My dad is 84 years old. He served as a military officer (in National Intelligence
in Washington) during the Korean War.
November 11 was Veteran’s Day – the day the nation honors those who have
served their country through military service.
This year, it was to be the time when he and my stepmother would depart
on a week-long Caribbean cruise.
They had pre-registered several
weeks earlier, including full passport information. Unfortunately, my stepmom accidentally
packed two passports that had expired in 2006 instead of their current passports.
Now I know that cruise ships are pretty
strict on the passport issue but they are not perfectly uniform about it.
Their old passports clearly
showed that they were U.S. citizens. They
had photocopies of their current
passports and the data from current passports was in the ship’s database. They
also had current driver’s licenses. Taken
together, it was totally clear who they were – U.S. Citizens and repeat Royal
Caribbean customers.
Representatives from Royal
Caribbean told Dad and Anna a couple of things of interest.
1) Too
bad this was on a Sunday, they said, not a Monday. Had it been Monday, they
could have verified their birth certificates and they’d be on their way.
2) Royal
Caribbean, they said, is subject to the port’s security rules
Rules are rules, right? The Port Canaveral rules
clearly state that to cruise out of that port, one should have proper identification:
“U.S. citizens need proof of citizenship in the form of a passport (valid or
expired for less than 10 years)”
Royal Caribbean rules? “Royal
Caribbean International strongly recommends that all guests travel with a
passport that is valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of the cruise.”
I’m not Perry Mason, but I do
know that the term “strongly recommends” is less than “must.”
So here is my Dad, on Veterans
Day – flags flying at the port. When he sees a soldier (like my nephew, a
marine officer) he stands up a little straighter. He’s proud of his service and
rightly so.
Royal Caribbean has nothing to be
proud of in this situation. They misrepresented the regulations involved and
ignored their own discretion. That’s shameful customer service that caused my
84 year-old father tremendous emotional upset. That’s not the business a cruise
line is in.