Does the purser hold the passports on European cruises?

[dln929]

I am a first-time cruiser so bear with me if I'm asking the obvious. I'm going to be on the Voyager of the Seas leaving out of Venice with the first stop in Koper, Slovenia.

 

On the day we're in port, October 8th, there's an amazing regatta in a town just over the border. It's in Barcolana, Italy near Trieste and only half an hour away from Koper. http://www.barcolana.it/index.php I really want to see this. It's only one day and a year and it's sheer dumb luck that our ship is in the area and I have the opportunity to see something spectacular!

 

I need my passport to cross over the border so what's the process? I am completely clueless about how this works on cruise ships. When we check in, does anyone take our passports from us and for how long?

[NCMtnBoys]

I am a first-time cruiser so bear with me if I'm asking the obvious. I'm going to be on the Voyager of the Seas leaving out of Venice with the first stop in Koper, Slovenia.

 

On the day we're in port, October 8th, there's an amazing regatta in a town just over the border. It's in Barcolana, Italy near Trieste and only half an hour away from Koper. http://www.barcolana.it/index.php I really want to see this. It's only one day and a year and it's sheer dumb luck that our ship is in the area and I have the opportunity to see something spectacular!

 

I need my passport to cross over the border so what's the process? I am completely clueless about how this works on cruise ships. When we check in, does anyone take our passports from us and for how long?

 

Hey there, fancy seeing you here! Of course we're on the same sailing as you and of course, we can't wait. But we're actually in Koper on the 9th (ship leaves Venice on the 8th). Don't know if that will affect your plans or not (Trieste is kind of between Venice and Koper, but I don't know that I'd want to venture to Trieste on sailing day and risk missing the ship for some unforseen reason).

 

But to answer your question, it may depend on the itinerary, not sure. They didn't hold our passports on our Baltic cruise last Sept.

 

See ya 'round!

[Rex008]

Slovenia is an EU member and in the Schengen Agreement - which basically means it has open internal borders with the rest of the EU. If you're just getting public transport over the border from Italy, you shouldn't be asked for passport. On every other Schengen border I've ever crossed, the only indication is a sign over the road saying something like "Welcome to Germany", and that's it. Not that I've ever done Italy/Slovenia, but it would be breaking EU rules to even check passports!

 

Although I strongly suspect the cruise ship won't hold your passport, be very surprised if they do.

[seaofwonder]

Yes, they will hold your passport. We just got off a cruise leaving Rome and all non-EU citizens had to leave their passports for the duration of the cruise.

[vickiw0318]

They didn't hold ours when we sailed on the Voyager from Barcelona last year.

[critterchick]

It will depend on the itinerary. We've had 4 cruises in Europe and have never had to surrender our passports. But if you go to certain countries, their authorities will inspect passports before the ship is cleared, so the ship will collect them in order to be able to comply with that requirement.

[Ocean Boy]

Slovenia is an EU member and in the Schengen Agreement - which basically means it has open internal borders with the rest of the EU. If you're just getting public transport over the border from Italy, you shouldn't be asked for passport. On every other Schengen border I've ever crossed, the only indication is a sign over the road saying something like "Welcome to Germany", and that's it. Not that I've ever done Italy/Slovenia, but it would be breaking EU rules to even check passports!

 

Although I strongly suspect the cruise ship won't hold your passport, be very surprised if they do.

 

So if I understand this correctly, any country belonging to the EU acts as a "gateway" ino every other EU country? So after being admitted into one country you are free to travel within any of the countries? If this is the case I did not know that it worked that way and I have to say that I am a bit surprised that each country has given up so much autonomy as to no longer control its own borders.

[SConnolly]

Agree: It will depend upon the ports of call.

 

In Dubrovnik, Croatia as an example we had to take bus to leave the port. An officer boarded the bus and each passenger was required to show their passport before the bus left. The cruise line notified us multiple times that we had to take our passports with us when leaving the ship. Those who forget theirs or did not pay heed were asked to get off the and return to the ship.

 

This was about 3 years ago and things may have changed.

 

Almost selected this sailing ourselves, fantastic deal

 

Have fun.

[dln929]

Thank you all for being so helpful! I think I'm going to have to call Royal Caribbean though to find out exactly what their policy is. I looked on the website and after a bit of sleuthing around found this on a PDF (I put the Bold in):

 

b. Passengers are solely responsible to maintain in their possession all passports, visas and other travel documents required for embarkation, travel and

disembarkation at all ports of call. Passengers assume full responsibility to determine through their travel agent or the appropriate government authority

the necessary documents. Passenger agrees to provide to Carrier (at Carrier's reasonable request) any travel documents. Carrier shall return such travel

documents to Passenger by no later than the end of the cruise.

 

 

Two contradictory statements!~ Maybe. I guess it depends on what the definition of "travel documents" is. It has to be something other than a passport because how can we surrender our passports after being informed that we're solely responsible for being in possession of them?!

 

After I call I'll report back and let you all know what I found out.

[Sue L]

Thank you all for being so helpful! I think I'm going to have to call Royal Caribbean though to find out exactly what their policy is. I looked on the website and after a bit of sleuthing around found this on a PDF (I put the Bold in):

 

b. Passengers are solely responsible to maintain in their possession all passports, visas and other travel documents required for embarkation, travel and

disembarkation at all ports of call. Passengers assume full responsibility to determine through their travel agent or the appropriate government authority

the necessary documents. Passenger agrees to provide to Carrier (at Carrier's reasonable request) any travel documents. Carrier shall return such travel

documents to Passenger by no later than the end of the cruise.

 

 

Two contradictory statements!~ Maybe. I guess it depends on what the definition of "travel documents" is. It has to be something other than a passport because how can we surrender our passports after being informed that we're solely responsible for being in possession of them?!

 

After I call I'll report back and let you all know what I found out.

 

It all has to do with the exact itinerary, travel documents can be birth certificates and driver's licenses on many Caribbean itineraries. For Europe we had a stop in Croatia ( non -Eu) so they took the passports to expedite the clearance at the ports.

[TexasRCH]

We spent 34 days in the Med last year and the only time we surendered our pasport was our second trip into Greese.

Go figure!

[Girl_from_Ipanema]

I just sailed the Norwegian Fjords cruise from Copenhagen and did not surrender my passport.

 

I live in Denmark, but hold a US passport and I've never been asked for it during travel between countries in Europe. I often drive across the border to Germany to shop and aside from the "Welcome to Germany" sign, I'd never know I was entering another country. Traveling between countries in the EU is very much like traveling between states in the US, which is cool, except I don't get to collect passport stamps.

[CruisinGerman]

Ocean Boy:

 

What you are saying is true. There are no internal borders within what is called the Schengen Area. It has been that way since about 1996, more or less.

 

So if I take a flight from Madrid to Barcelona, it is a domestic flight. If I take a flight from Madrid to Venice, it is also considered a domestic flight.

 

The Schengen area includes most EU countries, all of Scandinavia (even non-EU countries), Iceland, and Switzerland.

 

The United Kingdom (and they dragged Ireland into it because of the no-border system already in place between the UK and Ireland) specifically opted out of the Schengen Area. So while going from Madrid to Iceland is now a domestic flight, going from Madrid to London is still an international flight with passport controls.

 

To the other posters. The cruise line will or will not keep your passports depending upon the itinerary. If it is a totally-EU itinerary they will generally not keep your passports. If it is an itinerary leaving and re-entering the EU, sometimes they do keep your passports or make you turn in your passports before you reach the non-EU port for check by those authorities and by the authorities when you re-enter the EU.

 

In any case you can always retrieve your passport and take it with you.

 

While you will not be asked for your passport when travelling between Schengen area countries, technically the rule is that you must be in possession of your "valid travel document" (which in this case is your passport) in order to do so. Because of problems with illegal immigration coming from former USSR countries via the Eastern European countries, sometimes there are random checks, so you should carry your passport with you.

 

Also, right now you may be reading in the news that Italy is having a terrible problem with immigrants fleeing Libya, Tunisia and other Arab countries. They are therefore also performing random checks.

 

The Schengen treaty allows countries to re-establish checks or perform random checks during temporary time periods affecting national security.

 

It is because of this that some of you may recall that when there are major political summits (G8), the Olympics, and other major events, the host country sometimes suspends borderless Schengen during the event and re-establishes passport checks.

 

Hope everyone has a nice cruise.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[peteukmcr]

The United Kingdom (and they dragged Ireland into it because of the no-border system already in place between the UK and Ireland) specifically opted out of the Schengen Area.

Just to provide a little clarification, although there maybe a 'no boarder' system in place between the UK and The Republic of Ireland, if you travel from the UK to Dublin for example, you are required to pass through immigration, whereas on return to the UK you are not. As a frequent traveller to Ireland for business this is my experience.

 

As for the OP's question, we have never yet had our passport taken when sailing out of Barcelona, but as mentioned it obviously depends on the itinerary.

[CruisinGerman]

As an example of what I am saying about countries temporarily suspending borderless travel between Schengen countries when there are specific political and sports events, the following alert is currently in effect for Schengen travel.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

AUSTRIA: INTERNAL SCHENGEN BORDERS

 

Austria will temporarily introduce border contols on internal

Schengen borders in connection with the WEF Regional Forum on

 

Europe and Central Asia. Checks are expected to be carried out

on a random basis.

 

 

Timaticweb Version 1.3

08 June 2011

[jennywren46]

Were from UK and after 7 trips weve only had our passports held when weve been to Istanbul, Alexandra and St Petersburg. i think it has top do with visas etc, the ship held passports and we got them back a couple of days after visiting these ports. All the other cruises weve always kept our passports and left them in the safe in our cabin and carried photo copies around with us.Weve never had to show any ID apart from our sea passes.

[seaofwonder]

My apologies. Our cruise went to Turkey and we had passports taken. I guess because it was out of the EU.

[dln929]

This is so interesting! Thanks everyone for answering my question.

 

I just called RCI and a representative told me that our passports would be held and returned to us at the conclusion of the cruise.

 

When I said we'd like to have our passports for the day since we wanted to cross the border from Slovenia to Italy, she said to contact guest relations about it.

 

I surmise that our passports are held because one of the ports--Dubrovnik--is not an EU country yet.

[Ocean Boy]

Ocean Boy:

 

What you are saying is true. There are no internal borders within what is called the Schengen Area. It has been that way since about 1996, more or less.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Thank you very much for all of the information that you porvided.

 

O.B.

[nelblu]

Yes, they will hold your passport. We just got off a cruise leaving Rome and all non-EU citizens had to leave their passports for the duration of the cruise.

 

Never heard of this. I've been on two Med cruises and the only place that I brought the passport along was in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This was not too long after their bitter war. We were concerned in that before the bus left for town, armed soldiers came aboard to check for credentials. It was a bit hairy. Other than that occasion I've never taken the passport off the ship.

 

A word of caution, unless necessary, never let go of your passport from your posession--this document is worth its weight in gold. As a substitute we usually take along driver licenses as a form of id.

[mjldvlks]

. . . Our cruise went to Turkey and we had passports taken. . .

 

. . .I surmise that our passports are held because one of the ports--Dubrovnik--is not an EU country yet. . .

For what it's worth, on our Eastern Med cruise that stopped at Dubrovnik, Croatia and Kusadasi Turkey, our passports were not held.

[cruisecriticmember]

For future refrence when you take a river cruise the purser will hold your passport but give it to you when you leave the ship for a tour. The reason they give is they usually pass international borders at night and this way passengers are not disturbed when border officials check the ship.

[dln929]

For future refrence when you take a river cruise the purser will hold your passport but give it to you when you leave the ship for a tour. The reason they give is they usually pass international borders at night and this way passengers are not disturbed when border officials check the ship.

 

 

This is also what I concluded after talking with the rep at RCI.

 

It only goes to show, however, that policies seem to vary a bit from ship to ship and itinerary to itinerary!

[bmr12]

Adding to this thread--they did indeed take our passports on our Eastern Med. cruise on the Splendour last month. The claim was that "Montenegro" needed them, but we didn't get the passports back until a week after Montenegro, and ours were stamped on our second day back in Greece after being in Turkey :confused::confused::confused:

 

Oh, and they took US passports only...

[joandian]

We just came back from the Western Med and Venice cruise and our passports weren't held.