I bet you all are full of questions, well to start out Congrats to you all. You are about to take the trip of a lifetime. Since you won the cruise you will not pay one dime for you and your guest, everything is paid for. The only expection is if you and your guest book any excrusions.
Another thing you want to consider is if your guest wants to be included in the classes they will have to purchase the upgrade at cricut.com, otherwise they will not be able to attend any of the classes. You do not need a passport to take the cruise, your official birth certificate with the raise seal will be enough. Since we are leaving from the US and coming back to the US thats all you will need. But if you feel better getting a passport, I would do that. Passports can take up to 6 weeks to process, so I would start the paperwork now. Last year we were flown down a day before the cruise and stayed at a hotel(which is paid for) and transported all together to the dock.
If there is something I did not cover please feel free to leave a comment and I will try and answer all your questions.
When we found out we were going on a Cricut Cruise there was little information to be found. We want to share our experiences with you so you know what it is like to be Cruising With The Cricut!
Showing posts with label passport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label passport. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, October 31, 2011
Do You Need A Passport...
The 2012 Cricut Cruise is departing and arriving at the same port, Galveston Texas, so it is considered a closed-loop cruise. At this time a passport is not required for "closed-loop cruises". What this means is that if you are a citizen of the United States you can use a government-issued birth certificate and
laminated government issued picture ID, denoting photo, name and date of
birth (ie drivers license, military id, etc). The birth certificate MUST be a certified, meaning having the state seal. You can NOT use a copy of a birth certificate. I used this method last time and it worked okay but this time I will be obtaining a passport because there is less hassle.
On the last cruise I had to show the id when we were all getting ready to board the ship. Once they issued my card for the ship I didn't have to have the identification anymore because it is used when you re-board the ship after being docked. Anytime you leave the ship be sure to have your ship card and driver's license or other government issued identification on your person. To be on the safe side I did carry a copy of my birth certificate with me when leaving the ship and had the original locked in the safe in the cabin.
If you need to obtain a passport for the first time please visit HERE.
If you need to renew your passport, visit HERE.
If you need to replace a lost or stolen passport then visit HERE.
On the last cruise I had to show the id when we were all getting ready to board the ship. Once they issued my card for the ship I didn't have to have the identification anymore because it is used when you re-board the ship after being docked. Anytime you leave the ship be sure to have your ship card and driver's license or other government issued identification on your person. To be on the safe side I did carry a copy of my birth certificate with me when leaving the ship and had the original locked in the safe in the cabin.
If you need to obtain a passport for the first time please visit HERE.
If you need to renew your passport, visit HERE.
If you need to replace a lost or stolen passport then visit HERE.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
ALL ABOARD!!
The morning we were scheduled to board the ship we had breakfast together. Okay, to be honest most everyone else had breakfast together. Karen, Shiane and I were late...this was to be a pattern for the rest of the week.
We finished our breakfast and left out of the room via the back doors. As we did my daughter leans over and says "Mom I think those women are talking about you because they kept staring and whispering" and Karen said "yeah I noticed that too!".
I looked around to see who the heck would be staring at me and suddenly a woman pops around *okie won't admit that it almost scared the chit out of her* and holler "OKIE!". I look at her and say "yeah" and she says "IT'S SCRAPDEE!" Of course then I immediately give her a hug and then another lady pops aroud and says "SJOX44!" And I have to give her a hug. Well that was it for us! While we had several others we did spend time with we for the most part spent most of our activity time together and have declared the 5 of us are now BFF's for life!
Everyone gathered in the lobby with their luggage, some folks had enough to fill the lockers of a football team, I am just sure of it! *okie cracks up laughin*.
We got to meet more people and it looked like total chaos with everyone making sure they had everything. The afternoon before we had gotten checked in at the Renaissance hotel and I met Dan Larsen and his wife who were an absolute hoot! I did feel for Dan since he had several boxes that he and his wife were having to tote around. Luckily they had one of those rolly things that hotels offer.
Pretty soon they called us to go out and meet the buses. Well once again we were at the back of the line. The bad thing about this was that one of the buses got held up at customs and while the first bus filled up there were quite a few of us standing out on the curb waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...Finally the first bus left. And were stood there and waited....and waited...and waited...and waited. At this point I told everyone if they could find a screwdriver I would hot wire the hotel van and take us to the port. No one seemed to think this was a good idea *okie thought it was a fabulous idea*. I wasn't too worried since I noticed that we were the only cruisers left behind, and the others left behind were the ProvoCraft staff and the travel agent. I figured we had a better shot of getting on that ship than anyone else at this point.
Our travel agent Rusty was getting a bit hot under the collar by this time.
Someone finally called for some cabs to come and get us. This is when I soon discovered that when you go on a trip with ProvoCraft, THEY DO TAKE CARE OF YOU! Well there were like 3 cabs that drove by, and then 2 van cabs...none stopped. At last a cab turned around. Mike (from ProvoCraft) had Karen, Shiane and I get in that cab. We also took a lot of luggage that was on the curb in the trunk of our cab. I have no idea whose luggage it was but since I didn't see any naked people on the cruise I guess the luggage found it's owners!
Shiane was excited and said "THIS IS MY FIRST CAB RIDE!" Cindy (from ProvoCraft) had give us bottles of water as a consolation prize of having stand on the curb and we were very grateful to get it!
Our cab driver was super nice. He pointed out some of the ships to us and pointed to ours,
the MS Eurodam. He also pointed out the FREAKINGLY HUGE ship and told us it was one of the largest cruise ships, MS Oasis of the Seas, that exists today. I could not believe something so big even existed!! I swore I would remember our cab drivers name, but ya know what? My memory is not what it use to be! *okie wonders of some of that ginkgo bo bango or whatever it is would help her memory*. Anyway I did get his picture! I informed him he would be blogged and scrapbooked. He didn't seem too impressed with that, but he did like the tip we gave him, and yes I mean money! *okie shakes head knowing some readers are such smart azzes*
We had to laugh when we realized we arrived at the port before the bus that left almost 30 minutes earlier. The check in went smoothly. Karen had a passport and Shiane and I had our official emboss sealed birth certificates and state issues photo id's and we didn't have a problem. Right now if you are going on a closed port cruise an official birth certificate and driver's license will work in place of a passport. But with that said I do plan on getting a passport soon.
We finished our breakfast and left out of the room via the back doors. As we did my daughter leans over and says "Mom I think those women are talking about you because they kept staring and whispering" and Karen said "yeah I noticed that too!".
I looked around to see who the heck would be staring at me and suddenly a woman pops around *okie won't admit that it almost scared the chit out of her* and holler "OKIE!". I look at her and say "yeah" and she says "IT'S SCRAPDEE!" Of course then I immediately give her a hug and then another lady pops aroud and says "SJOX44!" And I have to give her a hug. Well that was it for us! While we had several others we did spend time with we for the most part spent most of our activity time together and have declared the 5 of us are now BFF's for life!Everyone gathered in the lobby with their luggage, some folks had enough to fill the lockers of a football team, I am just sure of it! *okie cracks up laughin*.
We got to meet more people and it looked like total chaos with everyone making sure they had everything. The afternoon before we had gotten checked in at the Renaissance hotel and I met Dan Larsen and his wife who were an absolute hoot! I did feel for Dan since he had several boxes that he and his wife were having to tote around. Luckily they had one of those rolly things that hotels offer.Pretty soon they called us to go out and meet the buses. Well once again we were at the back of the line. The bad thing about this was that one of the buses got held up at customs and while the first bus filled up there were quite a few of us standing out on the curb waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...Finally the first bus left. And were stood there and waited....and waited...and waited...and waited. At this point I told everyone if they could find a screwdriver I would hot wire the hotel van and take us to the port. No one seemed to think this was a good idea *okie thought it was a fabulous idea*. I wasn't too worried since I noticed that we were the only cruisers left behind, and the others left behind were the ProvoCraft staff and the travel agent. I figured we had a better shot of getting on that ship than anyone else at this point.
Our travel agent Rusty was getting a bit hot under the collar by this time.
Someone finally called for some cabs to come and get us. This is when I soon discovered that when you go on a trip with ProvoCraft, THEY DO TAKE CARE OF YOU! Well there were like 3 cabs that drove by, and then 2 van cabs...none stopped. At last a cab turned around. Mike (from ProvoCraft) had Karen, Shiane and I get in that cab. We also took a lot of luggage that was on the curb in the trunk of our cab. I have no idea whose luggage it was but since I didn't see any naked people on the cruise I guess the luggage found it's owners!Shiane was excited and said "THIS IS MY FIRST CAB RIDE!" Cindy (from ProvoCraft) had give us bottles of water as a consolation prize of having stand on the curb and we were very grateful to get it!
Our cab driver was super nice. He pointed out some of the ships to us and pointed to ours,
the MS Eurodam. He also pointed out the FREAKINGLY HUGE ship and told us it was one of the largest cruise ships, MS Oasis of the Seas, that exists today. I could not believe something so big even existed!! I swore I would remember our cab drivers name, but ya know what? My memory is not what it use to be! *okie wonders of some of that ginkgo bo bango or whatever it is would help her memory*. Anyway I did get his picture! I informed him he would be blogged and scrapbooked. He didn't seem too impressed with that, but he did like the tip we gave him, and yes I mean money! *okie shakes head knowing some readers are such smart azzes*We had to laugh when we realized we arrived at the port before the bus that left almost 30 minutes earlier. The check in went smoothly. Karen had a passport and Shiane and I had our official emboss sealed birth certificates and state issues photo id's and we didn't have a problem. Right now if you are going on a closed port cruise an official birth certificate and driver's license will work in place of a passport. But with that said I do plan on getting a passport soon.
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