Taking grandkids....

MinnieMouse64

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
We took our first RCCL cruise last year. We are going to be taking our grandkids with us on their first RCCL cruise (the youngest grandson thinks we are going on another disney cruise..boy is he going to be disappointed), when I booked the cruise the lady said we needed letters from their parents stating we could take them out of the country, medical release, etc... . My question is has another other grandparents or guardians done this? I am really scared I won't have everything in the letter they need and be denied boarding. I know the letter has to be notarized and I thought I would draw up several different letters to make sure I have everything they need. I guess I am scared the lady didn't tell me everything I need to have in the letter. I plan on calling the cruise line again and ask what all needs to be in the letter again. Why couldn't it be as easy as disney cruise line and all we had to do is print off the letter for the cruise. We have done 5 disney cruises with our grandkids but I can't not afford them anymore. We are doing a RCCL 4 day cruise going to Bahamas and RCCL private island for $2,335.00 with a balcony and a disney 4 day cruise with a balcony going to Bahamas and Disneys private island will cost us $6,199. With the savings we are able to stay at the beach for a few days longer.
 
My wife sometimes takes the kids to the UK without me, so we have some experience putting together the documentation for out of country travel.

My opinion is that while the letter helps it's more about the supporting documentation you have for said letter that is key, should they question you. You're claiming a relationship with the kids, so make sure you have their birth certificates, and perhaps the parents' birth certificate to show lineage. My wife surname is different from the kids, so having this information is important because it establishes her connection with them.

For reference, this is what the Canadian government recommends. The US is probably slightly different, but I don't think it will be significantly so:
472634

You should be able to find a standardized consent letter online. The Canadian government actually provides samples and an interactive pdf.
 
I take my niece on all of our vacations. We always get a notarized letter from my sister. You can just Google for travel consent letter and a bunch will come up, save one and then fill in the blanks.

We always include the following:
My full name and relationship to child
Parent and child full names
Flight information including dates and flight numbers
Hotel name and date of stay
Cruise line name, dates of cruise and where we will be porting

The form should have something along the lines of child a has permission to travel to xyz with people b etc etc. People b has permission to amend itinerary as need. People b has permission to seek any and all medical treatment for child a.

It's actually very simple and then you just have the parents get it notarized and all is good.
 
Both of my kids have been on cruises with their grandparents to Alaska that also included stops in Vancouver. I downloaded templates from the internet for travel authorization and medical authorization. Both of these forms we had notarized. I also provided copies of our medical cards to the grandparents (and extra copies of their passport).

I don’t think they ever were asked to show anyone the paperwork. I also took the extra step to register their trip on the Homeland Security site since they were going out of the country and it has a place to include who they were traveling with.

My kids were on Holland America cruises, which are not full with many other kids and they had a blast! Now my kids prefer RCCL over Disney because there is so much more to do.
 



GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top