Passport Question in the Caribbean

[beynac]

Greetings everyone!

 

Leaving soon on a 5-day Century cruise. DH and I both have (and will bring) our passports. My question is...do we need to carry them around the islands with us? We are going to Jamaica and Grand Cayman, if that matters.

 

Sorry if this is a silly question. I thought I had read somewhere that people typically left them in their safe for the duration of the trip. If this is the case, when are you required to show your passports?

 

Thanks in advance.

[VTSKIandCRUISEGUY]

You need to have "picture ID" with you. That could be a driver's license.

This is not for the islands, but to get back on the ship if there are any problems with your Seapass.

.

[Gonzo70]

It is not required to take your passport onto the islands. There is much debate whether one should bring it (and good arguments both pro and con). What I personally do is I factor in the following:

 

*Am I doing an excursion that involves getting wet (i.e. that would make it difficult to keep the passport on me at all times).

*How far away from the port am I going (the further away, the more likely I am to bring it).

*How close to all-aboard time does my excursion/planned activities end (the closer to all-aboard time, the more likely I am to bring it).

*In general how safe/friendly is the area around the port (i.e. the more potentially dangerous the port area, the more likely I am to bring my passport).

[beynac]

Excellent information. Thank you!!

[Can'tstopcruising]

I travel with a photocopy of my passport. The original stays in the safe and the copy stays with me.

[snausman]

I travel with a photocopy of my passport. The original stays in the safe and the copy stays with me.

 

 

I do the same thing, I made a small wallet size photo copy of our passports and take that with me at all times. I even have used this as my photo id, works just great.

[caribegal]

We just got back from a cruise and there are a few islands that ask you to bring your photo id off of the ship with you. The Captain (or whoever) would tell is that morning over the day's announcements if we needed to disembark with photo id or not. Never once did we have to show it, but it is still wise to follow rules.

I agree, carry a photocopy of your passports. We used our driver's licences, as they are laminated, so can get wet with no problem.

Not a silly question at all.....but rather a great one!:)

[mardon]

make sure you have at least 6 mos left on your passport before expiration or the ship

 

will not let you on. we had 5 months and 5 days left when we were going to be cruising

 

and so i called celebrity and they said it says in the small print "Your passport must not be expiring for 6 mos from the time you are going on the cruise"

 

 

you do NOT need to carry your passport onto the islands while sightseeing. leave them in your safe in your room

[terrierjohn]

I travel with a photocopy of my passport. The original stays in the safe and the copy stays with me.

I agree with this policy.

[swigso]

I have scanned my passport into my computor and e-mailed a copy to myself together with my Driving License so that I can access a copy anywhere in the world.

You may well find that if you plan to buy anything of value and are

paying by Credit Card you will need your passport, I also have a photo

copy for use ashore.

Cheers

[Sue L]

I shrunk my copy and laminated it so it fits in the credit card section of my wallet. Very handy and I have all the numbers just in case

 

There was a hold up of a tour in the Bahamas over the weekend and they took their passports so great reason to leave it in the safe.

[Lsimon]

We never carry our passport in the Caribbean. We do in Europe.

 

You need to passport to check into the ship.

 

The argument FOR carrying a passport at all times is that in case missing the ship, or an emergency where you need to get off the ship, you'd need your passport to fly back to the USA and maybe between ports as well. Common thoughts are that a copy will not do for this but might help expedite travel without a passport - which would likely include significant delays and lots of hassle.

 

Despite all that I do leave our passport on the ship in the Caribbean and usually carry a copy. We do take photo ID with us as well, but frankly I don't recall using it for in many years. One issue in the Caribbean is that we're usually heading to the beach or other water activities. In Europe we're usually dry and carry our passport in a hidden money belt type pocket under our clothing just in case of pickpockets.