Missing ship in a foreign port with no passport

[SRF]

9 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Yes, always have a valid passport available. However, that does not mean to have it on your person at all times if not required by local law. Since the cruise lines will hand over your passport to the shore agent if you miss the ship, it will be available from that agent after the ship has sailed away. Always keep it in the room safe so security staff will retrieve it and hand it over to the agent. 

 

There will be one person on this thread who will insist that this simple customer service courtesy is not guaranteed. And yes, as in everything in life, nothing is absolutely guaranteed. Neither is it guaranteed that you will always have it if you keep on your person. It can be lost, stolen, taken during a robbery, misplaced in an emergency room, etc. Not guaranteed either way.  

 

We hear of many, many more incidents of a person losing control of their passport while carrying it than of cruise ship staff not retrieving passports as they promised. 

 

Interesting that you will admit that they may not get your your passport, but you insist on saying they WILL do so.

 

Why not just say they may or that they will most likely do so????????

 

Hmm, where are these "many, many more incidents" documented?   I have not seen many at all.

 

But, as has been said by several people on this site, many tourists are clueless about managing their belongings when traveling.  It is like they remove their brains when they leave their home.

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, capriccio said:

 I absolutely agree with you.  We always travel with a passport that is left in our safe (unless the port/country insist that it be on your person) and a copy that is on our person.  If we miss the ship I am hoping - based on everything I've read - that the passport would be handed over to the port agent.  Unfortunately for the cruiser whose story I mentioned, he didn't have a valid passport on the ship.

He didn't have a valid passport at all, although he did bring his expired one with him.

[capriccio]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

He didn't have a valid passport at all, although he did bring his expired one with him.

 

Correct so there wasn't a valid passport to leave with the port agent and that added the extra time and hassle necessary for getting a valid passport to his stay in Nassau.

[sparks1093]

2 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

Correct so there wasn't a valid passport to leave with the port agent and that added the extra time and hassle necessary for getting a valid passport to his stay in Nassau.

He got an appointment the next day at the Embassy, walked out in an hour and a half with a passport. He had decided to book a flight for the following day in an over abundance of caution, but he could have booked a flight for the day he got his passport if he had chosen to (as I recall he had an appointment for early in the morning). We all will have our own take aways from the story. I personally didn't see that much extra time and hassle involved for what amounts to a situation that could have been avoided in the first place (lesson learned- have a plan in place if your group gets split up).

[capriccio]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

He got an appointment the next day at the Embassy, walked out in an hour and a half with a passport. He had decided to book a flight for the following day in an over abundance of caution, but he could have booked a flight for the day he got his passport if he had chosen to (as I recall he had an appointment for early in the morning). We all will have our own take aways from the story. I personally didn't see that much extra time and hassle involved for what amounts to a situation that could have been avoided in the first place (lesson learned- have a plan in place if your group gets split up).

 

As a caution to cruisers throughout the world - there will not always be an embassy or full service consulate at every port!  The story teller was extremely lucky that he missed the ship in a port with an embassy and that the following day was not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday when it would have been closed.  Multiply the hassle, distance, and the embassy/consulate schedule factors by the number of miles needed to travel to get there and decide if it is worthwhile not to have a valid passport. 

[SantaFeFan]

7 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Interesting that you will admit that they may not get your your passport, but you insist on saying they WILL do so.

 

Why not just say they may or that they will most likely do so????????

 

Hmm, where are these "many, many more incidents" documented?   I have not seen many at all.

 

But, as has been said by several people on this site, many tourists are clueless about managing their belongings when traveling.  It is like they remove their brains when they leave their home.

 

And right on queue, here is one of those "no guarantee" people pushing his fear mongering. At least I have the decency to admit that nothing in life is guaranteed, unlike you "must have passport at all times" people who are so positive that they will never lose control of their passport that they insult the rest of us who don't - just as you have done with your "clueless" comment. 

 

Just because something cannot be guaranteed doesn't mean that the worst may happen. It isn't guaranteed that my home won't burn down, but I leave it unattended when I travel (or go to work, or shopping, or to visit friends) expecting that it will not even though no one is constantly checking for the beginning of a fire every minute - just as you do. It isn't guaranteed that the plane I fly on to get to the cruise won't suffer a mechanical failure and crash, but I still fly several times each year expecting that the manufacturer, the maintenance crew, and the pilots will all perform as they are expected to - just as you do. I treat the cruise staff with the same confidence that they will perform appropriately in regard to what they promise they will do if I miss the ship - just like I have confidence that they will handle the ship and my being on it safely, that they will prepare my meals safely, that they will enter to clean my room without stealing my belongings.

 

To live constantly worried about there being no guarantees in life is living in fear. I prefer not to be so paranoid that I can't relax on my vacations. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by SantaFeFan

[sparks1093]

22 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

As a caution to cruisers throughout the world - there will not always be an embassy or full service consulate at every port!  The story teller was extremely lucky that he missed the ship in a port with an embassy and that the following day was not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday when it would have been closed.  Multiply the hassle, distance, and the embassy/consulate schedule factors by the number of miles needed to travel to get there and decide if it is worthwhile not to have a valid passport. 

Keep in mind that he needed to catch up the ship and that too makes a difference. If you are in a port without an embassy/consulate you would have to fly back to the US after being cleared to do so. Where you are on your itinerary is a consideration, but most 7 day or less cruises are leaving home port or at sea on weekends (note, I said "most", not "all"). Holidays can be a little more likely but the State Department does have emergency services available, if your situation actually qualifies as an emergency (and for the person in question I doubt that it would have qualified). Each traveler has to figure out what documentation works best for them based on their personal risk factors and their personal travel plans. 

[cruisemom42]

Just a few posts from a recent Celebrity topic of conversation:

 

9 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

At 3 PM, as the ship prepared to sail, my wife and I went down to the port side of Deck 4 so we’d have a good view of the sail past Old Quebec. We heard a shipwide announcement asking two passengers to report to Guest Services. We were standing over the gangway on Deck 3, where several officers and the port agent were on their cell phones, quite animated. The longshoremen were waiting to pull up the gangway. After some minutes, we could hear one officer say to the others “the Captain wants to leave.”  

 

More cell phone calls, and then an officer appeared with two American passports that he handed over to the port agent.  The agent walked off the gangway, still on his phone. He came back shortly after, and it sounded like he told the officers “they are at the Chateau” (presumably the Chateau Frontenac). This was some distance from the ship, and everyone on the gangway looked pretty disturbed. More waiting and phone calls. 

 

Somehow, a bus must have been arranged for the stragglers, as a few minutes before 3:30 PM, a big bus pulled up with just the two of them on it. They were quickly hustled on board, and the gangway was pulled. One of the longshoremen looked up at us and said that had it been five minutes later, the Captain would have sailed.

 

2 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

We had latecomers in St Kitts in March this year. Their passports and what looked like a wallet were handed over to the port agent and the gangway was removed. Just then they appeared running up the pier to much whistling and jeering from our ship the Silhouette and a P and O ship docked next to us. They just made it by the skin of their teeth! 

 

28 minutes ago, hcat said:

There were 15 that were left behind in St Maarten... heavy traffic, poor planning.etc  Port agent got their stuff  and passports, wallets etc, and  from there they were on their own.

 

 

 

[sloopsailor]

22 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Just a few posts from a recent Celebrity topic of conversation:

 

That can't be right! A couple of very persistent posters insist that what is being described isn't guaranteed!!! Must be some trickery or slight at hand going on. Fake news!!! 😁

[Luisrengifo]

Nossa isso é muito triste pois o PASSAPORTE é muito impontante para os TRIPULANTES, e os Documentos para viajar de cruzeiro é essencial. 

 

[evandbob]

Not cruising news, but this happened to a pilot of a commercial airliner: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/big-mistake-from-pilot-delays-flight-for-11-hours/news-story/84b5194611f35847efe89b11305a148c

 

How'd you like to be a passenger on his plane?

[Elaine5715]

11 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

As a caution to cruisers throughout the world - there will not always be an embassy or full service consulate at every port!  The story teller was extremely lucky that he missed the ship in a port with an embassy and that the following day was not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday when it would have been closed.  Multiply the hassle, distance, and the embassy/consulate schedule factors by the number of miles needed to travel to get there and decide if it is worthwhile not to have a valid passport. 

Ah, but there are posters who insist that someone will help and you just need to explain your situation and the airline will let you hop onboard a plane without a passport.

[SRF]

17 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

And right on queue, here is one of those "no guarantee" people pushing his fear mongering. At least I have the decency to admit that nothing in life is guaranteed, unlike you "must have passport at all times" people who are so positive that they will never lose control of their passport that they insult the rest of us who don't - just as you have done with your "clueless" comment. 

 

To live constantly worried about there being no guarantees in life is living in fear. I prefer not to be so paranoid that I can't relax on my vacations. 

 

Putting words in my mouth.

 

If you don't want to have a passport, then don't.

 

My point is, you keep saying they WILL give your passport to the port agent.  Then contradict yourself by saying nothing is guaranteed.

 

But who is fear mongering when you point out MANY, MANY more reports of lost or stolen passports?  But has yet to point to these MANY, MANY reports.  And you state that your passport WILL be given to the port agent?

 

And having watching many tourists around the world, and even in Washington, DC where I transit twice every working day, and used to work in, many tourists ARE clueless.  Never looking around.  Open bags and backpacks.  Standing in a circle looking at a map or phone, with bags to the outside.  And BTW, to be clear, I never said that ALL tourists are clueless, just that MANY are.  And many of those clueless ones, are the ones that get things stolen.  And no, they are not the only ones who have things stolen.

 

I prefer to give factual information, and allow people to make up their own minds.   There are valid arguments on both sides.  And no single answer is correct for everyone.

 

 

[SRF]

8 hours ago, sloopsailor said:

 

That can't be right! A couple of very persistent posters insist that what is being described isn't guaranteed!!! Must be some trickery or slight at hand going on. Fake news!!! 😁

 

Isn't guaranteed does not mean it will not happen.  It means it may not happen.  Or it may happen.

 

No one has every said it will not happen.  But some people insist it WILL happen every time.

 

Which is not so.  As explained here on CC by a retired Captain, who did Captain cruise ships.

Edited September 18, 2019 by SRF

[sparks1093]

9 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Ah, but there are posters who insist that someone will help and you just need to explain your situation and the airline will let you hop onboard a plane without a passport.

Someone will help you. 

[ilikeanswers]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Someone will help you. 

 

Reading Klfhngr's story it sounds like you are on your own if you miss the ship. Klfhngr got lucky that the port authority where he was helped him out to such an extent but it does seem like the port authority employee did it out of good will not because he was obligated as part of his job. If that employee hadn't been so kind and decided it was not his problem then Klfhngr would have been all on his own trying to figure out to rejoin the ship, where the embassy was and how to obtain everything needed to get a passport. According to Klfhngr's story the port was deserted after the ship left, if you don't know the numbers to call how would you get transport into the city? He was also lucky to have got stuck in an English speaking country, the degree of difficulty increases when you don't know the language. I have read a few threads about missing the ship and commenters seem insistant that someone will be there every step of the way to get you back on the ship but according to this man's experience the only help you may get is those willing to help you not anyone who is suppose to help you. Perhaps that is something people travelling sans passport need to consider is if they did miss the ship how comfortable would they be navigating a foreign city, procuring a passport and arranging flights to rejoin the ship.

[sparks1093]

2 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Reading Klfhngr's story it sounds like you are on your own if you miss the ship. Klfhngr got lucky that the port authority where he was helped him out to such an extent but it does seem like the port authority employee did it out of good will not because he was obligated as part of his job. If that employee hadn't been so kind and decided it was not his problem then Klfhngr would have been all on his own trying to figure out to rejoin the ship, where the embassy was and how to obtain everything needed to get a passport. According to Klfhngr's story the port was deserted after the ship left, if you don't know the numbers to call how would you get transport into the city? He was also lucky to have got stuck in an English speaking country, the degree of difficulty increases when you don't know the language. I have read a few threads about missing the ship and commenters seem insistant that someone will be there every step of the way to get you back on the ship but according to this man's experience the only help you may get is those willing to help you not anyone who is suppose to help you. Perhaps that is something people travelling sans passport need to consider is if they did miss the ship how comfortable would they be navigating a foreign city, procuring a passport and arranging flights to rejoin the ship.

It is exactly the port authority's job to assist passengers in this situation and it is the port authority you would turn to in order to obtain such assistance, particularly if you are in a port with no State Department presence.

[mom says]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

It is exactly the port authority's job to assist passengers in this situation and it is the port authority you would turn to in order to obtain such assistance, particularly if you are in a port with no State Department presence.

I don't believe the port authority ( the operators of the port) have any responsibility to assist stranded passengers. That duty falls to the cruise line's port agent. And their duties do not extend as far as the kindness extended to the man in that story. That agent went above and beyond his required level of care.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Someone will help you. 

You are absolutely right All you have to do is find the right Someone,  when it is not his day off, and convince him to help you, and then, of course, that “Someone will help you”.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, mom says said:

I don't believe the port authority ( the operators of the port) have any responsibility to assist stranded passengers. That duty falls to the cruise line's port agent. And their duties do not extend as far as the kindness extended to the man in that story. That agent went above and beyond his required level of care.

You are right, I used the term used by the PP and obviously it is the wrong term. Port agent is responsible for helping you.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

You are absolutely right All you have to do is find the right Someone,  when it is not his day off, and convince him to help you, and then, of course, that “Someone will help you”.

Yes, one should know whom to seek out in such instances. As I understand it the port agent's number is listed in most daily papers put out by the cruise lines.

[SantaFeFan]

6 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Isn't guaranteed does not mean it will not happen.  It means it may not happen.  Or it may happen.

 

No one has every said it will not happen.  But some people insist it WILL happen every time.

 

Which is not so.  

 

[ilikeanswers]

10 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

You are right, I used the term used by the PP and obviously it is the wrong term. Port agent is responsible for helping you.

 

I used the term Port Authority because that was term Klfhngr used. He didn't mention any port agent. Maybe he didn't know that was who he was suppose to contact? Though you would think the port authority would have informed him.

[ducklite]

On 8/2/2019 at 7:53 PM, SRF said:

 

Duh, that was the same trip.  So TSA could see that.

 

Try it a couple weeks later for another trip and see what happens. 😄

 

TSA has no idea if someone is on a r/t ticket or one way or whatever.  

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

I used the term Port Authority because that was term Klfhngr used. He didn't mention any port agent. Maybe he didn't know that was who he was suppose to contact? Though you would think the port authority would have informed him.

I think that he used port authority meaning port agent. Port agent is a person, port authority is an organization.