when in port do you bring your passport with you ?

[axzel]

Well i'm going on my first cruise but i'm NOT planning on taking my passport with me, for several reasons:

 

- If my passport gets stolen i'm in trouble, i'm not from the US so I cannot disembark because I don't have a valid passport anymore, then I will not be able to fly back to europe again too.

 

- If something happends to me (like a medical emergency) I assume my GF will get my passport, or else call the cruiseline to leave my passport at the authorities. If both me and my gf can't call, or go to the ship... we will have a bigger problem then our passport.

 

- If I miss the ship I will have the same problem as if my passport gets stolen, since i'm not from the US I can't go anywhere except for my embassy. But since I assume that the risk of losing my passport is bigger then missing the ship.......

 

- I will have a copy of passport and my original ID-card with me, atleast i can 'prove' who i am (although i cannot fly with it..) and this will speed up things with my embassy. I can get a new (emergency) passport withing 12 hours, all covered by my travel insurance.

 

When you are a US citizen I can imagine some people taking their passport with them, whenever you are not, i think its useless to do since the risk of losing your passport is bigger then missing the ship!!

[rednose83]

Like the poster above we have both the passport card and passport book. We leave our passport book in the safe and take the card ashore because it's more convenient to carry and won't get ruined if it somehow gets wet. I realize that if we missed the ship we wouldn't be able to fly home with the card but we will have something to show the embassy and if the next destination is close to where we were left we can hop on a boat and get there.

[above sea level cruiser]

Not sure if this has been posted before but, a few years ago - once on Costa and once on RCCL, we had to surrender our Canadian Passports to the ship. :mad: I did not like this AT ALL!!!! :mad: We were given a photocopy of it.

 

When I questioned this on both occasions, I was told not to worry. :eek: When we went to reclaim them at the end of the cruise, they rifled though them like they do your sea pass on the first day. Not good in my opinion. Thank God this hasn't happened since.

[Florida Cruisin' Couple]

We took the 46 day Mariner Of The Seas South American cruise earlier this year and our passports were taken the before we even got on the ship! We got them back when we were ready to leave - in fact they were on our beds the night before we got home. Very efficient.

 

Several people begged for their passports becasue they we had several 2 day ports and some wanted thier passports with them. We could not get them, we got copies, and then only if we asked.

 

It wasn't a choice. I would think that in this case, if we missed the ship, maybe they would leave our passports with the dock authorities, but I don't know that. Obviously if your passport is in your room safe they aren't going to search for it and leave it.

 

My vote would be to leave it in the safe in the room. When we went to the Brazilian embassy in Miami for our visas to Brazil in January there was a couple there whose passports, money, credit cards, everything had been stolen. they had no ID, no driver's licenses, ... nothing to identify them.

 

They really had a mess on thier hands. So much easier if the passports had been safely on the ship. You have to figure that if they get your wallet and passport, they will probably steal everything.

 

It's not that difficult to go back to the ship and tell them your seapass was stolen but your passport is in the safe in the cabin. You can easily get another seapass card - people loose those all the time.

 

The only issue would be if you missed the ship, and how often does that really happen?

[imsulin]

It doesnt. I hope everybody realizes that if you need to fly home in an emergency or fly to eht next port beacuse you missed the ship, you will not be able to get on a plane with just a copy of your passport. If all you have is a copy, you will need to go to the US Embassy in that port, use your copy to apply for a new original, wait at least 48 hours for it to arrive and then use the original to get on the plane.

 

It actually DOES help! At least the copy has the information (like Passport number, date and place of issue, and picture.) If you didn't have this, it could take much longer than two days! I leave the Passport in the safe, take a copy, ship card, DL, one credit card, some US cash, and put it into a plastic waterproof WATER WALLET. It's a cigarette pack sized hard plastic container that opens from the top and has a rubber seal. It has a cord, and you wear it around your neck. I have two (CCL and NCL) that are years old, but they still work. Last two cruises (Princess and RCI), I didn't see them for sale in any of the ships' shops. I often cruise solo, so I love these things, since I usually go to the POC public beaches, and take it right into the water. I also keep a PP copy in my purse, and in my luggage. Also copies of DL.

 

P.S. Don't know of any "US Embassies" in the Caribbean. I think it's the Port Master, or something like that. Not sure.