Passports off ship

[LeeW]

On 3/13/2019 at 9:32 PM, Letacraig said:

Is there any reason to keep a passport with you on excursions in st marten and st Thomas other than a copy of the passport and a drivers license?

 

thank you

 

Do you take a passport to go to Louisiana or Kansas?  Same with St Thomas - it is effectively part of the US.  Pretty sure they asked for a photo ID and ship card at the gate in the fence to get back on the pier.

 

If you missed the ship in St Maarten and had to fly home you would need your passport.  But ship will leave it with the port authority.  I do seem to recall that in November they were asking for both a photo ID and ship card to get back on the pier.

 

Both ports we take cash, a credit card, drivers licenses and cruise cards in waterproof pouch in my bathing suit pocket.

[Daniel A]

On ‎3‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 7:09 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

The ship staff will find your passport in your cabin whether it is in the safe or not and turn it over to the port agent before departure.

I'm not being contrary, I have no experience with this so I genuinely want to know how that would work.  Whenever I see internet videos of the 'pier runners' and the ship actually leaves before the runners get to the ship, it all is so last minute, how would the crew have time to search for your passport and leave it with the port authorities?

[Colo Cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I'm not being contrary, I have no experience with this so I genuinely want to know how that would work.  Whenever I see internet videos of the 'pier runners' and the ship actually leaves before the runners get to the ship, it all is so last minute, how would the crew have time to search for your passport and leave it with the port authorities?

I should have clarified.

Numerous announcements are made onboard.

Exhaustive attempts will be made to locate the missing passengers prior to the ships departure........

We all hear those announcements of names and cabin numbers being repeated several times prior to the ships departure to call the passenger services desk immediately.  

When it is determined that the passenger or passengers are not onboard security and purser staff will respond to the cabin and retrieve necessary documents/medications (from family if applicable) that can be found and turned over to the port agent prior to departure. Of course if they can find it.

[LaRoLarRo]

On 3/15/2019 at 10:09 AM, Colo Cruiser said:

The ship staff will find your passport in your cabin whether it is in the safe or not and turn it over to the port agent before departure.

 

Do you know if this is this absolutely 100% ? I too worry about the idea of missing the ship.

 

We are very careful but stuff happens, say for example some injury or medical issue happens on shore?

Thank you all once again for taking the time to help us all out 

 

One more thing, for those of us who are not from the USA maybe we do need our passports?

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by LaRoLarRo
Forgot to ask

[Aus Traveller]

13 minutes ago, LaRoLarRo said:

 

Do you know if this is this absolutely 100% ? I too worry about the idea of missing the ship.

 

We are very careful but stuff happens, say for example some injury or medical issue happens on shore?

Thank you all once again for taking the time to help us all out 

 

One more thing, for those of us who are not from the USA maybe we do need our passports?

 

No. Not unless you are advised on the ship that you must take your passport ashore. There are only few ports where I can recall that we have had that occur. At the moment I can only remember it happening in St Petersburg and South Korea.

[LaRoLarRo]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

No. Not unless you are advised on the ship that you must take your passport ashore. There are only few ports where I can recall that we have had that occur. At the moment I can only remember it happening in St Petersburg and South Korea.

 

Sorry I am a bit confused, I was referring to the comment

 

"The ship staff will find your passport in your cabin whether it is in the safe or not and turn it over to the port agent before departure"

 

In the unlucky event that we miss the ship and need to fly to the next port

Thanks for your willingness to help though

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, LaRoLarRo said:

 

Sorry I am a bit confused, I was referring to the comment

 

"The ship staff will find your passport in your cabin whether it is in the safe or not and turn it over to the port agent before departure"

 

In the unlucky event that we miss the ship and need to fly to the next port

Thanks for your willingness to help though

Sorry - I was just responding to your last sentence in the previous post. 😊 It doesn't make any difference which passport you carry. In the unlikely (and very unlucky) event that you miss the ship and have to fly to the next port, security staff will open your safe and look for your passport and credit cards. This will be given to the Port Agent in a sealed envelope with your name on. I saw one episode of "Mighty Ships" where passengers just made it back on board after the ship waited as long as they could. They were greeted by the Head of Security who made a comment about them being very lucky to catch the ship. He gave them their envelopes. Usually the ship will wait a short while (depending on how long they need to get to the next port and whether the Harbour Master directs them to sail), but of course you cannot expect that.

[LaRoLarRo]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Sorry - I was just responding to your last sentence in the previous post. 😊 It doesn't make any difference which passport you carry. In the unlikely (and very unlucky) event that you miss the ship and have to fly to the next port, security staff will open your safe and look for your passport and credit cards. This will be given to the Port Agent in a sealed envelope with your name on. I saw one episode of "Mighty Ships" where passengers just made it back on board after the ship waited as long as they could. They were greeted by the Head of Security who made a comment about them being very lucky to catch the ship. He gave them their envelopes. Usually the ship will wait a short while (depending on how long they need to get to the next port and whether the Harbour Master directs them to sail), but of course you cannot expect that.

Thank you so much for your explanation. The 4 of us have been debating the benefits vs the risks of taking our passports with us ashore. I think with the knowledge that they will indeed leave our passports and credit cards for us makes our decision a whole lot easier.

We have no intention of missing the ship by  the way. But we are the type that worry a bit about the unexpected.

Thanks again and take care

[Colo Cruiser]

7 hours ago, LaRoLarRo said:

 

Do you know if this is this absolutely 100% ? I too worry about the idea of missing the ship.

Yes. At least this is the way it is set up to work.

[AF-1]

Is someone misses the ship; the captain will have security go into stateroom to see if the passports are there. If they are; they will give them to pilot boat; and the pilot boat will deliver to the port agent for the passenger or passengers.   the port agent and passenger  will to try and meet up with the ship at next port

Edited March 24, 2019 by AF-1

[Colo Cruiser]

4 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Is someone misses the ship; the captain will have security go into stateroom to see if the passports are there. If they are; they will give them to pilot boat; and the pilot boat will deliver to the port agent for the passenger or passengers.   the port agent and passenger  will to try and meet up with the ship at next port

They will be given to the port agent before the ship leaves the pier.

[AF-1]

Yup, one way or the other; they will be given somehow to the port agent.  Thanks and have a nice day

Edited March 24, 2019 by AF-1