Uk passport holders

[zeberdee]

Hi,
I just wanted to know if any Brits needed to take their passports with them when visiting Bonaire & also if you needed to have a minimum of 6 months left on it?
 

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[dutchclogs]

Where are you sailing from? 

As a Dutch 'gemeente' (local authority) Bonaire, formally only requires a form of photo identity.  

[Clipper Chick]

I believe to travel on a uk passport you always need 6 month validity on return.

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

We have only ever needed our cruise cards any time we have visited Bonaire. In fact the only time in around 30 cruises that we were caught out was when we were in Key West last year. We did not realise that when stopping in another US port that you needed Photo ID. We do now!!

[Highpeaklad]

36 minutes ago, Clipper Chick said:

I believe to travel on a uk passport you always need 6 month validity on return.

 

 

Usually but not always. Travel to EU countries you only have to be valid the day you return. Bonaire isn’t in the EU mind you. 

Cruise companies may have different general rules regardless. 

[zeberdee]

Thanks for the replies 👍

We are doing the A, B, Cs in Feb and just wondered if you need to take your passport off the ship with you at that port.

If you do , would it need 6 months left on it ? It's only Bonaire we want to check as the USA do not require this.

[Darspurs]

3 minutes ago, zeberdee said:

Thanks for the replies 👍

We are doing the A, B, Cs in Feb and just wondered if you need to take your passport off the ship with you at that port.

If you do , would it need 6 months left on it ? It's only Bonaire we want to check as the USA do not require this.

In over 20 cruises I have never taken my passport off the ship with me. I do, however, always have my driving licence as our UK driving licences have photo ID on them.

[fragilek]

1 hour ago, zeberdee said:

Hi,
I just wanted to know if any Brits needed to take their passports with them when visiting Bonaire & also if you needed to have a minimum of 6 months left on it?
 

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

 Sorry can't answer that question, just wanted to add that at the min we have to be very careful regarding our passport validity wrt date.  If we crash out of EU even some passports with a lot longer than six months left will be no longer usable.  It's all very complicated and depends on if you ever had carry forward time when you updated your passport.  There is a gov site that will tell you if it affects your passport.  My daughter had to renew hers for a trip in OCT- to start Nov even though it did not run out until end June 2020.  In the end she would have been fine as we didn't crash out but obviously could not take that risk.

[zeberdee]

2 minutes ago, Darspurs said:

In over 20 cruises I have never taken my passport off the ship with me. I do, however, always have my driving licence as our UK driving licences have photo ID on them.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[mickey89]

Many countries have always required a passport holder to have a minimum of 6 months validity, nothing at all to do with Brexit.

[zeberdee]

Thanks all.

[fragilek]

I don't take mine off but did get caught out in one Caribbean island as I couldn't get back through to the ship even with ID my husband (who had gone through ahead of me had no issues as  luckily wasn't stopped)  had to go and get my passport off the ship. I will see if my husband recalls where that was.  

 

Also note the following from point me travel site

 

As I already noted above, Italy’s law requires everyone to carry a valid form of ID on them. So does Spain, Portugal, Germany, the U.K., Ireland, … the list goes on. Unfortunately, European countries don’t consider our U.S. drivers licenses to be valid forms of ID, so therefore, non-E.U. citizens must carry a passport in Europe.

 

I have only heard of a few times people have been stopped and asked - mostly in spain and once or twice near large historical sites in Italy.

[fragilek]

20 minutes ago, mickey89 said:

Many countries have always required a passport holder to have a minimum of 6 months validity, nothing at all to do with Brexit.

 as I said crashing out can really affect this passports with up to 15 months left could become invalid - check on gov site 

I havve quoted the following from the site

New rules will apply for travel to Europe if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

You should have at least 6 months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe (not including Ireland).

If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months needed.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/passport-rules-for-travel-to-europe-after-brexit

[Mark_T]

18 minutes ago, fragilek said:

 as I said crashing out can really affect this passports with up to 15 months left could become invalid - check on gov site 

I havve quoted the following from the site

New rules will apply for travel to Europe if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

You should have at least 6 months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe (not including Ireland).

If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months needed.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/passport-rules-for-travel-to-europe-after-brexit

 

True, but very specific to European travel which is unlikely to be a consideration in this case...

[bengaltiger1]

2 hours ago, zeberdee said:

Hi,
I just wanted to know if any Brits needed to take their passports with them when visiting Bonaire & also if you needed to have a minimum of 6 months left on it?
 

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

 The most up to date and reliable information is on the gov.uk site. Here is the link for advice on Bonaire:

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bonaire-st-eustatius-saba/entry-requirements

[Mark_T]

The rules for cruise ships are often very different though.

 

I have no recollection of needing to carry a passport during a cruise ship visit to Bonaire.

[Fouremco]

8 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

The rules for cruise ships are often very different though.

 

I have no recollection of needing to carry a passport during a cruise ship visit to Bonaire.

I've also visited Bonaire multiple times and have never required my passport ashore.

 

Cruise lines definitely operate under different, more relaxed rules. They are required to provide local immigration authorities with passenger and crew manifests in advance of arrival. In Canada's case, the manifests must be submitted a minimum of 96 hours in advance of the ship’s arrival, or when the vessel departs the last foreign port. The manifests must identify each passenger and crew member (name, DOB, nationality, etc.) as well as details on the travel document held by each person.

 

The whole process is very different from that of usual entry to a foreign country. A case in point, a few years ago my DW experienced a medical issue mid-cruise and we had to fly home from St. Lucia. While other passengers were free to disembark for the day with their seeps and a piece of photo ID, the ship needed to get special permission from St. Lucian authorities to allow DW and I into the country under the normal tourist entry provisions and we were processed as if we had landed at the airport.

[downsmead]

The cruise company itself usually requires 6 months on your passport. We cruised in Europe before and, whereas the ports themselves would allow the passport, the T&C on Celebrity stated 6 months. I decided not to risk it, and renewed my passport. 
Bonaire - you usually just show your cruise card to pass through the gates to the ship.

[steamboats]

@zeberdee It´s not the question whether the country you´re traveling to requires the 6 months. It´s Celebrity who requires a passport to be valid 6 months after the cruise has ended. My friend recently had this problem that their passport was 5 days short. They had to get new ones as they weren´t able to do the online check-in. And they were on a TA only hitting EU countries and ending in the US (which doesn´t require the 6 months but only a passport valid until you leave the country).

 

steamboats

[villauk]

20 hours ago, Darspurs said:

In over 20 cruises I have never taken my passport off the ship with me

 

 

And in nearly 30 cruises we have been asked a few times to show our passports to gain entry back on to the ship (this doesn’t include Bonaire though). Just saying, it can depend solely on the ports you visit.

[kerryincork]

It's cruise ship who decides what the requirements they accept. The country is secondary (only when their requirements is less than cruise ship)

 

There have been many accounts on here where people have correct documents to meet entry requirements to countries they were visiting, but were denied boarding by cruise ship.

[Mynki]

22 hours ago, zeberdee said:

Hi,
I just wanted to know if any Brits needed to take their passports with them when visiting Bonaire & also if you needed to have a minimum of 6 months left on it?
 

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

 

Some countries require 6 months. This is so there are no issues if you get sick or injured abroad and end up spending more time there than you planned. I don't believe this applies to other EU member states. For now anyway...

However as far as short visit cruise port visits go many countries make exceptions. So if you're visiting Bonaire via a cruise you will not need to show your passport. We certainly didn't in 2017 and 2016 when we visited. As stated the authorities will only request to see your seapass card. 

When sailing in Asia we have had to give our passports to guest relations. We visited Thailand and Malaysia amongst other places. A few days later we collected our passports to find stamps had been added from the Thai and Malay authorities as we had been 'processed' by immigration staff of those countries whilst aboard. They board the ship and do the admin on the ship. For the record it was a well organised and painless process that meant we met their immigration requirements to enter those countries without the inconvenience of queing up and being processed as normal. Not relevant to your question I know but I hope it helps detail the differences with customs when visiting via an organised cruise as opposed to a normal independent visit. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Mynki

[Mynki]

38 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

And in nearly 30 cruises we have been asked a few times to show our passports to gain entry back on to the ship (this doesn’t include Bonaire though). Just saying, it can depend solely on the ports you visit.

 

Agree 100%

Russia takes some effort as they spend a while processing your paperwork as opposed to just walking off the ship like you can in many Caribbean islands etc. They want your passport as you know.

Anyone thinking of visiting needs to do a bit of homework if they want to clear immigration there for sure. :) 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Mynki

[Darspurs]

1 hour ago, villauk said:

 

 

And in nearly 30 cruises we have been asked a few times to show our passports to gain entry back on to the ship (this doesn’t include Bonaire though). Just saying, it can depend solely on the ports you visit.

Interesting, I have been told on the ship to take photo ID, and in fact we were in the Caribbean two weeks ago and this was required for Puerto Rico and one other stop (I think St Lucia). I have always just taken my UK driving licence which has always sufficed. My passport has never been requested although it probably was in Russia but that was 15 years ago.

 

In the old days of our early cruises 1990's the ships used to retain your passports in any event, and we didn't have photos on our driving licences so I always carried a certified copy of my passport with me just in case.