On shore passports?

[newbie2468]

Do you have to carry your passports onshore to the Islands in the Southern Caribbean?? (i.e. Barbadoes,St. Lucia,St. John,St. Thomas and St. Martin) or can you leave them on the ship. It makes me nervous to carry them on a snorkeling trip,etc.. what is recommended?

 

Thanks

[chrysalis]

I personally leave them in the safe in the cabin and carry a photocopy with me....and then hope I am not late getting back to the ship if going on a non-cruiseline excursion.

[MaryPoppinz]

We take ours with us if we go much beyond the port city (which we normally always do.) But, I wouldn't bother in St. Thomas.

[ED49404]

Have gone on a couple of cruises in the south. The ports we visited didn't reqiure any passports. We always carry a copy of them with when we travel - if in doubt I'll carry the copies with us when we go ashore. During our five cruises we never had to use them, other than at the airports and getting on board the ship.

[duckman715]

Do you have to carry your passports onshore to the Islands in the Southern Caribbean?? (i.e. Barbadoes,St. Lucia,St. John,St. Thomas and St. Martin) or can you leave them on the ship. It makes me nervous to carry them on a snorkeling trip,etc.. what is recommended?

 

Thanks

Passports should not be needed once on shore. I take mine with me in case there is some sort of emergency (taxi wreck etc) where insurance could require it or I could be delayed returning to the ship.

I also carry a copy of my travel insurance and the location/phone of the cruise line representative for the same reasons.

Unless you are in a US territory such as St. Thomas a photo-copy of your passport may not be sufficient to get you out of the country in time to meet the ship at next port should you happen to miss it.

Water tight wallets & similar carry-alls are available if you are going snorkeling. Don't take the passport into the water, this is just for ancillary protection.