Passports and Travel Insurance Documents

[TravelGal22]

When we get off the ship, do we leave our passports in the safe on the ship and just bring copies? Should I carry our insurance documents with us when we get off the ship or can I just keep it in the safe?

[terryinal]

I leave mine in the safe. But if something happens I will in trouble.

[Havingfun2010]

When we get off the ship, do we leave our passports in the safe on the ship and just bring copies? Should I carry our insurance documents with us when we get off the ship or can I just keep it in the safe?

 

If you leave the passport in the safe, it is worthless. Photo copies will help you get a "replacement" passport if you need it. Don't know what insurance documents you are talking about, but I always carry my insurance card with me.

[Tbay-eh]

I, PERSONALLY, take my passport on shore as it isn't going to do me any good in the safe and I paid for it for a reason. A copy may help you to speed things up a bit if something happens but will not get you on to a plane if necessary. It could take days to get a replacement - but this is MY opinion only. The insurance documents I leave in the safe as you have to pay up front and file later if you use it for any reason - like other poster I do take the card.

[gfy012]

We keep ours in the safe. The Fun Times will have an emergency phone number that you can take with you incase you need to access to your belongings on the ship.

[tef43]

Why even bring it at all if you're going to keep it in the safe? :confused:

[gfy012]

Why even bring it at all if you're going to keep it in the safe? :confused:

 

Incase we need to fly out of the country.

[gfy012]

double post

[zzupschuck]

Why even bring it at all if you're going to keep it in the safe? :confused:

 

Because you have to have a passport or birth certificate to get on the ship!

[Coolcruise02]

Why even bring it at all if you're going to keep it in the safe? :confused:

 

What will you do if you get pickpocked or you lose it while ashore?

It is a catch 22 situation. On a least 2 of our cruises our passports were taken by the ship and not returned unless we needed it for a particular country. On one cruise it was not returned until the end. We just carried a copy with us.

[Ken076]

Your Trip Insurance Policy Number and their Phone number is all you really need for Insurance. Having said that, We scan Hotel and Parking Reservations, Cruise documents, Passport and D/L, Health Insurance (including local Providers at each Port) and Trip Insurance Documents into PDF Files and save on our SmartPhones and Tablets. ken

[Ken076]

What will you do if you get pickpocked or you lose it while ashore?

.

 

Conversely, what do you do if you get left ashore? ken

[Tbay-eh]

What will you do if you get pickpocked or you lose it while ashore?

It is a catch 22 situation. On a least 2 of our cruises our passports were taken by the ship and not returned unless we needed it for a particular country. On one cruise it was not returned until the end. We just carried a copy with us.

 

Same thing you would do if you got pick pocketed or lose your credit card, birth certificate, S & S card, photocopy of passport, etc. I still see it as pointless having a passport if you are not going to use it for the whole reason you purchased it. Due diligence is the name of the game for anything you take to shore - guard it with your life (within reason of course). I carry all important stuff in a small purse that slings across my body as well as a tote for camera, phone, towels etc. You will find there are those who take it and those who don't and each think they are right - it is all in YOUR comfort level

[Hstergo]

If you miss the ship your passport will be waiting for you at the dock. Unless you are required by law in that country to have it with you while ashore I don't recommend taking it with you. You would have a much more stressful event losing it when you re enter the USA. If it makes you feel safer take a clear copy of it with you while on shore.

[MegnJoe]

I'm going on my first cruise, so I am still learning :) But we plan on bringing our passports off the ship. If for some reason we missed the ship, we would have our passports to fly home (or to the next port).

 

As long as the cruise is a closed loop, you won't need your passport to get home. So if for some reason, it did get lost while off the ship, you can get back on the ship with your sign and sail card, and you can still get home without it (unless your cruising out of a foreign country).

 

I hope this is correct.

[gfy012]

I'm going on my first cruise, so I am still learning :) But we plan on bringing our passports off the ship. If for some reason we missed the ship, we would have our passports to fly home (or to the next port).

 

As long as the cruise is a closed loop, you won't need your passport to get home. So if for some reason, it did get lost while off the ship, you can get back on the ship with your sign and sail card, and you can still get home without it (unless your cruising out of a foreign country).

 

I hope this is correct.

 

You will need your passport or b.c. when you go thru immigration at home port at the end of the cruise.

[MegnJoe]

If you miss the ship your passport will be waiting for you at the dock. Unless you are required by law in that country to have it with you while ashore I don't recommend taking it with you. You would have a much more stressful event losing it when you re enter the USA. If it makes you feel safer take a clear copy of it with you while on shore.

 

You will need your passport or b.c. when you go thru immigration at home port at the end of the cruise.

 

 

So I guess we should bring both and leave our birth certificates in the safe?

[gfy012]

So I guess we should bring both and leave our birth certificates in the safe?

 

Honestly I don't know how that works if you register with your passport and then come back with a b.c. LOL! It will show passport in their system. I know it will certainly raise a red flag.Seriously it all comes down to your comfort level. Carnival prints an emergency number in the "Fun Times" which you can take on shore with you. If for any reason you can't make it back you can call the number and they will assist you, whether to let the ship know you are running a few minutes late or send someone to your cabin to retrieve your passport from your safe.

[Coolcruise02]

Conversely, what do you do if you get left ashore? ken

 

Well, that's why I said it was a catch 22 sitution!

[Coolcruise02]

Same thing you would do if you got pick pocketed or lose your credit card, birth certificate, S & S card, photocopy of passport, etc. I still see it as pointless having a passport if you are not going to use it for the whole reason you purchased it. Due diligence is the name of the game for anything you take to shore - guard it with your life (within reason of course). I carry all important stuff in a small purse that slings across my body as well as a tote for camera, phone, towels etc. You will find there are those who take it and those who don't and each think they are right - it is all in YOUR comfort level

 

It isn't always "comfort level". Like I said, I have been in quite a few ports were the SHIP had my passport and it was NOT even an option to take it ashore. (Med Cruises & around Cape Horn)

[zqvol]

It isn't always "comfort level". Like I said, I have been in quite a few ports were the SHIP had my passport and it was NOT even an option to take it ashore. (Med Cruises & around Cape Horn)

 

 

Please don't try to use logic. Almost all of the luxury lines hold passports for all cruisers for the duration of the voyage, including in Europe, so there is not ever an issue, you simply go ashore without a passport.

[Tbay-eh]

It isn't always "comfort level". Like I said, I have been in quite a few ports were the SHIP had my passport and it was NOT even an option to take it ashore. (Med Cruises & around Cape Horn)

 

completely different issue when you are not offered the option - they take the responsibility of making sure you get home - in the Caribbean and others it is totally up to you and there are many many instances where you are left out to dry

[Coolcruise02]

completely different issue when you are not offered the option - they take the responsibility of making sure you get home - in the Caribbean and others it is totally up to you and there are many many instances where you are left out to dry

 

They DO NOT take the responsibility of getting me home!! If I miss the ship I would be on my own!

[bookcreator]

We have actually lost our passports twice, once out of the country, and once in the USA.

 

A copy of your passport is actually useless, it saves you 15 seconds at an embassy and we were told, it was as useless as toilet paper when we reported our passports stolen in the USA.

 

We lost our first passports when there was an hotel fire at our hotel in Italy. We were out of our hotel getting breakfast and the hotel caught fire (we lost our clothes as well) I had copies though in my purse. At the embassy, we showed them copies which they told us were useless, but they did get our passport numbers off of them. You would be very surprised what is all in the system in the way of personal info on USA citizens. Mostly we were quizzed on everything from the date we filed our income tax to what preparer we used to file and what town they were in to school record etc. That plus the photo ID we had got us emergency travel ID (not a replacement passport.) It got us home and we soon learned that once your passport is gone, there is no replacement passport - you start from day one as if you never had one and you get another. We did not need one fast so we went through the regular channels, and got our new ones.

 

Then last Jan, we were at Palm Beach International airport at the luggage Carousel, and our passports were in my backpack and there was a lock on the zipper. While in the crowd with other travelers waiting for luggage, the locked pouch was slit and we lost our passports again.

 

I called from the USA this time, and I told them I had copies, they told me, they are of less use than toilet paper. Over the phone, they asked the same kind of questions we got last time with questions related to a bunch of things only we would know, but info we had no idea the government would know. We were told the MOST common place in the USA to have a passport stolen was at a luggage carousel at an airport in the USA.

 

It was $450 this time as we had to have them in 2 weeks to travel to Europe. In that case you have to go to a regional center to have them replaced. There are only about 15 of them in the USA, and there are none in NY - we had to drive to St Albans Vermont to get replacements.

 

So even without copies, they can easily get your passport number through your name and the info they have on you in the system. A regular picture ID, along with the info you give them, lets them bring up a picture of your passport anyway. There is too much fraud in copies we were told so they don't even use them to bring up you info for emergency docs to travel if you passport is lost.

 

The most dangerous thing is not having a passport at all - whether it is in your possession or not, an embassy can bring up the passport in their system as long as you have one. Not having a passport out of the country is just crazy - sorry, but you will never feel so insignificant or in so much danger as being out of the USA, with no documents. If you have not applied for a passport, you have very little info in the computers for them to help you.

 

We still carry a copy - habit I guess, but the two times we were stuck without documents, our brains were used for ID more than those copies.

[snowskier]

Bookcreator has it right. A copy is useless. I know from experience as well. I love the reference to toilet paper!

 

This whole idea that a copy is going to help is something tht has been stated multiple times by frequent posters on this forum and become the gospel.

 

I have never gone into a foreign port without my passport. When a ship holds it, I ask for it before going ashore and give it back when I return. I have never had this request refused.

 

Each person has to make their own decision and I respect everyone's right to do as they wish but I really think the misinformation about copies and the ship won't give me MY passport needs to stop.