Golden Princess - Do They Take Your Passports?

[muffydawg]

My husband and I are booked on the 8/20/06 Golden r/t from Southampton. I have read some reviews that Princess takes your US passport from you when you embark and return it to you later in the cruise. Is this true? I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise in the Med this past July and Royal did not do that...taking my passport from me makes me nervous....

[imsulin2]

I've never heard of a U.S. Passport being kept for the cruise duration. I have heard, though, that some non-U.S. Passports are kept, but that was awhile ago.

[cruising with marti]

No, they do not.

 

 

Phil

[Toto2Kansas]

The only time we have had our passports held by the cruise line were in Australia to Asia and from Hawaii to Tahiti in the past. I don't think you will have a problem.

[crusdiva]

My husband and I are booked on the 8/20/06 Golden r/t from Southampton. I have read some reviews that Princess takes your US passport from you when you embark and return it to you later in the cruise. Is this true? I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise in the Med this past July and Royal did not do that...taking my passport from me makes me nervous....

muffydawg,

Back in 1999 when we cruised the Med on the Grand they did indeed collect our passports for the duration of the cruise. We had a form to sign and if we wanted it in port we had to go to the purser's desk with our receipt to pick them up - we had to return them when we reboarded the ship. I know that was a while ago - and judging from other posters here maybe it's changed. They returned our passports on the last day of the cruise.

[dmc]

My son and dil took a Mediterranean cruise on the Celebrity Millenium in May, 2003. Celebrity held their passports for the length of the cruise. My son and his wife said that they were very uncomfortable not being able to carry their passports with them while in the various ports. They were always worried that they might miss the ship and have no way of getting home. I hope that Princess does not do that on our upcoming cruise in November.

[cruznliz]

We were on the Royal Princess in April/May from Brazil to Rome and they kept our passports the entire cruise. I believe the reason they do it is that the "officials" from all the different countries need to check the passports and it is much more efficient if the passports are all together. I personally would not want to stand in line for customs at every port! :eek: Crusdiva is correct that if you really, really want your passport back for use in a certain port, they will give it to you, but you have to return it to the Pursers Desk when you return to the ship. We always carry a photocopy of our passports when leaving the ship. Rules are rules! Though it does sound scary, the system works! ;)

[MBMiner]

We just returned from the 8/20/05 cruise on the Golden and they did, indeed, take all passports upon embarkation. I believe they said they must be available for inspection by the authorities upon entering Belgium. They were returned to us a day or so later after leaving Belgium.

Bruce

[katisdale]

Another vote for making a photocopy of your passport. We never take the original passport off the ship. If we keep it, it goes into the room safe. On our May 04 Royal Princess cruise from Rome to London the ship kept the passports. We copied and laminated the ID page from our passport and take that with us when we go ashore. I have a fear of losing my passport in a foreigh land and have heard it is easier to get a new one if you have a copy of the old one. A friend lost their passport in Germany (on a land vacation) and spent almost three days at the embassy going from desk to desk and he said he would never be without a copy stored separately from the passport itself.

[Lacy]

A friend lost their passport in Germany (on a land vacation) and spent almost three days at the embassy going from desk to desk and he said he would never be without a copy stored separately from the passport itself.

 

We had our passports stolen in Italy a number of years ago. We had photocopies and because of this we were able to continue on our way and use the photocopies for 2 weeks until we were in Rome and able to get to an embassy. My family of five spent about 4 hours at the embassy and came away with new passports. They told us that the copies certainly made the process much faster.

 

Laurie

[johnql]

I think it depends on the itinerary, i.e., the laws or procedures of the countries being visited. I've had my passport collected a couple times. It's really no big deal. I don't think it should make anyone nervous. Just make sure you hold onto a photocopy.

[Starbright]

We were on the Grand in the Med recently and they did keep our passports. They gave us a receipt and the passports were returned to us the day before disembarkation. It was never and problem, and we always carry a photocopy of our passports anyway. Even if they didn't take them we would have locked them in the safe and not carried them around with us.

[cruzinchar]

I was also on the Grand in the Med recently and yes, as Starbright said, they did take the passports. They give you a receipt, however, and say that if you want to take your passport with you each day, for some reason, you are free to do so, by giving them your "claim check". We never did this, and decided not to worry about it. We also carry a copy of our passports with us. Anyway, the room stewards returned our passports to us with a couple of days left in the cruise. For us, that meant that we had our passports with us while touring Naples. That made us feel better because we were touring with a private company (not booked through the ship) so we felt better having our passports with us, just in case...........

[Host CJSKIDS]

Yes, they do. They took our passports on our 7/11/05 cruise aboard the Golden and we got them back towards the end of the cruise. There are actually a couple of stamps in them from 2 of the countries!

[susancruzs]

A little unsettling but as long as you have a xerox copy, I wouldn't worry. Alternative, long lines waiting for passports to be stamped and with so many passengers, not an easy task for the cruise line.

 

Passengers want to maximize their time in the ports, get off on a timely basis, if they have to herd everyone by an immigration table, not good! :-) I always try to look at the big picture and what the cruise ship has to deal with getting to each port, puts it in persepctive!

[seattlekckckc]

While on the Grand for the Sept/Oct cruise we just returned from, the girl checking us in asked if we wanted a photocopy. We already had one, so it was not a big deal. BUT, for next time, someone we met on a tour said you can now make a scanned copy with the passport office, and if your passport is lost (or needed I would assume for anyother reason like the cruise ship having it), they can access the data base with some sort of password you provide and you can have a new one issued within hours.

 

This is second hand information I got from hearing a gal talk about it, but it sounds like a nice thing to be able to have as a backup, to backup a photocopy!!!

 

For the record, I didnt mind having the ship hold onto my passport, it was one less thing for me to obessively ask my dh about whether he had it safe in his money belt. It was also nice to see out room steward access a locked box to retrieve it, made me feel secure that they were safe, hopefully! If they lost it, I can guarentee you I would NOT be getting off the cruise ship until they got it replaced! Oh darn, put me up for another 12 days if you must!

 

Casey