Passport In Port

[Garycruz]

Hi All,

I will be on a cruise that will be visiting St. Maarten and St. Thomas in April. I'm trying to remember whether it's necessary to bring our passports with us when we step off the ship to visit these ports. We both have passports so that would not be a problem, but I'd rather not bring them unless necessary due to the possibility of losing them. Can someone please refresh my memory if it's necessary to bring our passports in these ports? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[DennysDad]

3 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

Hi All,

I will be on a cruise that will be visiting St. Maarten and St. Thomas in April. I'm trying to remember whether it's necessary to bring our passports with us when we step off the ship to visit these ports. We both have passports so that would not be a problem, but I'd rather not bring them unless necessary due to the possibility of losing them. Can someone please refresh my memory if it's necessary to bring our passports in these ports? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

It's not necessary. But if something happens and you miss the ship etc etc.

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

Hi All,

I will be on a cruise that will be visiting St. Maarten and St. Thomas in April. I'm trying to remember whether it's necessary to bring our passports with us when we step off the ship to visit these ports. We both have passports so that would not be a problem, but I'd rather not bring them unless necessary due to the possibility of losing them. Can someone please refresh my memory if it's necessary to bring our passports in these ports? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

It is not necessary. I never take it off the ship. Some people do. They think they will might miss the ship. St. Thomas is a US territory by the way.

Edited March 25 by Charles4515

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

Hi All,

I will be on a cruise that will be visiting St. Maarten and St. Thomas in April. I'm trying to remember whether it's necessary to bring our passports with us when we step off the ship to visit these ports. We both have passports so that would not be a problem, but I'd rather not bring them unless necessary due to the possibility of losing them. Can someone please refresh my memory if it's necessary to bring our passports in these ports? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I never do unless absolutely necessary.... and that's hardly ever and never in Caribbean.

[HicksRA]

I keep a photocopy of the ID page in my billfold just in case but always leave my actual passport in the safe..

[joepeka]

27 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

It is not necessary. I never take it off the ship. Some people do. They think they will might miss the ship. St. Thomas is a US territory by the way.

Interestingly, the only time we've been required to take our passports into a Caribbean port was in San Juan - a U.S. territory. No explanation was given but pax were told that if they debarked in SJ to be sure and bring your passports because they would be checked before allowing you to re-board. Sure enough, security were checking both Set Sail cards and passports. Perhaps a one time situation, I don't know but at least we knew ahead of time.

Edited March 25 by joepeka

[BirdTravels]

48 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

Hi All,

I will be on a cruise that will be visiting St. Maarten and St. Thomas in April. I'm trying to remember whether it's necessary to bring our passports with us when we step off the ship to visit these ports. We both have passports so that would not be a problem, but I'd rather not bring them unless necessary due to the possibility of losing them. Can someone please refresh my memory if it's necessary to bring our passports in these ports? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Never. Leave them safely onboard. 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, DennysDad said:

It's not necessary. But if something happens and you miss the ship etc etc.

If you miss the ship your passport is left with the port agent.

[smokeybandit]

Will you need it? Very highly unlikely.

Should you take it? That one is pretty split down the aisle at 50/50.

[cruiseguy1016]

21 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Will you need it? Very highly unlikely.

Should you take it? That one is pretty split down the aisle at 50/50.

 

I never enter a foreign country without my passport. 

[time4u2go]

6 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I never enter a foreign country without my passport. 

Same here. 

[Charles4515]

35 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I never enter a foreign country without my passport. 

My passport is on the ship. So it is in the foreign country. That is good enough except a few ports. The only one that I needed to take it into port was Russia. But to each their own. OP asked if it was necessary and the answer to OP is it is not necessary for St.Maarten, and it is not necessary for St. Thomas. 

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, joepeka said:

Interestingly, the only time we've been required to take our passports into a Caribbean port was in San Juan - a U.S. territory. No explanation was given but pax were told that if they debarked in SJ to be sure and bring your passports because they would be checked before allowing you to re-board. Sure enough, security were checking both Set Sail cards and passports. Perhaps a one time situation, I don't know but at least we knew ahead of time.

That is odd. I have been to Puerto Rico a bunch of times, flown in and out and I never brought my passport. There is no immigration or customs from the mainland US. I did bring it with me once to the US Virgin Islands, St Thomas but that was because we were doing a side trip from there to the British Virgin Islands. 

Edited March 26 by Charles4515

[HicksRA]

We were told we had to bring our passports off the ship in Panama Columbia in Nov 2022, but no one ever checked them. That’s the only time it was supposedly required in my experience. 

[3yorkies]

St Thomas, I wouldn't since part of US, but otherwise I do.   Some worry about losing it.   I prefer to have it if needed, especially since I am always solo

[Engineroom Snipe]

Really torn on this subject.

 

In some ports, Royal says to take your SetSail Pass with a government issued ID.

 

In Nassau, we took our SetSail Passes with our US driver licenses and photocopies of our main passport page which has our pictures and information.

 

We used our SetSail Passes with the passport photocopy with no problems.

 

Just trying to reduce our possibilities of losing our passports.

 

We figured, worst case, the authorities, upon entering the port security, would contact the ship to verify our information if they thought it was questionable. The ship could retrieve our passports from our safe and prove our identities in a worse case scenario.

 

I also can agree that it would be very beneficial to have the physical passport in hand if sh*t hit the fan for some reason.

 

[SRF]

11 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

If you miss the ship your passport is left with the port agent.

MAY.  Not guaranteed. 
 

but likely. 
 

do you feel lucky?

[gonole1972]

I have pictures on our phones on our passports, driver's licenses, insurance cards, etc. on our phones.  We had to use the pictures as identification a couple of times in the past with no problem.  Passengers seem to always have their phones with them these days.

[cruiseguy1016]

24 minutes ago, gonole1972 said:

I have pictures on our phones on our passports, driver's licenses, insurance cards, etc. on our phones.  We had to use the pictures as identification a couple of times in the past with no problem.  Passengers seem to always have their phones with them these days.

 

I leave my phone on the ship and take my passport with me.

[TeeRick]

We always carry a printed photocopy of our passports and also have photos of our passports, health insurance cards, driver's license, vaccine cards, etc on our phones.  We leave our passports in the safe in our cabin.  As @Charles4515 mentioned, we took our passports in Russia but that is moot now.  In fact other than Russia, we have never been asked for our passports anywhere.

Edited March 26 by TeeRick

[SRF]

FYI, it you take your passport, carry it separately from your money.   They want your cash 

 

passports are less value due to the chip and facial recognition.  Hard for someone else to use one

[island lady]

Interesting no one talked about Passport card.   We leave our passport book in the safe, where the ship's crew would look for it if needed.  

 

The passport card goes with us, which we use instead of DL for government issued photo ID.

 

And for those that insist they have their passport with them in all countries???...you would not have liked the World Cruise around South America.  All passports were taken from all pax at check in before we left Miami.   The authorities at each country came on board to check the passports stored in large boxes that were kept in the ship's safe, then the ship locked them back up after being stamped.  The same thing when we did our 3 week river cruise on Viking in Europe.  

[PATRLR]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

do you feel lucky?

Lucky enough for that calculated risk.

[PATRLR]

2 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I leave my phone on the ship and take my passport with me.

Interesting.  I'd think my phone would be far more valuable to me off the ship than my passport.  To each their own I guess.

[cruiseguy1016]

32 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

Interesting.  I'd think my phone would be far more valuable to me off the ship than my passport.  To each their own I guess.

 

I agree the phone could come in handy but I'm on vacation and I don't want to be tied to my phone every minute of every day. As you say, to each their own.