Passport

[kala4]

We are cruising to the Caribbean in April 2007. Is it best to take your passport ashore with you or leave it on the ship? Thanks.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We leave our passports in the safe on the ship. We use our driver's license for the extra ID when getting back on the ship.

[ngl116]

I have left me passport in my room in the past, but never really thought about "what if I get left at the port." If indeed left behind you will have a very hard time getting an international flight anywhere with out your passport. I learned that on these boards. I personally will be taking mine with me. But it's really up to what you are comfortable with!

[BaumD]

Make a xerox copy of the photo page and keep it in your wallet. If you do have a problem while ashore, a US consulate or embassy will have an easier time helping you if they have the info off of your passport in lieu of the actual passport.

[Cotton]

There are always differing views on this question.;)

 

Personally, I would never be on foreign soil without my original passport. Many foreign agencies will not accept a "copy"...copies can be altered. Should a problem arise, and you don't have your passport, you may not be allowed to leave their country/island. And - if you are, you'll have problems returning to the U.S. with a 'copy'.:rolleyes: Think about it.

[mrsfuzzmo]

We always take our passport ashore with us, and leave the color copy onboard in our safe. We tend to do very adventerous activities while onshore and if an injury would occur or some other unforseen event that would cause us to be left behind at the port......I definitely want my passport. The three things I won't get off the ship with are: cash, passport and credit card!

 

Mrsfuzzmo

[Keith1010]

All the times I have cruised to the Caribbean I have never taken the passport off the ship. Definitely leave it on the ship. I always bring copies with me of my passport which I leave in a different spot but that is in case the passport gets lost. I don't take the copies off the ship either. I have cruised 19 times to various part of the world and once I'm on board a ship I leave the passport there. We visited one country a couple of years back where the cruise line advise us that we had to carry our passport as it was a requirment of the country but that was the only exception.

 

Be sure to take a government issued photo id when you are in port such as a drivers license but don't worry about taking the passport with you. Some will tell you they do take the passport but most of us don't and there is no reason to do this. By the way, on many cruises I've been on in places like Europe the pursers office collect the passports at the time of embarkation and holds them until the day before diseambarkation.

 

Keith

[royal girl]

I make a copy of my passport and shrink it down to the size of a drivers license. I leave the passport on board in the safe at the pursur's desk. I figure if something happened, I'd have a copy of it with me. I always take my drivers license, credit card, copy of passport with me off the ship.

 

Oh, and my mother has a french passport and they took it from her at boarding and returned it the night before. So she couldn't take it with her off the ship if she wanted too!