Non-US citizens - do ships hold your passports?

[Scrappy cruiser]

My husband is a citizen of the UK and carries their passport, but has a US green-card. On our previous cruises, the ship has held his passport and returned it immediately before disembarking.

 

We have Chilkoot Charters booked for Skagway which involves entering Canada. Will we have to retrieve his passport from the ship and return it after our excursion?

 

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

[LoisGriffin1]

Wow I wasn't aware that the ship could hold your passport. From what I had read it is held for certain ports (such as Turkey) but I assumed Alaska was fine because of the tours telling you to take your passport for crossing the border.

[Scrappy cruiser]

Wow I wasn't aware that the ship could hold your passport.

 

The ships have not held *my* passport, as I am a US citizen. They have held my husbands passport. My belief is that they hold all non-citizen passports as the queue to get the passports back at the end of the cruise has always been very lengthy. (Both of our previous cruises departed and returned to New York City.)

 

My concern is with our Skagway excursion that takes us into Canada and back again.

[mountainhouse]

That's a pickle. We were told in Europe to use color photo copies in we had to interact with authorities, but that probably wouldn't work for a border crossing. Seems the purser would have some way to get the passport back to you.

[GLP]

My DW and I are from Canada and have cruised with four different cruise lines and have NEVER had our passports held!!!!

[cinnamon]

We just returned from an RCCL Alaska cruise and are UK passport holders. The ship no longer holds the passports (it was actually illegal for them to do so anyway) and we used photocopies most days to take ashore leaving the originals in the safe. In Skagway and Prince Rupert we took our passports ashore as we needed them to enter Canada,

[Scrappy cruiser]

We just returned from an RCCL Alaska cruise and are UK passport holders. The ship no longer holds the passports (it was actually illegal for them to do so anyway)

 

I hope Princess isn't holding them anymore. As for illegality, I doubt I'll have much success with that argument.

 

Anyone else?

[katmai]

My friends had Taiwanese passports. 3 years ago on an HAL ship, they reported back an inconsistent experience (on the same ship). 3 persons are tourists (with US tourist visa and Canadian tourist visa), while 1 has US green card (no Canadian visa necessary). At embarkation only 1 tourist's passport is taken by HAL. Toward the middle of the cruise, the other 2 tourists and even the green card holder are notified to turn in their passports. By the port of call of Victoria, all 4 passports are returned, with Canadian entry stamps on it.

This was an inside passage Alaska cruise from Seattle on Holland America Zaandam

 

The answer to the OP: If the cruise line does take his passport, they will return it (upon your request) if you need to enter Canada.

[Napi's Mom]

The ships have not held *my* passport, as I am a US citizen. They have held my husbands passport. My belief is that they hold all non-citizen passports as the queue to get the passports back at the end of the cruise has always been very lengthy. (Both of our previous cruises departed and returned to New York City.)

 

My concern is with our Skagway excursion that takes us into Canada and back again.

In the Med, and in NZ Aust. on our last cruise, they held everyones passport for clearance when you arrived in port, Was feeling that they probably won't in Alaska for US citizens, but you'll also need it if you are in Vancouver. Perhaps after the initial check of his passport you might be allowed to keep it.

[MikeNKim]

We are Canadian and the only cruiseline to ever hold our passports was Disney back in 2005. Not sure if they are doing it anymore but they did then.

 

Carnival has never held out passports.

 

Kim

[eh2zed]

Cruise lines know the rules for each port or country. They will inform you as to the protocol for various citizenries. You can certainly inquire at the Front office upon embarkation. Check in staff on shore will not likely know unless they ask one of the onboard staff overseeing the check in operation.

BTW we have had our passports embargoed on a number of vacations but these have not been in NA; rather Europe, NZ/Australia.

[Scrappy cruiser]

I phoned Princess last night and was told by the customer service rep who answered, her supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor that Princess will NOT hold my husband's passport. Of course, I take their word with a grain of salt as they don't actually work on the ship. It remains to be seen what happens.

 

Thanks everyone for your informative responses.

[Koz1]

We're from Australia and did a cruise on Coral Princess from Vancouver in May last year and they did not hold our passports. We left them locked in the safe in our cabin and just took them with us on the day we did the rail & van trip from Skagway to Fraser and into the Yukon.

[psyfi]

We have had our Canadian passports held in the past but not in the past few years. The ship used to hold them so customs at each port could do random checks--we got ours back at the end with a few new stamps but not from every port. They don't hold them anymore as far as I know (with rare excpetions). If the country wants you to go through customs, then you take your passport and you go so they can ask questions, etc... We always carry our passport with us in port--what happens if you miss the boat and have to go to another island to get back on and don't have a passport? Obviously less of a concern in Alaska as you aren't crossing borders between most ports.

[Cruise Junky]

I've been to Alaska twice, one on Princess and one on HAL, I'm a UK citizen but live in Canada. Neither time was my passport held by the cruiseship.