Going ashore - take passport or leave in safe?

[wrk2cruz]

So, I keep seeing this question come u and don't recall getting a definitive answer.

When going ashore - take your passport or leave it in the safe?

 

Not asking your personal habit.... what is the correct thing to do?

WIth S&S car and driver's license or other photo id you're okay to get back on ship and Carnival covers for you if there's a problem with authorities.

BUT what if I miss the ship and have to get to the next port - or break my leg and have to fly home from that port?

 

I know Carnival (or whatever line) issues the S&S card and has your passport information and have always felt that is all I need. In fact, they have said lock it up in your safe and only had them tell me to take it on an excursion when I was going to go into Canada on our Alaska cruise.

:confused:

 

No matter what your cruise line says...leave it on the ship!!!!! Make a copy and take it with you. My DH had his pickpocketed in Rome last week.

We had a really good private driver and she helped us file a police report.

We were able to get a temp in Florence with the help of another private driver.....ship was no help!

[OCruisers]

There is a Security Officer who posts on the HAL forum.

He has told us that if someone is late returning to the ship, security will go to the cabin safe and if passports are found, they will be given to port agent. Be SURE when you go ashore in every port, you bring the contact information for the agent. On HAL, that name and telephone are printed on the port hand out sheet that is given for each individual port. If you don't want to take the whole sheet, rip off the pertinent information. Port Agent is your friend in town if you need help in any way.

 

The above is very true and on Princess as well. We were told by the head security officer on a Princess cruise that passengers should keep their passports in their safe unless the cruise line tells you to in certain ports.

The Port Agent is your friend if you have problems. Always take the contact information.

LuLu

[wrk2cruz]

That would be great if the port agent would have answered the phone!!!

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[Stratheden]

But this is irrelevant to the thread. :confused:

Everyone has acknowledged that there are times when you are told you have to take your passports with you - or are you suggesting you weren't told to take them?

 

JB :)

 

No we were not told to take our passports with us.

 

I always take my passport with me. I think you would find most Australians would take their passports with them. We cannot leave Australia without them.

[John Bull]

No we were not told to take our passports with us.

 

I always take my passport with me. I think you would find most Australians would take their passports with them. We cannot leave Australia without them.

 

Ditto from the UK.

More important, you & I need them to get back home, which is one reason mine stays in the cabin safe when not required. ;)

 

At most ports world-wide cruise there's a dispensation for passengers not to require their passports to go ashore. Whenever we've been obliged to take our passports, it's always been stated in ship's daily news-sheet & checked as we go ashore.

 

But if you then cross a land border (US/Canada) of course the cruise passenger dispensation doesn't apply.

If that was an official ship's excursion I feel sure you would have been told to take your passports, and a visa for those who require it - and an efficient guide would have double-checked before leaving the port.

If you fixed your own excursion into Canada then of course it's up to you to find out what documentation you need to take.

 

We had a similar scenario in Aqaba, Jordan.

No visa or passport required to go ashore, usual cruise ship dispensation applies. But we'd been there before & seen what Jordan had to offer, so we chose to independently cross the nearby land border into Israel for the day. For that we needed to take our passports & buy a visa at the border. No-one told us, we knew we had to research that for ourselves.

(on that cruise the ship held passengers' passports, we retrieved them from Guest Relations & returned them there at the end of the day - no worries)

 

BTW, your excursion into Canada sounds like a great day :)

 

JB :)

[sail7seas]

deleted

 

sorry

Edited June 7, 2014 by sail7seas

[boogs]

No we were not told to take our passports with us.

 

I always take my passport with me. I think you would find most Australians would take their passports with them. We cannot leave Australia without them.

 

Did you book this excursion through the cruise line? What cruise line was it? The cruise lines I am familiar with - Princess, HAL and Celebrity - note on the excursion description that a passport is required for that excursion. Here is the link to the description of the Princess excursion:

 

http://www.princess.com/excursion/exDetails.page?tourCode=SGY-180

 

Under SPECIAL NOTES at the bottom of the page is stated:

 

"Since this tour enters Canada, all guests must carry a passport or other WHTI compliant document. For U.S. citizens these documents include: U.S. Passport, U.S. Passport Card, Enhanced Driver's License, Trusted Traveler Card and Military ID Card (for U.S. armed forces members on official orders). Citizens of certain countries need a visa to visit Canada ? visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp to see if this applies."

 

Here is the link to Holland America's excursion description with the passport requirement noted at the bottom:

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=3090&portCode=SGY&destCode=A&requestSource=shoreExcursions

 

"This adventure crosses the US/ Canadian border; US and Canadian citizens must carry a passport and ship ID. All other nationalities must have a valid passport, visa and ship ID. "

 

In both cases, the passengers booking this excursion have indeed been told.

Edited June 7, 2014 by boogs

[jcl410]

Ditto from the UK.

 

...

 

At most ports world-wide cruise there's a dispensation for passengers not to require their passports to go ashore.

 

....

 

JB :)

 

I would expand that statement... In most countries world wide, once you clear Immigration into the country there is no requirement to carry your passport while in that country. Many people leave their passports in their hotel safe to foil picket-pockets.

 

Aloha,

 

John

[Jackytar]

Related to these points, before you sail, it's advisable to have a photocopy of the first two pages of your passport (picture, name, pass port #, etc.) and leave them with someone you trust back home. That way, if you do require to take your passport ashore (excursion, or the local law requires it) and you lose/have it stolen, someone has the info necessary both to cancel the missing/stolen passport and get a new one issued and sent to you.

[Bonnie J.]

Cruise ships used to take the passports of anyone who was not a US citizen until the last day. So, they could not take their passport off the ship even if they wanted to. Don't think they do that anymore though.

We cruise a LOT, in 2012 we took 13 cruises, have 55 on Carnival alone plus other ships. Our passports go into our safe until morning we get off. Stealing passports is a lucrative business as a thief can get many $$$ for them. WE do have color copies of them we can take ashore which would speed up help from a US embassy as they have all the info on them.

Cruise directors tell passengers not to take passports off ships as they talk to all the passengers during shows.