Passport Fiasco

How my morning started yesterday....

Given our upcoming cruise David and I applied for our first passports on June 14th. We don't leave for our trip until September 27th so we figured we'd be way in the clear. I've continued to see if our checks cleared and nothing went through. Time kept passing but everyone said to give it time. I was patient but as time keeps closing in I've become quite uncomfortable. Approximately 2 weeks ago I signed up for email notification when they start to process our applications. I never heard anything so come Monday morning I called 1st thing. The US Passport office couldn't find that our applications were received. I then called the post office, where we applied, to see what the deal was. They said that they sent them in via certified mail and that they received confirmation with signature that they were received. So the circle begins. I kept calling each agency to see what I should do. Basically what it came down to was that we should re-apply. That means another $25 for each processing fee. Then I realized, "Wait, they have our birth certificates! Son of a...." Next I started to research how to get certified birth certificates. I found we could go to the health department and for $20 each get a new certified copy. Then, I realized that David's name was changed in 1995 meaning we'd have to get some sort of certified letter verifying his name change. Next call, the probate court. A certified copy of that piece of paper was only $1. I was also unsure as to whether expedite the application process. If we were to do so it'd be another $60 each. The normal application time turnaround is 4 weeks, but I'm not 100% sure I'd believe it. So in order to re-apply we'd be putting another $91 to $211, which in my opinion shouldn't be our responsibility. Needless to say I had a bit of a freak out as all of this was going down. I couldn't believe this had happened. Actually, I could. Given our last vacation was almost pure hell, in our eyes, I'm not going to lie and say that I have no fears something will go wrong on this one.

I continued making phone calls through out the morning trying to find where our applications are. Basically they're in limbo. The USPS doesn't have them and has confirmation that they were delivered and the US Passport office states they don't have any record of them whatsoever. The woman at the post office stepped up to look into it personally. I guess awhile back the same thing happened and the individual took it all the way to our state representative, Marcy Kaptur. The woman ended up getting all fees waived and thereafter all mailings had to be done by certified/confirmation letters. We were the first ones to have this happened after the new protocol. So the lady at the post office made a few phone calls and then got back to me. At the point they're doing a manual search for our applications. It could take a few days but we should find out something at some point. That still left us unsure as to whether to re-apply but at this point we decided to sit tight and hope for the best.

Something else to consider is identity theft. Our birth certificates and SSN's are out there and could get into anyone's hands. We'll have to keep our eyes on our credit reports. More than likely they have found their way into a pile on someone's desk. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

During all of this I made a million phone calls including one to my mom. She couldn't believe what happened either and just reassured me everything was going to be fine. I got off the phone with her and soon after received another call from her. She stated that a coworker said passports are required just yet for cruising to the caribbean. We figured it wasn't true but we'd give it a whirl. I called Royal Caribbean and stated my situation. The representative went on to say that the man was correct. Passports are NOT required. Due to the influx in passport applications they have extended the requirment deadline til June 2009. In addition, I also got this in writing via their website. It states that they highly recommend a passport but a certified birthe certificate and picture ID will do. Whew! A million pounds fell off of my shoulders. Of course we still want our passports but if push came to shove and we didn't receive them we'd be able to get certified birth certificates for our trip.

What a whirlwind of a morning.

We're hoping this is the first and last fiasco of our upcoming trip. I can only imagine Jerry, Diana, Justin, Cassie, Mom, and Dad reading this and saying their prayers. Really, it's going to be an awesome trip. I promise!