Boarding with expired passport or hospital birth cert?

[rocketmac]

Hey all,

I'll preface this by saying that I'm a dope. I should have insisted that everyone get passports. I didn't. So here's our situation. Any advice appreciated.

We're leaving from Port Canaveral for a 3 night Bahamas (closed loop) Disney Dream Cruise on Thursday (as in, 2 days from now). I got my passport renewed. My wife didn't (her passport expired in 2009). We've got official birth certificates for our sons so they're all set. BUT I just noticed that my wife's birth certificate is hospital issued. And the kicker is that we live in Virginia, she was born in Louisiana, and we're flying to Florida tomorrow. So we're not able to swing by Louisiana and pick up a copy of her gov't issued birth certificate. So, well, we're in a panic and would appreciate any advice on what we should try to scrape up in terms of official documentation that will allow her to board the ship. My wife has a valid driver's license, expired passport, hospital issued birth cert, marriage license, and social security card. But not sure if any of that will help. Along those lines, a few more questions:

1. Is there special office/contact at Disney Cruise that deals with documentation questions/issues?

2. Ever heard of the Disney Dream accepting expired passports or hospital birth certificates?

3. Will Disney accept a faxed copy of a birth certificate if we can work it out with Louisiana?

Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

cheers,

Mac

[storybookcruises.com]

To be quick and honest, you're in trouble.

You HAVE to have either a non-expired passport OR an original Birth Certificate issued by the government (local, county, or state). It cannot be a copy and it cannot be a hospital-issued as that is not an official document.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not the cruise line that requires this. This is what the Federal government requires.

IF you can get the State to fax something, you MAY be okay, but you'd better get in touch with the State to see if they will/can do this for you. It's not up to the cruise line to do this - you'll have to contact them.

I would hope that your travel agent would have covered all this with you well before you cruise. If they didn't, they certainly should have.

Pete

[rocketmac]

Thanks Pete. i appreciate the candor. I'm calling Disney in the am and will call the state.

Mac