Photocopy of passport?

[snowskier]

Interesting subject. We are booked for a Mediterranean cruise in August and it never occurred to me that the cruise line might take our passports. I do have a color copy of one page from my passport. It is laminated and actually looks like that page was torn from the passport and laminated (it wasn't BTW). My sister offered to do it for me and I thought it might be a good idea. Maybe DH should get that done too. It's not as good as the passport itself but if I had to go to a consulate in another country it sure would go a long way towards proving my citizenship.

 

Not sure where this worked for you but photocopies are so easy to forge they would not even look at it when I had to get a passport replaced at a consulate. Guess they are all different but my experience shows the photocopy was useless so don’t count on it being helpful.

[Tiger0613]

Ouch - here we go with the "Passport Paranoia" again. Some even have the paranoia about loosing their Xerox copy of their passport. :confused:

 

Some ports require your Sign & Sail card plus photo ID to get back on the ship. A passport is not required to get back on the ship.

 

That said, those of us who do not suffer from passport paranoia have carried our passports on our person all over the world. Those with the paranoia MUST keep their passports locked in the cabin safe.

 

I have no problems keeping my passport on me. I take my passport with me when I get off the ship. I'd rather have it on me than have to wait for someone to take it out of the safe.

 

I would be more relaxed if I knew exactly where it was at all times and could get to it whenever I wanted. I would always be wondering where it was. It would distract me from having fun on that cruise.

 

It's the same feeling I get if I have to check a bag when flying. I know the bag is most likely underneath my feet, but I won't know for sure until I reach my final destination. Not knowing makes me a little nervous/paranoid.

 

 

 

What does the cruise line do with your passport once they take it? Do they keep it for the entire cruise or do they give it back before you get into each port?

Edited March 18, 2018 by Tiger0613

[SLCfirsttimer]

I have no problems keeping my passport on me. I take my passport with me when I get off the ship. I'd rather have it on me than have to wait for someone to take it out of the safe.

 

 

 

I would be more relaxed if I knew exactly where it was at all times and could get to it whenever I wanted. I would always be wondering where it was. It would distract me from having fun on that cruise.

 

 

 

It's the same feeling I get if I have to check a bag when flying. I know the bag is most likely underneath my feet, but I won't know for sure until I reach my final destination. Not knowing makes me a little nervous/paranoid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does the cruise line do with your passport once they take it? Do they keep it for the entire cruise or do they give it back before you get into each port? I just don't understand why the cruise line is required to take my passport.

 

 

 

They keep it to help speed up entry into the countries that the ship ports in. Rather than have all of the passengers go through passport control at each port, which would take hours, they hold the passports so the passport control personnel in each country can come on board when the ship first docks and check the passports. This happens on European cruises and a few other regions around the world.

 

 

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[thinfool]

Do they keep it for the entire cruise or do they give it back before you get into each port?

 

They keep it as long as they need to. And no, it is not routine to return it before you get into port.

 

When you leave the ship in most ports there is no passport control...you are an 'in transit' passenger and require no screening other than the passport inspection that is made by local authorities before the ship docks.

 

Some itineraries allow the ship to return your passport mid-cruise...some do not.

 

Finally, I have never known of any way to find out ahead of time if/when the ship will take your passport. You find out when you board.

[Tiger0613]

Maybe, maybe not, but you could be required to appear at 4 am on a port day when local immigration boards to inspect passenger documents.

 

I wouldn't mind having to get up at 4am to show someone my passport. I wouldn't have any problems falling asleep again.

 

Maybe she will take your docs to immigration at 4 am.

 

She doesn't sleep well anywhere, so she would probably already be up.

 

Try not to worry about this...a ship of 3,000 pax, all of whom surrender their passports to facilitate immigration...except you...could flag you as someone to experience extra screening.

 

I wouldn't like that part. Having to have my entire backpack searched at MCO because a TSA screener doesn't know what a tray of mochi looks like was annoying enough. Less than an hour before that my backpack was partially searched by a different TSA screener due to a long Mini M&Ms tube filled with quarters. I went through security twice because I wanted to see the food options in the other terminal on that side. Due to construction, I couldn't get back to the monorail to my terminal without leaving security.

 

As mentioned, you will surrender your pp in the Med, Baltic, Asia, South America, etc. If you avoid those places you will be able to keep your passport with you.

 

I won't be able to avoid those places forever. I would rather fly to Japan.

[firemanbobswife]

Sounds to me the truly paranoid people are the ones that insist on bringing their Passports with them. They are so paranoid about missing the ship that they feel it's necessary to keep it on them. I don't ever wonder or worry about where my Passport is when it's locked in my safe because that's exactly where it is. Safe. In the safe.

 

I didn't write about it in my last review, but let me tell you what happened. One person in our group (no one I knew before the cruise) had managed to leave their pouch at LFK which contained their Passport and S&S card. Guessing it fell out of their bag at some point and they didn't even know until we had left and the driver of our van got a phone call. As it was we were the only ship in port and the last ones to leave the island, they figured it had to belong to someone in our van. We had to go back to get it. I can only imagine what a PITA it would have been getting on the ship without either of those, however, it wouldn't be difficult to prove who they were I'm sure once Security pulled up their picture and did whatever else. Now coming back into the US after the cruise I imagine would be a little more involved, although not impossible. If it would have been on the ship in their safe, then once Security proved who they were and let them back on, the crisis would already be resolved and no further action upon arriving in Miami would be needed. Much simpler.

 

While I would like to think nothing like that would ever happen to me, it can happen to anyone. In fact this person I think was Diamond or if not extremely close to it so it wasn't their first rodeo. I don't feel like paying all that money along with the hassle of applying for another Passport should it go missing. So before people start calling others or their behaviors paranoid, that same term can also be used for the ones who have to clutch it like a security blanket anticipating some disaster in which they will miss the ship. In either case, one can define themselves as careful or cautious no matter which side of the issue they choose. That doesn't make them right or wrong.

 

Bring your Passport if it makes you feel better and you're worried about some disaster happening that will cause you to miss the ship and somehow still manage to maintain all your belongings with you intact. Leave it in the safe if you feel confident that you will return to the ship, don't want to risk losing it or having it stolen and can rest easy knowing it is locked away and should you not return, that it will be waiting for you with the Port Agent.

[Expat Cruise]

Not sure where this worked for you but photocopies are so easy to forge they would not even look at it when I had to get a passport replaced at a consulate. Guess they are all different but my experience shows the photocopy was useless so don’t count on it being helpful.

 

The United State State Department advises all US Passport Holders to travel with a photo copy of your passport when leaving the country. So while you may believe useless, the Government, others, and I have found it to be very good practice. Hope you never have a issue.

[LakeWobegon]

The United State State Department advises all US Passport Holders to travel with a photo copy of your passport when leaving the country. So while you may believe useless, the Government, others, and I have found it to be very good practice. Hope you never have a issue.

 

 

It’s good practice if you lose your actual passport. Then at least you have the number and basic info on it. Not sure it will get you back on the ship vs the real deal or another photo id. We bring ours on shore in case we were hurt or stranded etc and needed them. I keep them in a small dive case along with credit cards and cash. The dive case loops around my wrist and I wear it snorkeling and during other water activities. No worries about.l being stolen or lost.

 

 

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[sparks1093]

Sheesh, people, do what you feel comfortable doing for you and yours. There is no need to delve into who is more paranoid than the other, it's all a matter of personal preference and what one person does has absolutely no impact on what anyone else chooses to do.