Question Re Passports

[cip]

My wife and I are taking a Med cruise with ports of call in 5 countries.

Is it necessary to take your Passport with you when you leave the ship in each port? I am concerned about it being stolen.

Where is the Passport Control Point? Do the Authorities from the country you are visiting come on board to check Passports or is that done upon disembarking?

I would appreciate it if someone who knows the answers to these questions could post them here.

Chuck

[kitty9]

I have been to Europe on cruises at least 7 times and have never taken my passport off the ship because the cruise line has always taken and kept the passports upon embarking. I do carry a color copy of the information page of the passport and keep that with me. If, for some reason, you miss the ship and need to get to the next port, you can go to any US consulate or embassy and get an emergency passport very quickly. This happened to my cousin and he had no problem getting a temporary passport within a few hours. The US State Department recommends not taking your passport with you on tours as there is a huge blackmarket for US passports.

 

The only time you need to carry a passport with you is when the country requires it, such as Russia. On some cruise lines such as Crystal, Seabourn, Regent and Silversea, they take your passport from you when you check in, lock them up and don't return them until the final day of your cruise. That way, it makes it easier for local officials to clear the ship in a timely manner---plus you get passport stamps that way. I've not done a Med/Baltic cruise on a mass market line, but I know that local officials come on board and check the passports before anyone is allowed to disembark the ship. On the mass market lines, you don't have to clear local Immigration and they never ask to see your passport, but I have no idea how they clear the ship when the cruise line doesn't take passenger passports.

[MSBYRDY]

On our trips to Europe, Celebrity took the passports when embarking and we didn't see them again til the end of the cruise. Make a photo copy of the info and picture and carry that with you.

Marilyn

[lucky white heather]

Celebrity always recommend you to have a photocopy / passport with you at all times when off the ship.Even in San Juan last trip ,spring 06 .... we did not take our passport photocopies off ship with us , so when DH returned to ship ..fed up shopping... he was not allowed beyond gate...no photocopy, sea pass not accepted as proof, and had to commandeer returning officer 's help to ask someone for help from Guest Relations / another officer from the ship to come out to gate to verify... DH was not the only one refused.It took an hour for him to be allowed back onboard and then return to the gate with my passport so that when I arrived, unaware of these events, I could board as well. After this we decided to never go ashore without appropriate copy documentation .

Just off Century last weekend in Europe. We were never asked for proof anywhere but took actual passports our day in Gibraltar because Celebrity said so...don't know why as we are British citizens and should have no difficulty there but followed ship recommendation...wondered why photocopy wasn't good enough, but did not enquire?

Guest Relations will do you a passport photocopy for free if asked.

[Bengoshi]

You may want to scan the description/issuance and visa pages of your passport into a computer, then email it to yourself. That way, if you need a copy, simply find a computer with internet access, access your email, and print it out.

[operafan]

We just did Millennium Med in May and carried our passports with us when we went ashore. Just stuck them in our money belts. Celebrity did not take them when we boarded, and yes, you need to show them along with your seapass each time you reboard the ship. To be on the safe side, we always bring 2 copies of each passport and keep one copy in the room safe and one in our wallets. Regarding passport control points....... There aren't any (ship-wise) unless you are visiting non-EU countries. We went through passport control in Venice at the airport, and then not again until we hit Atlanta.