non-us residents

[CanadianMAG]

I just read this in another cruise area, does HAL do this? I hope not!!



We sailed the Miracle a couple of weeks ago, and I thought you should know how Carnival treats non-US residents regarding their passports... so you won't be surprised. Carnival takes the passports of all non-US residents (and "green cards" of US residents) upon embarkation and you don't get them back until 6:30am the morning you disembark

[Ine]

Celebrity did that too last September.

A photo-copy however was delivered to our cabin that same day.
So I think it is some goverment rule?

[aussie jb]

Never happened to us on HAL when cruising Alaska. We used our passports as I.D when reboarding the ship though.

Debbie

[Sage]

I think that it may depend on where you are cruising. We just returned from a Caribbean cruise 12/6 and my SIL is not a US citizen. They allowed him to keep his passport and green card.

[Globaliser]

Different cruise lines do things differently, and sometimes differently for different cruises, depending on what they think is easiest for clearing immigration in the ports the ship will call at.

I have to say that it's never bothered me whenever a cruise line has wanted to do this. If they manage to lose my passport between the beginning of the cruise and the end, they will get it in the neck from me and they will have to sort out the mess - but if I lose it, which is rather more likely, I've got nobody to blame but myself.

[spcl4cs_gal]

Have never had this happen to me...yet....but maybe this is something new that the Homeland Security guys are insisting on.

[DoctorFeelgood]

Celebrity seems to have had the habit of keeping passports in the past, but I have never heard of keeping green cards. I don't know that I would feel comfortable leaving such valuable documents in the care of the cruise staff. I have heard of mixups and lost items before.

HAL was not keeping passports as of last week (at least on our W. Carib. itinerary).

[Esme]

In over 40 cruises with HAL, the only time we had our passports taken was when the Veendam home-ported out of Puerto Rico for one season. I asked why, as it had never been done before, and no one could give me an explanation.

I am not sure, but I think they may do this on cruises in Europe, but never having been there, I can't say for sure.

They definitely do not take them on cruises to the Carib, Alaska, Hawaii and Canada/NE.

[damcruiser]

It's been done in the past but not on cruises in the last year.

[Stevesan]

Viking Cruise Lines kept this US citizen's passport while cruising the Danube.

We didn't get upset and complain about being discriminated against. Instead we understood and accepted the requirement, relaxed and enjoyed the trip.:)

[ger_77]

We are Canadians and had our passports taken by HAL last June when we were on the Mediterranean cruise. We could get them back when we wanted to go off the ship, but they held them for us - said it was for immigration purposes. We were given a receipt which we returned when we needed our passports - it wasn't a big deal. I always make photocopies of our passports just in case anything ever does happens to them, however.

We also had our passports taken by Carnival when we did an Eastern Caribbean cruise for a millennium trip (1999-2000).

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[lipoppop]

We are US citizens and on one of our HAL cruises, I think it was the Rio to Valparaiso in Dec 2003 on the Amsterdam they kept our passports and only gave them to us when we needed them for certain shore visits.

[CanadianMAG]

Is it me, or am I the only one that thinks its strange. I have always been taught to keep your passport as gold, and really you should know where it is at all times. I actually have a problem giving it to a cruise company where many people will be handeling it, there are too many frauds done on a daily basis. I am not saying HAL has a bunch of crooks working for them, but you never know what can get ahold of these things. I see it DAILY in my job.

Anyway, if there is a slight chance they are going to keep these passports, I will make sure mine stays at home and I will bring my Driver License and Birth Cert, which is sufficent in the ports I am going to as well as crossing the border. If my greencard is ready by then, I don't think I'd let them have that either :(

[BaumD]

The cruise lines don't do this, it tends to be a requirement of the countries you are visiting. When US citizens travel to Europe (esp. non-EU countries), these countries want to inspect all passports of non-Europeans. Immigration people for these countries board the ship early in the AM, inspect the passports and then clear the ship. If the ship didn't hold them, all people would have to line up with their passports everytime you stopped at a port.

[CaptData]

We had it done once when we were in the Bahamas. For Europe it is easier if they have all the info handy (paasports available for inspection). They do return them before the end of the cruise. They did give me a photo copy.

[damcruiser]

Is it me, or am I the only one that thinks its strange. I have always been taught to keep your passport as gold, and really you should know where it is at all times.

Used to be a requirement to hand in passports when staying in European hotels.. I don't know if that is still the case.

It sure would be wise to have your passport with you in case the ship left without you.

[werewolf]

I have never had my passport taken and held but I have heard that in some overseas countries that foreigners passports are held by hotel desks because of immigration policies. Maybe this principle applies to certain countries. I wondered what they did if you got off the ship and had to have id to get back on.

[wander]

I am a US Citizen by birth and life since. On our long cruises to/through Asia, Europe, and South America, HAL, Princess, and Orient lines have ALWAYS collected our passports and returned them either at the end of the trip, or temporarily for a particular port - like St. Petersburg.

Why? For trips stopping in an number of foreign countries it saves everyone time and grief. The immigration officials board the ship early (sometimes even with the pilot) and sit in a reserved room going through each passport, sometimes stamping them, sometimes not. As soon as they are done and satisfied we can disembark, and not until then. It is certainly easier for them, and it saves passengers the hasstle of standing in lines to be seen individually. It also means that we do not all have to wait for the few folks who elect to sleep in or blatently disregard the repeated pages to report to room xxxx. Some countries require that all be reviewed, even those not planning to disembark the ship. I have seen what the lines are like when we must individually see the Immigration officials with our passports. It is usually not pretty.

I have never cruised only to the US, Canada or the Caribbean so I AM NOT takling about those areas.

By the way, IF the ship goes to even one country that requires a passport, leaving it at home will NOT work.

I do understand how we have had the idea "Don't let go of your passport" drilled into our minds. But that has seldom worked, even in the past. In the past each hotel in Europe kept your passport, at least for a few hours, when you checked in. In the 60's and for some years after that, that is the way it was. Now some hotels still do this, but most make you fill out the form they need yourself and then they verify it and return your passport immediately. On overnight European trains that cross boarders (yes, even with the EU they still do that as of this past fall) the conductor collects the passports and returns them in the morning. That is just the way it is. As much as we travel, I still have trouble letting go of the passport, but feel much safer doing so on a cruise ship than to a hotel clerk or train conductor.

[Esme]

Is it me, or am I the only one that thinks its strange. I have always been taught to keep your passport as gold, and really you should know where it is at all times. I actually have a problem giving it to a cruise company where many people will be handeling it, there are too many frauds done on a daily basis. I am not saying HAL has a bunch of crooks working for them, but you never know what can get ahold of these things. I see it DAILY in my job.

Anyway, if there is a slight chance they are going to keep these passports, I will make sure mine stays at home and I will bring my Driver License and Birth Cert, which is sufficent in the ports I am going to as well as crossing the border. If my greencard is ready by then, I don't think I'd let them have that either :(


Definitely take your passport, but leave it in the safe in your room. Make a copy of the page with your picture and carry that off the ship with you when you are in port. That is what we do. If you are going to the Caribbean, HAL will NOT take your passport from you. US Customs scanned our passports at the airport and they were also scanned at check-in at the pier.

[Dieter]

Before we travelled with HAL, we always had to leave our Passports at the reception. The joke was "You get them back, when you have payed the final bill".
We also put our passports into the safe. We use our domestic german id-cards for HAL-security.
Dieter and Lieselotte.