Passport question

[mjmalino]

We are going on the Ruby Grand Med in July and I have a couple questions regarding passports:

 

1) I have read that some cruise lines keep passports and pass out copies to take ashore, is princess one of them or do we keep our passports?

 

2)This one is for the kids, given that we are arriving by ship, is it a fair assumption that we will still get the various country stamps in our passports?

 

 

Thanks for your input,

[Andee]

We've been on two Med cruises, and we haven't gotten our passports stamped on either one. We weren't on Princess, but they took our passports (didn't give us copies) and returned them at the end of the cruise.

[custompcsys]

We are going on the Ruby Grand Med in July and I have a couple questions regarding passports:

 

1) I have read that some cruise lines keep passports and pass out copies to take ashore, is princess one of them or do we keep our passports?

 

2)This one is for the kids, given that we are arriving by ship, is it a fair assumption that we will still get the various country stamps in our passports?

 

 

Thanks for your input,

 

Princess has never held onto my passport and I've been to Europe and the Caribbean with them. I can't, however, speak for those traveling with something other than a US or Canadian passport.

 

Of all the countries I have visited on a cruise, the only one that actually stamped my passport when arriving by ship was Russia. The only other passport stamps I have gotten were when arriving at the departure port and re-entering the US, both by plane. Sorry to disappoint the kiddies!

[miss prairie girl]

We have been on two Princess Caribbean cruises and we were only required to show our passports at selected times (i.e. embarkation, and so on). The rest of the time we kept our passports in our safe in our suite. This time, we did not even get a USA stamp leaving or entering Canada!

[Pam in CA]

We are going on the Ruby Grand Med in July and I have a couple questions regarding passports:

 

1) I have read that some cruise lines keep passports and pass out copies to take ashore, is princess one of them or do we keep our passports?

 

2)This one is for the kids, given that we are arriving by ship, is it a fair assumption that we will still get the various country stamps in our passports?

It all depends on the ports and countries you are going to. Whether you're on Princess or Carnival, if the country requires that they review all of the passports, then you don't have a choice. The passports are collected and held as a convenience to the passengers as the country's authorities board the ship ahead of time and review and stamp the passports before you disembark at the port. I can't remember exactly which countries do this but I'm pretty sure Turkey and Egypt do; and, of course, Israel requires a face-to-face meeting by passengers with their authorities and everyone must be cleared, including crew, before the ship is allowed to dock.

 

If your itinerary is going to just Italy, France and Spain, you will keep your passports.

[Pam in CA]

We have been on two Princess Caribbean cruises and we were only required to show our passports at selected times (i.e. embarkation, and so on). The rest of the time we kept our passports in our safe in our suite. This time, we did not even get a USA stamp leaving or entering Canada!

Caribbean cruises are unrelated to Med cruises so any experience going to the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska or Canada would be comparing apples with oranges.

[Plainsman]

We are going on the Ruby Grand Med in July and I have a couple questions regarding passports:

 

1) I have read that some cruise lines keep passports and pass out copies to take ashore, is princess one of them or do we keep our passports?

 

2)This one is for the kids, given that we are arriving by ship, is it a fair assumption that we will still get the various country stamps in our passports?

 

 

Thanks for your input,

"1) I have read that some cruise lines keep passports and pass out copies to take ashore, is princess one of them or do we keep our passports? "

 

We were on the Emerald Grand Med in '07. They took our passports, I believe before we got to Athens and we got them back when we left Mykonos. No copies are given but we always have a photocopy of passports, drivers licenses and credit cards. Passport stays in safe unless required to present it. We did get most country's stamps.

[mjmalino]

Thanks everyone for your input.

[paul929207]

Princess will only collect your passport when they need to present them to local authorities for examination when the ship is being cleared. The alternative would be to have several thousand people line up and present their passport indiviually. They would than have to track down the people whodid not show up. Only after this was completed would people be allowed to go ashore.

[BigGuy25]

It's a good idea to have your own copies of your passports before you leave home. That way, you can leave the originals secure in your room safe (if the ship hasn't collected them) and have the copies in your wallet or purse when you leave the ship. By the way, the only time Princess held our passports was when we were in French Polynesia. But, we will be going to Turkey on the the Ruby in July so we'll see (like the previous poster suggests) if that is one countires that require the ship to gather the passports.

[mjmalino]

I really appreciate everyone's comments. I don't like surprises when it comes to traveling and such, I want an idea of what to expect. My kids will just have to live with possibly not getting stamps in a few of the countries, oh well.

 

Thanks again,