Out of country safeguards. Please read!

[thefirstnoel]

I read awhile back certain items to have in place, or with you, when leaving the country. A copy of your passport along w/your original, contacting your Visa and credit card companies so they don't see any purchases that may signal "YIKES"!. I cannot remember where I read all this great info., so if anyone knows of any other info. that would help, we are leaving in January to the So. Carib. Another one was to contact the consulate in the country your in, but porting one day at a time seems like a lot of work. Anyway, has anyone read or know of any other safeguards that may help?

Thanks so much and happy sailing to all.....Plus Merry Christmas!

The First Noel

[Langley Cruisers]

...contact the consulate in the country your in, but porting one day at a time seems like a lot of work.

 

While I appreciate your heart and attitude, there is absolutely no reason to do this unless you run into trouble. We have travelled all over the world and have never contacted a consulate. There was never reason to.

 

Don't be alarmed about something that isn't necessary. :)

.

[smeyer418]

contacting the embassy in most countries for normal travel especially on a cruise is a little over kill. You can do it but you aren't there for much time anyway. You should do it if you are going to a country with known problems or staying for months...not for a week....and never for a day or two

[Condocat]

Everytime my husband and I travel out of the US, whether it's a cruise or on our own, I type a credit card size of information showing our itinerary. I include the dates of each stay and contact#. At the top of the form I list my name the fact I am traveling with my husband, his name, his cell phone #. I also list all my medications and medical conditions.

 

I print this on bright yellow paper, laminate it and place it in my wallet. I make 2-3 extra copies and if I go for a walk alone, I place one in my pocket.

 

I also customize this for my husband and make copies for him.

 

We also make 81/2 x 11 size copies of our itinerary along with our contact information which we place in our luggage. If our luggage is lost it's another way whomever finds it, can reach us.

[surfsidemary]

Everytime my husband and I travel out of the US, whether it's a cruise or on our own, I type a credit card size of information showing our itinerary. I include the dates of each stay and contact#. At the top of the form I list my name the fact I am traveling with my husband, his name, his cell phone #. I also list all my medications and medical conditions.

 

I print this on bright yellow paper, laminate it and place it in my wallet. I make 2-3 extra copies and if I go for a walk alone, I place one in my pocket.

 

I also customize this for my husband and make copies for him.

 

We also make 81/2 x 11 size copies of our itinerary along with our contact information which we place in our luggage. If our luggage is lost it's another way whomever finds it, can reach us.

 

I'm sure you have already thought of this, but be sure that you don't put anything on your information card that would lead a thief to your home address.

 

When I go on long trips, another thing I do is authorize a local fire/water restoration company to take care of mitigation in my absence by dealing directly with my insurance company. All the neighbors would have to do is call them. Otherwise, that's a lot of responsibility (financial and otherwise) to expect of a neighbor or even a family member. And you can't leave a burned down or otherwise destroyed structure lying there for months without mitigation.

[ducklite]

I agree there's no need to contact the consulate unless you will be in country for an extended period or it's an area with known hostilities or infrastructure problems. If I were going to Yemen or relatively post-earthquake Haiti I'd make sure the consulate knew when I was there, where I was staying, and how to reach me. If I were going to Canada, not so much.

[maryann ns]

For sure notify your banks and credit card companies where you will be going.

 

We scan our passports and have them available to us through our email. We also have copies of our passports and itineraries (without address or telephone) in all our bags.

 

Our luggage tags say that the itinerary is in an outside pocket, though I think the airlines look there for these if luggage is lost.

 

Take a photo of your luggage and a photo of your contact information and leave this on the memory card in your camera. If your camera is lost it may be returned. If your luggage is lost, you can show what it looks like.

[ldubs]

If you want to leave notice of your whereabouts with US authorities, you can post your trip details on the State Department's web site. If I recall correctly, this includes who to contact in case of emergency.

[Condocat]

If my home burned down or had devastating damage that could not be handled over the internet or via fax, etc, I would end my vacation and be returning pronto!

[grand isle joe]

If my home burned down or had devastating damage that could not be handled over the internet or via fax, etc, I would end my vacation and be returning pronto!

 

 

NOT ME!!!! I would see about buying a place in paradise....after all why rush back to cinders? The insurance company can foward a check any place I guess...;):D

[Kartgv]

Passport copies and medical records are essential. Also recently read a tip that you should have a record of the phone numbers for all of your credit card companies in case they are lost or stolen. Maybe the most important thing to get you out of trouble abroad is your travel insurance provider's phone number and your policy number. We listed all our important information on a Word document, then emailed it to ourselves. We opened the email and stored it in a file in our email provider's "Webmail" site. That way we can access the information from any computer at any time, but no one else can get to it.

[flamomo]

I carry a list of the international phone numbers for the credit cards I will be taking with me, in case of loss or theft. I also carry a list of the last 4 digits on each of my cc separately, and place those in the cabin safe.

 

Princess lists the port contact on the handout they provide for each port, should one "miss" the ship before it sails. I carry the handout for that day with me onshore.

[thefirstnoel]

Thanks to all who responded to my post. There was a lot of great info. which I will use. Things I never would have thought of. You just never know where and when some sort of back up will be needed and even though I am not a "worrier", I do want to be smart when traveling out of the country.

 

Thanks again.

[CanWeGoYet?]

Along with making copies of my passport to bring along with me (as well as the actual passports!) I make copies of the front and back of my credit cards I will be taking along. So that if a credit card were to be stolen I could cancel it quicker, and have the phone number / account #s as well.

 

Also, when you leave the ship be sure to take the cruise flyer for that day (whatever port you will be in). In case you ran into an emergency and were delayed, the phone number you would need to call should be listed on the daily cruise flyer.

[griffy116]

Passport copies and medical records are essential. Also recently read a tip that you should have a record of the phone numbers for all of your credit card companies in case they are lost or stolen. Maybe the most important thing to get you out of trouble abroad is your travel insurance provider's phone number and your policy number. We listed all our important information on a Word document, then emailed it to ourselves. We opened the email and stored it in a file in our email provider's "Webmail" site. That way we can access the information from any computer at any time, but no one else can get to it.

 

 

Same for us, and we do the 8-1/2 by 11 inside each piece of luggage with last name, itinerary, name of pre-cruise hotel and the phone number. This way, if one of our pieces of luggage gets separated from us they can locate us and reunite us. We NEVER put our home address. Also, it can be very reckless to post on Facebook or any social network that you will be out of town. YEARS ago (before Facebook and the like), remarks my daughters made at school about our vacation in Hawaii resulted in 6 teens breaking into and staying in our house, drinking our liquor, sleeping in our beds, blowing the pump on our pool, burning a set of curtains, dragging mud throughout the house, joyriding in our cars and even keying one of them because it was out of gas:eek:. They were given 20 hours of community service and we had auto and home insurance deductibles, which the courts never followed up and made them pay. Lesson learned.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Same for us, and we do the 8-1/2 by 11 inside each piece of luggage with last name, itinerary, name of pre-cruise hotel and the phone number. This way, if one of our pieces of luggage gets separated from us they can locate us and reunite us. We NEVER put our home address. Also, it can be very reckless to post on Facebook or any social network that you will be out of town. YEARS ago (before Facebook and the like), remarks my daughters made at school about our vacation in Hawaii resulted in 6 teens breaking into and staying in our house, drinking our liquor, sleeping in our beds, blowing the pump on our pool, burning a set of curtains, dragging mud throughout the house, joyriding in our cars and even keying one of them because it was out of gas:eek:. They were given 20 hours of community service and we had auto and home insurance deductibles, which the courts never followed up and made them pay. Lesson learned.

 

What a horrible thing to have happened!