Non US Citizens - Is Passport Held on Monarch?

[SuiteCruiser]

Hi folks,

 

I did do a search, but found some conflicting answers and thought it might vary by itinerary.

 

We will be on the Monarch in a GS, but I am not a US Citizen. I'm guessing our priority disembarkation will go out the window:) .

 

On previous (Carnival) cruises, my passport was taken at embarkation and held. On disembarkation, we had to meet in a lounge, get our passports back and disembark together.

 

On some lines it seems that people are given their passports back in their cabins the night before they disembark, and on other lines, their passports were never held.

 

What is the normal procedure for RCI and for the Monarch if it varies from ship to ship?

 

Thanks for your help!

[GlenandVal]

we were on the Monarch Feb 6 4 day cruise, they did not keep our Canadian passports we kept them this was a first for us

that made it easier when leaving

 

we re from B C canada enjoy your holiday

[MrsK]

When we went on the Monarch in November they did not keep our passports either.

 

It was a first for us too. We thought the girl at the check in had made a mistake. But apparently not.

 

It was very nice to be able to hang on to our own passports.

[Treven]

You need to go to "the right end of the horse" to get a valid answer. Ask the cruiseline company.

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

Hello Canadian Friends.

 

We have travelled Royal Caribbean alot and have always had our passports taken. They are however returned after the last port stop.

 

You shouldn't have any problem with priority disembarkation.

 

I am encouraged to see that they are now allowing us to keep our passports as evidenced by a couple of Majesty cruisers recently as this has always been a bone of contention with me.

 

I think it likely has to do with US passengers requiring a passport at the end of this year. I don't think they want the entire ships passports to handle for one thing and they should never have required it of us in the past. Our government tells us to surrender our passport to NO ONE yet the cruise line won't let you on the ship if you don't.

 

RCCL tries to pass it off as a convenience to us because port authorities come on and look at all the non US passports. That's a load of rubbish because on one back to back cruise we went on they took the passports from us when boarding and returned them to us at the end of the first week and never took them from us for the second week. It really was fun when they called our cabin about our passports at the end of week two to see if we had them because they thought they lost them:eek:

 

Another strange experience...it was with Carnival though was a four day cruise out of New York to Canada.....they took them from us for that cruise too and never took them from US citizens. Something about that doesn't add up either:confused:

 

Oh well, I just give them my passport....and enjoy:D

[SuiteCruiser]

Thanks everyone!

 

I'm very pleasantly surprised that we'll be able to keep the passports, and we'll be able to use our priority disembarkation as we have an "earlyish" flight out.

 

Treven, I would agree with you but RCI's customer service hasn't been very good. I've only had a couple of questions, and I've received conflicting answers from their CSRs.

 

I just checked and they finally changed the Monarch suites information page. It used to say that there was concierge service, which I thought was cool, until I asked on here about where the lounge was. That was how I found out there wasn't one. I called, and emailed RCI and told them it was false advertising. They have now changed the information. So some good came of it.

 

Again, thanks everyone for your input! It really is good news!

[Nyco]

In Dec 05 they took are passports

In feb 06 on 2 different cruises booth Rccl they did not retain are passports

Prev we have had them returned on the last nite or if we stopped in St. Thomas

[SuiteCruiser]

Cruisingfamily, I guess we were posting at the same time!

 

Nyco too...thanks for the info.

 

So, now I will assume (I know, I know!) that even if they DO take our passports, they will be returned the last night and that we don't have to do the lounge in the early AM thing, waiting for the last straggler to come in.

 

Leaving a cruise is always sad, but it is also so darned frustrating!

 

I really appreciate everyone's replies.

[ljpjr]

we leave on the Radiance this Sunday and I must admit I don't like the idea of them holding my passport.

[jaycor]

We were on the Mariner on Feb 12

We are canadian and our passports were taken as they always have been.

We always got them back the day we left the ship only with ID nad each person present.

the funny thing was this time we were told to pick them up between 3-5 pm on thurs -at one of the bar areas on the ship.

My husband picked them up for all 5 of us -and the cruise did not end till Sunday. Do not know why it was differant this time

[Baxters_DH]

We sailed on the rhapsody in February...Left on Sunday, gave up our passports and got them back on Tuesday before arriving in Key West.

 

We didn't find this too big of an issue, but different then what we've experienced with Princess. The only other experience we had with giving up our passports was in Cuba at an All-Inclusive.

 

We did enjoy the fact we didn't need any photo identification at any of the ports...made the port stops less stressful of digging for the passport and being afraid of losing it.

 

The story we were informed of was they do pre-screening of passengers...And it does seem to speed things up considerably.

[Stanley]

I've sailed on 3 other cruiselines and have never had to give up my passport. I had no idea that RCI took them from people and hopefully that custom is over.

 

What would happen if you miss the ship anywhere outside of the country you have a passport and the ship has your passport. You can't get to these places without a passport and in some cases your original birth certificate and another form of government issued identification. It could be even worse if this country/island didn't have an embassy from your country. How long do you think it would take until you could leave and go home or catch up with the ship? I saw it happen. A couple of summers ago we were on an 11 day cruise leaving from near Rome. That first day we found out from a group of women from the Bahamas that one of the women in their group was robbed in Rome the night before the sailing. They took a lot of money and her passport that was in the same bag along with her camera. She had to stay behind because she didn't have her passport. She finally joined up with the cruise on the 9th day. I can't even imagine this happening to us. I can't believe she even joined the ship. I would have just flown home. It was such a shame. Another awful thing was that no one stayed behind in Rome with her. She was alone for those 9 days.

 

If I am not on US or British territory then I will carry my passports with me in one of those soft waist pouches you wear under your shirt. I will contact RCI in the morning.

[AAGF]

I'm originally from Scotland and am Permanent Resident in the US with a "Green Card". Last week on the Sovereign, they kept the Green Card until the last night and let me keep my British Passport.