Sea Pass

[orville99]

Well, the passport gets you through the airport and on to the ship in a snap.

 

But, after we get on the ship, passports get locked in the safe.

 

Then we go onto the island with sea pass and drivers license (much easier to carry, they can get wet). Then I procede to lose them in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Very happy that passport was securely locked in my safe.

 

Apparently not an uncommon occurrance. While snorkling on Castaway Cay, I recovered a woman's drivers licence and her key to the world card (seapass). Since they were from the previous week's cruise, I mailed them back to her. I've also recovered expensive watches, sunglasses, snorkle gear (that one I will never understand), and the occasional article of swimwear (that one I do understand):D

[garyb(uk)]

Never had to do that in Europe, even when disembarking to return home in Barcelona no one ever ask you for your passport, but the airport is of course different.

Take a photocopy of your passport just incase.

ID is good in Museums in EU , as a senior citizen we get in free, never paid in Pompeii or Herculaneum... some good comes from EU after all, we used our drivers license, mind a bus pass is also good.

OK - I have to ring up RCCL on Monday to check if I can get MTD so I will check out the passport situation for excursions then. Thanks for the advice.

[Sinppu]

so as you are required (so I was told by our TA) to have your passport with you why would you ALSO need additional photo ID?

 

This I don't understand. I was on a Med cruise with my Mom a month ago and we were not required to have an additional ID. We only had our passports and they were suffiecient.

Our passports were NOT taken away from us either. EU/Schengen citizens do not have to give their passports away on a Med cruise.

 

I think it's a good idea to double check with your TA and ask why would your wife need an extra ID. I booked through RCCL own website and they only state you need to have a photo ID (passport) and your Cruise documents with you.

[Room Service!]

 

All of the above.

 

Sent DW and DS back to the ship to get my passport and get a new sea pass issued.

 

Pretty stupid of me, went swimming, both in pocket, now in the Gulf of Mexico. However, I am obsessed with being early for everything, so we got back to the ship an hour before sail away, and DS came back with the sea pass.

 

Not a fun feeling standing outside looking in, no money, no credit cards, no ID in a foreign land. All I had with me was a towel and wet bathing suit on my fat arse.

 

So inquiring minds want to know ... how fat is it? jk

Seriously that must have been a horrible feeling. Glad it all worked out. :)

[garyb(uk)]

This I don't understand. I was on a Med cruise with my Mom a month ago and we were not required to have an additional ID. We only had our passports and they were suffiecient.

Our passports were NOT taken away from us either. EU/Schengen citizens do not have to give their passports away on a Med cruise.

 

I think it's a good idea to double check with your TA and ask why would your wife need an extra ID. I booked through RCCL own website and they only state you need to have a photo ID (passport) and your Cruise documents with you.

I plan to phone RCCL tomorrow to clarify this + a few other things. Your suggestion that some passports are taken away concerns me - taken away by whom? Do you mean by the cruise line? I live in the UK with my British wife but I have an USA passport.

[pdbcruisers]

Before we leave for any trip, we always make color photocopies of the picture page of our passport and color copies of our picture ID just in case something should happen to the original. If you are a US citizen, I would recommend the Passport Card. Serves as passport and photo ID. It is not valid for air travel to other countries, but can be used to fly to San Juan and St. Thomas. It is also good on closed loop cruises that depart and return to US cities.

[Sinppu]

I plan to phone RCCL tomorrow to clarify this + a few other things. Your suggestion that some passports are taken away concerns me - taken away by whom? Do you mean by the cruise line? I live in the UK with my British wife but I have an USA passport.

 

Yes, by the cruise line. You first show it at the terminal when you give your cruise documents and they give you your Sea Pass card. Then you go through another security check point where they check your passports.

We had a Norwegian family in front of us and Italians behind us and they let us all through (since Norway is not a part of EU, I assume Schengen countries are included). They did have a long table full of boxes containing passports which looked like American, Canadian and other.

So if you have an American passport and your wife has a British one, I think she gets to keep hers but you have to give yours to the Cruise line officers and you get it back later in the week.

[cyclenut]

Our June 24 sailing to the Western Caribbean did not require any form of photo ID to reboard at any port. We stopped at Labadee (makes sense) then Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. None of them required us to show a photo ID of any kind. Seapass was all that was required.

 

Also, I completely understand the fear of losing a passport but I don't understand why they should be left in the safe. The whole point of incurring the additional cost of a passport (when a birth certificate and drivers license are fine) is to ensure you can travel in/around/out of a foreign country with ease if something should happen while off the ship. What good will the passport do you sitting in the safe on the ship?

 

We did snorkeling on Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Every time we got off the ship we carried a backpack with us that had our passpors, towels, sunscreen and a few other essentials. There was no time when I felt our stuff was at risk ... at least not any more risk than it being stolen from me while I carried it.

[Sinppu]

Also, I completely understand the fear of losing a passport but I don't understand why they should be left in the safe. The whole point of incurring the additional cost of a passport (when a birth certificate and drivers license are fine) is to ensure you can travel in/around/out of a foreign country with ease if something should happen while off the ship. What good will the passport do you sitting in the safe on the ship?

 

 

We are talking about a Med cruise. I've never given my passport away in the Caribbean, either.

Considering that not all passengers have to leave their passports, this has most likely something to do with EU/Schengen regulations. It's not something the cruise lines do for fun or to pester their clients.

You can move freely in the EU/Schengen area once you have gotten into it so most likely you have to give away your passport so that can not abuse this right.

[Retired LEO]

Once at an Alaskan port I found a seapass on the sidewalk from another cruise ship that that was docked with us. I immediately turned it over to their security. He laughed and said "Thanks, we'll have some fun with them when they get back".

[foxgoodrich]

I had a habit of putting my seapass in my pocket, both on the ship and when we go ashore in a port. It's very handy that way. On two or three consecutive cruises it seemed that I had to go to Guest Services 2 or 3 times during the week to get a new one because it wasn't working. This was starting to irritate me! I was rapidly moving into complaint mode!:eek: The GS people would always tell me not to put it next to my cell phone because the phone would demagnetize it. I KNOW THAT! Plus I don't carry my cell phone around on a cruise. Clearly it was not my fault, right?

 

Finally, on the 3rd cruise, when this kept happening, it eventually dawned on me that I was indeed guilty of demagnetizing my own seapass. I have these really wonderful glasses...there are sunglasses lenses that affix with little magnets to my normal glasses. This is a great invention! I don't have to carry 2 pairs of glasses...it's just so handy...I can just slip my little shades into my pocket and pull them out and click them on when I need the sunglasses, then pull them off and put them back in my pocket when I go indoors and don't need the shades. Suddenly the light dawned...DUH! I was putting the sunglasses into the same pocket as my seapass.:o

 

Now I have a lanyard...

Judy

[cruiseguy1016]

In our experience, "most" is an accurate description of almost every port (especially in the Caribbean and in Canada and Bermuda) we have visited. Any ports where pier security doesn't require both a sea pass and personal ID, is the exception rather than the rule.

 

Well, I guess everybody has different experiences. We have been on 7 Caribbean cruises and have been to most of the islands (some of them more than once) that are visited by cruise ships. I don't think we have been asked more than 3 or 4 times for our photo ID. We even comment on it when we get back on the ship. "Well there's ANOTHER time that they told us a photo ID is required but they never asked for it." Maybe it's the time of year (we always cruise in March) or the personnel that happen to be working at the port that day but we hardly ever get asked. We actually take our passports with us every time we leave the ship. I would hate for that "what if" to happen and be stranded some place without my passport.

[amajaa]

Gary - you don't, your pasport is all you need.

 

As a matter of interest is it still possible for US citizens to travel to the Caribbean without a passport, just a visa or something? I was wondering if this is why people are saying you need a photo ID as they haven't got passports.

[efields2]

As a matter of interest is it still possible for US citizens to travel to the Caribbean without a passport, just a visa or something? I was wondering if this is why people are saying you need a photo ID as they haven't got passports.

 

As a US citizen, I can travel to any caribbean islands on a closed-loop cruise (starting and ending in the US) without a passport. I cannot fly outside the US without a passport. A visa won't get us anywhere without that passport!

 

I think people are offering the photo ID as a suggestion as many US cruise passengers do not take their passport anywhere with them when in a foreign place (it stays locked in my room). I always just carry my drivers license (photo ID) with me UNLESS I know I will need my passport to get in somewhere - which has only happened when I was visiting the US Consulate in South Africa; never have needed it in the caribbean.

 

Hope that helps.

[Retired LEO]

Gary - you don't, your pasport is all you need.

 

As a matter of interest is it still possible for US citizens to travel to the Caribbean without a passport, just a visa or something? I was wondering if this is why people are saying you need a photo ID as they haven't got passports.

 

Some ports require photo ID for entry into the port area. It has nothing to do with the cruise line.

[mlsully]

We bought the lanyards in the souvenir shop. They have a plastic pouch you can slide your card into. They also say Royal Caribbean so they are a nice souvenir.

[garyb(uk)]

We bought the lanyards in the souvenir shop. They have a plastic pouch you can slide your card into. They also say Royal Caribbean so they are a nice souvenir.

thanks for that - sounds like I'll get one of those whether I chose to use it or not.

[garyb(uk)]

OK - I have to ring up RCCL on Monday to check if I can get MTD so I will check out the passport situation for excursions then. Thanks for the advice.

Well got my MTD sorted :)

 

As for the passport on excursion question my TA wasn't sure but thought they would be (as I do really). What she did say is you would be notified of any requirements on board. As this is my first cruise experience I can't say how true that is.

[cruiseguy1016]

Well got my MTD sorted :)

 

As for the passport on excursion question my TA wasn't sure but thought they would be (as I do really). What she did say is you would be notified of any requirements on board. As this is my first cruise experience I can't say how true that is.

 

They will make an announcement every morning informing you of what documentation you should take off of the ship with you. The information will also (most likely) be on the TV in your stateroom and posted in the daily Compass.