Passports revisited.

[Mosaic]

So there you are in a foreign county, the ship leaves without you (for whatever reason) and your passport is on the ship.  This question has always bothered me.  What "should" we do?  I especially find it awkward when the Ship confiscates all the passports for the entire sailing.  We take a photo copy on shore with us. Hmmmmm...

[3rdGenCunarder]

I don't carry my passport ashore unless a particular place on a tour wants to see passports for security reasons. 

 

I believe that the ship will get your passport out of your room safe and leave it with the port authorities, but I don't know if that's true. I do know that it's possible to get into a room safe without the combination you've entered. I had to ask for that in my FL hotel before my recent cruise. People before me locked the safe, even though it was empty, and I didn't know their combination.

[FlaMariner]

For that reason, we always take our passport with us when on foreign soil.  We even take our passports on HMC. 

 

On our most recent cruises in Europe, they no longer held our passports...but if they did, I'd take a copy...and then with the copy, head to the embassy/consulate if the unimaginable happened. 

[CruiserBruce]

There are varying times when passports are held by the ship. It is definitely not all the time.

[RuthC]

The ship will turn your passport over to the port authorities, as noted above. I have seen it happen when the ship was about to sail, and people had still not returned. I was watching from an outside deck. 
They did make it by the skin of their teeth. 

If the ship already has your passport, it's a lot easier for them than if it is somewhere in your cabin. 

[RD64]

Simple solution - make a photocopy and keep it with you.

[Torquer]

As opposed to what @FlaMariner said, we never take our passport off the ship in port unless required by that country.  We feel there is a much greater risk of having it lost or stolen than us not making it back to the ship.  We always carry paper copies of our passports along with scanned PDF files on our phones.  We also leave at least one credit card (with different numbers than the spouse's) in the safe in case our credit cards get stolen while we are in port.  Also, we always have HAL's emergency phone numbers with us, along with the phone number of the port authority so we can call if we are going to be late.  I have heard, but can't speak first hand, that the ship will get your passports, credit cards, and cash out of the safe and give it to the port authority if you don't return.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Torquer

[RMLincoln]

I carry my passport card ashore as my government ID. I leave my passport book, an extra credit card and my driver’s license in the room safe, along with essential medications. If I lose the passport card ashore, the copy of my passport on my phone and ship card will most likely get me back on the ship. 
If I miss the ship, I’m hopeful ship security will get my safe contents to the shore agent and to me. 

I need my driver’s license to get home from the port so I hate carrying it ashore. The passport card is not as essential to life for me. 

No system is perfect but I’m confident that with some help it will all work out. m—

 

[leck57]

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

As opposed to what @FlaMariner said, we never take our passport off the ship in port unless required by that country.  We feel there is a much greater risk of having it lost or stolen than us not making it back to the ship.  We always carry paper copies of our passports along with scanned PDF files on our phones.  We also leave at least one credit card (with different numbers than the spouse's) in the safe in case our credit cards get stolen while we are in port.  Also, we always have HAL's emergency phone numbers with us, along with the phone number of the port authority so we can call if we are going to be late.  I have heard, but can't speak first hand, that the ship will get your passports, credit cards, and cash out of the safe and give it to the port authority if you don't return.

 

I do exactly as you do. I think the risk of taking your passport on shore is madness. I've never been asked to show my passport on shore but I know a few people that have their passports stolen when on shore. 

[Ride-The-Waves]

12 hours ago, RMLincoln said:

I carry my passport card ashore as my government ID. I leave my passport book, an extra credit card and my driver’s license in the room safe, along with essential medications. If I lose the passport card ashore, the copy of my passport on my phone and ship card will most likely get me back on the ship. 
If I miss the ship, I’m hopeful ship security will get my safe contents to the shore agent and to me. 

I need my driver’s license to get home from the port so I hate carrying it ashore. The passport card is not as essential to life for me. 

No system is perfect but I’m confident that with some help it will all work out. m—

 

Last renewal we ordered both the passport book and the passport card.  Carry the passport card with us off the ship along with a credit card.  Passport card is the best deal going.  While it doesn't;t replace the book, it facilitates obtaining a new book at the local embassy.

[Torquer]

6 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Last renewal we ordered both the passport book and the passport card.  Carry the passport card with us off the ship along with a credit card.  Passport card is the best deal going.  While it doesn't;t replace the book, it facilitates obtaining a new book at the local embassy.

I'm not sure why you think the passport card has any value outside North America, where it is accepted in Canada, Mexico, and some Caribbean countries.  I don't know if an official in Europe or Asia would even know what it is and might think it is phony.  I think a drivers license is much more readily recognizable as ID.  Also, a passport card cannot be used for international air travel, even in North America so if the ship left without you, you would still have to go to a US embassy to get a passport (although as you say, it might help make it faster to get a replacement book).

[Mary229]

I don’t recall on my recent cruises but usually there is a phone number given on the daily for the port authority.  You should photograph that number.  Call that person and he/she will make arrangements with the cruise line.  
 

I keep a digital picture of my passport.  If I need to go to the consulate having the passport number and a photo will go a long way in the recovery process 

[3rdGenCunarder]

54 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I don’t recall on my recent cruises but usually there is a phone number given on the daily for the port authority.  You should photograph that number.  Call that person and he/she will make arrangements with the cruise line.  
 

I keep a digital picture of my passport.  If I need to go to the consulate having the passport number and a photo will go a long way in the recovery process 

 

Your post made me realize that I didn't take the port contact info ashore with me on my recent cruise. (I always used to, but I am so out of practice!!!) Then I looked at the programs. It wasn't there! I don't think it was on the Navigator app, either. It always used to be somewhere in the papers they gave out. Maybe it was on the shopping map, but I never keep them. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

Last night, as I was going through the pile of miscellaneous stuff I brought home, I looked again at my key card. HAL's emergency number is on it. I'm not sure how much good that would do me, as my phone plan doesn't always work in foreign ports. But you do have a way to contact HAL when you're ashore if you can get to a working phone.