Drivers license on RCI Med Cruise

[Artemis908]

I know RCI takes your passport when you board your med cruise. As far as ID, how often are you using your drivers license on the cruise and while in port?

 

My main concern is I have a little drivers license card that shows my name change. It has my drivers license # on it, but not sure if it's going to cause any issues. I figured the license was more used for proof of age vs proof of name...

[rogueangel]

They didnt take anything from us on the IOS last summer in the Med, I dont even have a photo driving licence, mine's still the old paper type. You need your passport when you check in at the ship and you are supposed to take it when you get off in port but I was never asked for it, we just used our SeaPass to check in and out at ports.

[tahqa]

They didn't take anything from me, either, on a Eastern Med out of Venice going to Croatia, Greece and Turkey.

 

The rules, however, may be different with other ports.

[isdoo]

Why on earth would they take a drivers licence and for what purpose?

 

Not even sure why you would even present it to them.

[akcruz]

When we sailed on Navigator last summer they took our Passport when we boarded, not our license.

 

We did take our license off the ship with us but was never asked for it on re-boarding. Our ports were Messina, Athens, Kusadasi and Crete.

[Albert Ross]

I know RCI takes your license when you board your med cruise. As far as ID, how often are you using your drivers license on the cruise and while in port?

 

My main concern is I have a little drivers license card that shows my name change. It has my drivers license # on it, but not sure if it's going to cause any issues. I figured the license was more used for proof of age vs proof of name...

Why would they take your driving license? You need a passport to board the ship. How can you hire a car in ports if they have your driving license?

[Artemis908]

sorry I meant passport >_<

[traveling1969]

At European ports you may be asked to produce photo ID when reboarding. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

[rogueangel]

Which ports are you going to? Our trip started in the UK and went to France, Spain, Italy and Portugal and they didnt take our passports, maybe because we started and ended within the EU.

[Artemis908]

Rome, Athens, Crete, Sicily, Turkey. I had read about them taking passports at the beginning of the cruise from some people, including someone who was on the ship last year. Apparently it makes customs easier. I don't like the idea, but not much I can do about it. I remember in the Caribbean they only checked our IDs once when boarding, but I know Europe is a "different animal". I am thinking I should be okay, I mean all the DMV gave me was this card that is suppose to go with my drivers license.

[PowMacP]

On past NCL cruises, when in ports of call, NCL Pre boarding security requires a photo ID with your ship card prior to let you throught the ship security.

 

I never cruise with RCCL but intend to on our next cruise.

[Langley Cruisers]

Funny story - yes, on our Med cruise they did take our passports because we were North Americans and the particular itinerary we were on demanded it (not all do). Not thinking, about 1 week prior to our cruise, I renewed my DL. The interim is a piece of paper - no picture, just the printed text. When I got back to the car I thought, "I've just blown it!". However, not once was I asked to produce my ID anywhere in ports or when reboarding the ship. Your Sea Pass card is required to reboard and that has your picture connected to it, the one taken when you first embarked.

 

IMO you are overthinking this. Don't worry, and if you are asked for ID, they will look at the picture portion of it, not necessarily the name change part of it.

 

Enjoy your Med cruise and don't worry about this. :)

.

[tactic]

In Amsterdam and St Peterburg we needed passports apart from that never needed any id and that was immigration rather than the ship, never had any documents ever taken from us

[KansCocoa]

When we cruised in 2009 on the Brilliance out of Barcelona, we had to surrender our passports upon boarding the ship.

 

We carried our Driver's Licenses while in ports, mainly because we thought we may have to produce a photo ID if we purchased anything with our credit cards.

 

At one of the ports (Rome?), we got in line to reboard the ship - and Hubby could NOT find his Seapass anywhere. We searched high and low, and he did not have it.

 

When we reached security, we explained what had happened; they asked for his name and a photo ID, he produced his DL, they checked something on their computer, waved us onboard and then told us to go straight to Guest Services to replace his lost Seapass.

 

So...I've learned now to never cruise without some sort of photo ID - a copy of my passport, a DL - something. You just never know. :)

[blueblock]

I have had RCI take my passport in the Mediterranean (I keep a photocopy with me, just in case). But no one ashore ever asked for my ID for any purpose.

[Ashland]

You may need your DL if you plan on renting a car and at some ports RCI told us we may need it to show with our SeaPass to reboard the ship..that didn't happen...Also we did once have to show our DL when using our credit card to make a purchase in port..although this may have been that particular merchant's way of doing business...We always take our DL just in case..better to have it and not need it....When a passport is not required in port we leave it in our safe and usually take a copy of it....Western Med and Northern Baltic cruise RCI did not take our passports this can vary with itinerary....

[Sequim88]

Were all the situations where the passport had to be turned over involving itineraries that stopped at non Schengen Agreement countries? Turkey in particular. Anyone had to turn it over on a straight Spain, France, Italy type itinerary?

[troutfisherman]

All the authorities know exactly who is on the ship, because you supplied your details when you did the online check in at the beginning and provided your passports at the port of embarkation. They will check the names against those of interest.If your of interest then expect your collar to be felt.

 

Not like the US authorities in St Thomas who insist on inspecting every non US passport prior to disembarkation :mad: You would think the information of foreigners would have been transmitted by immigration in San Juan to them...Perhaps not ;)

[blueblock]

Were all the situations where the passport had to be turned over involving itineraries that stopped at non Schengen Agreement countries? Turkey in particular. Anyone had to turn it over on a straight Spain, France, Italy type itinerary?

 

Always on itineraries that involved Turkey for me. (Though it seems to me that the passports were gone for longer than just the Turkish stop, but it may just be logistically easier for the cruise line to collect them early!)

[critterchick]

All the authorities know exactly who is on the ship, because you supplied your details when you did the online check in at the beginning and provided your passports at the port of embarkation. They will check the names against those of interest.If your of interest then expect your collar to be felt.

 

Not like the US authorities in St Thomas who insist on inspecting every non US passport prior to disembarkation :mad: You would think the information of foreigners would have been transmitted by immigration in San Juan to them...Perhaps not ;)

 

We haven't had that happen recently. And we did visit non-US ports before arriving in St. Thomas. Perhaps they've seen the light.

[rickdent]

We have had to surrender passports on ship twice-once before disembarking in Egypt (Egyptian authorities stamped it for entry) in 2010. Second was Venice/Adriatic cruise since we visited Croatia (non-EU) for an exit stamp at Bari, Italy, this past September.

If you use a credit card ashore for purchases, the vendor might want to see a photo id. So we always have our picture DL's, as well as color photocopies of our passports with us. Also, at the gates of some ports, we have been asked for photo id along with SeaPass, since those gate authorities cannot access the photo associated with the SeaPass.

Rick