Passport for tortolla?

So I was looking to book the dolphin shore excursion directly from the vendor to save on cost. And the vendor at Dolphin Discovery told me that we had to have a passport to get on to Tortola. I told him that my ship the Norwegian getaway is docking directly at the Tortola port that I would not be taking a ferry from St Thomas or any of the US Virgin Islands which I know is common. He insisted to me that customs and borders would still require everyone disembarking the ship to show a passport. I know I know I need to just break down and get a passport for everyone in the family and after this I will. But at this point I don't have enough time to get it so I'm just going to keep on truckin with my birth certificate and drivers license. At any rate I called Norwegian Cruise Line to ask them and the lady on the phone had no idea but said there are some ports of call that you do have to produce a passport when you disembark the ship even on closed-loop cruises. So to make a long question short has anyone recently gone to Tortola and did they have any issues where they had to produce a passport to disembark? Thank you everyone for your time this board is awesome

Since your ship is docking directly in Tortola, you will not need a passport to get off the ship there. :)

LuLu

so how about this situation: Docking in St. Thomas and taking ferry to Tortola. Have a passport but the passport expires in less than 6 months. Is that ok?

I don't understand why a passport has to have more than 6 months left on it for you to use it.

so how about this situation: Docking in St. Thomas and taking ferry to Tortola. Have a passport but the passport expires in less than 6 months. Is that ok?

Your question led me to look up the answer, since my husband will be in a similar situation in a few months. According to the following link, a passport must be valid at time of entry into the BVIs, so it doesn't seem that the 6-month issue applies.

http://www.travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/british-virgin-islands.html

The 6-month question applies to specific locations (Mexico for example) but not the BVI.

What are your plans on Tortola?

Since your ship is docking directly in Tortola, you will not need a passport to get off the ship there. :)

 

LuLu

Can folks still board a cruise ship today with no passport?

Can folks still board a cruise ship today with no passport?

As long as it is a closed loop cruise starting & returning to the same U. S. port for U.S. Citizens.

The Cruise lines fought long & hard to get this exemption, but I would almost certainly expect it to go away as soon as the lines can stop in Cuba.

yes I thought that might have changed by now...

yes I thought that might have changed by now...

Hear you! Seems it would have changed by now ... but it hasn't. :rolleyes:

LuLu

Hear you! Seems it would have changed by now ... but it hasn't. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

Ok, so I am still hoping for some input here on my original question. I know the way it normally has been, but i am getting told by vendors it has changed. So i called BVI board of tourism. They told me I had to have a passport. I i reiterated that my cruise ship is pulling into tortola itself, not St Thomas. They said that they really think I have to have a passport, but to call immigration. So i made the international call to immigration, placed on hold a lot, and then was hung up. So that was an expensive call for nothing. Can anyone tell me if the have recently been to tortolla, and did they have to go through immigration and customs and present a passport?

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I did a search for "BVI embassy in the United States" and there are phone numbers and an email address for the DC embassy, with consate offices in several cities.

Maybe contact them there if you are not getting your answer here

From the State Department section on the BVI's

All U.S. citizens traveling outside of the United States are required to present a passport or other valid travel document to enter the United States. This extended to all sea travel (except closed-loop cruises), including ferry service on June 1, 2009. Travelers must now present a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) compliant document such as a passport or a passport card for entry to the United States.

Note: Be aware that Caribbean cruises that begin and end in the U.S. (closed loop cruises) do not require that you travel with a valid passport. However, should you need to disembark due to an emergency and you do not have a valid passport, you may encounter difficulties entering or remaining in a foreign country

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/british-virgin-islands.html

I would bet if what you were told was accurate, we would have heard the yelling by now.:)

yes, after reading up I see the requirements have not changed. I can't posivitely confirm that the currently published requirements are accurate, but I also can't imagine the requirements being tightened and not being published.

But someone must have just cruised there and will respond so you have a definititive answer...

Thanks everone for your efforts! I cant imagine they would tighten it without a lot of chatter, but the natives keep insisting

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From the State Department section on the BVI's

 

Note: Be aware that Caribbean cruises that begin and end in the U.S. (closed loop cruises) do not require that you travel with a valid passport. However, should you need to disembark due to an emergency and you do not have a valid passport, you may encounter difficulties entering or remaining in a foreign country

To me, this "note" suggests that one may be permitted on a closed loop cruise, but then not permitted to enter a specific island without a passport.

Unfortunately, my memory is terrible for such specifics, so even though I don't remember needing a passport when we went to Tortola on a cruise, and I think it was during the current regulations, I don't recall for sure.

It does seem to me that NCL should know the anwer to your question, so if I were you, I would call them and work my way up supervisors until I found someone who sounded like they really knew the answer.

Or, it is likely that someone who got off in Tortola recently and/or has a good memory will respond.

Is a "closed loop" a cruise that doesn't visit a port outside the U.S. Or just one that starts and ends in the U.S.

Is a "closed loop" a cruise that doesn't visit a port outside the U.S. Or just one that starts and ends in the U.S.

Starts and ends in the US

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or a US territorty, correct?

yup

Has this been resolved yet? OP did you need the passport? I came here for the exact same question and can't seem to find an answer.

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Has this been resolved yet? OP did you need the passport? I came here for the exact same question and can't seem to find an answer.

 

 

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See post #12

I aware of the closed looped process. It's just that on their website it says to bring your passport and when I made the reservation on the phone he said it too.

They do offer a ferry from st Thomas to Tortola and there I can see the need for a passport, but I'm coming from Tortola.

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Yes, and we haven't cruised recently and I'm not up on the current requirements. I was going to ask if you had researched the requirements on the cruise line site or spoken with a rep and you have.

For clarification, are you asking because you are trying to book an excursion through an independent operator or something?

I'm surprised someone who cruises regularly or has cruised recently isn't able to help with this question. Have you tried your roll call to see if any frequent cruisers there are up to speed on this? Or is there another resource on cruisecritic since this is not Tortola-specific?

I'm booking the Dolphin Discovery not through the ship. The cruise requirements are DL and BC. We don't have passports. (I'm aware of how wrong it is, please don't preach. Lol)

I've never had a cruise operator tell me I needed a passport. My thought is, it's a call center through Mexico and English isn't everyone's first language, so it's probably a script they go through, because like I said, they ferry some people from st thomas and I just learned St. John's too. I would think that if a passport was required I would have read about it either here or on other social media.

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Not sure what DL and BC represent but I agree with your last statement.

The only aspect I will "preach" on for others following this is if you ever get stuck on an island due to an injury or other unforeseen event you are pretty much screwed without a passport to fly back into the US. So get those passports for future trips! And a week on Tortola is a nice way to use them first - flights into STT are very easy and it's just a 50 minute ferry from STT (yes some ferries stop at STJ enroute).

Enjoy your cruise!