Which Cruise Line Keeps Passenger Passport Until Last Day?

[JimAOk1945]

I'm not new to cruising, but I have questions about cruising that I hope someone will be able to answer. I've already done quite a bit of reading and research but I'm unable to find the answers. So naturally, I thought of posting my question here.

 

I read somewhere on one of the threads that a cruise line (sorry, I don't know which one) kept everyone's passport until the cruise was over.

 

Does anyone know which cruise line does this? Does it depend on the itinerary?

 

Thanks in advance!

[navybankerteacher]

Usually on cruises hitting European ports the line will hold passports for non-European passengers. On westbound trans-Atlantics, they will return the passports upon leaving the last European port, and not hold them until last day.

[JimAOk1945]

Usually on cruises hitting European ports the line will hold passports for non-European passengers. On westbound trans-Atlantics, they will return the passports upon leaving the last European port, and not hold them until last day.

 

Wow! That was a quick reply! :)

 

Should I expect to have this happen on our 12 Med cruise next year? We will be cruising RT Barcelona.

 

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

Usually on cruises hitting European ports the line will hold passports for non-European passengers. On westbound trans-Atlantics, they will return the passports upon leaving the last European port, and not hold them until last day.

 

Not exactly correct.

 

From our experience, cruise lines will hold passports only as long as they have to. So, for more rapid clearance in some countries (Ireland and Turkey, for example) a cruise line may collect passports a day or two in advance of those port stops, and return them shortly after completing their stops in those countries. I have not heard of any cruise line holding passports for the entire cruise.

 

And, if you think it is a simple formality, it isn't. On our Baltic/Scotland/Ireland cruise last summer, we had to turn in our passports prior to arriving in Dublin, to speed clearing the ship. When we got the passports back, the next day after Dublin, we had Irish stamps in our passports. So they were checked.

[CruiserBruce]

Wow! That was a quick reply! :)

 

Should I expect to have this happen on our 12 Med cruise next year? We will be cruising RT Barcelona.

 

Thanks!

 

This depends what ports you stop at. If you were to go to Tunis, you are required to take your passport ashore with you, and clear immigration. The only other country I am aware of that wants the ship to have your passport in the Med is Turkey.

[JimAOk1945]

This depends what ports you stop at. If you were to go to Tunis, you are required to take your passport ashore with you, and clear immigration. The only other country I am aware of that wants the ship to have your passport in the Med is Turkey.

 

We are not visiting either one of those ports. Your information is very helpful. Thanks for posting.

[Shmoo here]

Usually on cruises hitting European ports the line will hold passports for non-European passengers. On westbound trans-Atlantics, they will return the passports upon leaving the last European port, and not hold them until last day.

 

We're non-European passengers and on our Med/WBTA back to back, the cruiseline never held our passports. Barcelona round-trip (Valletta, Malta; Tunis, Tunisia; Napes, Italy; Civitavecchia, Italy; La Spezia, Italy; Ajaccio, Corsica; Villefranche, France). TransAtlantic (Barcelona, Spain; Gibraltar; Madeira, Portugal; St Maarten; Tortola; Port Canaveral, FL).

[fishywood]

You should prepare yourself to play it by ear. For non-EU/Schengen Argreement Nation citizens the ship is often not notified if the authorities in the next port will simply inspect those passports in bulk before clearing the ship, or require face-to-face immigration clearance, until after they have left the previous port. The ship will usually hold your passport upon boarding in the hope that only the much simpler first situation occurs; if the latter is demanded there will be hurried announcements the evening before for you to collect your passport back.

 

Whenever the ships passes between an EU and one of the few remaining non-EU ports (Girbraltar, Tunisia, Turkey) you should expect some form of passport inspection. If by holding your passport the ship makes such inspection essentially invisible to you, be grateful rather than worried. As others have said, it will be returned to you as soon as the ship leaves the last port where procedures are necessary.

[Sherlock43031]

Wow! That was a quick reply! :)

 

Should I expect to have this happen on our 12 Med cruise next year? We will be cruising RT Barcelona.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, you can pick them up during them last sea day.

[kitty9]

It's not the cruise line, but the countries you're visiting that may require it. Look at it this way----would you rather hand over your passport and then have all your time in port to tour, or would you rather keep your passport and have to stand in long lines for immigration in every country you visit, cutting your time in port?

[boogs]

Usually on cruises hitting European ports the line will hold passports for non-European passengers. On westbound trans-Atlantics, they will return the passports upon leaving the last European port, and not hold them until last day.

 

We're non-Europeans from the US with three European cruises so far - Baltics, East Med, and West med. We never had to surrender our passports on any of these cruises. The only place we needed to show them was St. Petersburg, Russia. Otherwise they were in our safe the entire time. Countries visited: Finland, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Slovenia. Note that contrary to reports by others, we did NOT have to surrender our passports for our stop at the port of Kusadasi, Turkey, which was the nearest port to Ephesus.

 

On our South American/Panama cruise from Chile to Florida, we had to surrender them for Chile, Peru and Ecuador. They were given back before we visited Panama, Columbia and Jamaica. Again, they stayed in our safe after we got them back.

 

We did have to surrender out passports for our entire Egypt Nile cruise many years ago. And also at the land base hotels.

 

As others have said, it isn't the cruise line that decides if the passports have to be turned in. It is the rules of the countries based on the ports being entered.

Edited March 3, 2014 by boogs

[sail7seas]

Cruise line held our passports when we had a stop in Israel.

 

[JimAOk1945]

It's nice to get some factual information from experienced travelers. I knew I could depend on CC for answers!

 

Thanks everyone!

[JimAOk1945]

It's not the cruise line, but the countries you're visiting that may require it. Look at it this way----would you rather hand over your passport and then have all your time in port to tour, or would you rather keep your passport and have to stand in long lines for immigration in every country you visit, cutting your time in port?

 

Naturally, I would rather hand them over than stand in line! :D I'm one of those people who likes to know what to expect, thus the questions.

[JimAOk1945]

Otherwise they were in our safe the entire time.

 

You mentioned leaving your passports in your safe. Did you carry copies with you while you were ashore?

[Sue Do-Over]

On Med cruise in 2013, never had to turn in passports, once they were checked at embarkation, we left them in our safe.

 

Barcelona, Spain; Rome and Pisa/Florence, Italy; Malaga, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal, Marsailles, France and Monte Carlo, Monaco. Just walked right off the ship.

 

I made color copies of the ID page and laminated them back to back with an ID card that included the names of our travel companions, medical alert information and our home emergency contact. We carried them in our money belts, inside our clothing. Figured that if we were injured or otherwise unable to speak for ourselves, our families could be contacted.

 

We never needed the copies... but did go back to the ship for the originals in Monaco. The Grand Casino requires real passports (not copies) for admission. They don't allow their own citizens to play, so all guests must show ID.

[JimAOk1945]

On Med cruise in 2013, never had to turn in passports, once they were checked at embarkation, we left them in our safe.

 

Barcelona, Spain; Rome and Pisa/Florence, Italy; Malaga, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal, Marsailles, France and Monte Carlo, Monaco. Just walked right off the ship.

 

I made color copies of the ID page and laminated them back to back with an ID card that included the names of our travel companions, medical alert information and our home emergency contact. We carried them in our money belts, inside our clothing. Figured that if we were injured or otherwise unable to speak for ourselves, our families could be contacted.

 

We never needed the copies... but did go back to the ship for the originals in Monaco. The Grand Casino requires real passports (not copies) for admission. They don't allow their own citizens to play, so all guests must show ID.

 

This is great information! I'm learned a lot from reading your post and the others given by those who have taken the time to reply.

 

I like what you did with the ID page etc. I think I'll do that as well.

 

Thanks a lot!

Edited March 3, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[Hlitner]

It is more a factor of which ports you will visit (and the clearance procedures at those ports) then a requirement of a specific cruise line. We have been on many cruises around the world (probably 3 dozen in the Med) and it can happen on any line. Some ports/countries require that their officials view all the Passports. Instead of having everyone on the ship report to immigration and wait in long lines, many countries will quickly clear the ship (and passengers to go ashore) as long as all the Passports are available for authorities to inspect. In those cases this is done on board the ship under the close supervision of the Pursers staff.

 

If the cruise line does hold your Passport and you need it at a particular port (this has happened to me when I needed it for a rental car agency) then you simply go to the Guest Relations desk and tell them you want your Passport for that day (they might ask you to return it when you get back to the ship...). We did know of some folks that wanted their Passport at each port and they told us that in one port where we docked early in the day they were not able to get their Passports until nearly noon because port officials were onboard going through all the Passports. These folks, for some reason, did not want to go anywhere without their Passports so this obsession ruined an entire port day for their entire group. Personally, we are very happy to keep our Passport locked in a safe..or with the Purser.

 

Hank

[Dawn1004]

Hasn't happened to us - but friends sailed with Princess, Australia to some Asian destinations and they had their passports retained by ship, this was about 7 years ago - so not sure if they still do this.

[boogs]

You mentioned leaving your passports in your safe. Did you carry copies with you while you were ashore?

 

We carry color copies, unless required to be on our person by local laws. If you miss the ship for some reason and it sails without you, most cruise lines will have security open your safe to see if your passport is inside. If it is, they will turn it over to the port representative so you can retrieve it when you finally return.

 

There will be people here who will claim that isn't true, but it is. We know of one couple, our table mates on the Baltic cruise, who missed the ship on a previous cruise and their passports were indeed with the port representative when they arrived. And, during a Q&A session with Captain Nickolis Patronis on Celebrity Reflection during our Med cruise, he was asked what happened if someone missed the ship. He stated that they will always check the safe for passports before they leave, and send them ashore if found. They will not search the rest of the cabin, however - only the safe.

[Jet1992]

We travelled with Holland America last year to Asia and our passports were held by the cruise liner the duration of the cruise.

Anne

[sail7seas]

You mentioned leaving your passports in your safe. Did you carry copies with you while you were ashore?

 

On Med cruise in 2013, never had to turn in passports, once they were checked at embarkation, we left them in our safe.

 

Barcelona, Spain; Rome and Pisa/Florence, Italy; Malaga, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal, Marsailles, France and Monte Carlo, Monaco. Just walked right off the ship.

 

I made color copies of the ID page and laminated them back to back with an ID card that included the names of our travel companions, medical alert information and our home emergency contact. We carried them in our money belts, inside our clothing. Figured that if we were injured or otherwise unable to speak for ourselves, our families could be contacted.

 

We never needed the copies... but did go back to the ship for the originals in Monaco. The Grand Casino requires real passports (not copies) for admission. They don't allow their own citizens to play, so all guests must show ID.

 

 

I also made color copies of our passports and laminated them. The copies are always in my handbag. When we go ashore, we leave the passports in the safe unless we are in a country that requires carrying them.

 

[kitty9]

Crystal and Regent take and keep your passport regardless of where they sail. Crystal took passports for Alaska and New England sailings and Regent has taken them for Caribbean and Panama Canal sailings. No other cruise line has taken our US passports for those sailings, so it's probably their policies to take them for all cruises.

 

Jim, if you have a port where the country requires you carry your passport on shore, if the ship takes, and keeps your passport, they will give it to you to take ashore, but you will have to return it when you return. Russia is one country where this will happen.

Edited March 3, 2014 by kitty9

[JimAOk1945]

I also made color copies of our passports and laminated them. The copies are always in my handbag. When we go ashore, we leave the passports in the safe unless we are in a country that requires carrying them.

 

 

This sounds like a great idea. We will do this as well. Thanks!

[JimAOk1945]

Crystal and Regent take and keep your passport regardless of where they sail. Crystal took passports for Alaska and New England sailings and Regent has taken them for Caribbean and Panama Canal sailings. No other cruise line has taken our US passports for those sailings, so it's probably their policies to take them for all cruises.

 

Jim, if you have a port where the country requires you carry your passport on shore, if the ship takes, and keeps your passport, they will give it to you to take ashore, but you will have to return it when you return. Russia is one country where this will happen.

 

This information is very helpful. Thanks for posting a reply.