Passport: Keep it on the boat for shore excursions?

[Matt8085]

I'm just wondering what people normally do with this. I've heard that most people leave them in the safe on the boat. My question is, why? What if something happens, someone gets hurt or has a medical emergency? Why even bring a passport on a closed loop cruise if you're just going to leave it on the boat when you're in a different country? Are people worried about losing them? Trying to wrap my head around why someone would leave it behind.

[missypriss19]

I am with you. I take mine with me just in case. A copy of it is not going to,allow to fly out if something happens. I would personally leave the copy in the safe and keep the original with me.

[Shmoo here]

I'm just wondering what people normally do with this. I've heard that most people leave them in the safe on the boat. My question is, why? What if something happens, someone gets hurt or has a medical emergency? Why even bring a passport on a closed loop cruise if you're just going to leave it on the boat when you're in a different country? Are people worried about losing them? Trying to wrap my head around why someone would leave it behind.

 

Except for one port on our recent Panama Canal cruise, the cruiseline suggested that we leave our passports onboard. To reboard the ship all that is necessary is a ship's card and photo ID (generally a driver's license). But you certainly may take your passport ashore, if you wish as the photo ID.

 

If there is a situation that you will not be re-boarding the ship, your belongings (including the stuff in your safe) are generally turned over to the port authority for you to collect.

 

Yes, people are concerned about losing them - passports are a coveted property. You're not really "leaving them behind". They are still in the country you are.

[paul929207]

We only take our passports if the country we are visiting requires it. Otherwise we leave it in our safe. We sail with Princess. They and many other lines will get your passport from the safe and leave it with the agent if they are sailing without you.

[Sauer-kraut]

Because if you don't need the passport to get off or reboard the ship there is NO reason to bring it off the ship, in fact there are some itineraries where the ship will actually hold passenger's passports until the end of the voyage.

 

If there is indeed an situation where you need to stay on at the port after the ship departs, you need to contact the port agent and your belongings will be at the dock waiting for you. That passport is a very important document, its a LOT safer on the ship in the safe than with you on a shore excursion.

[jocap]

Wherever I holiday in the world, my passport stays locked in the hotel safe, unless it's required to be shown by local law. Instead, I carry a laminated copy of the business page.

Exactly the same on a ship- my passport is worth £10,000 to any thief, and the captain of one ship said to take your passport number and city of origin ashore....a consulate can work from that.

[lady_cruiser]

We always leave our passports on the ship. If for some awful reason we get left behind then there is a 99.9% chance that the ship will hand our passports over to the harbor master so we will be able to fly home.

[balconybuphs]

Because if you don't need the passport to get off or reboard the ship there is NO reason to bring it off the ship, in fact there are some itineraries where the ship will actually hold passenger's passports until the end of the voyage.

 

If there is indeed an situation where you need to stay on at the port after the ship departs, you need to contact the port agent and your belongings will be at the dock waiting for you. That passport is a very important document, its a LOT safer on the ship in the safe than with you on a shore excursion.

 

I would agree...I would hate to get it picked out of my pocket in Rome ...What happens when I disembark in Barcelona to fly home to the US???

[kitty9]

You'd be amazed by how many cruisers have their passports stolen when taken off the ship. They're considered gold on the black market. In 78 cruises, I've only taken my passport off the ship in Russia and Vietnam. People would like to have you believe otherwise, but crime can be rampant on some islands and I sure know that I don't want my passport stolen by some criminal and then sold to maybe a terrorist.

 

If you miss the ship, or have an emergency, ship security will open your safe and bring all your necessary things to the port agent, who will have it ready for you.

[Matt8085]

Ok, thanks for the feedback! I wasn't aware that the cruise line handed your stuff to the port authority if you weren't able to make it back after an excursion. Sounds like we'll be making copies of our passports and leaving them in the safe.

[nlsoftly]

Our US state allows us to get both drivers licenses and photo ids. So, we carry a copy of our passport and the photo id while the real passport and dl snuggle up together in the safe.

 

OH, we each have travel vests with zippered inside pockets. That is where our traveling ids, credit cards, and money reside. Not so fashionista but safe. On an excursion last summer a pick-pocket almost got into my purse (my bad - I was tired and failed to notice it was swinging free at my side). Had he succeeded he would have grabbed a handful of breath mints, lipstick, and used tissues.

[Irish60]

We just got back from our first cruise to the Southern Caribbean and we carried copies of our passports as well as your seapass and drivers license. In every port, all the wanted was to see your seapass to get back on the boat except for St. Thomas where they were insisting on photo ID as well (license).

 

One tip (at least for Celebrity cruisers) is to bring a copy of the daily with you. The Celebrity one always had information for the port agent to contact if you were in trouble, I assume mostly if you missed the boat. Maybe that's who the cruise line gives the passport to?

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always leave our passports in the safe unless we are in a port where they require us to have our passports. In European ports, the ships collect the passports and hold them in most ports.

Should you go out on a non-sponsored ship excursion and don't make it back to the ship on time, security will go to your safe and get your passports and turn them over to the land port authority. Keep in mind that if you miss the ship -- it is up to you to get yourself to the next port which will be expensive.

[John Bull]

Ok, thanks for the feedback! I wasn't aware that the cruise line handed your stuff to the port authority if you weren't able to make it back after an excursion. Sounds like we'll be making copies of our passports and leaving them in the safe.

 

Perhaps "all your stuff handed to the port authority" is over-stretching things.

But in many cases, & particularly if you phone to say you're likely to miss the sailing, the crew will open your safe & hand over at least your passports. Usually before sailing, or if not found in time for that then sometimes via the pilot's boat when it returns the pilot to the port.

Passports or whatever will actually be handed to the ship's port agent. His details, including phone number, are always in the previous day's ship's newspaper - so take the details, or the newspaper, ashore with you.

No guarantees that your passports will be left behind for you.

 

But it's a fact that it's much, much more likely that your passport will be lost or stolen ashore than that you might miss the sailing. That missing passport will be of concern to your Govt., and if it's used for identity theft it can give you a whole lot more on-going grief than being left behind without a passport.

 

No, a photocopy isn't a legal document. But the detail on it will facilitate getting an emergency passport or other suitable document to allow you to fly out.

 

Different folk, different opinions, & it's whatever you're most comfortable with.

But I'm firmly with those who say leave it in your cabin safe.

 

JB :)

[CP Tech]

Our first cruise we took them with us on our shore exchursions. Never ran into a problem. Since then we leave them in the safe.

[Ravenscroft]

Perhaps "all your stuff handed to the port authority" is over-stretching things.

But in many cases, & particularly if you phone to say you're likely to miss the sailing, the crew will open your safe & hand over at least your passports. Usually before sailing, or if not found in time for that then sometimes via the pilot's boat when it returns the pilot to the port.

Passports or whatever will actually be handed to the ship's port agent.

 

I agree, in fact we've seen it happen.

We had a scheduled 1am departure from Monte Carlo. We were anchored out in Monaco Bay. We were on our balcony watching the last couple of tenders coming back. When the last one returned, we could hear the security staff saying that 6 people hadn't returned. We then heard them on their radio asking for the passports. The passports were retrieved within about 20 minutes and sent back ashore again on the tender. When it returned the missing passengers still weren't aboard but their passports had been left with the port agent.

I'm guessing that it wasn't a huge problem for those people to just rejoin the ship next day. Our next port was just along the coast at St Tropez. It was during the Monaco Grand Prix so I'm guessing they were simply enjoying a party ashore :D.

[Hlitner]

After more then forty-five years of extensive international travel we have learned to always leave our Passport in a secure place (such as a cabin safe) unless we absolutely most carry the document (it is required in some countries of the world...or sometimes I might need it to complete a rental car transaction in some countries). A Passport is your most valuable travel document and losing it (especially if you are not on a closed-loop cruise) can be a very bad problem, cost you lots of money, keep you trapped in a country until you can get a replacement, etc.

 

Regarding cruises, the cruise lines follow a very specific protocol if you are not back on the ship at sailing time. They will send a Purser's staffer to your cabin to search for any important documents (they will open your cabin safe). They then will turn-over these documents to their "Port Agent" for safe keeping and later retrieval by the cruiser. Not only is this the norm, it is actually required by many countries. This is why we always take the name and phone number of the ship's local agent (usually this will be in the daily schedule or on the port-info handout) in case we miss the ship.

 

This topic is often argued on CC, but what we suggest is also suggested by the cruise lines. And we have seen the sad results on several cruises over the years (we have now spent over 3 1/2 years on cruise ships as passengers). The most recent heartache happened on our Celebrity Silhouette cruise (last year) in the Med. A passenger (he is actually a NYC Policeman) left his stuff on a beach in Tel Aviv, Israel so he and his wife could take a quick swim. When they returned all their stuff was gone (and they had actually asked somebody to watch their stuff...which did not help) including Passports. They immediately contacted the police to no avail. They did luck out because our ship was docked in Ashdod, but was proceeding to Haifa the following day for an overnight stay. The authorities agreed to let them proceeed to Haifa on the ship where they spent 1 1/2 days working to get an emergency replacement. The US Consul was able to get them replacement Passports before we left Haifa...but the Consul did tell these folks they were lucky it was not a weekend when it would have been nearly impossible to process the paperwork.

 

If they had not been able to get the replacements, they would have been forced to leave the cruise and stay in Israel at their own expense..until such time as they got a Passport replacement. At that point they could have tried to catch-up with the cruise (which would have been in a different European country) or just flown home...all at their own expense.

 

Hank

 

Hank

Hank

[wassup4565]

Our experience is different, as we are Canadians. We had two incidents on our 8-day cruise that tell us to always bring our passports ashore.

 

1. My companion's card had failed to open our cabin door and Guest Services issued her a duplicate. On re-boarding at St Kitts we discovered the replacement card did not carry her photo, and she had to produce her passport to re-board.

 

2. On re-boarding the same cruise at San Juan, we were both asked to produce photo ID in addition to our sea pass cards. None of the Americans re-boarding were asked to do this.

 

Most of the foregoing advice comes from Americans. If your citizenship is not American, our experience is that you should have your passport with you.

Edited January 14, 2014 by wassup4565

[subtchr]

Our experience is different, as we are Canadians. We had two incidents on our 8-day cruise that tell us to always bring our passports ashore.

 

1. My companion's card had failed to open our cabin door and Guest Services issued her a duplicate. On re-boarding at St Kitts we discovered the replacement card did not carry her photo, and she had to produce her passport to re-board.

 

2. On re-boarding the same cruise at San Juan, we were both asked to produce photo ID in addition to our sea pass cards. None of the Americans re-boarding were asked to do this.

 

Most of the foregoing advice comes from Americans. If your citizenship is not American, our experience is that you should have your passport with you.

 

It sounds as if any photo ID would have worked for this -- we always bring both our seapass cards and our drivers licenses off the ship for this reason. Did they insist on seeing passports, or would another photo ID have sufficed?

[OCruisers]

We only take our passports if the country we are visiting requires it. Otherwise we leave it in our safe. We sail with Princess. They and many other lines will get your passport from the safe and leave it with the agent if they are sailing without you.

 

Great Post ... Was going to say the same thing. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Hlitner]

Our experience is different, as we are Canadians. We had two incidents on our 8-day cruise that tell us to always bring our passports ashore.

 

1. My companion's card had failed to open our cabin door and Guest Services issued her a duplicate. On re-boarding at St Kitts we discovered the replacement card did not carry her photo, and she had to produce her passport to re-board.

 

2. On re-boarding the same cruise at San Juan, we were both asked to produce photo ID in addition to our sea pass cards. None of the Americans re-boarding were asked to do this.

 

Most of the foregoing advice comes from Americans. If your citizenship is not American, our experience is that you should have your passport with you.

 

Forgive me for questioning your post, but how would the port security folks have any clue who was an American vs a Canadian since very few cruisers would have had a Passport. The standard requirement in some of the Caribbean ports (especially the American ports) is that cruisers have their Sea Pass card plus a picture ID (most use their drivers license). We have never seen anyone ask to produce a passport to reboard at San Juan or anywhere else in the Caribbean. We are US citizens, were recently in the Caribbean (for a 2 week cruise) and were asked for photo id when reboarding in a couple of ports (including St Thomas). Nobody even looked at that picture ID close enough to know what it was....other then to glance at the picture. What you are asking us to believe is that the port security folks can just look at you and know you are a Canadian? My Canadian friends would be shocked to discover that they looked so much different :)

 

Your post just makes no sense.

 

In addition, you mention that the ship's staff asked for your friends Passport (upon reboarding) since they did not have her photo in their computer? We have seen this kind of confusion before and have even seen the ship's security staff ask if somebody had a photo ID (never specifically a Passport). But the staff would never specifically ask for a Passport since many folks on Caribbean closed-loop cruises do not even have a Passport (US folks only need a birth certificate and picture ID). Again, your post just makes little sense.

 

 

 

Hank

Edited January 14, 2014 by Hlitner

[wassup4565]

Hlitner, nothing that happened at San Juan made sense to me either. We were in a lineup of many, many people. At the US Customs border entry point to re-board the ship at San Juan (not the cruise ship) we produced our seapass cards, as everyone else in line before us had done. They were all waved ahead, and we were pulled aside out of the line, and asked to produce our passports. Fortunately (after the incident in St Kitts) we both had the passports. I can only assume that something that was displayed on our Seapass cards identified us as non-US citizens. For the record, I have re-boarded at San Juan in the past with only my Seapass, but I will never go there again without my Canadian passport.

 

To the earlier poster, no I can't exactly remember if, at San Juan, we were asked for photo ID only, or specifically for passports. What I do know is that passports got us back on the ship. Who knows if our Canadian Drivers Licenses or Health Cards would have? When on foreign soil, I rely on the passport.

[wassup4565]

As for the incident in St Kitts, Hlitner, I can`t remember the details. We were taken aback. And this was a ship incident, not a St Kitts Cusomes incident.

 

I went first in line and had no problem gaining re-entry with my seapass card. My daughter, whose card had failed to operate the cabin door and had therefore been replaced, was stopped and asked for something else besides her seapass card because her photo was no longer associated with the card (they said). Fortunately, she had her passport with her. I don`t know idf the Drivers License or Health Card would have sufficed - we didn`t ask.

 

In any case, quite honestly, there is probably more of a theft risk for a Canadian Health Care card than a passport these days. So I`d never take that card ashore.

[AmoMondo]

I'm European and been through San Juan. Never needed my actual passport but did need photo ID. My cruiseline was holding all our passports at the time and gave us copies to our cabins, with instructions to show the photo pies to security and that seemed fine. It was a European ship with most passengers non American but we still never needed the Ctual passports themselves.

[lisiamc]

Quite a few people write as if one might lose a passport OR miss the ship. I'm sure that I'm quite capable of having both happen to me. :p So if I leave my passport in the safe, I could possibly miss the ship, but my passport should be safely handed over to the port agent.

 

(And so far, I've had my pocket picked once, my purse stolen from my desk at work, and our house burgled. But I've never missed the ship. So with my record, wouldn't you leave your passport in the safe? :D)