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Ever forget your passport?

shofer

By shofer,
in Royal Caribbean International

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shofer

shofer

Posted
Posted

We were booked on the Grand Princess to leave 2/2/08 from Ft. Lauderdale traveling with our adult children and their spouses. The plan was to leave Chicago on Friday, 2/1/08 and stay overnight one night pre-cruise to allow for any weather delays. It started snowing on Thursday and continued for 24 hours, dumping about a foot of snow in Chicago, canceling 600 flights on Thursday and continuing on Friday. Lucky for us, we were flying United which has its hub in Chicago and we not only had an aircraft at our gate but our flight was on time. The anxiety over the weather had overshadowed everything else on our minds.

 

As we winged our way to Ft. Lauderdale, I turned to my DH and asked if he had brought the passports as they had been sitting on his dresser. The horrified look that he gave me confirmed my fears. We weren't going to land for another 2 hours and we frantically discussed this with the kids.

 

The girl sitting next to me suggested that we have someone go to the house and FEDEX them to us. The problem was that no one else had a key to the house. She suggested that we get a friend to get a locksmith to open the house and then send the passports. This sounded like a good idea to me but DH felt that there were too many parts to the plan that could go wrong and his plan was to fly immediately back to Chicago and come back the next day.

 

We called Donna, our trusty travel agent for advice and she called Princess to confirm that we needed passports or a certified copy of your birth certificate which you could get from a national data base here in the States. The fly in the ointment for that idea was that DH was not born in the USA.

 

She started checking flights from Ft. Lauderdale when I mentioned the locksmith idea. She became very excited and said that she had a good friend who was a locksmith and she would call him and ask if he would do this for her. While we went down to baggage claim, we also talked to the Princess rep who met us for the bus transfer to the hotel and told her that DH might not be coming with us.

 

Donna called back and said that while the locksmith would open the house, he would not go in it because of the liability. His best friend however was Donna's ex-boyfriend and he agreed to go along and get the documents off DH's dresser and take them to a FEDEX-KINKOS for next day delivery.

 

We boarded the bus to the hotel and Donna called us about 10 minutes later and conferenced us in with the locksmith who was having trouble opening the lock and he said that he had to make a key and did my key have a number on it. It did and he was able to open the door. We gave Donna the hotel address and she called us later to confirm that the package was on the way and should be delivered by noon, guaranteed.

 

Our SIL asked us to get the tracking number and he would check it for us the next day. Donna called us back that evening with it and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were so grateful to her for going above and beyond for us; we could not thank her enough! You would not get someone to do this for you from an online agency. She charged the locksmith fee, about $100 and the FEDEX fee about $44 to our credit card. This was a small price to pay for our stupidity.

 

The next day, Jeremy checked the tracking number and said it was in Pompano Beach which was the next town away. We went in for breakfast anticipating that it would be there shortly. By eleven it was still not there and I asked him to check it again and it came up with an "exception". I called 1-800-GOFEDEX and they told me that the address was incorrect! But the package was on the truck and I could pick it up at the facility when the driver came back and they were open until 7:00 PM. Small comfort when the ship was sailing @ 5:00! They asked for the correct address and said that they would leave a message for the driver.

 

The hotel had given us a letter telling us to meet downstairs @ 11:30-12:00 for "pre-check-in". We sent the kids down and checked out of our room and anxiously awaited a call back from FEDEX. Unbeknownst to us, Donna had also noticed the incorrect address that morning and was also calling FEDEX.

 

I tried again around 12:15 and got the same response, that they would send a message to the driver. In the meantime, we pulled our luggage out of the Princess pile so it wouldn't get on the ship without us and waited while the Holland America reps boarded about 12 buses for their cruise.

 

We discussed our problem with the hotel manager and he assured us that the FEDEX depot was only 10 minutes away and most Saturday deliveries were over by 1:00 so we should have no problem getting there to get our package and making it to the ship on time. He even said that he would arrange a Towncar for us that would be the same cost as a cab and would wait for us. So we had an alternate plan. Meanwhile, DH was waiting outside looking for any FEDEX truck that came by so he could throw his body in its path just in case it was the one with our passports.

 

We tried to call again @ 12:50 and the FEDEX person noticed a message that said that the driver would be there in 15 minutes! As soon as I hung up, Donna was calling us with the same news. She was feeling responsible since it was her friend who had put down the wrong address!

 

DH, DS, DIL, SIL all waited outside for the FEDEX truck to make an appearance while DD stayed with me calming my frazzled nerves. A few minutes later, FEDEX pulled up and DH ran to him to claim our envelope. The driver questioned him because our name was spelled incorrectly but DH pulled out his driver’s license to prove it was him and then tipped the guy.

 

And yes, inside were the passports, the bill for the locksmith and the key he had made to get into the house. Princess was still boarding buses and had not yet called our color. Our luggage went back into the pile and we were finally on our way!

 

Had we ever discussed our passports before leaving? Yes, a few days earlier I had asked where they were thinking that if they were in the bank vault, I would have to go get them. But DH had assured me that they were on his dresser. And we then promptly forgot about them with all the anxiety over the weather. From now on, they will be the first thing on my list! Donna saved us from having to make another flight back home and saved our vacation with our children.

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SeaBaby

SeaBaby

Posted
Posted

Yikes, that was close! It reminds me of a friend whose husband forgot to get their passports out of the safety deposit box at the bank. They discovered this as they were leaving for their vacation in Europe. Yep - it was Saturday and the bank was closed. They didn't go on that trip.

 

I must say your travel agent went above and beyond the call of duty!

 

Suzanne

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KKeeganS

KKeeganS

Posted
Posted

My hubby is a British citizen, and had to renew his passport for one of our past cruises. It came back in the mail, and I left it on the counter where our incoming mail lives. The week before our cruise, I did a big purge of junk mail/catalogs, and thought "I really should move his passport to a safer place...but then I'll just need to get it out again" so I left it.

 

Later that week, I did another junk mail purge so the house was clean when we got back from our trip. And dumped his passport. I noticed it was gone later that night, and was frantically rifling through the papers upstairs, trying to remember if I had seen it AFTER cleaning up all the mail earlier in the week. While I was praying and crying and generally freaking out, he was going through the trash bags he had retrieved from the condo dumpster and found his passport. He was annoyed to say the least, and I felt AWFUL. I mean, if I chucked my passport, no harm done as I have a BC and license. As a UK citizen living in the US, he kind of needs his. :p After he got his passport out of the trash, I heard him rifling around and I asked what he was doing. He said he was checking to make sure I hadn't thrown anything ELSE of his away - completely serious.

 

When we were finally on our flight to San Juan, still both a little sore at each other, we turned to look at each other, breathed a sigh, and just started cracking up. So far, the closest call yet. And hopefully never to be repeated.

 

Hope you can laugh about all the stress now, and that you had a great trip!

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CGBCruiser

CGBCruiser

Posted
Posted

That stresses me out just reading it...I would have been SICK!!! But, I am a little OCD and check, check, and recheck for tickets, passports, etc. I never leave anything up to my DH...bless his heart. I have to pack his clothes to make sure everything gets packed. ;)

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lmberg

lmberg

Posted
Posted

Yikes! I'm going to pack my passport tonight for my cruise next month! DH & I went to Bermuda in May 2006, and I didn't even think about the fact that my passport had my maiden name on it (we got married in 2003), until the Customer Service person said something at check-in at the pier. I was terrified they wouldn't let me board (she kept calling over managers, etc.), but thank goodness that was before you really needed a passport for Bermuda. If it happened today, I don't know what they would do!:eek:

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fungirl28

fungirl28

Posted
Posted

(Big Sigh):eek: That was stressful. I'm glad everything turned out okay. I usually pack my passport in the bag I'm going to carry onto the ship about a month before I leave. I do this because I get increasingly scatterbrained as the sailaway date gets closer:p

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pepsicruiser

pepsicruiser

Posted
Posted

Not exactly the same but still filled with anxiety. First pre 9/11 we had an upgraded flight to Hawaii from JFK. We live out on Long Island so not too close to JFK. We get there and my DH had forgotten his license. At that time you just needed proof of identity. It was a very early flight and the gate person was very kind and let us on (that wouldn't happen today) and she suggested we get someone into our house and get license fed exed to us in Hawaii. We did that and luckily we had no problems. Just think a trip of a lifetime and we almost started off badly.

 

Then there is the time we were so yound and dopey. We were flying home from San Francisco and called home from hotel before leaving. We were at airport when we realized we left tickets in telephone booth. (yes they had booths back then lol). We called the hotel and the desk clerk found them and gave them to a cabdriver and he drove them out to the airport. Like I said this was a long time ago and don't think it would play out like that today. The cabbie found us and we paid the fare and gave a gooood tip. As they say sh** happens.

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maxs mom

maxs mom

Posted
Posted

Wow! What a story!

 

Last fall....we, too, were leaving from Ft. Lauderdale on a long week-end cruise. We couldn't take any extra days off, so we were flying in the day of the cruise. (Thankfully....it was early in the morning!) My husband realized that he didn't have his passport as we were checking in for our flight.

 

I went on with all the luggage. The people at Delta were very nice and arranged for my husband to take a later flight that would get into FLL in time to make the ship. He then drove back home to get the passport and just made his new flight. However he had to fly through Atlanta and change planes. There was a thunderstorm that caused a delay. Then a fire in the engine of the plane he was on. Had to get a new plane. Finally got to FLL with only a little time to spare. The taxi driver takes him to the wrong pier and tries to get him to get on a freighter! He finally made it to the ship with very little time to spare. Now with that new 90 minute rule.......he would have been out of luck.

 

In the meantime.....I got to FLL at 9:30 AM in time to help the previous cruisers get off the ship and I was the first one to board. I went to the Schooner Bar and started in on some mojitos and got updates from my husband on his progress.

 

That's an embarkation that I don't want to repeat.

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abridalmaven

abridalmaven

Posted
Posted
We were booked on the Grand Princess to leave 2/2/08 from Ft. Lauderdale traveling with our adult children and their spouses. The plan was to leave Chicago on Friday, 2/1/08 and stay overnight one night pre-cruise to allow for any weather delays. It started snowing on Thursday and continued for 24 hours, dumping about a foot of snow in Chicago, canceling 600 flights on Thursday and continuing on Friday. Lucky for us, we were flying United which has its hub in Chicago and we not only had an aircraft at our gate but our flight was on time. The anxiety over the weather had overshadowed everything else on our minds.

 

As we winged our way to Ft. Lauderdale, I turned to my DH and asked if he had brought the passports as they had been sitting on his dresser. The horrified look that he gave me confirmed my fears. We weren't going to land for another 2 hours and we frantically discussed this with the kids.

 

The girl sitting next to me suggested that we have someone go to the house and FEDEX them to us. The problem was that no one else had a key to the house. She suggested that we get a friend to get a locksmith to open the house and then send the passports. This sounded like a good idea to me but DH felt that there were too many parts to the plan that could go wrong and his plan was to fly immediately back to Chicago and come back the next day.

 

We called Donna, our trusty travel agent for advice and she called Princess to confirm that we needed passports or a certified copy of your birth certificate which you could get from a national data base here in the States. The fly in the ointment for that idea was that DH was not born in the USA.

 

She started checking flights from Ft. Lauderdale when I mentioned the locksmith idea. She became very excited and said that she had a good friend who was a locksmith and she would call him and ask if he would do this for her. While we went down to baggage claim, we also talked to the Princess rep who met us for the bus transfer to the hotel and told her that DH might not be coming with us.

 

Donna called back and said that while the locksmith would open the house, he would not go in it because of the liability. His best friend however was Donna's ex-boyfriend and he agreed to go along and get the documents off DH's dresser and take them to a FEDEX-KINKOS for next day delivery.

 

We boarded the bus to the hotel and Donna called us about 10 minutes later and conferenced us in with the locksmith who was having trouble opening the lock and he said that he had to make a key and did my key have a number on it. It did and he was able to open the door. We gave Donna the hotel address and she called us later to confirm that the package was on the way and should be delivered by noon, guaranteed.

 

Our SIL asked us to get the tracking number and he would check it for us the next day. Donna called us back that evening with it and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were so grateful to her for going above and beyond for us; we could not thank her enough! You would not get someone to do this for you from an online agency. She charged the locksmith fee, about $100 and the FEDEX fee about $44 to our credit card. This was a small price to pay for our stupidity.

 

The next day, Jeremy checked the tracking number and said it was in Pompano Beach which was the next town away. We went in for breakfast anticipating that it would be there shortly. By eleven it was still not there and I asked him to check it again and it came up with an "exception". I called 1-800-GOFEDEX and they told me that the address was incorrect! But the package was on the truck and I could pick it up at the facility when the driver came back and they were open until 7:00 PM. Small comfort when the ship was sailing @ 5:00! They asked for the correct address and said that they would leave a message for the driver.

 

The hotel had given us a letter telling us to meet downstairs @ 11:30-12:00 for "pre-check-in". We sent the kids down and checked out of our room and anxiously awaited a call back from FEDEX. Unbeknownst to us, Donna had also noticed the incorrect address that morning and was also calling FEDEX.

 

I tried again around 12:15 and got the same response, that they would send a message to the driver. In the meantime, we pulled our luggage out of the Princess pile so it wouldn't get on the ship without us and waited while the Holland America reps boarded about 12 buses for their cruise.

 

We discussed our problem with the hotel manager and he assured us that the FEDEX depot was only 10 minutes away and most Saturday deliveries were over by 1:00 so we should have no problem getting there to get our package and making it to the ship on time. He even said that he would arrange a Towncar for us that would be the same cost as a cab and would wait for us. So we had an alternate plan. Meanwhile, DH was waiting outside looking for any FEDEX truck that came by so he could throw his body in its path just in case it was the one with our passports.

 

We tried to call again @ 12:50 and the FEDEX person noticed a message that said that the driver would be there in 15 minutes! As soon as I hung up, Donna was calling us with the same news. She was feeling responsible since it was her friend who had put down the wrong address!

 

DH, DS, DIL, SIL all waited outside for the FEDEX truck to make an appearance while DD stayed with me calming my frazzled nerves. A few minutes later, FEDEX pulled up and DH ran to him to claim our envelope. The driver questioned him because our name was spelled incorrectly but DH pulled out his driver’s license to prove it was him and then tipped the guy.

 

And yes, inside were the passports, the bill for the locksmith and the key he had made to get into the house. Princess was still boarding buses and had not yet called our color. Our luggage went back into the pile and we were finally on our way!

 

Had we ever discussed our passports before leaving? Yes, a few days earlier I had asked where they were thinking that if they were in the bank vault, I would have to go get them. But DH had assured me that they were on his dresser. And we then promptly forgot about them with all the anxiety over the weather. From now on, they will be the first thing on my list! Donna saved us from having to make another flight back home and saved our vacation with our children.

Wow! what a story. I always get anxious about my passport about a week before we leave, so I get it from our lockbox and carry it in my purse that I plan to take. I do not worry about losing it as my purse is a pack safe and is tamper proof/slash proof. That is the only thing I ever worry about on a trip.

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Tra4

Tra4

Posted
Posted

We are cruising in March, this year, and have an exchange student from Germany going with us. Around Dec., I went to fill out the forms, asked her for her passport and found that it expires in Feb. 2008. How they expected her to get back to Germany I will never know. After calling postmaster, her parents, getting afidavids from her parents, original birth certificate (parents sent us a copy, which we waited 4 weeks for as it got lost in the mail), I had to go online to get the original, and then expedite the passport request, finally got it with only 40 days to spare.

 

But it wasn't me panicking as much as my son who decided that there was no way this girl (our exchange student) was going to make him miss his cruise!!! LOL!!

 

So glad it worked out for you, how horrifying. I'm putting our passports in my bag as we speak! LOL!!

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Indygirl00

Indygirl00

Posted
Posted

Shofer, what an amazing story! How blessed you were that things ended up working out! I can only imagine how it must have felt to finally get the package in your hands, the sigh of relief! As soon as I click "submit" I am going to go pack our passport in our carry-on bag.

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montekat

montekat

Posted
Posted

When we have a cruise planned, I put everything in a document case that has 5 or 6 dividers. I label each divider-- flights, hotel, trip insurance, info about the ship, excursions, etc. I print out a lot before a cruise and drop everything into the document case. The passports also go in there. Everything is in it, ready to go. I don't think my nerves (or my husband's) could take what the OP went through!! Besides, I can only do CPR on my husband for just so long!! LOL

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ShillyShally

ShillyShally

Posted
Posted
When we have a cruise planned, I put everything in a document case that has 5 or 6 dividers. I label each divider-- flights, hotel, trip insurance, info about the ship, excursions, etc. I print out a lot before a cruise and drop everything into the document case. The passports also go in there. Everything is in it, ready to go. I don't think my nerves (or my husband's) could take what the OP went through!! Besides, I can only do CPR on my husband for just so long!! LOL

 

I do this exact same thing -I have a zip around file folder with about 6 dividers and they are big enough even to slide a pcoket folder in as well which sometimes (depending on the trip) I will include with pages relevant to that "stop" in the trip (be it land or sea) - it has saved me more times then I can count and is a fabulous place to stick confimations and such and then receipts during.

 

I would be in a panic over the OP's situation - I love my husband and children but this is one area I don't know I'd trust anyone but me to handle the details for, LOL!

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Kiera99

Kiera99

Posted
Posted

Wow, I was getting stressed out reading those passport stories. I'm glad most of them turned out OK.

My friend went on an NCL cruise in Hawaii. The TA assured her she did not need her passport. When she went to board the ship, in Honolulu, NCL would not let them on, without a passport. The ship sailed without them. They had emergency passports made up and hired a private plane to fly them to the next island. When she got back, she sued the TA.

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land lover

land lover

Posted
Posted

OP love your writing style.............

 

Maybe its because we have had to retrieve tickets for concerts/ball games or plays on more than one occassion...but this is our typical conversation before our car or the shuttle leaves our home ...husband to wife...

"Do you have the documents?"...I always check to make sure I have them.

 

I can understand the distraction of the weather, good problem solving and what a wonderful TA...someone was watching over you;)

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