Does X take your passport?

[woodofpine]

I hate entrusting my passport to anyone. My U.S. Government badge :) although it could get you into fatally deep crap some places these days. :(

 

I don't remember handing it over on a Princess Med cruise 5 years ago... but I very well might have...

 

I've had to turn it over to hoteliers in the past (France and Switzerland come to mind) but not recently. With hoteliers, it always gave me the sinking feeling that I would encounter some charging rip off and then be disadvantaged in taking the high (fungula) road out... But, in fact, that has never happened... Come to think about it, I don't recollect turning my passport over to euro-hoteliers since they started accepting credit cards generally.

[sal7202]

This is all very interesting. We cruised on Century out of Barcelona last September. We had to show our passports, but not surrender them, when we boarded the ship. Our passports were stamped when our JFK to BCN flight landed in Barcelona, and again when we flew from BCN to JFK. When we checked into the hotel in Barcelona, they made a photo copy of our passports and gave them back to us. Other than that, they were in our possession the entire time.

[Karynanne]

We surrendured our passports onboard Mercury, this past Feb. during the New Zealand leg of our cruise. Immigration came onboard and met with each passenger, and the passports were returned.

[CoralReef]

tcocktail and CoralReef, I am thinking of taking a Eastern med cruise on the Galaxy, could you please let me know if you passports were stamped in Greece or Turkey?

 

Thanks.

 

No, they were not.

[hylasgirl]

We have been on 2 different Med cruises and have never had our passports collected. I know they collected some from other countries. I have never had to give my passport in any European hotel... never... only to check in.

 

Interesting what some cruises do...

[ChevyCruiser]

We surrendured our passports onboard Mercury, this past Feb. during the New Zealand leg of our cruise. Immigration came onboard and met with each passenger, and the passports were returned.

 

I wonder, since Immigration came on-board and met with everyone in person, why the cruise line collected them to begin with?

[TravelerThom]

In Dubrovnik , we were told we needed to carry our original passports with us at all time (requirement of that country) and in all other ports we just needed our seapasses and a photo i.d.

Two months ago [late April 2008] on the OAT MV Artemis I stopped at four ports in Croatia [split, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovik] before sailing on to Montenegro. My experience was different from the above posting - my passport was held by the ship the entire time, but they did give us a photo ID listing our Ship name, our birthdate and our passport number. For what it is worth: MV Artemis was built in Split, their operations office is in Dubrovnik, the deck officers were Croats BUT it is registered in Malta.

[cruising grandma]

I'm busy reading and enjoying everyone's posts as I prepare for my Med cruise on the Summit in July. I thought I read on another post [but as always, can't find right now] that X took your passports during embarkation. Is this true?

 

 

We were on the Summit 6/4/08 crusie from Barcelona to Venice, and our passports were never taken. We did show them as ID checking in on the ship and at the hotel in Venice. We took copies with us into all ports except one(I think Dubrovnik) where we were told to take the original. You are in for a wonderful cruise with fantastic crew and ports!!!! Wish we were going back!

[ChevyCruiser]

Found this on Celebrity's website:

 

Our Recommendation

Celebrity Cruises strongly recommends that all guests travel with a valid passport during their cruise. This greatly assists guests who may need to fly out of the United States to meet their ship at the next available port should they miss their scheduled embarkation in a U.S. port; guests entering the U.S. at the end of their cruise; and guests needing to fly to the U.S. before their cruise ends, because of medical, family, personal or business emergencies, missing a ship's departure from a port of call, involuntary disembarkation from a ship due to misconduct, or other reasons. Guests who need to fly to the United States before their cruise ends will likely experience significant delays and complications related to booking airline tickets and entering the United States if they do not have a valid U.S. passport with them.

[dkjretired]

The bottom line is that it is not Celebrity's call as to whether the passport is taken or not. The same holds true for all cruise lines.. It is up to the country's you are visiting and that is why there are so many different answers....

[ackieboy]

I was on the Constellation 5/17-5/31/08 to the Baltic, and although we needed to take our original passports off the ship with us at each port, they were not collected. I hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Dean

[kitty9]

I've even had my passport taken on cruises to Canada and Alaska. I hold a US passport, and I never had to take my passport with me in Croatia (three times)---the ship held them and no one said we needed them in Dubrovnik.

[ChevyCruiser]

Personally, I fail to see why I should ever have to hand over my passport to anyone else - a cruise line, a hotel, or whomever - to "hold" for me. It is a piece of essential identification used to identify the bearer as a citizen of the country of issue. I wouldn't hand over my social security card, drivers license, checkbook, cash, house keys, car title, credit card, AARP card, AAA card, or any other personal items or documents either.

 

Some have said that you should carry a copy of your passport on shore, but a copy of your passport is just as good as a copy of your driver's license, a photocopy of your cash, a copy of a credit card etc and if Murphy's law kicks in, would you rather find yourself left behind in port with copies or the real items?

[Napi's Mom]

Personally, I fail to see why I should ever have to hand over my passport to anyone else - a cruise line, a hotel, or whomever - to "hold" for me. It is a piece of essential identification used to identify the bearer as a citizen of the country of issue. I wouldn't hand over my social security card, drivers license, checkbook, cash, house keys, car title, credit card, AARP card, AAA card, or any other personal items or documents either.

 

Some have said that you should carry a copy of your passport on shore, but a copy of your passport is just as good as a copy of your driver's license, a photocopy of your cash, a copy of a credit card etc and if Murphy's law kicks in, would you rather find yourself left behind in port with copies or the real items?

I don't think you actually have a choice, it's best you contact either the State Dept. and ask...or your chosen ship...we had to surrender them in the Med. They do it so that the harbor people who come onboard when you dock...can very quickly check ALL the passports, before it's even time to leave the ship...otherwise it's stand in endless lines waiting for each person shows their passport, names are checked to see if you're on a list of non-welcome people, and stamp, check visas also if needed. These people board sometimes with the pilots. Hotels in some countries have demanded them for years I believe.

[florisdekort]

When cruising in Europe, they only collect passports if you visit a non-EU country that is willing to help expedite clearing customs by stamping all passports at once as opposed to having everybody go through Immigration individually.

 

The best example is Turkey... hence, if you cruise Galaxy to Turkey, your password will be collected. Summit only visits EU ports (on its 12 night itinerary), so no passports will be collected. When Summit starts calling at Kusadasi and Istanbul later this year, things will be different.

 

Constellation visits Russia, but Russia is not willing to help expedite the process and makes everybody go through Immigration individually, so no passports will be collected.

 

Floris

[Ardy53]

Personally, I fail to see why I should ever have to hand over my passport to anyone else - a cruise line, a hotel, or whomever - to "hold" for me. It is a piece of essential identification used to identify the bearer as a citizen of the country of issue. I wouldn't hand over my social security card, drivers license, checkbook, cash, house keys, car title, credit card, AARP card, AAA card, or any other personal items or documents either.

 

Aren't you essentially "handing over" your credit card when you check-in at a hotel or rent a car? It is a form of deposit.

 

When cruising in Europe, they only collect passports if you visit a non-EU country that is willing to help expedite clearing customs by stamping all passports at once as opposed to having everybody go through Immigration individually.

 

The best example is Turkey... hence, if you cruise Galaxy to Turkey, your password will be collected. Summit only visits EU ports (on its 12 night itinerary), so no passports will be collected.

 

Floris

 

To the best of my knowledge, Croatia is not a EU country either.

 

We had to obtain a Schengen Visa for our Italian entry and a separate Visa for Croatia, whether we planned to disembark there or not.

 

I also believe that some people will have their passports held by the ship and others may not, depending on whether a visa for any of the countries is required.

 

Roy

[librarycin]

Personally, I fail to see why I should ever have to hand over my passport to anyone else - a cruise line, a hotel, or whomever - to "hold" for me.

 

I agree - I don't like it at all - but if I want to cruise, I don't really have a choice. :( So, my passport gets handed over when they decide that's what I have to do (well, so far only once for me, but...). Although I must admit, if I had to wait in line with 2000 - 4000 other people :eek: to disembark at a port, I don't think I'd be overly thrilled either.

[dkjretired]

Personally, I fail to see why I should ever have to hand over my passport to anyone else - a cruise line, a hotel, or whomever - to "hold" for me. It is a piece of essential identification used to identify the bearer as a citizen of the country of issue. I wouldn't hand over my social security card, drivers license, checkbook, cash, house keys, car title, credit card, AARP card, AAA card, or any other personal items or documents either.

 

Some have said that you should carry a copy of your passport on shore, but a copy of your passport is just as good as a copy of your driver's license, a photocopy of your cash, a copy of a credit card etc and if Murphy's law kicks in, would you rather find yourself left behind in port with copies or the real items?

 

Because the country you have chosen to visit tells Celebrity to do so. If you don't, you either don't board the ship or don't get off the ship in that country. You have no choice...

[Napi's Mom]

 

We had to obtain a Schengen Visa for our Italian entry and a separate Visa for Croatia, whether we planned to disembark there or not.

 

Roy

Wondrring about this Italian Visa...we flew into Rome on our own air arrangements...listened to the airline spiel about going thru customs/immigration, needing these cards filled out, at Rome airport...and being rushed thru the terminal after collecting our bags to where our transfer was to be waiting...the guy in the booth just...waved us thru, didn't even look at ~let alone stamp our passport! So we never had any sort of visa (NOV '06) even mentioned to us. (Yes they collected our passports on Oceania)

[Ardy53]

US citizens (as well as Canadians and many others) do not require visa's for European Union countries (Schengen Visa) or in fact for most other European countries.

 

As a matter of interest, there are about 80 countries that US citizens DO require visa's for. Some examples are Egypt, Bolivia, Armenia, India, China, Angola, Russia to name a few.

 

Roy

[Napi's Mom]

US citizens (as well as Canadians and many others) do not require visa's for European Union countries (Schengen Visa) or in fact for most other European countries.

 

As a matter of interest, there are about 80 countries that US citizens DO require visa's for. Some examples are Egypt, Bolivia, Armenia, India, China, Angola, Russia to name a few.

 

Roy

We didn't need one in Egypt...if you're on a cruiseship you will return to, you get 3 days before you need a visa. Turkey we DID need one...and found out we need one in AUSTRALIA...was a surprise.:rolleyes:

[Ardy53]

We didn't need one in Egypt...if you're on a cruiseship you will return to' date=' you get 3 days before you need a visa. Turkey we DID need one...and found out we need one in AUSTRALIA...was a surprise.:rolleyes:[/quote']

 

Each country appears to have it's own rules about visa's for cruise passengers. After much searching for the correct answer, we eventually discovered that we would not be allowed to embark in Venice if we didn't have a visa for Croatia, whether we planned to go ashore in Dubrovnik or not. Sure would have been shocking news to receive when we arrived at the ship !!!

[Cruise Vanessa]

Would Celebrity inform us prior to the departure date if we needed a special visa? We are doing a Med. cruise in Nov. We'll be visiting Italy, Greece, France, Croatia, and Turkey.

[Ardy53]

Would Celebrity inform us prior to the departure date if we needed a special visa? We are doing a Med. cruise in Nov. We'll be visiting Italy, Greece, France, Croatia, and Turkey.

 

From Celebrity website...

 

"What documents will I need to travel? It is the sole responsibility of the guest to identify and obtain all required travel documents and have them available when necessary. These appropriate valid travel documents such as passports, visas, inoculation certificate and family legal documents are required for boarding and re-entry into the United States and other countries. Guests who do not possess the proper documentation may be prevented from boarding their flight or ship or from entering a country and may be subject to fines."

 

 

See

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/faq/home.do;jsessionid=0000oa8VwwB78n-eRF5Z4nMX9YA:12hdebebp?faqSubjectName=Online+Check-in+and+Documentation&faqId=460&pagename=faq_answers

and

http://media.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/content/pdf/travel_documents/Passport_and_visa_requirements.pdf

 

I guess the onus is on the passenger, as the requirement is different depending on which country you come from.

 

Here is a very good website that I have previously used: http://www.visahq.com/visas.php

 

Roy

[cruisingdelt]

As info. July 4 Norway cruise R/T from Amsterdam. Our passports were checked and stamped at the airport upon arrival in Amsterdam. Celebrity did not collect our passports and they were not checked at a single port in Norway.