with those island so close, you might be able to charter/taxi/boat to a USA island and fly from there.  

[jk04]

Unless you are able to get an additional birth certificate for your wife during that same time, I wouldn't take a chance.  As you said, holidays and you never know what may happen, even though it's expedited service.  Stay with your birth certificate and driver's license, you will be fine.  🙂

[Cutigerlady]

If you pay for the expedite and don't get your passports in time, there is a way to go to a passport center and have the book printed there.  You must be traveling within 20 days.  You should be able to look up where the closest facility is to where you live online.  You may also have a local service that guarantees a passport within 2 weeks, but it usually is alot more $$.  

 

We did get passports and have never needed them for an emergency situation, however it did make meeting the Real ID requirements to renew my driver's license much easier (didn't have to get a certified copy of my marriage license).  

 

 

[RandomUser123]

Coco Cay is a RC private island so you should not worry. San Juan is Puerto Rico so no passport required. St. Maarten should not really be an issue unless you were to miss getting back on the ship. You will be fine with drivers license and birth certificate. 

[bshafercruise]

Thank you all for the constructive advice. It's the wife that needed

convincing more than me.

 

55 minutes ago, poocher said:

You are going to a private island, not gonna get left behind.  Puerto Rico is in America (cue West Side Story 🎼).  So St Maarten is the only  place you could POSSIBLY have an issue.  Take the BC & DL.  

3 minutes ago, RandomUser123 said:

Coco Cay is a RC private island so you should not worry. San Juan is Puerto Rico so no passport required. St. Maarten should not really be an issue unless you were to miss getting back on the ship. You will be fine with drivers license and birth certificate. 

 

I said the same thing. And on St Maarten we are taking an excursion through RC, so we have some protection there as well.

 

43 minutes ago, Cutigerlady said:

We did get passports and have never needed them for an emergency situation, however it did make meeting the Real ID requirements to renew my driver's license much easier (didn't have to get a certified copy of my marriage license).  

 

We have the Real ID from Indiana already. The crazy part about that is we had to provide all of the same information to the state of Indiana as we need to do for the passport. Why can't I just provide a copy of my ID to get the passport. State and Federal agencies need more cooperation. 

[cyntil8ing]

46 minutes ago, bshafercruise said:

We have the Real ID from Indiana already. The crazy part about that is we had to provide all of the same information to the state of Indiana as we need to do for the passport. Why can't I just provide a copy of my ID to get the passport. State and Federal agencies need more cooperation. 

Real ID, the one with the star, proves residence, not citizenship. Green card holders can have Real IDs. Enhanced Drivers Licenses, the ones with the flag, prove citizenship. They're currently only available in MI, MN, NY, VT and WA.

 

To answer the original question, if it were me, I'd order the backup birth certificate now. When it arrives, I'd send it off for regular passport renewal. I'd plan on traveling with the other birth certificate, or the new passport if it arrives in time.

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, poocher said:

You are going to a private island, not gonna get left behind.  Puerto Rico is in America (cue West Side Story 🎼).  So St Maarten is the only  place you could POSSIBLY have an issue.  Take the BC & DL.  

2 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

Do nothing.  You have everything you need, and the .000001% chance ...

1 hour ago, jk04 said:

Unless you are able to get an additional birth certificate for your wife during that same time, I wouldn't take a chance.  

No need for me to answer -- these are the thoughts that were in my head.  

I think the risk of mailing away your wife's only birth certificate is much worse than sailing with the birth certificates.  

 

Having said that, if you need another birth certificate for her, ask your local Register of Deeds if they have a service that allows you to get a document from another county or state.  Mine does -- it costs more and takes maybe 30 minutes, but you can walk out with the document you need that day.  

 

[ARandomTraveler]

3 hours ago, poocher said:

You are going to a private island, not gonna get left behind.  Puerto Rico is in America (cue West Side Story 🎼).  So St Maarten is the only  place you could POSSIBLY have an issue.  Take the BC & DL.  

Normally I'm an advocate for passports (it seems like all Americans would have one just like most of us get driver's licenses, it's so easy and inexpensive to get one), but I agree that this cruise route is very little risk of being left behind and needing a passport to fly home. 
 

I's apply for the passport anyway, but if they don't get it in time, no big deal. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Ret MP]

4 hours ago, bshafercruise said:

Here's the situation we are in:

We recently booked a cruise on Oasis sailing February 5, 2023. Our first plan was to travel without passports, using birth certificates and driver's licenses because it is a closed loop cruise out of Miami. The itinerary is Coco Cay, San Juan, and St Maarten, plus 3 sea days. After reading a lot of threads, we are nervous about not having passports. If we paid for the expedited service, they are supposed to arrive in 3-5 weeks. We are currently 7.5 weeks from sailing, with holidays in between which I would assume may slow things down a bit. 

The only real issue/concern for us is that it took forever to get my wife's birth certificate from Arizona. We currently live in Indiana and can't just walk in a pick it up like I can with mine. If we mail off the only birth certificate we have (yes we should have gotten multiples...hindsight is 20/20), and the passports don't arrive on time, we will have neither the passports, nor the birth certificate. 

Any constructive advice is appreciated. Just board with birth certificates and licenses (we have marriage license for name change issues) or go for the passports and hope they arrive in the timeframe they are supposed to?

In your situation, I'd go ahead and just take a chance and use the BC & DL.  That's going against my usual advice of always having a Passport with you, all the time, while traveling in foreign countries.  You are between a rock and a hard place.  

 

Just remember, if you don't have a Passport, you can't fly home without one, emergency or not.  Can you get clearance, eventually?  Yes.  But, in an actual life, death, limb emergency, for you or a family member, every minute counts.  

[poocher]

But the they would have to submit their one and only certified Birth Certificate to apply for the passport precruise with the possibility of not getting even THAT back in time.  This is why most here are suggesting just use the BC & DL now & deal with the passport later.