STAMPING PASSPORTS

[cruisinmems]

Which ports will stamp your passport, and where do you go for it?   Thanks!

[Butterbean1000]

Following. 

[Saint Greg]

I can tell you about belize, mohogany bay, and cozumel. I haven't tried at the other ports I've been to but I probably will try at montego and grand cayman this next cruise.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Saint Greg

[Bahbert]

15 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I can tell you about belize, mohogany bay, and cozumel. I haven't tried at the other ports I've been to but I probably will try at montego and grand cayman this next cruise.

 

 

So please do tell...

[Saint Greg]

14 minutes ago, Bahbert said:

So please do tell...

 

Mohogany Bay it's under that building #3 with the red roof...and to the right. They take donations for a stamp. I gave them a buck

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

Puerta Maya Cozumel. Building #14 right in that corner there's a yellow staircase. Go up the staircase take a right and ring the doorbell. no charge

 

[Saint Greg]

Belize I can't find a good diagram. Get off the tender take a left....walk past the wet lizard to a building with Terminal 4 on it. Walk all the way through the building and exit the other side where the tour buses park. There's a flea market in that fenced in area. In the back left corner of that fenced in area there's a little metal building. It was closed when I tried to get a stamp but that's where  you get it.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

[Saint Greg]

[Saint Greg]

[newcruiser1956]

Cuba and Rome stamped mine

[Aplmac]

18 minutes ago, newcruiser1956 said:

Cuba and Rome stamped mine

.

TUNIS stamped ours. All of us -everyone who got off the ship.

Not by request. Compulsory!

.

[Rudyard]

Grand Cayman will. There's a little customs shack in the port area right after you get off the tenders. 

[coevan]

Greg, I would say the Roatan stamp is a touristy thing, not an official customs stamp. I looked at my passport and they all had some official wording and numbers. Not one said I have been in my "country". 

[j1d1]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Puerta Maya Cozumel. Building #14 right in that corner there's a yellow staircase. Go up the staircase take a right and ring the doorbell. no charge

 

 

We got our's stamped at the little information booth between building 6 and 7.  And it looks different.

[j1d1]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

When we were there, they only had the window open for passport stamps in the morning.  They weren't open when we came back.

 

In Belize we were told that the person who does the stamping didn't come in that day.  We were also told that her not coming in wasn't uncommon.

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

Greg, I would say the Roatan stamp is a touristy thing, not an official customs stamp. I looked at my passport and they all had some official wording and numbers. Not one said I have been in my "country". 

 

I think the Puerto Maya one is as well.  The people on the ships that get them get them as souvenirs anyway.

[coevan]

I never understood this. Do they carry their passports around and show them to friends? Might as well get a refrigerator magnet 😄.

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, j1d1 said:

 

We got our's stamped at the little information booth between building 6 and 7.  And it looks different.

 

I’ll check that one out when I’m there in a few weeks.

[HarryKane]

I must say I’m intrigued also as to why anybody would feel the need to get their passport stamped. I have friends who do this so I know it’s each to their own but surely a photo of you in a country is a million times better than a stamp?

[coevan]

A T-shirt or hat are always nice. I love the shirts that say, my parents went to the Bahamas and all they got me was this shirt.

[ProgRockCruiser]

12 hours ago, HarryKane said:

I must say I’m intrigued also as to why anybody would feel the need to get their passport stamped. I have friends who do this so I know it’s each to their own but surely a photo of you in a country is a million times better than a stamp?

 

For some folks, their passport serves as a mini-souvenir of all their travels.  For others, it is a good way to keep all your travel records in one place.

 

But yeah, the ones I saw posted above from Caribbean ports of call are nowhere near official immigration stamps.  They are unofficial "vanity" stamps, if you will.  From a random website (so it must be true!):

 

"Your passport is an official government document, and when marked for any non-official purposes (like collecting a souvenir stamp), you are technically defacing or altering it. In theory you could have it voided (or worse), or in theory, an immigration official could refuse to admit you if they believed that it was a signal the document was in any way invalid"

 

And:

 

On Page 5 of all US Passports, in a section marked “Alteration or Mutilation of Passport,” is printed the warning that “only authorized officials of the United States or of foreign countries may place stamps or make notations or additions to this passport.” 

 

But the chances of that being an issue in the future may be small, but if you go overboard with them, it might cause a problem:

 

"In practical terms, there are many places in the world that issue many thousands of unofficial stamps. I know they are popular to get at Checkpoint Charlie, various Antarctica stations, Timbuktu, Easter Island, and other iconic world locations.

 

...and what does hold you up at immigration is a passport full of unusual stamps. The more of these meaningless stamps you collect, the longer it takes for the agent to find a blank page, and the more likely s/he'll think something is "off" and refer you to the most persnickety bureaucrat you've ever encountered."

 

Sources:

 

https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26341/are-there-consequences-to-stamps-in-my-passport-that-are-not-from-border-control

 

https://passportinfo.com/blog/souvenir-passport-stamps/

[coevan]

3 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

it is a good way to keep all your travel records in one place.

 

 

Please, how does a passport keep your records in place?  They don't even stamp in order of the next page, stamp wherever they want.

[Thorncroft]

Keep in mind that when your passport fills up, you have to get a new one.  The days of stapling additional pages and addendums are over.  If you travel a lot, wasting space on vanity stamps is just ludicrous.  I wouldn't let anyone stamp my passport that wasn't absolutely necessary. One of my old passports that expired in 1990 is nearly as thick as a Reader's Digest from traveling back and forth to Japan numerous times. Between visas and entry and exit stamps and addendums, it got ridiculously thick. And my photo made me look like a terrorist, before being a terrorist was a thing. 

[xDisconnections]

3 minutes ago, Thorncroft said:

And my photo made me look like a terrorist, before being a terrorist was a thing. 

Oh?