Passport: Do you carry off ship or leave in cabin?

This isn’t snarky and nasty? And clearly you’re reply as well is snarky. I’m not on the wrong forum, I’m just saying people should treat others more kindly. Maybe snark isn’t intended but when you’re sitting behind your keyboard, it’s hard to tell.

 

 

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If you read my response that way then you read it in a way that it wasn't intended (unless you were responding to sloopsailor in which case I've misread).

I always take mine with me. I am not walking around any foreign country without it.

We take good quality color copies of our passports off the ship with us

Why?

Maybe a photocopy would have been sufficient on those occasions but I'd rather not have to find out when there's a nice man with an assault rifle demanding ID.

Since when is the only ID a passport?

Since when is the only ID a passport?

With few exceptions, when one is in a foreign country.

I always take it with me.

OP you've undoubtedly received almost a 50/50 response and what it means is that at the end of the day you have to do what is most comfortable for you to do and what others do has no bearing on that.

By my simple count on this thread (not including multiple assertions), I get 21 respondents who leave it most of the time, 6 who don't want to be parted from it, and about 7 who've said "it depends." :')

Well said! Why take your passport into one of the world's centres of pickpockets, rather than leave it in the safety of your cabin safe! Sheer idiocy.

Idiocy is not taking precautions against pickpockets in areas where they operate. There are ways to deter pickpockets. Short of someone sticking a gun or a knife in my face I'm not worried about my passport being stolen.

Idiocy is not taking precautions against pickpockets in areas where they operate. There are ways to deter pickpockets. Short of someone sticking a gun or a knife in my face I'm not worried about my passport being stolen.

Idiocy would be thinking that whatever precautions you’ve taken against pickpockets will always be sufficient. They are very, very good. I know from experience that I can be distracted by a hearty shove when standing on a crowded bus. Putting both hands up to catch the bar so I didn’t fall on seated passengers allowed the pickpocket to take my cash, astonishingly quickly. The ONLY reason she didn’t take my passport as well is because she didn’t want it. She was able to get into my purse inside my handbag and take only the Euro notes, leaving the Sterling and the credit card. It was horribly impressive. I now carry a more complicated handbag, but I leave whatever I can in the safe.

Idiocy is not taking precautions against pickpockets in areas where they operate. There are ways to deter pickpockets. Short of someone sticking a gun or a knife in my face I'm not worried about my passport being stolen.

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By my simple count on this thread (not including multiple assertions), I get 21 respondents who leave it most of the time, 6 who don't want to be parted from it, and about 7 who've said "it depends." :')

Yes, you're the third person to point that out, LOL. Next time I'll leave the math at home (like I did in high school). Point still remains at the end of the day you have to do what is most comfortable for you to do and what others do has no bearing on that.

There is no 100% way to deter pickpockets. Idiocy is to believe otherwise.

We agree there is no 100% way. But you can reduce your risk by not wandering around a high-risk area with a purse that is easily opened or sliced off, a bulging wallet in an unbuttoned back pocket, a gold Rolex or a $5,000 camera dangling around your neck. Pickpockets look for easy marks and by not being one they will move on to someone else.

We agree there is no 100% way. But you can reduce your risk by not wandering around a high-risk area with a purse that is easily opened or sliced off, a bulging wallet in an unbuttoned back pocket, a gold Rolex or a $5,000 camera dangling around your neck. Pickpockets look for easy marks and by not being one they will move on to someone else.

So, my question to you is "do you carry your passport at all times?". You recommend not carrying a bulging wallet, a gold Rolex, or a $5,000 camera. Yet, to many thieves, a passport has much more value on the black market than any of these items. It seems prudent to leave all valuable items, including passports, secured in your safe when not absolutely required.

A stolen camera or watch can't be used for identity theft crimes, but a passport certainly can. The long term repercussions of a stolen camera or watch is minimal, mostly financial to replace them. But a stolen passport can create significant, long term identity theft issues.

So, my question to you is "do you carry your passport at all times?". You recommend not carrying a bulging wallet, a gold Rolex, or a $5,000 camera. Yet, to many thieves, a passport has much more value on the black market than any of these items. It seems prudent to leave all valuable items, including passports, secured in your safe when not absolutely required.

My passport and wallet are carried in a manner that make it very difficult for a pickpocket. I've never needed a Rolex or an expensive camera while travelling. I have however needed my passport a few times.

I have never had my pocket picked or lost a passport but have had items stolen from a hotel room. IMO, people who are the victims of pickpockets most often didn't take adequate precautions and/or weren't paying attention to what was happening around them at the time.

IMO, people who are the victims of pickpockets most often didn't take adequate precautions and/or weren't paying attention to what was happening around them at the time.

And yet...

I am very well traveled and savvy to pickpockets. Yet I had my wallet stolen in Barcelona, from my zippered shoulder bag that was held under my arm. A push or a shove when I was getting on or off the HOHO bus is probably when it happened, but they were so good that I was fully unaware. Luckily I had only a little cash and one credit card + one debit card in it. My passport, thank goodness, was in my room.

Also, my exDH, a very street-savvy New Yorker, was surrounded by gypsies midway down the Spanish steps in Rome pushing us and shoving cardboard sheets into us at about waist height to hide what they were doing below. Before either of us could react, they had located his money belt and had cut halfway through it before we were able to physically push them away. Another 20 seconds or so and it would've been gone.

Unless one wants to go the route of secreting things in body cavities or perhaps inserting into the bottom of one's shoe, I fail to see how one is fully protected when taking a passport (or anything equally valuable).

The very, very remote need that you will need your passport in 99% of cruise destinations makes me wonder why some take the unnecessary risk if taking it ashore.

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While it kind of depends on circumstances, as a rule, we don't carry our passports in the Caribbean, just sea pass and drivers license plus a photo copy of our passports. Elsewhere we generally carry our passports. Before we leave, I make 2 photo copies of our passports. One set goes into a cross-body bag I carry on shore and they stay there - even if we also have our passports with us. The other set goes in a travel wallet (the type that travel agents give to customers) that holds all our travel documents. While on board ship, the travel docs, our passports, wallets, and cash all go in the safe. That way, if something happens and we lose our passports, there are copies in our room. In addition, I have copies of our passports on our phones. I also frequently make a second copy of all our travel docs and put them in the bottom of DH's carry-on, particularly if its a long trip with multiple legs, hotels, transfers, etc. Of course, when on board ship, everything goes into the room safe. Maybe overkill, but it seems like every trip we're on I see a family frantically looking for misplaced travel documents or passports.

We alway leave our passport on the ship.

I believe that the risk of losing or having a passport stolen is far greater then any benefit of having it with us.

Keith

We always leave our Passport Book in our cabin safe unless we are told by the ship to take it with us.

We do use our Passport Card as our Government Photo ID so take it with us along with our cruise card.

Having the passport card with you while on shore is good ID, and proof of US Citizenship, but if you need air travel due to an emergency or missing the ship, you'll still have to go to the nearest US consulate to get a passport book.

If you're US citizens with both passport books and cards, assuming the cruise starts and ends at a US port, one strategy would be to use the passport CARD as your official ID for leaving/entering the US on the cruise, keeping it on the ship in the safe during the whole cruise. And carry the passport book with you on excursions, in as secure a way as you can. That way, if the passport book gets stolen while you're on shore, you still have a way to re-enter the US at the home port, and you don't need to worry about getting an immediate replacement (though you should still immediately report it as stolen, to reduce the chance that it be used for nefarious purposes). And if you get left behind and the ship sails without you, you still have a passport book which can be directly used for air travel to catch up with the ship or to return home. You're covered for both possibilities that people commonly worry about, with no need to find a US Consulate abroad.

Only downside is that the passport books are more cumbersome to carry around than the passport cards.

And yet...

 

I am very well traveled and savvy to pickpockets. Yet I had my wallet stolen in Barcelona, from my zippered shoulder bag that was held under my arm. A push or a shove when I was getting on or off the HOHO bus is probably when it happened, but they were so good that I was fully unaware. Luckily I had only a little cash and one credit card + one debit card in it. My passport, thank goodness, was in my room.

 

Also, my exDH, a very street-savvy New Yorker, was surrounded by gypsies midway down the Spanish steps in Rome pushing us and shoving cardboard sheets into us at about waist height to hide what they were doing below. Before either of us could react, they had located his money belt and had cut halfway through it before we were able to physically push them away. Another 20 seconds or so and it would've been gone.

 

Unless one wants to go the route of secreting things in body cavities or perhaps inserting into the bottom of one's shoe, I fail to see how one is fully protected when taking a passport (or anything equally valuable).

The pickpockets in Rome are the most skilled I've seen.

In areas like Rome I've used a PacSafe bag. It's padlocked to my waist, and the zippers are padlocked shut. The waist strap has steel aircraft cable inside, so can't be cut with box cutters or a knife. There's also steel webbing integrated with the fabric, so the bag can't be cut open with a knife.

It's not secure against armed robbers, and sturdy wire cutters would open easily, but it's about as secure as I can imagine against pickpockets. It worked well for us in Rome.

Having the passport card with you while on shore is good ID, and proof of US Citizenship, but if you need air travel due to an emergency or missing the ship, you'll still have to go to the nearest US consulate to get a passport book.

Nope. You only have to contact the cruise line's port representative who will have your passport waiting for you if you had it in your safe. This has been described many, many, many times on these threads. I can't stress enough the use of the words "many times".

If you're US citizens with both passport books and cards, assuming the cruise starts and ends at a US port, one strategy would be to use the passport CARD as your official ID for leaving/entering the US on the cruise, keeping it on the ship in the safe during the whole cruise. And carry the passport book with you on excursions, in as secure a way as you can. That way, if the passport book gets stolen while you're on shore, you still have a way to re-enter the US at the home port, and you don't need to worry about getting an immediate replacement (though you should still immediately report it as stolen, to reduce the chance that it be used for nefarious purposes). And if you get left behind and the ship sails without you, you still have a passport book which can be directly used for air travel to catch up with the ship or to return home. You're covered for both possibilities that people commonly worry about, with no need to find a US Consulate abroad.

I have never, ever heard of a passport being stolen while it is secured in a stateroom safe. On the other hand, over the years I have heard of hundreds of people who have lost their passports while on shore. The chances of someone stealing your passport from the safe is almost non-existent. I may have happened once or twice, but considering the millions of passengers every year, the occurrence is so minuscule that it probably doesn't even register on percentage scales. But the chances of it being stolen when you carry it with you on shore is very real.

And again, the port rep will have your passport for you if you arrive after the ship has sailed.

WHY do people think that a photocopy of the passport will change anything?

WHY do people think that a photocopy of the passport will change anything?

Because you’ll have your passport number available should your passport go missing. It may make it easier to get it reissued or at least looked up. Why be so critical? It’s not hurting anything to have a copy.

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Because you’ll have your passport number available should your passport go missing. It may make it easier to get it reissued or at least looked up. Why be so critical? It’s not hurting anything to have a copy.

 

 

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Yes, I would think that if you had to have a new passport issued, the passport number and expiry date would help the embassy/consulate officials to start the process.

Yes, I would think that if you had to have a new passport issued, the passport number and expiry date would help the embassy/consulate officials to start the process.

This is what a captain on one ship told us- that nowadays they can look these things up instantly.

They can also check with the ship to see if you're the passenger involved, or even with someone back home.

We met someone who'd had his identity stolen and used by a drugs ring- five years on he is still stopped by immigration for questioning.