rogerpart

Toby,

Like you, I always favored placing my passports in a safe place rather than keeping them with me.... until our 2016 trip to Copenhagen.

I had always heard that if you keep copies of your passports that they would serve as good forms of identification in other countries and also sources of identification at a US Consulate if your passports are lost or stolen.

We had one of our favorite weeks of touring in Copenhagen in 2016, planning to pop on a transatlantic cruise to NYC on a Saturday. We came back to our Airbnb defined that our place had been broken into and ransacked. They stole cash, some jewelry (thankfully not expensive), and The worst is our passports were also stolen.By the time we discovered this late on a Friday And contacted the US consulate in Copenhagen,We were informed there was nothing they could do until Monday morning. The cruise would not let us board without our passports and would not recognize our other forms of ID or copies of our passports. 

Upon arriving at the US consulate on Monday, they were very kind and helped us get emergency passports and we were able to make a 1 PM flight to miraculously catch up with our ship in Bergen Norway (that’s a whole story onto itself including meeting a Swedish Elvis impersonator at an airport bar).  In any case, the officials at the US consulate informed us that copies of our passports are essentially worthless for identification. My wife had her drivers license with she was able to use for identification to establish who she is. My drivers license had been on our passport case along with the stolen passports and consequently I had no official US identification. Nonetheless, they were able to establish my identity although a bit more difficult.

Since then, I have always carried our passports with me. My wife has adopted some of our travel clothing so that we can place passports cash et cetera in a pocket that is not readily accessible.

By the way, despite sustaining a theft and the horror of missing our cruise departure and having to replace our passports, my wife and I enjoyed our own personal “Amazing Race” adventure in catching up to the boat. Though I would not recommend getting your passport stolen, that particular trip remains one of our favorite adventures. When traveling, it helps to have a good sense of humor and the ability to place adversity into perspective (nobody was hurt, it was just money and hassle).

cheers

Roger

We have done two British Isles / TA cruises.

My wife and I typically do almost all ports on our own. This is fun to do if you enjoy the spirit of adventure, are reasonably mobile and are willing to do some planning and research on your own. There are many benefits to DIY. During our research we end up learning a lot about each port which enhances our experience. Although not the reason for many, touring on your own ends up being much less expensive than booking tours. Self touring gives us the opportunity to spend as much or as little time on the schedule that we create. Additionally, we are often able to move much quicker rather than having to wait for a group. We often discover surprises along the way which have provided unexpected but pleasant deviations to our plan. We love using public transportation because it gives us more ground-up view and allows opportunity for interacting with local folks.

One of the best resources we have discovered is Tom's Port Guides. We had the pleasure of meeting Tom and his lovely wife Mary on one of our cruises several years ago. Tom is a seasoned cruiser who has methodically put together some exceptional port information.

https://www.tomsportguides.com/

More specific to your ports:

Guernsey- take the 91 / 94 bus which goes around the island. There are places to get off to take scenic coastal walks, and re-board.

Edinburgh - very easy to take 20 min train ride to Waverly Station in central Edinburgh 5 Ls, and walk to Edinburgh castle, St. Giles Cathedral, Royal Mile, Elephant Cafe ( J K Rowling wrote Harry Potter books here), Greyfriars Kirkyard ( cemetery where Rowling got some character name ideas). Edinburgh park, and still have time for a few pints at the Hawes Inn, in Queensferry ( adjacent to port shuttle bus) where Robert Louis Stevenson once frequented.

Cork - Titanic museum adjacent to port. Train station at port. Very easy 24min train ride to Kent Station ( Cork) 9 euros- walkable to all sites. As a time buffer, we always spend the last few hours in port at Kelly's Pub ( a 3 minute walk from port). Pub often has live music, great character, and Murphy's beer ( only sold locally and in my opinion, better than Guinness)

Dublin- best to take taxi to O'connell street. Walkable to Temple Bar, Trinity University, Guinness, etc. The LUASis an electric train that one can use to get around centrally or you can take local DART trains, to seaside towns 30-60 mins away. There is an AWESOME 8 km cliff side walk from Greystones to Bray. We took a train to Bray, hiked to Greystones, and took the train from there back to Dublin.

If you are going DIY, it is important to keep track of time, and plan to get to port at least one hour before sailing to allow yourself cushion in case of delays. We usually travel to the furthest point of interest first, and then work our way closer to port, so we are closer, if time becomes an issue. Additionally, when you are traveling back and forth to various countries across time zones, make sure you are keeping the correct time (we almost learned this the hard way).

Bon Voyage

Roger

Last September we took a TA British Isles cruise from Southampton. We also wanted to visit Stonehenge, but wanted to be able to visit it trying to avoid peak tour crowds.

We arrived at about 10 am at Heathrow and booked a private bus to Salisbury ( Busbud 18L each). We arrived in Salisbury by about 2 pm Friday and checked into our hotel, and walked to the train station to catch the hoho shuttle bus to Stonehenge ( last one departs train station at 4pm - depends on time of year), and had a very nice and relatively uncrowded visit to the stones. If you use the hoho, make sure you also purchase the Stonehenge entrance tickets from the bus so you can avoid the ticket line at the stones.

We spent the evening at lovely pubs in Salisbury and had the opportunity to browse the open market Saturday morning before taking a very easy train journey to Southampton at 2 pm to arrive in plenty of time at the port.

If I had to do it over again, I would have allowed an extra day in Salisbury to see the Cathedral, and spend more time in this lovely city.

The hotel we stayed in was very nice and centrally located and walkable to everything. I believe it was called Kings Head Inn, and had lots of character and was ridiculously inexpensive ( about 75L) despite being very well appointed.

Based upon my prior research and advice of many others, it's best to either go very early, to beat the tour buses, or go in late afternoon, when tourist buses are gone.

Enjoy your trip.

RKA,

We had Travel Insured and they paid promptly and with little hassle with our snafu.

Here is a link to the specifics if you are interested:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2597246

Geezer,

Sorry I did not understand your original question, thanks for the clarification.

As I understood it from the consular officer, a passport card would have even better expedited our situation. When we presented to the embassy, we had my wife's drivers license which they did except as a valid form of IDENTITY, but this does NOT identify citizenship. I literally had no form of ID since my drivers license I had also been stolen, so they need to establish my identity and citizenship. In either case, they were able to confirm citizenship and my identity through their computers, and many questions they ask us etc.

I hope I have answered your question.

Interestingly, in reading several of the Koningsdam reviews, there were many passengers from prior sailings who complained bitterly about having to be served in the Lido buffet. They complained that they believed this was HAL's methodology of "food rationing" to control costs. They also complained that not being able to serve yourself created longer lines, which is understandable.

On a recent 28 day Princess cruise, their buffet had self service. Although it was posted to use new plates if returning to the buffet, I repeatedly saw people come back to the buffet with their dirty plates scooping food with a serving spoon and putting it in contact with their dirty plate. Perhaps they believed they were being environmentally friendly by not using an additional plate. Additionally, I also observed on many occasions people getting some food on their hands while at the buffet and licking their fingers and then subsequently picking up serving spoons. Also, some returned cookies, rolls, or other items from their dirty plates back to the serving plates, perhaps believing that they did not want the food to go to waste. Regardless, some people have little or no concept of hygiene. Not surprisingly, many people on the cruise, including myself got sick. One of the things that my wife and I recalled about our prior HAL cruises ( Noordam, Nieuw Amsterdam) was that HAL served food in the buffet, preventing improper hygiene, and disease transmission.

I'm not a germaphobe, but I don't want to consume other people's germs along with my buffet food and I don't want to get sick, particularly on vacation.

We have decided not to cruise lines that do not serve you in the buffet. We appreciate HAL taking an interest in the health of their passengers by providing additional staff to serve in the buffet . Thank you HAL.

Perhaps others can see this as a positive rather than negative.

Stay healthy my friends:)

About that Passport Card... IF one has one's proper drivers license (and from a state that is now compliant with Fed regulations, etc.), would the Passport Card add anything?

 

Thanks!

 

GC

According to the State Department web site link provided above in my prior post, a Passport card IS a passport ( except air travel and port entry from other than North American country or Carribean, meaning this will suffice. It's not clear to me whether a drivers license will suffice in ALL cases of US entry from Mexico, Canada or a Carribean port.

If we had passport cards during our 2016 stolen passport adventure, I don't know if Princess would have let us board with these only. I have received varied answers.

It's unclear to me why a passport card would have been useful in this situation.

The way I understand it, a passport card is a valid form of ID and citizenship. It can be used for land or port entry to the US from North American countries or Carribean, but not air travel. I am not sure about transatlantics if you did not hit a Carribean port ( i.e. From Cobh to Boston/ NYC).

Here is a helpful link with more information:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/card.html

Additionally, as I recall per the US Consular officer in Copenhagen, a passport card would have sped up our ID process. My wife had her drivers license so she had some form of US ID. My drivers license was stolen with the leather case with passports and cash. It was harder for me to establish identity ( unfortunately a Costco credit card with my picture was not enough - lol). Color copies of our stolen passport, or online copies were not useful in their eyes.

BTW- we were only issued "emergency passports" which are just like regular passports, but much thinner with fewer pages. The emergency passports were only valid for one year, but with the proper form, you can exchange it for a free standard passport.

I'm just starting to research to plan our next Fall cruise. Safe travels!

Geezer,

I'm glad that you two had a positive experience with travel insured.

On our policy, we had a one 800 number listed as a contact in place there were any problems and to report claims etc. It's my understanding that they can typically help you with some of the logistics of finding a hotel room, helping find flight options to the next port or two, and facilitating contacting the cruise line/ship to apprise them. Unfortunately, they did not help with any of these needs. Consequently, having both our smart phones and and iPad, we were able to easily make calls for hotels, airlines, etc. additionally, our devices allowed us to access the Internet so we could research finding hotels, airline schedules, and location of our ship. We did hear from princess upon contacting them that it was a possibility they would either skip some ports or change some ports due to weather. Consequently, we really needed to be on top of that to plan accordingly.

By the way, if I sound overly enthusiastic regarding Travel Insured, Its because I believe in supporting companies that service people well, and want to inform others. I should add that I do not work for them or have anything to do with them.

Roger

Very informative post. Thanks for posting this. There is so much details to these stories.. I wrote up mine and could have made it twice as long. Not enough stories about the specific insurance situations and submitting a claim and how the insurers deal with the claims.

 

What was your out of pocket extra expense and were you fully reimbursed? It sounds like you were mostly but lost out on computers and jewelry?

 

I was trying to understand the steps needed on Mon. AM at US Embassy to get a passport issued so quickly. What was the timing. So seems like you went from US Embassy to CPH and flew to Bergen after getting passports.

 

Also have never heard of a passport card.. will look into that.

 

Thanks Again

Bellevue, thanks for your post.

Fortunately, we have a US Embassy in Copenhagen so fortunately no travel was involved except for taxis. As I stated, when we called them Friday afternoon just after the theft, they were unable to do anything until Monday morning. However, they suggested coming and picking up passport application paperwork and instructions to get an official police report (which you need it for insurance anyway), and passport photos etc.

We arrived at the Embassy an hour prior to opening expecting to be first in line but we're surprised define 15 to 20 people already lined up. When the embassy opened, they divided up people into US citizens and foreign citizens seeking US visas etc. that reduced our side of the line considerably. We informed some of the staff of our plate and urgency in trying to get a passport in order to make an early afternoon flight. They were very kind and accommodating and prioritized serving us. There were many well-wishers including those we passed ahead of and Embassy staff who wanted to see us succeed in our mission. They even called a taxi for us so we could race back to our flat to pick up our luggage and head straight to the airport. We actually made it in enough time that we had an opportunity to grab some food and some Carlsberg at an airport bar. It was there that our trip became even more colorful. We started chatting with a group of four Swedes at the next table one of whom was an Elvis Impersonator. They were on their way to Prague to pick up the kittens. You should check out Tommy Lindgren on YouTube, if you think I'm kidding.

In terms of reimbursed expenses, we were able to recoup 100% of our unexpected airfare from Copenhagen to Bergen. Additionally, we also recouped food expenses and taxi expenses while we were displaced. We did not get Hotel reimbursement for the additional days from travel insured because Airbnb was kind enough to give us credit to allow us to stay essentially free for the two days we needed.

Expenses that were not fully covered included, and insurance Of $100 for each passport replacement about the actual cost was $160. Additionally, there are hard caps. For example, I believe our policy provided for $2000 of stolen/lost items per person. However they sub categorize these such that jewelry, watches, etc. have a total Of $500. Likewise electronic goods such as cameras, phones, computers, etc. also have a Of $500. So for example if you lost $2000 worth of jewelry you would only be reimbursed $500. Similarly if you had Lost a $1500 computer and $800 iPad, we would only receive a total of $500 for that category.

Hope this was helpful.

Roger

We went on a TA Regal Princess cruise ( Copenhagen to NYC) in September 2016. We booked an Air BnB for a week in Copenhagen to tour Denmark. It was a great apartment overlooking Nyhavn and the colorful houses.

Our cruise had been scheduled to depart 5:00 pm on a Saturday. After enjoying a great week in Copenhagen, we came back to our flat at about 4:00 pm Friday to discover our Air BnB apartment had been broken into. Thieves had rummaged through everything and among the stolen items was a leather satchel with our Passports, some cash etc. We usually carry our passports, but since it was going to be another warm day in Copenhagen ( and always being concerned about pick pockets when traveling) I decided it would be just as safe to leave them in the apartment. Fortunately, we had most of our credit cards with us and our mobile phones.

Upon immediately calling the American Embassy and explaining our plight, we were informed they could not do anything until Monday morning. We discovered that copies of our passports ( which we always had as back up) are essentially meaningless.

Needless to say we were shocked, saddened, and deflated. We discussed tossing in the towel and just going back home versus trying to catch our ship in Bergen on Monday, an unlikely goal. After some thought we decided this was not a big deal, we were ok( glad we were not there when broken in), nobody was hurt, and this was an inconvenience. We decided to make this an adventure and made this our own Amazing Race.

We had to work out many logistics:

-- filing a police report and going to the police station.

-- finding a place to stay for Sat and Sun ( not an easy task at the last minute in Copenhagen).

-- obtaining and completing passport application forms and getting passport photos to facilitate getting a passport Monday morning.

-- hoping and praying to get passports by noon Monday to hopefully catch a 2:30 flight to Bergen to hopefully catch the ship before it left port at 5:00 pm.

This unfortunate occurrence provided my wife and I an opportunity to problem solve, console, and work-together to achieve our goal of saving our vacation. Because of the kindness of many people, including Our Air BnB host, US Embassy staff, Norwegian airline flight attendants, and our speedy Norwegian taxi driver, we made it to the ship literally as they were withdrawing the gang-way. We had a wonderful several week cruise with the high of working together. Interestingly, our 28 day 2017 TA cruise which was still fantastic, but uneventful, seemed much less exciting.

Here's what we learned:

1) Always keep your passports with you ( in a secure and difficult access pocket)

2) Get passport cards as back-up to keep with you ( have your spouse carry these).

3) Get Good Travel insurance - we did - Travel Insured

4) Make sure you get PRIMARY COVERAGE on you Travel policy. This cost us an extra $25 each but well worth it. PRIMARY coverage means that you can submit your claim directly to the travel insurance company. If you don't' have PRIMARY coverage, you need to first submit your claim to any other applicable insurance you may have (home owners, medical insurer, credit card insurance etc). This can be a big hassle.

5) Keep ALL of your receipts.

6) Do not take more than $500 of jewelry, unless you can afford to lose it because travel insurance policies have a cap on jewelry and electronics etc.

7) Always have a mobile phone, computer or IPad with you. The 1-800 line that Travel Insured has to help in case of emergencies was relatively unhelpful and did not help with any of our logistics. Without a method of communication and internet access, we would have been in a hot mess.

We submitted our claim and within a few weeks, received a substantial amount that covered our extra hotel expenses, flight expenses, extra meal expenses, passport replacement expenses, and covered for some of the stolen personal items. We purchased our policy from Trip insurance store and they were helpful in filing our claim.

I hope you can learn our lessons for free.

Happy Travels,

Roger

Ship Regal Princess

Class

Deck Lido (16)

Stateroom # L-106

Category Mini Suite (obstructed)

Port/Starboard/Bow/Stern Very Front, forward facing, closer to Port side.

Connects With Cabin # No room connection.

Accessible Not specifficsl designed for handicapped accessibility.

Quiet Very quiet. Can't hear neighbors or hall noise. At night can occasionally hear adjacent toilets flushing.

Balcony Size HUGE-- I would say 14 feet wide by about 10 feet deep.

View Fantastic view of ports etc from deck. Sitting in your cabin looking out of your sliding door you can't see ocean because it has a solid metal railing (obstructed view cabin for this reason). This was not a downside for us but others may like sitting inside and looking at ocean.

Privacy Issues Standing at railing, you can see cabin decks to right and left, and can see the front parts of the balconies below. The deck above this cabin cannot look into this balcony. Unless you are at the railing, you have total privacy on this huge balcony.

Wind VERY WINDY when ship traveling at 20 knots. I did not mind this but my wife did. You don't notice wind as much when seated because the solid from rail deflects wind, but definitely windy when standing. When ship traveling at 10-13 knots, not nearly as windy when standing at rail.

Soot minimal/ none

Problems none except the bathroom smells like a men's urinal despite cleaning by steward. Toilet always flushed fine. Smell not noticed in cabin, but when standing at toilet, is noticeable but not a big issue.

Comments Would book again but wind is a partial deterrent to enjoying balcony. Views are outstanding.