Why is Celebrity keeping passports?

[Lois R]

We just returned from a Celebrity Med cruise and were told to take our passports with us every day. We even had to produce our passports for border staff on return to the ship in Venice - this was the only time they were ever requested and they seemed to be checking everyone.

 

I wonder if the ports make a difference? This is interesting to me.

Or is it the Nationality of the particular person? I see you are from the

UK and were sailing in Europe...wonder if that is a part of it?

I sailed last month to the Med too but am from the USA....

 

Just wondering how the process works........we went to Turkey

so wondering from reading prior posts if that had something to do with

them keeping mine.

[dkjretired]

I wonder if the ports make a difference? This is interesting to me.

Or is it the Nationality of the particular person? I see you are from the

UK and were sailing in Europe...wonder if that is a part of it?

I sailed last month to the Med too but am from the USA....

 

Just wondering how the process works........we went to Turkey

so wondering from reading prior posts if that had something to do with

them keeping mine.

 

Combination of ports and nationality..

[Lois R]

Combination of ports and nationality..

 

Hi Don,:) ohhh..ok, makes sense (I think) LOL....

 

Hope you are feeling better:)

[MLK2000]

If your Ports include Israel, you will be asked to surrender your passport for a few days. Israel officials come on-board at the prior port and peruse all passports and they are held by the ship until leaving Israel. I guess Israel likes to know who is visting theri country, for obvious reasons.

 

That is correct. When we left out of Rome last year for a Holyland cruise, our passports were collected upon embarkation. Prior to arriving at the Port of Haifa, Israeli officials were on board and spoke to each passenger at an arranged time. Passports were given back at this time.

[lovinit2012]

Our first cruise was out of Lauderdale with the first stop in San Juan, they took the passports of non-US citizens, and gave us photocopies. when we reached San Juan we had to go through immigration in the nightclub and I believe they gave us out passports back at that time and we had them for the rest of our trip

[snow bunny]

We just returned from our Med cruise on Silhouette that included Turkey, Italy, and Greece. But, our passports were not taken.

 

Ours were not taken either. However while in line to finalize our payment I did see many people who had a ticket in their hand which they exchanged for their passport. Not sure if they were from any specific countries or not but I don't believe that they were Canadian or American passport holders.

 

Snow bunny

[NJ Gal]

Interesting. So what happens? It does depend on the ship, the purser and the itinerary. But we have been on many cruises (have spent more then 2 1/2 years on cruise ships) where passengers are required to surrender their passport at embarkation (before you even board the ship). We once saw a man trying to argue and he was told he could keep his passport but would not be allowed to board the ship. The Pursers honestly would prefer not to collect passports since its a lot of work for their staff...but in certain ports of Europe, Asia and Africa it is a requirement. In many cases your passports might be held for most of the cruise (we just came off a 62 day cruise where they had our passport for more then 55 days). If you want your passport when you go ashore (generally not a great idea) you can usually collect it at the guest relations desk when needed...but will probably need to turn it back in when you return to the ship.

 

Hank

I agree with Hank. The first time our passports were collected was on a South American cruise a few years ago. We had cruised several times before & never had passports collected. We had booked a private tour in one of the countries & had been told that we would need our passports for entry to some of the sites. So, of course, I argued that I wasn't giving up my passport. I was then asked if I still wanted to go on the cruise? End of story....I gave up our passports, took the cruise, enjoyed the private tour using a passport copy & got the passports back at the end of the cruise.

Yes, on some cruises, both X and RC take passports & return them at the end. Now, I just surrender without any comments knowing I have BOTH color and black & white copies with me. Not a problem for me any more.

[Lois R]

I agree with Hank. The first time our passports were collected was on a South American cruise a few years ago. We had cruised several times before & never had passports collected. We had booked a private tour in one of the countries & had been told that we would need our passports for entry to some of the sites. So, of course, I argued that I wasn't giving up my passport. I was then asked if I still wanted to go on the cruise? End of story....I gave up our passports, took the cruise, enjoyed the private tour using a passport copy & got the passports back at the end of the cruise.

Yes, on some cruises, both X and RC take passports & return them at the end. Now, I just surrender without any comments knowing I have BOTH color and black & white copies with me. Not a problem for me any more.

 

Thank you for the story:).......when I got to the counter in May

and they took my passport? Maybe I was just so excited about the

cruise:D I never even questioned them about why they wanted it.

Now, maybe that makes me a naive passenger? But I figured they

knew what they were doing....they gave me a receipt, my S&S

card and I went on my way........

Oh, there were 2 gals and the next CSR who were having a nice

debate about it.......not sure what happened but I am guessing

they handed their passports over too.......