Can I cruise the Caribbean with just an enhanced license or passport card?

Question
1

Has anyone here gone on a Caribbean cruise, starting and ending in the same US port, using an enhanced license or passport card? We’re going to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. I’m planning to get a passport, but it’s cutting close to the trip with the holidays, so an enhanced license seems easier to carry. Any issues getting off and on the ship with it? Also, has anyone traveled with kids using just birth certificates and no passports?

2

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Has anyone here gone on a Caribbean cruise, starting and ending in the same US port, using an enhanced license or passport card? We’re going to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. I’m planning to get a passport, but it’s cutting close to the trip with the holidays, so an enhanced license seems easier to carry. Any issues getting off and on the ship with it? Also, has anyone traveled with kids using just birth certificates and no passports?

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3

You can cruise with a passport card, but you can’t get one unless you go through the same application process as a regular passport.

4

Landry said:
You can cruise with a passport card, but you can’t get one unless you go through the same application process as a regular passport.

Actually, you can get a passport card without applying for the full passport. I did that for my daughter and myself a few years back. The process was straightforward, though it might have changed since then.

5

@Vail
Good to know! Still, the process for the card is almost identical to the one for a full passport. If you’re already doing the paperwork, you might as well get the passport too for more flexibility.

6

Yes, enhanced driver’s licenses from the states that issue them (mostly near the northern border) are perfectly fine for this kind of trip.

7

We’ve traveled with our kids using just birth certificates, and there were no issues. As long as the cruise line lists it as an accepted ID, you’re good. Problems only happen when people try to use things like photocopies of birth certificates or unofficial documents.

8

We did this once, and it worked out fine.