Does NCL Take Passport??

[Kenhel]

We are Canadians who will be on the Dawn next spring. Are passports held by the cruise ship for all passengers or just non-U.S. citizens?

 

Last year on Costa Magica, we needed picture ID (passports) to reenter from ports. Costa did not hold our passports.

 

What ID is required to re-enter the Dawn?

 

Thanks

[lvsatman]

We sailed on the Star this month, and I did not see them taking passports from any one at any time.

[cruiserssandr]

We have sailed many times on the Majesty and they do hold non US citizens passports on the Bermuda cruise. Don't really know about other ports

[Zeno]

We are Canadians who will be on the Dawn next spring. Are passports held by the cruise ship for all passengers or just non-U.S. citizens?

 

Last year on Costa Magica, we needed picture ID (passports) to reenter from ports. Costa did not hold our passports.

 

What ID is required to re-enter the Dawn?

 

Thanks

 

On all three of our NCL cruises they kept our passports.

[roxette]

On all three of our NCL cruises they kept our passports.

So what ID did you use to get on the boat again after at the ports during the cruise?

[kannruss]

So what ID did you use to get on the boat again after at the ports during the cruise?

I've never been asked to show ID, just my keycard from NCL. There are always people from the cruiseline on the pier or dock or what have you. So they would resolve any issues. Frankly I don't know how anyone would be able to determine that someone was from the US or not. I am sure you will be fine - they do this on a daily basis.

[A Sixth?]

Non Americans must surrender their passports on NCL. As Canadians we hate that. It is a policy of NCL and not required by any laws or regulations.

 

NCL does it to keep us in our place in case we try to dine and dash :rolleyes: (Can't trust non-Americans now can they)

[jp2001]

So what ID did you use to get on the boat again after at the ports during the cruise?

 

Your ship ID but also bring another original ID with a photo such as driver license. Before the cruise, I make 2 copies of my passport (1 in the safe, one comes with me ashore), 1 copy of my birth certificate (original in the safe, copy with me ashore) and one copy of my driver license (in the safe). We never know what could happen. With copies, it's easier to have the consulate check our identities if needs be.

[OptimusPrime]

Non Americans must surrender their passports on NCL. As Canadians we hate that. It is a policy of NCL and not required by any laws or regulations.

 

NCL does it to keep us in our place in case we try to dine and dash :rolleyes: (Can't trust non-Americans now can they)

 

Why do they do this on the Hawaii only cruises too though?

[mtchg]

..all non-U.S. citizens on all cruiselines surrender their passport for the duration.

 

As mentioned, your ship card is all you need to regain entry to the ship..and acts as your "passport" while at port.

 

However, it is a good idea to carry a copy of your passport(US citizens included..leave your real passport in the cabin) while at port

and another picture I.D.. In the unlikely event you miss the ship, it will

make things much easier with the local authorities.

 

Mitch

[calmac]

As a British citizen all I can say is - it depends - but not sure why. :confused:

 

First cruise - Dream to Alaska last year. We kept our passports for the whole cruise.

 

Second cruise - Dawn to Eastern Caribbean. All non-US citizens had to hand over their passports. At St. Thomas we had to queue up to have our passport handed back to hand over to Customs to have stamped then passed back to NCL. I think it was in Tortola where we were expected to show photo ID to get back to the ship but we explained that NCL had taken our passports - this seemed to be enough.

 

Third cruise - Dream to Baltics. Again, we kept our passports for the whole cruise. In St Petersburg you need to have a copy of the photo page. I was surprised to find that NCL did this as part of embarkation procedures.

[Zeno]

So what ID did you use to get on the boat again after at the ports during the cruise?

 

keycard was all that was required to get back on the ship.

[celle]

..all non-U.S. citizens on all cruiselines surrender their passport for the duration.

 

That is an extreme generalisation and is simply not true.

[bobbygirl]

On both NCL & Carnival, they took our passports for the duration of the cruise. They told us to always bring photo ID along with our ship card when we disembarked at ports. Upon re-embarking, crew never asked us for our photo ID's, they only scanned the card (which has a photo ID attached - they take your picture when they give you the card...)

 

I guess that the photo ID is more for "on-island" :confused: situations? Better safe than sorry.

 

That's a good idea jp2001 about making photocopies of passports.

[woodley]

We are non US citizens that live in the USA. We usually do have to let the cruise lines hold our passport. However when we cruised to Alaska last year we were given them back at check in. Also when we re entered the states from Alaska after a brief stop in Canada we had to ask for a new I-94 cards as they were going to just leave us on the old one. This would have meant we could only have stayed one year without leaving the US as opposed to two years with a new I-94 card. We are going to be on the Hawaii only cruise in a few weeks and were told that as we are not leaving the USA we do not have to travel with a passport as there is no immigration to go through ( we had already done that when we entered the USA a few months ago). The only time we would need a passport is if we were trying to leave the USA and enter another country. I wish it wasn't so complicated!

[monicajay]

4 cruises, 4 different lines, all of them held our Canadian passports for the duration of the cruise. We only used the sign and sail card to reboard. I figured if they gave us a hard time we would just show them the receipt that they gave us when the took our passports.

 

I can't say I like this policy, or the lines of people when it is time to pick them back up, but we don't seem to have a choice if we want to continue cruising.

M.

[Globaliser]

It is a policy of NCL and not required by any laws or regulations.

This is not correct, either. The countries that you visit can demand to see passports to clear the ship on arrival. That's usually why passports are held by the ship when they are.

[Globaliser]

As a British citizen all I can say is - it depends - but not sure why.

It usually depends on whether any countries need to see your passport during the cruise.

 

For example, a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska will usually have you being pre-cleared by the US as you board in Vancouver. That only needs to be done once, so you can keep your passport after that.

 

Around the Caribbean, every country will want to clear you, so it's easier if the ship holds your passport.

 

Around the Baltic, you'd have EU free movement rights to most countries, so they have no particular interest in clearing you.

 

These are generalisations, of course - everything depends on your specific itinerary.

[GOLDENBONNY]

We are Canadians who will be on the Dawn next spring. Are passports held by the cruise ship for all passengers or just non-U.S. citizens?

 

Last year on Costa Magica, we needed picture ID (passports) to reenter from ports. Costa did not hold our passports.

 

What ID is required to re-enter the Dawn?

 

Thanks

 

Yes they do hold your pasports.They will make a copy for you if you dont have any picture ID.

[GOLDENBONNY]

It usually depends on whether any countries need to see your passport during the cruise.

 

For example, a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska will usually have you being pre-cleared by the US as you board in Vancouver. That only needs to be done once, so you can keep your passport after that.

 

Around the Caribbean, every country will want to clear you, so it's easier if the ship holds your passport.

 

Around the Baltic, you'd have EU free movement rights to most countries, so they have no particular interest in clearing you.

 

These are generalisations, of course - everything depends on your specific itinerary.

 

I dont think you are right,Costa did not take our passports for Caribbean,NCL did,so maybe its a cruise line rules more than a countries request:confused:

[Kenhel]

Thanks for all the replies - it doesn't look like there is a clear answer -so many variables: cruise line, itinerary, passenger citizenship. :rolleyes:

 

Last year on Costa, we (Canadians) and the other passengers did NOT give in our passports. The Costa card does not include a picture. We took our passports into port and showed our Costa card and passports when we re-entered the ship.

 

I believe the NCL card includes a picture. I guess we will photocopy our passport and carry the copy with us "just in case"

[monicajay]

The NCL card does not include a photo on the card, however, when they swipe it through their machine your photo pops up on the computer screen. I was never worried about getting back on the ship even though we did not have our passports.

 

The part that bothers me the most is the getting up early ( they told us to be there at 6h45) on the last day and lining up to get passports. On the Sun last year we waited 10 min. and saw the very long line had not moved at all, left for the dining room and had breakfast, when we returned the people who had been standing beside us still had not got to the front of the line. The line was still very long. We left again ( knowing that eventually the lines would die down and they would have to give us back our passports) When we returned after 8h30 we only had to wait about 5 minutes.

 

The other cruises I have taken all had the same sort of thing but the lines were much longer and slower on NCL. It must also depend on the number of non-americans on board.

[MrLee]

I dont think you are right,Costa did not take our passports for Caribbean,NCL did,so maybe its a cruise line rules more than a countries request:confused:

 

Just curious...did you stop ay all the same countries?

[A Sixth?]

This is not correct, either. The countries that you visit can demand to see passports to clear the ship on arrival. That's usually why passports are held by the ship when they are.

 

Wrong.

 

No country will ask for all non American only passports to be held! They are not selective. They may very well insist on seeing your passport, but it is up to the ship to decide how this is done. Pre-arrival paper work is now done well before docking

 

For some reason, NCL always takes non-American passports. They seem behind then times in dealing with international passengers.

 

On some lines non Americans need to show up with passports in Non american lines, others they must line up to retrieve their countries property (passports are not yours, they are the property of your country)

 

I am frankly insulted by NCL's slow maturity on the passport issue.

 

American cousin, do you not think Canadians, and Britts and others value their passports as much as you value yours? Hand over your passport to my safekeeping next cruise if you question my value of my Canadian Passport

[jerhardt]

When we were on the Star in March, they did NOT hold our passport and we are Canadians.

 

Doesn't seem to be any justifiable explanation as to why it's held on some cruises and not held on others.