Passport

[Tee718]

Morning to all, Im sailing on RCI on 2/21..first cruise. Question....do you get your passport stamped at each port you dock at? Sailing to the Southern Carribean? Thanks in advance.

[Cruising Golfer]

You can if you want to. We don't...:cool:

[Marie51]

I don't either. I've never even looked into having it stamped in port.

[paul929207]

You will have to search around to find an immigration official to stamp your passport in the Caribbean.

[dancinman66]

Very few places stamp passports now only if you have to get a visa is that done

But you can for momento if you want

 

 

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[Talisker92]

The problem may be if you get all those stamps in your passport, when you need blank pages for visas there may not be enough left

[cruisead]

Passport stamps haven't been done for many, many years. Being a first time cruiser, I don't recommend wasting your valuable port time by searching for someone to stamp it.

[gordbot]

Passport stamps haven't been done for many, many years. Being a first time cruiser, I don't recommend wasting your valuable port time by searching for someone to stamp it.

 

Everyone has different ideas of what is important to them. I love having a stamp of every country I've visited in my passport. And it's definitely worth the time for me to find an immigration official to stamp it. Just remember that everyone has different priorities.

 

I have no confirmation on this, but I understand the purser can help you ensure your passport gets stamped as well. I'm going to try this on our cruise.

[Tee718]

Everyone has different ideas of what is important to them. I love having a stamp of every country I've visited in my passport. And it's definitely worth the time for me to find an immigration official to stamp it. Just remember that everyone has different priorities.

 

I have no confirmation on this, but I understand the purser can help you ensure your passport gets stamped as well. I'm going to try this on our cruise.

 

 

Thanks for all the feedback..Gordbot, that is exactly my intention..to get the stamps as part of my souvenir....I dont know what and who a purser is..but I will look into that.

[sparks1093]

Thanks for all the feedback..Gordbot, that is exactly my intention..to get the stamps as part of my souvenir....I dont know what and who a purser is..but I will look into that.

 

If you go to the guest services desk they will be able to help you (purser is another name for guest services).

[Raxter54]

Thanks for all the feedback..Gordbot, that is exactly my intention..to get the stamps as part of my souvenir....I dont know what and who a purser is..but I will look into that.

 

Same here. This is our first - and possibly only - cruise, and might be my only chance to use our new passports. Since I'm paying $135 for the passports, might as well use them. If Guest Services can arrange it, I plan on getting them stamped. Silly maybe, but it'd not like I will be filling up all the pages in my passport book :o

[TruckerDave]

You didn't watch the "Love Boat"? That is what Gopher was. :D

[Hoti4]

My girls want to get there passports stamped and i think its a great thing for them. I have heard of some ports will charge you a small fee to get it stamped.

[elainemasey]

It's been a few years, but on our Caribbean cruise we left our passports at guest services and picked up after the last port. They were all stamped.

 

On the Baltic cruise 3 years ago, there was an announcement that customs for ( some port and nationality, don't remember) would be in a lounge. We popped in and the agent was more than happy to stamp our passports.

 

If you leave them at Guest Services..... Remember to pick them up!

 

 

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[Donray]

My girls want to get there passports stamped and i think its a great thing for them. I have heard of some ports will charge you a small fee to get it stamped.

 

You do know that they will most likely be like stamps you get a Disneyland rides and re fake.

 

And, could cause you problems when you really need to have visa stamps.

 

Your passport is an official government document, and when used for any non-official purposes (e.g. collecting a souvenir stamp), you are technically defacing or altering it. In theory you could have it voided (or worse), or in theory, an immigration official could refuse to admit you if they believed that it was a signal the document was in any way invalid.

[Raxter54]

You do know that they will most likely be like stamps you get a Disneyland rides and re fake.

 

And you know this to be true how? Or is it just your opinion?

[TruckerDave]

Why would anybody voluntarily give up their passport? :confused: Mine is either in my pocket or in my in cabin safe. There is no way in the world I would just hand it over to guest services (unless required to by some law, certainly not to just get a stamp that may or may not be the real deal.) and pick them up at the end of the cruise/

[Flatbush Flyer]

Why would anybody voluntarily give up their passport? :confused: Mine is either in my pocket or in my in cabin safe. There is no way in the world I would just hand it over to guest services (unless required to by some law, certainly not to just get a stamp that may or may not be the real deal.) and pick them up at the end of the cruise/

 

 

Most premium/luxury cruise lines require you to surrender your passport to the purser at embarkation. Unless you stop at a port requiring that you carry a passport ashore (in which case it will be released to you during the port visit), you will usually not see your passport again until you finish the cruise.

 

IMO, this is the best way to keep your passport secure but readily available for examination as needed by any port authority demanding to see it on arrival (without waking you up or otherwise disturbing you) or available to leave with the ship's agent should you miss the ship's departure or return to you should an emergency require your premature departure.

 

 

 

 

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[sparks1093]

Most premium/luxury cruise lines require you to surrender your passport to the purser at embarkation. Unless you stop at a port requiring that you carry a passport ashore (in which case it will be released to you during the port visit), you will usually not see your passport again until you finish the cruise.

 

IMO, this is the best way to keep your passport secure but readily available for examination as needed by any port authority demanding to see it on arrival (without waking you up or otherwise disturbing you) or available to leave with the ship's agent should you miss the ship's departure or return to you should an emergency require your premature departure.

 

 

 

 

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I understand that it used to be the practice in Europe to surrender your passport when you checked into your hotel (I didn't use a passport when I traveled through Europe so I can't say from personal experience). I believe this practice is not as wide spread as it used to be but some hotels still require it. Point is that surrendering one's passport isn't an unknown procedure.

Edited September 23, 2014 by sparks1093

[wassup4565]

"Most premium/luxury cruise lines require you to surrender your passport to the purser at embarkation. Unless you stop at a port requiring that you carry a passport ashore (in which case it will be released to you during the port visit), you will usually not see your passport again until you finish the cruise. "

 

What are you talking about???? Are you saying cheapo lines aren't doing a good enough job by not making you surrender your passport? Are you saying surrendering your passport to an, ahem "premium/luxury" line somehow assures a better level of service?

 

What do you call a premium/luxury line? I paid $6000 two years ago to sail on Oceania for ten days in the Med. They never asked for my passport. Since they were charging at least twice as much, I thought they were a luxury line. Silly me. How much would I have to pay before the cruise line would take my passport away from me????

 

What a stupid post.

[sparks1093]

"Most premium/luxury cruise lines require you to surrender your passport to the purser at embarkation. Unless you stop at a port requiring that you carry a passport ashore (in which case it will be released to you during the port visit), you will usually not see your passport again until you finish the cruise. "

 

What are you talking about???? Are you saying cheapo lines aren't doing a good enough job by not making you surrender your passport? Are you saying surrendering your passport to an, ahem "premium/luxury" line somehow assures a better level of service?

 

What do you call a premium/luxury line? I paid $6000 two years ago to sail on Oceania for ten days in the Med. They never asked for my passport. Since they were charging at least twice as much, I thought they were a luxury line. Silly me. How much would I have to pay before the cruise line would take my passport away from me????

 

What a stupid post.

 

I think Oceania is one of the line's the PP was referring too.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Actually, Oceania now does require that all passengers on all itineraries surrender a passport at embarkation.

 

 

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[wassup4565]

What's your point? That the really, really GOOD cruise lines take your passport away, and the others don't? If anybody is going to take my passport away, they are going to have to explain why.

 

Actually, my passport (Canadian) states explicitly that it is the property of the Government of Canada. I don't know why some commercial enterprise (in this case a cruise line) thinks it has a right to take away the property of my government.

[Flatbush Flyer]

What's your point? That the really, really GOOD cruise lines take your passport away, and the others don't? If anybody is going to take my passport away, they are going to have to explain why.

 

Actually, my passport (Canadian) states explicitly that it is the property of the Government of Canada. I don't know why some commercial enterprise (in this case a cruise line) thinks it has a right to take away the property of my government.

 

 

Cruise lines that hold your passport do it as much for your convenience as for your security. There are ports throughout the world that still require a passport review on arrival (no matter how you get there). Since the ship may dock far earlier than you get going in the AM, having the purser in control of all passports and responsible for clearing you with customs agents saves you the trouble of rising early and standing in line or having to turn it in on multiple occasions. Also, should something happen to you, the purser knows exactly where your passport is, which is beneficial for all of the obvious reasons.

 

If this practice still makes no sense to you, there are other lines (and yes, it is mostly the mass market ones) who don't hold (or even require that you bring) your passport.

 

 

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