CeciMami Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 Hi everyone, my partner has a weird situation happening with his passport. He applied months ago to make sure that he’d have his passport in hand for our Mexican Riviera cruise leaving right after Thanksgiving. It still isn’t here and doesn’t show that it’s in the mail and no one will tell him anything when he calls to inquire!!! He did actually talk to someone who told him that if he doesn’t have his passport and he needs to travel (with proof) within two weeks, he can call back in and they’d help him then. Has anyone ever gone through this? I know that he *could* travel with his real ID and a birth certificate but THEY HAVE HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE! (I’m using all caps because he’s freaking out…I’m just tasked with researching and figuring all of this out, lol). If anyone has gone through something similar could you please share your experience? He also knows that he can board the ship and that maybe he should just stay on the ship at port but that would take away some of the fun…we haven’t planned any excursions yet but still…we were looking forward to just wandering around together…It’s my first cruise ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 I have not been in this situation, however, if I was, I would immediately begin the process of getting a[nother] certified birth certificate. 2 is better than none…and if he does not have either the BC or the passport, he will not be sailing. Baked Alaska, AlohaLivin, SpeedNoodles and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xtentions Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 19 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: I have not been in this situation, however, if I was, I would immediately begin the process of getting a[nother] certified birth certificate. 2 is better than none…and if he does not have either the BC or the passport, he will not be sailing. Exact advice I was about to give. I would immediately begin the process of getting a new certified copy of the birth certificate. My wife and I needed to renew our passports earlier this year. We had everything done and mailed them to the same processing address on the same day. We mailed them separately but at the same time. Mine came back in roughly 4 weeks. Hers took 8 weeks. The difference? she got the newest version while I got the older version. We must have hit them right at the transition from old to new and got one of each. WAAAYTOOO and CeciMami 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drjohn4 Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 Have you gone to https://passportstatus.state.gov/ to check the status? If it has been more than 10 weeks and you are not getting help from the state department, you could consider reaching out to your congressional representative. They can submit an urgent inquiry on your behalf to the appropriate U.S. Passport Agency officials, asking them to provide the status of your Passport, and if necessary, to request their assistance in expediting the processing and completion of the Passport. Baked Alaska, CeciMami, ChessE4 and 2 others 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJay0301 Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 That is very strange, I assume since he mailed in his birth certificate this is a first time application and not a renewal, do you recall which office you sent it to, because first time applicants and renewals get sent to two different locations, this also depends on which state you are in and if you send it to the wrong location than USPS will take their time to reroute it. also did you pay for it by personal check or money order? if it was a check see if it has cleared, if it hadn't then they haven't started processing it yet, I am unsure if you have the receipt from the money order if you can see if funds have been released. We just renewed my boyfriends passport, so i understand the stress you must be feeling so close to traveling. CeciMami 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFishII Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 51 minutes ago, drjohn4 said: Have you gone to https://passportstatus.state.gov/ to check the status? If it has been more than 10 weeks and you are not getting help from the state department, you could consider reaching out to your congressional representative. They can submit an urgent inquiry on your behalf to the appropriate U.S. Passport Agency officials, asking them to provide the status of your Passport, and if necessary, to request their assistance in expediting the processing and completion of the Passport. Thanks for this advice. I just sent in my passport renewal application. I used the website above to check my status even thought I knew they may not have received it yet. Yes, they have received my application and it is in process. I have included a copy of my status from the website. Easy Peasy! ChessE4, Baked Alaska and CeciMami 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki007 Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 State department website reports 7-10 weeks for new applications. If its been longer than that there is something wrong. We had our renewals processed and in hand in under a month las year. CeciMami 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluer101 Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 I went through this a month ago. We purposely obtained official copies of our birth certificates to send so we still had back up birth certificates just in case. Our family of 3 applied back in June for passports. My wife and son got theirs back in 4 weeks. Mine did not and was still showing received and processing. Come to find out one number could not be read on my birth certificate. Prior to finding this out I already already reached out to our state senator Marco Rubio for help. While this was going on I received a letter from the passport processing then telling me this issue. But before I even sent back the letter with correcting the issue, our senator had it taken care of. My passport status changed to shipped and overnighted free of charge. Also got a letter from the senator office thank me for reaching out to help me. Plus I got the new passport where my wife and son got the old. My wife and sons birth certificates were returned about a month ago and mine was returned 2 weeks ago. The birth certificates or documentation will always be after the passport. So if I were you I would reach out to your governor or senator and also apply for another copy of birth certificate in case. VitalChek is the quickest and easiest way to get a copy of birth certificate. Most states refer you to this certified process and company. Where we got our extra ones before we applied for the passports. https://www.vitalchek.com/v/ FireFishII, WAAAYTOOO, CeciMami and 1 other 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted October 21, 2022 Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 It doesn't help now, but NEVER send your only copy of a document (birth certificate, marriage license, death certificate, etc). Yes, it's true you can't send copies (as in copied on a copy machine) for certain things, but you can and should have more than one official copy (as in contains a raised seal or other mark) of important things. There's no limit on how many such copies you can have. CeciMami and SpicyCherry 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeciMami Posted October 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 40 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said: It doesn't help now, but NEVER send your only copy of a document (birth certificate, marriage license, death certificate, etc). Yes, it's true you can't send copies (as in copied on a copy machine) for certain things, but you can and should have more than one official copy (as in contains a raised seal or other mark) of important things. There's no limit on how many such copies you can have. Oh I agree! I think this lesson will now be learned on my partner’s side… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeciMami Posted October 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2022 On 10/21/2022 at 9:35 AM, bluer101 said: I went through this a month ago. We purposely obtained official copies of our birth certificates to send so we still had back up birth certificates just in case. Our family of 3 applied back in June for passports. My wife and son got theirs back in 4 weeks. Mine did not and was still showing received and processing. Come to find out one number could not be read on my birth certificate. Prior to finding this out I already already reached out to our state senator Marco Rubio for help. While this was going on I received a letter from the passport processing then telling me this issue. But before I even sent back the letter with correcting the issue, our senator had it taken care of. My passport status changed to shipped and overnighted free of charge. Also got a letter from the senator office thank me for reaching out to help me. Plus I got the new passport where my wife and son got the old. My wife and sons birth certificates were returned about a month ago and mine was returned 2 weeks ago. The birth certificates or documentation will always be after the passport. So if I were you I would reach out to your governor or senator and also apply for another copy of birth certificate in case. VitalChek is the quickest and easiest way to get a copy of birth certificate. Most states refer you to this certified process and company. Where we got our extra ones before we applied for the passports. https://www.vitalchek.com/v/ Thank you so much for the link, we both ordered duplicate copies of our birth certificates just now!!! VirtKitty, SpeedNoodles and Neesa 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeciMami Posted October 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2022 On 10/21/2022 at 8:30 AM, drjohn4 said: Have you gone to https://passportstatus.state.gov/ to check the status? If it has been more than 10 weeks and you are not getting help from the state department, you could consider reaching out to your congressional representative. They can submit an urgent inquiry on your behalf to the appropriate U.S. Passport Agency officials, asking them to provide the status of your Passport, and if necessary, to request their assistance in expediting the processing and completion of the Passport. That’s a great idea! It’s 10 weeks on Monday so if he doesn’t receive it by then (or if it doesn’t say shipped when we check the status) we’ll reach out to our representative! Thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2flip24 Posted October 22, 2022 Report Share Posted October 22, 2022 i got my passport back at 8 weeks but still havent gotten my birth certificate back yet 4 weeks later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeciMami Posted October 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 I can’t believe this but…the passport shows as delivered now but we didn’t receive it. This has turned nightmarish now as the passport people did what they were supposed to do (they mailed us his passport) but are now telling us that if it was lost in transit, we’ll have to go to a passport office within 2 weeks of travel. The nearest passport office to us is either San Diego or Los Angeles and we’re in Las Vegas! My partner is freaking out even more now…because there’s no way we can make that happen. So plan B…he can use his birth certificate and his real ID driver’s license, yes? Can he get off the ship at Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta or will he have to stay on the ship the entire 7 day cruise? This situation is definitely putting an damper on our travel plans. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neesa Posted October 25, 2022 Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 The passport shows delivered? Okay, this happened to me. I went to the post office in charge of my mail, with "proof" it said delivered. They actually tracked it down, delivered to a similar address and the people had it not getting around to returning to post office. The post office personnel tracked it down and retrieved it for me. Worth a try, good luck we are all rooting for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amanalo217 Posted October 25, 2022 Report Share Posted October 25, 2022 If you have birth certificate and ID to board the cruise you will be able to get off at ports but have a risk if anything goes wrong like a medical emergency or miss the ship and need passport to fly home. Neesa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted October 26, 2022 Report Share Posted October 26, 2022 3 hours ago, CeciMami said: So plan B…he can use his birth certificate and his real ID driver’s license, yes? Can he get off the ship at Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta or will he have to stay on the ship the entire 7 day cruise? This situation is definitely putting an damper on our travel plans. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!! Yes, he will be fine and be able to get off in all the ports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TessOR Posted October 26, 2022 Report Share Posted October 26, 2022 5 hours ago, CeciMami said: I can’t believe this but…the passport shows as delivered now but we didn’t receive it. This has turned nightmarish now as the passport people did what they were supposed to do (they mailed us his passport) but are now telling us that if it was lost in transit, we’ll have to go to a passport office within 2 weeks of travel. The nearest passport office to us is either San Diego or Los Angeles and we’re in Las Vegas! My partner is freaking out even more now…because there’s no way we can make that happen. So plan B…he can use his birth certificate and his real ID driver’s license, yes? Can he get off the ship at Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta or will he have to stay on the ship the entire 7 day cruise? This situation is definitely putting an damper on our travel plans. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!! When you get on and off at the ports in Mexico, your SeaPass if your ticket to get back to the ship. You will just carry that with you. It tells the port authorities that the cruise line is vouching for your documentation. As another person stated, at this point your only concern would be if you needed to get back home another way - such as flying - due to medical or other emergency. Most the time - that is borrowing worry. Get your birth certificates in hand and have a wonderful cruise! btw - your timeline is similar to mine - are you sailing on the 11th of November on Navigator? Neesa and VirtKitty 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeciMami Posted October 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2022 On 10/25/2022 at 8:28 PM, TessOR said: btw - your timeline is similar to mine are you sailing on the 11th of November on Navigator? No, we travel on the 28th, right after Thanksgiving! I can’t wait…it’s my first cruise!!! WAAAYTOOO and TessOR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2flip24 Posted October 29, 2022 Report Share Posted October 29, 2022 so i got my passport after 8 weeks but still waiting for my birth certificate back 4 weeks later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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