Do you take your passport -

[trev71]

I never bring my passport when I go to port. I am worried I would lose it or it would get completed soaked. we climbed dunn river with some people before that brought their passports with them and they were totally soaked. I have never heard of them not letting you on board without your passport

[smeyer418]

Interesting numbers, but I wouldn't make a personal decision on what I'm going to do based on them. Now if you said "1,000 passports were lost or stolen from cruise ship passengers last year while visiting ports of call in the Caribbean out of 300,000 visitors" that might be a more telling statistic from which to base a decision.

LOL you said that the stats on lost passports wasn't available but now you expect cruise line data and info. More people lose or have their passports stolen than get stuck on shore. I don't have specific data to back that up but even if I did I doubt you would accept that anyway. I personally don't care if people leave their passports on the ship or take them with them. Except in a few cases its not really needed so I leave mine in the safe. But your risk tolerance may differ. But lets not confuse the facts with fancy. It took a few minutes longer to find the US state department figures but you had already responded.

Edited August 4, 2014 by smeyer418

[ducklite]

I never bring my passport when I go to port. I am worried I would lose it or it would get completed soaked. we climbed dunn river with some people before that brought their passports with them and they were totally soaked. I have never heard of them not letting you on board without your passport

 

Which brings us to another point--damaged passports are as useful as lost or stolen one. In other words, not at all. A damaged passport is automatically voided, and I can tell you personal experience, getting a passport soaked will damage it to the point where it is void.

[sparks1093]

LOL you said that the stats on lost passports wasn't available but now you expect cruise line data and info. More people lose or have their passports stolen than get stuck on shore. I don't have specific data to back that up but even if I did I doubt you would accept that anyway. I personally don't care if people leave their passports on the ship or take them with them. Except in a few cases its not really needed so I leave mine in the safe. But your risk tolerance may differ. But lets not confuse the facts with fancy. It took a few minutes longer to find the US state department figures but you had already responded.

 

I didn't say stats weren't available, I said they impossible to find:o and you proved that statistics are available (never under-estimate the power of FOIA;)). It's not a matter of what I accept because I agree that a passport is safer in the safe (and I don't even have a dog in the fight because I haven't obtained a passport yet). The main message of my post (which got lost in discussing statistics, my bad) is that if someone does decide to take their passport ashore they should be smart about it and don't carry it with other valuables.

 

And to finish up the discussion regarding stats just for :D according to a 2012 Forbes article that I just read 110 million Americans have a passport, so it's safe to say that the percentage of passports lost or stolen is very, very small no matter how you dice the numbers.

Edited August 4, 2014 by sparks1093

[boogs]

And to finish up the discussion regarding stats just for :D according to a 2012 Forbes article that I just read 110 million Americans have a passport, so it's safe to say that the percentage of passports lost or stolen is very, very small no matter how you dice the numbers.

 

Even that is a misleading statistic. Of those 110 million passports issued, how many were actually used during a specific period, say between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011 when according to the US State Department 314,021 passports were lost or stolen? It is reasonable to assume that the vast majority were not used because the owners did not need them to travel during that time period. My passport is only used for three weeks every two years, for instance. That means I take it out of my home safe only 3% of the time.

 

A more valuable statistic would be comparing how many were actually used, and how many of those were lost or stolen, during the same time period. Unfortunately we don't have those numbers. But I would guess that the percentage is more than "very, very small", but instead high enough to be worth considering.

Edited August 4, 2014 by boogs

[sparks1093]

Even that is a misleading statistic. Of those 110 million passports issued, how many were actually used during a specific period, say between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011 when according to the US State Department 314,021 passports were lost or stolen? It is reasonable to assume that the vast majority were not used because the owners did not travel during that time period. A more valuable statistic would be comparing how many were actually used, and how many of those were lost or stolen, during the same time period. Unfortunately we don't have those numbers. But I would guess that the percentage is high enough to be worth considering.

 

The number of passports that were lost and stolen is not broken down between those that were lost or stolen at home and those lost and stolen while traveling, either, and as you state we have no way of knowing how many passports were actually used. If you assume that a quarter of all 110 million passport holders traveled using their passports and that all 314k lost or stolen passports happened while traveling that's 1%. As I said, no matter how you dice it the percentage of passports actually lost or stolen is very, very low.

 

Keeping a passport on the ship in a safe is the safest option, but taking the passport with you ashore is not necessarily as risky as many believe, either.

[bouhunter]

If it's US and Canada, I can't think of a good reason to take your passports ashore at ports.

Edited August 4, 2014 by bouhunter

[dsrdsrdsr]

To get back on the ship, you need your Sea Pass and government issued photo ID (Such as a driver's license).

 

Even that may depend on the line. Maybe it's a nationality thing, because in Britain it isn't the norm to carry photo i.d. at all, but (apart from ports where carrying a passport is compulsory) I have never been asked for photo i.d. to get back on board. Just as well, really, because a passport is the only photo i.d. I own. That's in North and Central American ports as well as in Europe.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We take a copy ...

[lisiamc]

Even that may depend on the line. Maybe it's a nationality thing, because in Britain it isn't the norm to carry photo i.d. at all, but (apart from ports where carrying a passport is compulsory) I have never been asked for photo i.d. to get back on board. Just as well, really, because a passport is the only photo i.d. I own. That's in North and Central American ports as well as in Europe.

 

Well, the plastic bit (with photo) of the UK driving licence is becoming pretty normal these days. I'm on my fourth one - two moves, one theft and one expiry! :p

 

It does come in handy when photo ID is called for on cruises.

Edited August 4, 2014 by lisiamc

[S.A.M.J.R.]

You should also bring a copy of the ship's newsletter. It has the contact information for the ship's agent in the port, in case you have a problem while ashore.

Another suggestion... take a picture of the contact information with whatever camera you're taking ashore.

 

Yes, the camera can get taken. But the newsletter can get torn, dropped, wet, etc.

[smeyer418]

If it's US and Canada, I can't think of a good reason to take your passports ashore at ports.

 

I can unless you have a passport card and you want to take the train that goes into Canada...no passport no train ride.

[dsrdsrdsr]

Well, the plastic bit (with photo) of the UK driving licence is becoming pretty normal these days. I'm on my fourth one - two moves, one theft and one expiry! :p

 

It does come in handy when photo ID is called for on cruises.

I'm planning to have the last green paper one in existence. I last moved house just over 30 years ago, and it doesn't expire for another 20.