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Passports for shore excursions


cucullus
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Hi, we are booked for the Baltic Cruise on Marina June 29. Just read our passenger info today. It says that our passports are taken at embarkation and returned at disembarkation. We have booked a private tour for 3 days in St Petersburg and will clearly need our passports as well as the documentation which the tour company has already forwarded. Presumably there will be no problem in retrieving our passports from the Marina admin? In addition the info says that that our passports are taken on arrival at the dock where on we are given our cards and will be admitted to the ship on producing those cards and photographic ID. We don't routinely have ID cards in Ireland but could bring our senior discount cards or driving licences. Is that really necessary ?

Thanks Derek and Patricia

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You will have no problem getting your passports back for SPB tours.

For photo ID ashore in most ports we always carry one of several:

drivers license

color photocopy of passport

laminated passport card (available in US)

PS Don't most EU countries have some sort of identity cards (for travel within EU)?

FWIW for US citizens - passport cards are very useful for identity purposes. Easy to carry (small & laminated) and if lost/stolen do not carry the same implication as a stolen/lost passport

Edited by Paulchili
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Correct. For any ports that passports are required to be carried, the ship will facilitate their return to passengers, usually the morning of arrival, before the gangway is opened for disembarkation. On our recent cruise on Nautica this happened for two ports - Safaga, Egypt and Haifa, Israel where we were off the ship on a private tour overnight. The lines seemed long to retrieve the passports, but they moved quickly. In each case we had ours within just a few minutes of being in line. There was an issue where the wrong passports were issued to one couple - thankfully this was before the ship was cleared and they were able to announce overhead that a certain persons passport needed to be returned. So check to make sure you actually get your passport. :o

 

In the US we don't have a national ID card either, so I always carry my state driver's license for any photo ID needs. Never had a problem.

 

Joe

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Hi, we are booked for the Baltic Cruise on Marina June 29. Just read our passenger info today. It says that our passports are taken at embarkation and returned at disembarkation. We have booked a private tour for 3 days in St Petersburg and will clearly need our passports as well as the documentation which the tour company has already forwarded. Presumably there will be no problem in retrieving our passports from the Marina admin? In addition the info says that that our passports are taken on arrival at the dock where on we are given our cards and will be admitted to the ship on producing those cards and photographic ID. We don't routinely have ID cards in Ireland but could bring our senior discount cards or driving licences. Is that really necessary ?

Thanks Derek and Patricia

 

We are in England and, like you, do not have ID cards so made our own version - took a copy of the photo page of passport, reduced it down to credit card size and laminated it. We have used them for years both at home and abroad (including many ports) with no problems! We were given our passports back to go into Russia.

 

You will have a great trip.

 

Lou

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Just another added comment (I think mostly for US citizens though).

“Global Entry” cards are great form of ID. Wife forgot driver’s license (USA form of ID) while checking in for domestic flight. As she is digging around her purse frantically, she found her “Global Entry” card and TSA and airlines said this is a perfect form of ID.

After that I always keep my GE card in wallet as you just never know.

Cheers,

 

John

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When we went to Russia a few years ago we were issued our passports after the Officials came onboard to look at them

then had to show them as we had a F2F with those officials along with getting the little card (DO NOT LOSE THIS)

when you return to the ship they take the card

 

You will be notified when & where to pick up your passports for those ports where it is required

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We take our DL for photo I.D. plus a photo copy of passport page

where taking your real passport ashore is not required ( yes I know I cannot fly home with a photo copy)

 

When we do take our passport after we show the officials it goes into a hidden money pouch (not one you hang on your neck)

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I just got off the Marina on Monday, June 19th, after boarding in Southampton on June 2nd. They took our passports upon embarkation. Each day the cruise director informed us if we needed our passports in port that day. That information is also printed on page 2 of the Currents, which you receive every evening. Our first port was Honfleur, where we needed our passports. We picked them up at the Reception desk that morning. For Zeebrugge we just needed a copy of our passport, which the ship provided. We needed our passports in Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Gothenburg, Warnemunde, Tallinn, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg. We did not need them in Kristiansaand, Oslo, or Copenhagen. Only in St. Petersburg were we required to show our passports to anyone. At immigration we showed them our passports and our tour tickets (with a privately-arranged tour). They took about 2-3 minutes looking at our documentation, then stamped our passports. We were given back our passports and tour tickets. We were not given anything to carry with our passports. The next day we showed them the passport with the stamp and we went right through their inspection very quickly. If you are going to St. Petersburg, get in line to disembark an hour early. We did and we were off the ship and through immigration in about ten minutes. The ship only lets 50 people off at a time. Once they have cleared the immigration area they let the next 50 people go ashore. By the time disembarkation began, the line was extremely long, even winding through Jacques and beyond! We did not need any photographic ID cards at any time, only our Oceania World Card and passports.

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Like the OP, my passport is my photo ID. I have no other official document with a photo, so I suppose the ship is going to have to manage with me presenting a photocopy of the passport when I go to board.

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Thank you to much to everyone who helpfully replied so quickly. We feel much better prepared now even though we left it a little late to read the info. Three cheers for the Cruise Critic Boards and contributors.

Derek and Patricia

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We take our DL for photo I.D. plus a photo copy of passport page

where taking your real passport ashore is not required ( yes I know I cannot fly home with a photo copy)

 

When we do take our passport after we show the officials it goes into a hidden money pouch (not one you hang on your neck)

 

 

What kind of pouch do you use and where can I buy one?

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Like the OP, my passport is my photo ID. I have no other official document with a photo, so I suppose the ship is going to have to manage with me presenting a photocopy of the passport when I go to board.

are you saying you are going to board the ship with a photo copy of your passport or I am reading this wrong??

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I just got off the Marina on Monday, June 19th, after boarding in Southampton on June 2nd. They took our passports upon embarkation .

 

It's interesting that more European countries are requiring you to carry your passport with you. That wasn't the case in recent years, even after 9/11. We were surprised in Barcelona several years ago when we were informed by the cashier at the Sagrada Familia that we were supposed to have them with us (we weren't on a cruise YET). In our early cruising years it was nice not to have to bother, although we always carried a photocopy with us.

 

Our 2016 cruises (2) rarely required us to have our passports with us but it does look like future cruises WILL.

 

We just returned from a land trip through Northern Portugal and never needed our passport with us. But we weren't leaving from a port.

 

Back to the OP: I wasn't sure if you thought you needed personal ID to get back on the ship as opposed to the ship's ID ...

 

Mura

 

P.S. For passengers on U.S. flights, when we flew home from Lisbon Tuesday afternoon we went through a second security check at the gate. I'd wondered why they showed a boarding time of 1530 when the scheduled departure was 1500. That answered THAT question ... but I don't know if it is customary these days or our flight was just singled out.

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  • 1 month later...

Based on our recent Marina cruise (arrived home today), it looks like Oceania has changed its procedures since some of the earlier contributors last cruised with them.

 

Firstly, passports were not retained by the ship. They were examined at check-in to confirm details were as previously notified to O and then given back to us.

 

And, secondly, photo ID was not needed to reboard the ship when in ports. Our photo was taken at check in and this was linked to our O key card so that whenever we left/returned to the ship and the card was scanned by the ship's security, the photo came up on their screen. Simple.

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I don't believe that the procedure has been changed. I believe that it depends on where the ship is cruising.

If the ship is cruising from country to country - like is Asia - then it is likely that the authorities in each new country will want to see the passports to clear the ship - especially in countries where visas are required for entry (like India). In such a case it is far better to have all the passports with Oceania. It makes for much faster clearance of the ship by authorities.

If the ship is cruising within EU then passsport are not required for each EU country.

That is my interpretation of the passport policy.

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B

And, secondly, photo ID was not needed to reboard the ship when in ports. Our photo was taken at check in and this was linked to our O key card so that whenever we left/returned to the ship and the card was scanned by the ship's security, the photo came up on their screen. Simple.

It is dependent on the port whether you need photo I.D. or not

 

In some ports Mexico for example you cannot enter the port area without showing Photo I.D + your cruise card

 

They do not have Oceania computers at the port entrance to confirm your identity

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I think the key to understand here is that it is a different procedure for different parts of the world. That's the way it is with all cruise lines. No procedure has changed.

 

Sometimes they take our passports, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you need a photo ID and seapass to get back on, sometimes you don't need a photo ID, but you always need your seapass.

 

I always read the Currents and try to do what they recommend.

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Having some sort of photo I.D. is always a good thing to carry in ports

We take our driver's license (easier to replace if lost) unless we are required to take passports they stay on the ship

 

YMMV

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Before leaving home, take a photocopy of your passport and put it in the cabin safe. If you are required to take a passport onshore and it's lost/stolen etc, I read somewhere that you get a replacement quicker with a photocopy, rather than just the number.

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Having some sort of photo I.D. is always a good thing to carry in ports

Agreed. However, as the Irish OP and we Britons have mentioned, our passports are generally our photo ID. We often don't have another official document that has a photo. There are even differences with British driving licences, depending on when they were issued - older ones don't have a photo, more recent ones do.

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Having some sort of photo I.D. is always a good thing to carry in ports

We take our driver's license (easier to replace if lost) unless we are required to take passports they stay on the ship

 

YMMV

 

Agree.

Here in US we also have a passport card. It's just like a driver's license in size and format with your photo but it's not identical to the passport number. Losing it is not a big deal and it's even less complicating than losing a driver's license and definitely less important than losing a passport. It doesn't need to be replaced unless one wants to.

For us it's the easiest and safest ID card.

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