what do you guys take off ship in case you miss the boat?

[twinklen01]

ok so to those that carry their passport on them in port......What if you lose it or get your stuff stolen?

 

We are planning on going to the Caribbean so not sure if we need to carry passports or not. We also take a colored copy but not sure how we will do this. Our last two cruises were to Mexico.

[dchoney]

I just read this in the Cruise Discussion Topics Forum under Saving Money on Your Cruise - Tips & Advice. Very insightful story from someone who missed the ship!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44590679

Edited September 8, 2015 by dchoney

[dioxide45]

ok so to those that carry their passport on them in port......What if you lose it or get your stuff stolen?

 

We are planning on going to the Caribbean so not sure if we need to carry passports or not. We also take a colored copy but not sure how we will do this. Our last two cruises were to Mexico.

 

We decided whether to carry our passports depending on what our plans entail. If we are doing a land based journey without water involved, we are likely to carry them. If we are going to a beach and will swim, we leave them behind. We don't want to take the chance on them being stolen while we are in the water and our passports are at the beach chair. If we are traveling far from the ship and not on a ships tour we are also likely to take them.

 

If your passport is stolen, you would file a police report. When you return, you could show your passport copy that you left behind in the safe along with the police report. I suspect you will be taken for secondary screening, but ultimately you will get home.

[mousey]

I never take my passport out of the safe once I've put it in there at the beginning of the cruise. I take a colored copy of it along with my Drivers License and one credit card, plus my sail and sign card and a small amount of cash. That's it. I'm find with this approach. A copy of my passport will serve me fine in any emergency situation. However, I doubt I will ever need to use it as I'm very careful about getting back to the ship on time and don't do excursions that might make me late getting back to the ship. If there is ever any question about that...I'll take a ship excursion which guarantees I won't miss the ship. So nothing to worry about. I'm not paranoid about anything regarding my passport or getting back to the ship on time.

[realjd]

ok so to those that carry their passport on them in port......What if you lose it or get your stuff stolen?

 

We are planning on going to the Caribbean so not sure if we need to carry passports or not. We also take a colored copy but not sure how we will do this. Our last two cruises were to Mexico.

 

Lose it? Keep it someplace safe where you won't. As for stolen, keep it in a different pocket than your wallet and someplace where pickpockets won't get to it. Mugging are extremely rare during the day against cruise passengers and pickpockets won't go digging into zippered pockets and such.

 

Ultimately though, I'd rather lose/have my passport stolen and show up at port in the US at the end of the cruise than be stranded in a foreign country for whatever reason without one. At US immigration and customs coming home, if you're a US Citizen, they cannot refuse you entry even without a passport. As an American you have an absolute right to return. It will just take a long while (hours) for them to establish your identity. If stranded in a foreign country, airlines won't let you board without a passport. You don't have a right to fly. You'll be stuck there until you can get an emergency passport from the nearest embassy, and good luck if you're in one of the many Caribbean nations where the nearest embassy is on a different island and in a different country.

[pbsteve]

so my big question, for those who bring copies. Why bother bringing your passport at all, why not leave it safe at home in your safe and bring a birth certificate. I have 2 copies of my birth certificate, as does the wife, so why bother brining a passport at all?

 

also

 

What Do I Need to Replace my Passport Overseas?

The following list identifies a number of documents/items you should take with you to the embassy/consulate. Even if you are unable to present all of the documents, the consular staff will do their best to assist you to replace your passport quickly. Please provide:

A Passport Photo (one photo is required; get it in advance to speed the process of replacing your passport)

Identification (driver's license, expired passport etc.)

Evidence of U.S. citizenship (birth certificate, photocopy of your missing passport)

Travel Itinerary (airline/train tickets)

Police Report, if available

DS-11 Application for Passport (may be completed at time of application)

DS-64 Statement Regarding a Lost or Stolen Passport (may be completed at time of application)

Edited September 8, 2015 by pbsteve

[Budget Queen]

We never took our passports off the ship with us, but the last couple cruises we started. Especially at ports where we ventured out on our own or far away from port..

 

I don't really know why one would carry their passport around with them when at home? :confused: No need to flame, it just doesn't make sense..

 

A passport is the perfect ID. NO address that could be picked up, fraudulently . I live and travel all over,- where ID's are now more required to use Credit Cards. I use it frequently.

 

How many hotels have you been in, where they photocopied, your ID? I've stayed in several. I don't want it known, when I'm away, there's an empty house. Last year about half the year- with my house empty the same time

 

For registrations, I use my po box. IF they ask for a physical address, it's a different city, that I don't add. I'm an ex New Yorker, who, got these precautions due to experiences. Life Long habits now. :)

[pbsteve]

A passport is the perfect ID. NO address that could be picked up, fraudulently . I live and travel all over,- where ID's are now more required to use Credit Cards. I use it frequently.

 

How many hotels have you been in, where they photocopied, your ID? I've stayed in several. I don't want it known, when I'm away, there's an empty house. Last year about half the year- with my house empty the same time

 

For registrations, I use my po box. IF they ask for a physical address, it's a different city, that I don't add. I'm an ex New Yorker, who, got these precautions due to experiences. Life Long habits now. :)

 

its habit for me, the only weeks I do not travel are the week of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 3 weeks of vacation I get a year. The only reason I don't travel the weeks of christmas and thanksgiving are the costs of airfare to the company. I carry my passport every week, I don't lose it. For me, it's a ticket home.

 

Reading the post that was put above, it seems having no passport, or a paper copy would have had the same process.

[Keith1010]

We never take our passport off the ship except in the few countries that require it.

 

We believe that the likelihood of losing or having the passport stolen is far greater than any benefits.

 

We do take the contact information for the port agent, our phone, credit cards and drivers license and cash.

 

Keith

[lisiamc]

We never take our passports ashore unless required to do so. On the lines that we have cruised, they will go into your safe and take your passport out to hand over to the port agent if you miss the ship. This is one of the advantages of being one of "those people" who hang over the rail watching for latecomers. I have seen the handover happen.

[cruiseryyc]

I don't get the ooooh- I always keep my passport locked in the safe stuff. :) Makes me laugh frankly. :)

 

Mine is ALWAYS with me, yep, when I'm home.

 

What make people think this way- I just don't get it. Are they also afraid, when they go to Walmart- yikes, I better watch it, I could lose my credit card, ops- my license is going to be gone- what am I going to do??????

 

All these documents are important. Is everyone that careless? My passport is always in the same place of my purse. HABITS are what allow for the most safety. You have safe habits= someone who doesn't is going to be ahead of you to take advantage of. Blunt, sure, but facts. Flame away. :)

 

No flaming here - agree 100% with everything you said; I keep my passport with me.

[Havingfun2010]

With all the cruises i have done we have never been concerned about missing the boat. However, i suppose I should be more cautious and take what i might need in case. So what do you need besides cash and id. is a copy of your passport enough in the carribean? Do all of you take all your travel documents when you get off the ship in ports?

 

How much cash do you plan on taking off the ship? Because hotel rooms, replacement passport, last minute airfare will add another thousand dollars to your trip.

 

What good is a copy of your passport? If you get stopped by a police officer, and you fail to produce a DL, you will get a citation for it. A copy won't work. Same with you passport. A copy is useless.

 

Whenever I leave home, I have everything I need. Getting off the ship is no different. If you are in a foreign country, than you passport is extremely important.

[Hlitner]

A great question. Because some folks know DW and I are adventurous DIYers (on 6 continents) we have often been asked just this question while on cruises. And our answer is a very simple, "it depends." We assess the port, what we are doing, how far we will be from the port (which can be over 100 miles in Europe), where the ship will be the following day, etc. Our basic rule is that we always have a major credit card, an ATM card, and some cash. We also carry the name and phone number of the ship's agent and sometimes a direct phone number to the ship (where Guest Relations wiill give us a number). As to our Passports, our preference is to never carry them unless it is absolutely necessary (rare) or we think there is a darn good reason for that particular port. If we are within the EU and the ship is going to another EU port (where we could catch the ship if we missed it in the previous port) we never take our Passports (we do have photocopies of the main page). The reality is that one can freely travel around the EU without an original Passport (although some argue that the law says you should have a Passport). Nearly fifty years of extensive international travel have taught us that the risk of not having our Passports is less then the risk of carrying those valuable documents. If on a cruise, our Passports are kept locked in our cabin safe (or with the purser on cruises where the cruise line holds Passports). Cruise lines have a procedure if somebody misses a ship which often has the purser searching the cabin (and safe) for Passports which are turned over to the local agent. But this is not written in stone and a phone call to the agent can determine the procedure. For example, if we were to miss the ship in Livorno, and the vessel was going to Naples as the next port we would call the agent and request that our Passports (and everything else) be left on the ship...and we would meet them in Naples.

 

I would add that we never take our Passports off the ship when in places like the Caribbean or Mexico. There is no reason, and since we are often at a beach, snorkeling, diving, etc. the last thing we want to worry about is having our Passports stolen.

 

Hank

[srlafleur]

I don't get the ooooh- I always keep my passport locked in the safe stuff. :) Makes me laugh frankly. :)

 

Mine is ALWAYS with me, yep, when I'm home.

 

What make people think this way- I just don't get it. Are they also afraid, when they go to Walmart- yikes, I better watch it, I could lose my credit card, ops- my license is going to be gone- what am I going to do??????

 

All these documents are important. Is everyone that careless? My passport is always in the same place of my purse. HABITS are what allow for the most safety. You have safe habits= someone who doesn't is going to be ahead of you to take advantage of. Blunt, sure, but facts. Flame away. :)

 

:) LIKE! Me, too!

[NMLady]

With all the cruises i have done we have never been concerned about missing the boat. However, i suppose I should be more cautious and take what i might need in case. So what do you need besides cash and id. is a copy of your passport enough in the carribean? Do all of you take all your travel documents when you get off the ship in ports?

 

I do not worry about missing the ship since my watch is set to ship time, I pay attention to the 'all aboard' time and always plan to be back onboard about an hour before 'all aboard' time.

We leave our passports in the ship safe. We do have a credit card with us and a small amount of cash.

We also have port agent info in case of emergency.

Edited September 8, 2015 by NMLady

[LHT28]

I take the port agent's phone info & my watch

 

We make sure we are back 1 hr prior to sailaway

 

No need for anyone to miss the ship unless they have been in a serious accident or are in hospital

[cruznjan]

A passport card is not valid for flying, anywhere, the TSA might accept it, but only as a govmt issued ID, not as a passport.

 

I take cell phone, wallet (which has my CC, DL and Passport Card at all times), Passport, and cash. You do not need a passport to get back through customs, those who take it but leave it in the safe might as well not take it, and take a birth certificate.

 

For those who take a copy in case they need a new one, The US Embassy can make you a new passport, without your old one, and you don't need a copy of it to get one. Just go in, prove who you are, and you can get a new one in an emergency. So... Why do you bother to bring one, and why carry a copy of one? What do you think a copy will do for you.

 

I use the passport card as ID for domestic flights. I never said I used it for international flights. I also said I keep my passport in my travel wallet, so it's handy for international travel.

[Maianthemum]

I always take details of our travel insurance, and their emergency telephone number. Accidents happen.

[jocap]

We take copies of passports and insurance; a credit card and if in Europe, an EHIC medical card for reciprocal treatment in the EU.

A passport is more valuable than the money in your wallet...it is worth 1,000s of £s, €s or $s. There are gangs in some ports whose pickpocketing skills are brilliant, and at the rate refugees are flooding into Europe at the moment, a passport is a valued possession. I am much more careful with my passport than I was fifty years or more ago, and with very good reason.

[Kartgv]

I always take details of our travel insurance, and their emergency telephone number. Accidents happen.

 

I was surprised no one mentioned this until after pages of passport discussion. I print up a small card with travel insurance policy or ID number, as well as their phone numbers, and phone numbers for family members to be contacted in case of emergency. You should also carry with you (even at home) a list of medications you regularly take, allergies, any serious medical issues. Think of it as extra insurance - if you have it, in all likelihood you won't need it, but if you should be involved in an accident or become ill, you'll be very glad you have it. It could save your life!

Edited September 8, 2015 by Kartgv

[dsrdsrdsr]

What good is a copy of your passport? If you get stopped by a police officer, and you fail to produce a DL, you will get a citation for it. A copy won't work. Same with you passport. A copy is useless.

 

Just because, in one particular circumstance, a copy of a passport is useless, doesn't mean it is uselss in all circumstances. I don't see how knowing your passport number, in case of certain types of difficulty, can be said to be useless - can't think think of any circumstance when knowing your passport number might be helpful? Eg. your passport has been lost and you're ringing a distant consulate somewhere?

 

There's a very definite downside to carrying a photocopy of a passport - you have to carry the weight of a sheet of paper round with you. I try and mitigate that by printing my insurance details on the other side. But that downside, IMO, is slight compared with the potential benefits of having a copy of my details.

[dsrdsrdsr]

As ever, there are two bad things that can happen if you do/don't carry a passport.

 

1. If you carry it, the bad thing is that you lose it or it is stolen or damaged. You have the hassle of getting a replacement, and you may not be able to visit some ports or even to get back on the ship, depending on itinerary.

 

2. If you don't carry it, the bad thing is that you miss the ship and that you didn't realise you were going to miss the ship until too late. (Otherwise you could have rung the ship and arranged for them to leave the passport with the port agent.) So, you're left in a foreign land with a passport in a safe, known, but temporarily inaccessible place.

 

Your decision is twofold - which is more likely to happen? And which causes more inconvenience? My answer would be about the same for likelihood, but greater inconvenience for scenario 1. Therefore I leave it on the ship.

Edited September 8, 2015 by dsrdsrdsr

[Hlitner]

Just to add that we seldom carry all those documents cited here. Why? Because before all of our trips we put copies of all our pertinent documents regarding the trip (including Passport page copies, insurance info, doctor info, all our reservation info (we normally combine longer cruises with even longer land trips post or pre cruise) into a separate Hotmail folder. We can access this folder from anywhere in the world where we can get on the internet (which is everywhere). So even if we lost everything, we can quickly access copies of all our important documents. It is a great backup and has actually served us well on a few trips when we either misplaced or lost reservation info.

 

Hank

Edited September 9, 2015 by Hlitner

[sail7seas]

Given the news report I heard today about Carnival's ship having a fire in St. Thomas and guests being on shore, I made a mental note to never leave the ship without a day or two of my necessary Rx's. I try to remember to, just in case, but will make it a must in the future. There were people standing on the dock, not allowed on the ship and they needed their medications. I'm not saying that it was not appropriate for safety reasons for whatever needs Carnival thought it best guests not be aboard but the fact is, bring a small supply of your absolutely necessary meds and a credit card.

 

[sail7seas]

Just because, in one particular circumstance, a copy of a passport is useless, doesn't mean it is uselss in all circumstances. I don't see how knowing your passport number, in case of certain types of difficulty, can be said to be useless - can't think think of any circumstance when knowing your passport number might be helpful? Eg. your passport has been lost and you're ringing a distant consulate somewhere?

 

There's a very definite downside to carrying a photocopy of a passport - you have to carry the weight of a sheet of paper round with you. I try and mitigate that by printing my insurance details on the other side. But that downside, IMO, is slight compared with the potential benefits of having a copy of my details.

 

I made a color copy of the two information pages of my passport, laminated it and it is always in my purse. Always.