Birthdates required for non-sailing guests?

[horsingaround]

For those who have already done the 'on board' wedding at emarkation - do you really need to provide Carnival with the birthdates for all you're non-sailing guests when you send in your final guest list?

 

It just seems a little rude to call them back (after they have sent their RSVP) to say "Hey, I'm so glad you're attending my wedding - now I need to know all of you're birth dates". :rolleyes:

 

Really - Carnival will be collecting their ID's and they all know to bring photo ID with them.

 

Advice please? I'm 3 months out from my wedding so I'm going to need to start getting this information soon ..

 

Thanx

[MarinerBride]

I can't speak for Carnival, but Royal Caribbean did in fact check everybody's ID against the information I sent. I even had to get in touch with my uncle in Kuwait to get his passport or driver's license number. I think if you explain that your guests will go through customs, and it's a security issue, they'll be more than understanding and willing to give you the information that you need.

[SBT_KITTENS]

We are getting married on Carnival and they do require the name and date of birth for all non-sailing guests

 

The guests also need to have their ID with them to get on board.

 

On my invitations I put ____ will attend with photo ID and also placed a piece of paper requesting when they respond back to put their names and DOB.

 

Very few people did this so now I need to start the phone calls :(

 

Looking back, I should have had it placed somewhere on the response card rather then another piece of paper

[maddam_5maria]

The whole DOB thing is for verification purposes for customs. It is a must.

If you have three months left, maybe you can send out a newsletter or info pack to non-sailers. Include the DOB issue asking them to reply back and explain to them the reason for it, the fact they need ID's (or BC's for kiddies), parking information, maybe give them a run down of the whole process that will take place once they get in the terminal. Whatever you can think of to give your guest more information and also get the DOB that you need. Personally, I can't stand being on the phone so I would totally do something like this!

 

FYI for other brides - On my RSVP cards, I have ....

 

"For U.S. Customs reasons, please write the full legal names and dates of birth of all attendees on the back."

 

I just stuck it at the bottom in bold, italic letters...hopefully it works!

[jsacco20]

this is what we did and it worked out perfectly! everyone followed directions and it was so easy to create a log for the cruiseline.

first, this was our response card:

 

Please reply on or before

July 15, 2008

 

M_____________________

 

 

_______ Yes, we’re sailing

 

_______ Wedding only

 

_______ Unable to attend

 

Call XXXXX at (XXX) xxx-xxxx if you have not booked

your cabin yet but are still interested in sailing.

 

 

Then we also included this card:

Please fill out applicable information below and return it with your response card.

 

Sailing Guests: Please provide names and cabin numbers.

 

__________________________________________________

 

___________________________________________________

 

 

Non-Sailing Guests: Please provide names, nationalities, dates of birth, and (driver’s license numbers OR passport numbers).

 

_________________________________________________

 

_________________________________________________

 

__________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

[miyucruises]

Yes, Carnival does require it. For other future brides, our response cards read:

 

______ number of sailing guests _______ number of non-sailing guests

Guest 1 Name and Birthdate: ______________________

Guest 2 Name and Birthdate: ______________________

Guest 3 Name and Birthdate: ______________________

______ I regret we cannot attend.

[t_nix]

We sent out our rsvp cards asking for full legal names and dob, and everyone that actually responded included the needed information, however we sent out approx 90 invites and only 25 or so actually responded. :(

 

I agree with the poster that suggested sending out a newsletter to the guests that are attending and ask them to email you their dob's- it would be a lot easier than calling each of them.

[flhokie]

The US Government requires this information. All cruise lines have to provide information about passengers and visitors to the government in advance of embarkation.

[engagedonthesea]

:eek: All of my 30 guests had no problem giving their birthdates, except for one women of a certian age. Finally, she did provide a birthdate--and at the time I thought it was off by a few years --which it was discovered on the background check--she ended up not showing up for the wedding!!!

 

We asked for them to be given on the back of the RSVP card. I only needed to follow up with three individuals who didn't provide a birth date including the 'women of a certain age'.

[MaraNY177]

I've gotten the full names and birthdates from everyone via email. I just sent everyone an email stating that if they intend on attending the wedding please email me with their full legal name and their DOB. People are pretty good with providing the info. I just sent a generic email to everyone, and who ever is attending will respond.

[Tammy0930]

We are getting married on the Norwegian Dream, sailing out of Bosto on 8/3/08. Not only did we have to provide our guest's birthdates, but they needed to know what form of identification they will be using, i.e. passport, driver's license or birth certificate (for the children) as well as the ID number. They explained that they check the guests ahead of time for any prior terriorists acts, etc.

 

We have 48 guests attending the wedding and they were happy to provide this information for us.

 

I think that as long as you explain why this information is necessary, they comply with no reservation.

[udelmom]

We're fortunate to have a friend who owns a printing company so we were able to customize our invitation. We did a two sided response card. One side with the traditional wording on the top and with a short blurb on the bottom about Royal Caribbean's security requirement and requesting that those attending the ceremony complete the reverse. The reverse is just a fill in area for the required information. We will separate out the info from our sailing guests and only submit the non-sailing to RR. We mailed them today so I don't know if our idea worked or not. :( I'm really not excited about calling people.

[DiverGal]

We had to do this for our Carnival wedding, and had no trouble at all getting people to give the information. We did make a point of not sharing the list with anyone but Carnival, though, as we found out some interesting things about some people! One man had a different legal name than the one he'd been using since childhood. Three people were older than everyone else thought they were. And one family member had never legally taken her husband's name, even though all of us thought she had. We kept our mouths shut, and Carnival was happy with its list.

 

One pointer: bring a copy of your faxed birthday and identity list with you. We had a situation where Carnival had misplaced half our list. Then even when they'd resolved that, they said one person wasn't on the list. I gave my copy of the faxed Carnival document to the wedding planner, who got them to let my guest onboard. A minor hassle, but it helped to have proof of my list. I'm not sure they'd have done it otherwise.

[udelmom]

We received our first response today for DD's EOS wedding. FSIN's great aunt and uncle completed the reverse with DL number, etc. I sure hope its a trend!!! DD and I are so excited - 99 days till the wedding!