in-room safe, passports?

[greely dan]

Hi

We are doing our first cruise shortly on the Freedom...does anyone know if they have swipe card safes? Do we just use an old hotel card or similar?

What about shore excursions...do we bring passports ashore, or should we make copies and leave the originals in the safe?

Thanks for your help, without CC info, I would be lost!

[gelo7]

I make copies and leave our Passports in the safe.

[Room Service!]

Same here.

[Mrs.G's Mr.G]

Hi

We are doing our first cruise shortly on the Freedom...does anyone know if they have swipe card safes? Do we just use an old hotel card or similar?

What about shore excursions...do we bring passports ashore, or should we make copies and leave the originals in the safe?

Thanks for your help, without CC info, I would be lost!

 

Yes there are swipe safes in all rooms. We use an old credit card to lock and open the safe and hide the card in the room. We bring copies of our pass ports and leave the copies in the safe with our travel documents and we bring the pass ports ashore with us, the exception being Half Moon Cay, which is just and extension of the ship. That is our preference, I would much rather have absolute proof of who I am in case of any problems instead of a copy that might be considered altered. If you loose the original you have all the information on the copy and guest services can assist you in reporting it and getting the necessary paperwork to get through customs.

 

The Carnival web site has a lot of useful information under your profile with tips about before you go and when you are on your cruise.

 

Have a great cruise! You are going to love it.

[zqvol]

You are going to get dozens of responses about the passports. Some people take them. Some take copies. Some take neither. Do whatever you makes you comfortable. Personally we don't have a choice because the line we sail most often takes your passport at check in and keeps it until debarkation.

[skewsus]

I have never taken my passport or a copy of it off of the ship. The chance of me needing to prove my citizenship is minute and doesn't outweigh the possibility of having my identity stolen. But then again, I travel safe and do not go to remote areas unless I am with an organized group.

[helicopter]

We have never taken either on shore, leave everything in safe:)

[vetpath09]

We make copies for ourselves, which we take with us, and give the actual passports to guest services so they can stamp our port destinations.:D

[Herfnerd]

We also take copies ashore with us and leave the original in the safe

[Kimmipoo]

It was our first time cruising and we didnt have passports, just travel documents so that part was a moot point for us. BUT we didnt want to use a CC in the swipe so i used an old Dunkin Donuts gift card that had $0.15 left on it. Worked fine the whole trip. HAHA

[gunther619]

I always hear on here that people use old credit cards or whatever, but why?

 

It's one more card you have to carry...Do you just leave the key card in the room so it's always somewhere you know of, or do you carry that card everywhere?

 

Just curious:confused:

 

PS - I read a great idea on here about passports. Some one scanned them on the computer and put them on the cloud so they can be accessed from anywhere with internet. Just a thought.

[misstopgun]

We leave our passports in the safe and just take a photo ID and S&S with us. It is my understanding that if you miss the ship, they make every effort to go to your cabin and retrieve your documents, medications, and valuables and leave them with the port authorities. I don't know this through experience though and hope I never will.

 

As far as the safe card, we just use my corporate discount card. It has no monetary value and can be replaced if lost.

[klmorg]

We leave our passports in the safe and just take a photo ID and S&S with us. It is my understanding that if you miss the ship, they make every effort to go to your cabin and retrieve your documents, medications, and valuables and leave them with the port authorities. I don't know this through experience though and hope I never will.

 

That's pretty much true... if something were to happen, the local Port Authorities work with the cruiseline to help retrieve necessary travel docs & such if possible. I would rather my passport remain safe on the ship as well; we do try to take copies ashore with us & have scanned & saved them for internet access which would assist if needed in an emergency situation.

 

This is one of those personal preference, do whatever you're comfortable with, type of thing.

[mondello]

I just carry both our passport cards and SNS cards.

[MpwdMom]

That's why I loved Magic, use a 4 digit pin for the safe, so no worries about a card to swipe.

 

edit: for the OP, if you need a card to swipe your safe, get an unloaded one (no value) from Walmart. That works fine.

[WindsorFred]

We make copies for ourselves, which we take with us, and give the actual passports to guest services so they can stamp our port destinations.:D

 

 

Guest services will stamp your passport for each port? I did not know that.

[girli565]

We leave everything in the safe except our state IDs and credit cards/cash.

[mousey]

We have never taken either on shore, leave everything in safe:)

 

Ditto! Never had a problem.:D

[blurayguy]

Don't understand why Carnival has safes that require guests to use their credit card to lock it. Normally the first thing we do once on board a ship is lock away our wallets and credit cards. We've cruised with Princess in the past and they have safes with the code number system. With the card system you're forced to carry the card around or hide it in the room thus negating the security of having a safe....

[bigbigblake]

are people so worried about just scanning there credit card here?

 

or, I am assuming the S&S card has a barcode as well doesn't it?

[bmckim]

We make copies for ourselves, which we take with us, and give the actual passports to guest services so they can stamp our port destinations.:D

 

They will have them stamped for you? That's awesome.

[MsSmack]

Since I carry my sail & sign card evrywhere, I also carry my drivers license with me. It's a good idea to carry a picture ID with you at all times cos you never know when it may be needed. Example: You get into an accident on shore then you're easily identified...or The ship hits a rock and rolls on its' side, you fall into the water and yada yada yada. You get the picture, right. I always leave passport in safe. I never use a credit card to open the safe since all my credit cards are locked inside. That being said, I always use my drivers license to swipe the safe open/closed and it works just fine. Give it a try, you'll see.

[chicasarita]

I always hear on here that people use old credit cards or whatever, but why?

 

It's one more card you have to carry...Do you just leave the key card in the room so it's always somewhere you know of, or do you carry that card everywhere?

 

Just curious:confused:

 

PS - I read a great idea on here about passports. Some one scanned them on the computer and put them on the cloud so they can be accessed from anywhere with internet. Just a thought.

 

I've always scanned and emailed myself and a family member that I wasn't traveling with a copy. I just kept the email in my inbox until the end of the trip. Accomplishes the same thing as uploading it to a cloud server, without all the trouble of setting it up.

 

Anyways, I just bring my S&S card and my state driver's license. I leave the passport in the safe.