Passport for Martinique

[Bookbug53]

 

Didn't see this elsewhere and apologize in advance if already posted. 

 

Per John Heald:

 

"Officials in Martinique have informed us that all cruise visitors to the island must have a valid passport in order to go ashore. This requirement will be strictly enforced by local authorities. If you do not already have a passport, we encourage you to obtain one before your voyage."

[Host Carolyn]

Where was it posted? 

 

I checked State Dept website and Americans and Canadians are required to have a valid passport to enter Martinique. 

[Bookbug53]

5 minutes ago, Host Carolyn said:

Where was it posted? 

 

I checked State Dept website and Americans and Canadians are required to have a valid passport to enter Martinique. 

John Heald's page. And that is what it said. Passports are needed by cruise passengers to go ashore. 

Citizens of the USA and Canada have not always needed a passport. This is a fairly recent change

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Bookbug53

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, Bookbug53 said:

John Heald's page. And that is what it said. Passports are needed by cruise passengers to go ashore. 

Citizens of the USA and Canada have not always needed a passport. This is a fairly recent change

 

I was on a cruise three years ago that stopped in Martinique. A passport was required at that time for anyone going ashore.

 

I was, however, on a different cruise line that required all passengers to have passports so it was not an issue. 

[coevan]

I have not seen many or any ships that port in the beautiful of Martinique. we stopped on Costa, which is more European than American guests. This is probably why Carnival does not sail there often, the need for passports

[shof515]

here is the letter being sent to all guest on the effected sailing

[emilysmom97]

8 hours ago, Homosassa said:

I was on a cruise three years ago that stopped in Martinique. A passport was required at that time for anyone going ashore.

 

I was, however, on a different cruise line that required all passengers to have passports so it was not an issue. 

I wonder if it's only a Martinique requirement? 

Edited September 29, 2019 by emilysmom97

[emilysmom97]

Many cruise lines say to use your passport when debarking at ports but I've never found this to be so. Only on the first and final stops. 

 

[emilysmom97]

1 minute ago, emilysmom97 said:

I got off in Martinique last month and no passport was needed. 

 

[CoolOne56]

I believe when we went to Martinique in 2004, we needed a passport. That's when me & my mother got our first passports.

 

[emilysmom97]

Personally, I think this is a rumor that has taken off. If you're on a closed-loop cruise (leaving at the same port and returning at the same port) I don't think you need to worry. I'm one of those lazy people who has never gotten my passport. Last month (Sept 2019) I went St. Lucia, St. Maartan, St. Kitts, etc. Just got off the ship using only our key cards. 

 

[emilysmom97]

Our cruise did not stop in Martinique. I wonder if that's why....they are strict!

[emilysmom97]

https://us.martinique.org/martinique-french-port-call-caribbean

 

[emilysmom97]

[CoolOne56]

https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/caribbean/martinique/passport-visa/

[Illbcruzn4life]

24 minutes ago, emilysmom97 said:

Personally, I think this is a rumor that has taken off. If you're on a closed-loop cruise (leaving at the same port and returning at the same port) I don't think you need to worry. I'm one of those lazy people who has never gotten my passport. Last month (Sept 2019) I went St. Lucia, St. Maartan, St. Kitts, etc. Just got off the ship using only our key cards. 

 

 

A rumor? Someone posted a letter from John Heald earlier in the thread. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

24 minutes ago, emilysmom97 said:

Our cruise did not stop in Martinique. I wonder if that's why....they are strict!

 

was your ship scheduled to stop in Martinique?

[Illbcruzn4life]

35 minutes ago, emilysmom97 said:

I wonder if it's only a Martinique requirement? 

 

I think if there were other islands involved John would have posted that also.

[Honolulu Blue]

12 hours ago, shof515 said:

here is the letter being sent to all guest on the effected sailing

 

Thanks for sharing that, and thanks OP for bring it to our attention.  I had a stop in Martinique on a Carnival cruise about four years ago.  No passport was required to get off then.  This does seem to be new.  I'm sure they have their reasons; I wonder what they could be. 

[Homosassa]

8 hours ago, emilysmom97 said:

Personally, I think this is a rumor that has taken off. If you're on a closed-loop cruise (leaving at the same port and returning at the same port) I don't think you need to worry. I'm one of those lazy people who has never gotten my passport. Last month (Sept 2019) I went St. Lucia, St. Maartan, St. Kitts, etc. Just got off the ship using only our key cards. 

 

A common misconception. The idea that a birth certificate and ID is all that one needs on a closed loop cruise refers to what one needs to re- enter the US. 

 

However, while most nations in the Caribbean do not require a passport  for tourists doing a port call on a cruise ship, there can be some that do require passengers to have a passport.  Ports of call in South America (think Cartagena, Columbia for some Caribbean cruises) also  require passports.

 

Why many don't know this is simply because some cruise lines prefer the KISS approach and simply do not call in the areas that require passports.

 

For cruise lines that do make these ports of calls, a passport will be required to cruise.  The cruiseline (ship) will have the information about each passengers passport (provided at check in and, in my experiences with itineraries that require a passport, will be part of the reservation process as a yes to having a passport or the plans to obtain one).

 

This information is provided at each port to the immigration authority before the ship is cleared to debark passengers. No need to for the passengers to individually clear immigration.

 

For ports that might require an entrance stamp, the ship will collect the passports and present them to the immigration officers.  As this often occurs in the wee hours of the morning, those passengers who have refused to give up their passports will be expected to present themselves and their passports in the single digit hours of the morning to be cleared.

 

As far as Martinique goes, I don't know how "new" this requirement is.  A passport was definitely required three years ago. This might just be a "new" concept for Carnival cruisers. Also, read the letter sent to the people booked on the cruise that is posted. It simple says that they have been informed that a passport is required, not that the requirement is new.

 

My bet would be is that somehow Carnival Corp realized that passengers has missed the information that a passport was required (or ignored it because of the closed loop requirements that say a birth certificate and ID is adequate to re enter the US and ASSumed it applied to all the sovereign nations on the itinerary), or realized that the requirement was not included in the booking information,  and needed to send out the notification.  

 

Let the posts begin in response to this post that start out, "I have been on "X" number of cruises and have never needed a passport...."

 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

However, while most nations in the Caribbean do not require a passport  for tourists doing a port call on a cruise ship, there can be some that do require passengers to have a passport.  Ports of call in South America (think Cartagena, Columbia for some Caribbean cruises) also  require passports.

 

I went to Cartagena about 2 1/2 years ago on a Carnival cruise.  No one from Colombia checked my passport when I got off the ship (good, because I didn't bring it).  No one from Colombia shamed me for not bringing a passport when I returned to the ship.  No one from Carnival warned me that I needed a passport to get off the ship there.  This was not a closed-loop cruise, so I assume all the passengers had passports.  I had mine, in my cabin's safe.  But no one asked me for my passport when I was there.  I'll be heading there in a few weeks, so let's see if anything changed in the intervening years.

 

Looping back to Martinique, what seems to be different now is that the passport requirement there "will be strictly enforced by local authorities".  To me that means they're going to do one of three things: 

 

1) The ship will collect the passports and give them to immigration, as you mentioned

2) Immigration will be present at the port and check for passports of each person who gets off, as you mentioned, or

3) Random ID checks done all over the island

 

They did none of those things when I was last in Martinique, and it will be interesting (at least to me) what they do this time around.

[nbrgirl]

We cruised to Martinique with Royal in Oct 2017 and a passport was not required then. We do travel with one but it remained in the safe and we never needed them to go ashore at any ports. My guess is the requirements have changed recently.

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I went to Cartagena about 2 1/2 years ago on a Carnival cruise.  No one from Colombia checked my passport when I got off the ship (good, because I didn't bring it).  No one from Colombia shamed me for not bringing a passport when I returned to the ship.  No one from Carnival warned me that I needed a passport to get off the ship there.  This was not a closed-loop cruise, so I assume all the passengers had passports.  I had mine, in my cabin's safe.  But no one asked me for my passport when I was there.  I'll be heading there in a few weeks, so let's see if anything changed in the intervening years.

 

Looping back to Martinique, what seems to be different now is that the passport requirement there "will be strictly enforced by local authorities".  To me that means they're going to do one of three things: 

 

1) The ship will collect the passports and give them to immigration, as you mentioned

2) Immigration will be present at the port and check for passports of each person who gets off, as you mentioned, or

3) Random ID checks done all over the island

 

They did none of those things when I was last in Martinique, and it will be interesting (at least to me) what they do this time around.

Did you bother to read my entire post where I talked about the fact that passport information has been provided to the ship and that information is provided to the immigration officials prior the ship being  cleared for debarkation which means the individual passenger does not have to have the passport presented to immigration before leaving the ship. I wrote:

 

"This information is provided at each port to the immigration authority before the ship is cleared to debark passengers. No need to for the passengers to individually clear immigration."

 

This was the procedure used during my cruise to Martinique, a 48 hour port call at St. Barts,  and port calls at Cartagena.

[coevan]

19 hours ago, shof515 said:

here is the letter being sent to all guest on the effected sailing

 

 

This is not a rumor

[Honolulu Blue]

57 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Did you bother to read my entire post where I talked about the fact that passport information has been provided to the ship and that information is provided to the immigration officials prior the ship being  cleared for debarkation which means the individual passenger does not have to have the passport presented to immigration before leaving the ship. I wrote:

 

"This information is provided at each port to the immigration authority before the ship is cleared to debark passengers. No need to for the passengers to individually clear immigration."

 

This was the procedure used during my cruise to Martinique, a 48 hour port call at St. Barts,  and port calls at Cartagena.

 

I read it.  So, the ship provides info on who's on the ship - including their passport #s - to the port immigration authorities, and they decide to clear the ship to stay in dock and its passengers to leave the ship in port.  I kind of blew it off because I assumed that EVERY port does this for incoming ships/passengers, to some degree.  It's part of the "paperwork" that the CD sometimes mentions they're working on between the time we arrive and the time we can leave the ship. Some places obviously care more about these things than others.

 

What Martinique wants to do now sounds like they want to scrutinize everyone closer than they have in the past, which is why Carnival wrote the note to its passengers.