Passports surrendered upon boarding Silhouette June 11

[WeBcruisingMN]

I know there was a thread a few weeks back about whether you were ever REQUIRED to surrender your passport to Celebrity, but just wanted to post that we were required to surrender our passports today upon check-in on the Silhouette.
 

Today is June 11, and the letter we were given said that Cork, Ireland (June 13) requires the processing of all passports, so this would make it efficient and we will ne able to retrieve our passports on the afternoon of June 14, from 4-6 pm (that port is Waterford, Ireland). We had no choice in the matter.
 

My husband’s account was all messed up (even though we are elite and this is our 17th Celebrity cruise) and when boarding- he had to show I.D. so thankfully  he had his state driver’s license- since our passports were taken from us. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by WeBcruisingMN

[gold1953]

Same procedure for those ports in 2019. Irish customs boarded and processed all of us before we reached land. It went smoothly. We got ours ahead of schedule as we walked by where they were set up and no one was waiting.

Being Elite only gets us listed perks. Not having your account messed up isn't on the list..

[Jim_Iain]

We have been required to surrender our passports a number of times to facilitate immigration  processing.   I recall that on our cruise from Singapore to Rome we surrendered them but on a few occasions we received them back for  in-person processing. If I recall it was for arrival at first port into India.    You returned them back to Celebrity at completion of in-person processing.   All other ports they were stamped with no personal appearance. 

 

The put a sticker on the back of each passport with Name and Stateroom number and were returned to us near the end of the cruise.

 

 

[Mark_T]

Same deal when cruising from Hong Kong down to Singapore via Vietnam and Thailand with Celebrity.

 

Also when traveling with Viking in China and Cambodia.

 

It really isn't all that uncommon.

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Strange this is still commented about.  Cruises out of or porting in many countries collect passports to facilitate immigration rules.  

While a bit picky, you are not surrendering your passport as it is returned to you.  They interestingly in my experiences (Montenegro, Greece, Falkland Islands) the immigration staff from the countries came on board the ship.  The passports never left the office where they were secured.

[Ferry_Watcher]

For Alaska bound cruises out of Seattle, check-in agents collect foreign passport from passengers from certain countries like India, China, Brazil, South Africa (and many others) who must have a Canadian Visa.  Canadian officials check these foreign passport in Victoria, BC,  and then those passengers are able to go to Guest Services and retrieve them.

Very common practice.

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, WeBcruisingMN said:

I know there was a thread a few weeks back about whether you were ever REQUIRED to surrender your passport to Celebrity, but just wanted to post that we were required to surrender our passports today upon check-in on the Silhouette.
 

Today is June 11, and the letter we were given said that Cork, Ireland (June 13) requires the processing of all passports, so this would make it efficient and we will ne able to retrieve our passports on the afternoon of June 14, from 4-6 pm (that port is Waterford, Ireland). We had no choice in the matter.
 

My husband’s account was all messed up (even though we are elite and this is our 17th Celebrity cruise) and when boarding- he had to show I.D. so thankfully  he had his state driver’s license- since our passports were taken from us. 

 

Hi Sharon,

 

We had to hand over our passports when we checked in for our Infinity cruise at Valparaiso, Chile and got them back before we left the ship at Buenos Aires. 

 

I know there were immigration officials (Argentina?) that were stamping the passports in the ships conference room during our sailing. 

 

I hope you and your husband enjoyed the cruise and that your kids are doing well. 

 

David

[C-Dragons]

The same process of X collecting passports happens when you cruise to Russia.

Nothing unusual… unless you miss the ship's departure as two passengers did on one of our cruises. Their passports, and luggage, were turned over to the local authorities since they had to find their own way back to the US.

[Mark_T]

9 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

The same process of X collecting passports happens when you cruise to Russia.

Nothing unusual… unless you miss the ship's departure as two passengers did on one of our cruises. Their passports, and luggage, were turned over to the local authorities since they had to find their own way back to the US.

That is pretty much SOP in most ports as it is rarely recommended or required to carry your passport ashore (there are a few exceptions) so you occasionally see the local Agent standing on the dock with the contents of the missing guest's room safe in a brown paper bag waiting for them. At least they didn't get their papers handed over to the authorities though.

 

Never happened to us, but seen it twice in the Caribbean, guess it is all too easy to fall asleep on the beach 🙂

 

Oddly, one of the exceptions for us was Russia where we did have to carry our own passports and clear passport control at the dock individually, but that wasn't with Celebrity.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Mark_T

[CalTexCruiser]

Has a cruise ship ever lost a collected passport?  Out of up to 3,000 passports collected, I can't imagine that they have never misplaced a passport.

 

And if so, what happens to the passenger of said lost passport?

 

[Charles4515]

28 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

Has a cruise ship ever lost a collected passport?  Out of up to 3,000 passports collected, I can't imagine that they have never misplaced a passport.

 

And if so, what happens to the passenger of said lost passport?

 

 

They can't get off the ship. They cruise forever..........

 

Seriously if they are outside the US they will have to visit a US Embassy or consulate and apply for an emergency passport. Passports do get lost or stolen so that is what happens. I carry a copy of my passport to facilitate the process of getting an emergency passport  in the unlikely event  something happens to my passport. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Charles4515

[2inTul]

In the before time (via the way-back-machine) one used to be required to surrender your passport at most European hotels for the duration of your stay.  This used to be a very common practice.  Personally I've only been required to give up my passport in South America and the Mediterranean with stops in Turkey and Egypt.  In Egypt we were required to carry our passports with us onshore on an overnight tour. 

[goofysmom99]

With cell phones now, simply take a picture of your passport and leave it on your phone (may automatically store in the cloud, too).  It's quick access for the Consulate if your passport is stolen. 

[neverlaysup]

I feel as if I have surrendered my passport of most cruises ending in another country. For our last TA, we handed them over. We two weeks on Windstar out of St. Maarten a couple of months ago and had to surrender them as well.

[WeBcruisingMN]

Thanks for all the extra examples of surrendering passports while on a cruise (and @Arizona Wildcat- sorry the use of the word ‘surrender’ didn’t quite depict what happens, I am on vacation and didn’t feel like spending too much time thinking of a different verb 😉).

 

I mostly posted this because a few weeks past, there was a thread where some people said “I would NEVER surrender my passport while on a cruise. They couldn’t make me.” So, just thought I would post a recent example where- YES, you DO need to surrender your passport.

 

Meanwhile- I will get back to enjoying my time on the Silhouette in 67° sunny weather in St. Peter Port, Guernsey Island today. Have a great day, everyone! 😀

[mickeysgal]

22 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

The same process of X collecting passports happens when you cruise to Russia.

Nothing unusual… unless you miss the ship's departure as two passengers did on one of our cruises. Their passports, and luggage, were turned over to the local authorities since they had to find their own way back to the US.

When we sailed with celebrity to Russia,  X didn’t collect our passports- we kept them with us the whole time as we had to go through customs to and from the ship each time. 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, mickeysgal said:

When we sailed with celebrity to Russia,  X didn’t collect our passports- we kept them with us the whole time as we had to go through customs to and from the ship each time. 

Yes. Russia requires you to bring your passport. The only cruise I have taken my passport off the ship. 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Charles4515