A bit confused about passport/identification requirements

L

love disney

Active Member
Original Poster
My wife and I are heading to the Bahamas on a 4-night cruise for our anniversary. In the time since our honeymoon cruise she has changed her name, but did not get a new passport (oops!). I know that since this is a closed-circuit cruise a passport isn't "required," but I am not sure if her driver's license is sufficient. According to the DCL website it needs to be an "enhanced" drivers license...anyone know if Florida driver's licenses renewed in the last few years are "enhanced"? (We still plan on getting her name changed on her passport but if we could avoid having to pay the expedited fee it would be nice.)
Thanks!
 
Z

Zortek

Active Member
Not sure about in Florida, but in New York you have to pay extra for the Enhanced License. I believe for a Bahamas cruise you can use your birth certificate as well. The problem with using your Birth Certificate (or the enhanced license) is that you would not be able to travel by air in the event of an emergency.
 
Lunamis

Lunamis

Active Member
You need the license and a birth certificate. I still have not changed my passport since getting married 4 years ago and we did this in 2012 :)
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Make sure the birth certificate has all the required info. The much older ones don't always. I think they want to see Mom & Dad's names in addition to all the other vitals. And it must be the official one with the stamp thing. :)
 
L

love disney

Active Member
Original Poster
Thanks! Guess we will have to check in to doing expedited service on a passport name change since I'm not sure if she has her official birth certificate. Wonder if it's too late to change her name on the reservation to her maiden name and just worry about it later? haha!
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
love disney said:
Thanks! Guess we will have to check in to doing expedited service on a passport name change since I'm not sure if she has her official birth certificate. Wonder if it's too late to change her name on the reservation to her maiden name and just worry about it later? haha!
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I would suggest doing whatever it takes to get the passports expedited. While not 100% necessary, it just makes things so much easier since they trump all other forms of identification.

I would not suggest changing her name on the cruise reservation, since you'd be changing it to something that isn't actually her legal name anymore. Could become a problem in the event of an emergency, since the manifests become quite important.
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
EOD K9 said:
Speaking of which, maybe my favorite experts @Disneyfalcon or @sweetpee_1993 can remind me....will my daughters need actual birth certificates or black and white copies. Thanks in advance.
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Tom said:
Actual, legit, Birth Certificates with the colored backgrounds and watermarks and shiny strips and embossed seals and whatever else your state does.
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Yep. The real thing. Not a photocopy.
 
DrewmanS

DrewmanS

Well-Known Member
love disney said:
My wife and I are heading to the Bahamas on a 4-night cruise for our anniversary. In the time since our honeymoon cruise she has changed her name, but did not get a new passport (oops!). I know that since this is a closed-circuit cruise a passport isn't "required," but I am not sure if her driver's license is sufficient. According to the DCL website it needs to be an "enhanced" drivers license...anyone know if Florida driver's licenses renewed in the last few years are "enhanced"? (We still plan on getting her name changed on her passport but if we could avoid having to pay the expedited fee it would be nice.)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Most states have updated to Secure IDs in compliance with the Real ID Act. These are not the same as Enhanced IDs which are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The are effectively passport cards and DL in one.

For passport name changes, it used to be quite easy by mail. When my wife changed her name, they did not issue a new passport, but simple added her new name as an "endorsement" in the back and returned the original. Checking the Dept. of State Travel website, I see the new procedures requires filling out a passport renewal and new picture.

FYI, we just renewed my wife's passport and got our children passports. They claim routine service takes 4-6 weeks and expidited is 3 weeks (by mail) We used routine service and received them in two weeks. One of my son's passport had his name spelled wrong. We had to submit a name change form, the incorrect passport, birth certificate, and another picture by mail. We got the correct passport back in about 10 days.
 
atrus79

atrus79

Well-Known Member
Just as an FYI to everyone, my wife and son applied for passports in July for our Eastern Caribbean cruise on September 20th. My son (1.5 years) got his, but my wifes (needed name change from marriage) has been held up due to a 'processing glitch' in the governments passport and visa system. When we called, they informed us they cannot expedite the request (or any for that matter) and she might be out of luck, but could not tell us a probability of if it will come or not. You can google the issue and see that they have 'not identified the glitch' and have no idea when it will be fixed :(

We are going with Birth Certificate as Plan B
 
Disneyfalcon

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
atrus79 said:
Just as an FYI to everyone, my wife and son applied for passports in July for our Eastern Caribbean cruise on September 20th. My son (1.5 years) got his, but my wifes (needed name change from marriage) has been held up due to a 'processing glitch' in the governments passport and visa system. When we called, they informed us they cannot expedite the request (or any for that matter) and she might be out of luck, but could not tell us a probability of if it will come or not. You can google the issue and see that they have 'not identified the glitch' and have no idea when it will be fixed :(

We are going with Birth Certificate as Plan B
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Well shoot! Did you have to send her old passport in? Good to have a plan B though.
 
atrus79

atrus79

Well-Known Member
Disneyfalcon said:
Well shoot! Did you have to send her old passport in? Good to have a plan B though.
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Yep ... in order to change the name, her original (maiden name) had to be sent in ... so were in Plan B mode unless we get lucky ... still have 41 days so I have my fingers crossed :)
 
L

love disney

Active Member
Original Poster
Disneyfalcon said:
Vitalcheck is a good place to order birth certificates if you ever need one. FYI.
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We ordered a copy of her birth certificate through Vitalcheck last night actually.

So here's my new question. We're still going to try and get her a new passport to reflect the name change, but if it doesn't come in time due to the computer glitch their system is having we have her State issued driver's license (which reflects her name change) and a certified copy of her State issued birth certificate. Will this suffice with the birth certificate having her maiden name and her drivers license having her new name (my last name and her old last name as her middle name now)? Hopefully the passport will get here in time and none of this will be an issue but want to make sure we dont get to the port and aren't allowed on the boat!

Thanks for all the advice everyone!
 

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