surrendering passports??

With the recent Costa ship tragedy we are once again wondering about surrendering passports. It has been noted that passengers have been stranded without passports and embassies are scrambling to facilitate paperwork to get folks home.

We have and carry our credit card passport (not acceptable for international travel) which we carry once passport folders are surrendered to the purser. If one misses the ship, a disaster such as the one this week occurs, etc., we at least have this information for our efforts to replace/acquire new ones. We also carry copies of our documents (insufficient as well). We are also registered with the US Consulate while away.

We are never comfortable surrendering our passports. We did so in Israel and Egypt, St. Petersburg, Russia, etc., etc.

What do others feel about this? We'll be required to do this again this summer in the Mediterranean. I well realize some countries mandate this as a condition of entry.

Reading about these folks currently stranded in Italy brings this up again. We'd appreciate your experienced comments!

msk1

If the cruise line requires you to surrender your passport, you have no choice. When a ship in the Med goes from a country in the Schengen Agreement to a country that's not in the Schengen Agreement, the only alternative is for every single passenger and crew member line up as soon as the ship docks or anchors, whether or not you plan to go ashore. If one person doesn't show up, all passengers will wait until they do. This process could literally take hours on a ship with 3,000 passengers and 1,000 officers and crew. The process would be repeated when the ship goes from a non-Schengen Agreement country to a Schengen Agreement country. I prefer to surrender my passport so the ship can expedite arrival in port. There are also other places in the world with similar border requirements. It's for your convenience.

In a situation such as the one last night, I think the reason many people are without passports is that they couldn't physically return to their cabins to fetch them. Frankly, that would be the last thing on my mind if ordered to abandon ship, as obviously in a disaster such as this, with multiple people affected, the various consulates spring into action -- they'll all have new passports in no time.

The various consulates spring into action -- they'll all have new passports in no time.

I have both paper and digital copies of our passports which I keep in bags and on the smart phone. While I know they want the original, having the copy is sure to help in a situation with a consulate or in an emergency.

This Costa situation is difficult, because it sounds like people were rushed to the lifeboats and some could not get to their cabins.

All in all, having copies can help.

Happy Cruising:D:D

If you have surrendered your passport and do not want to go ashore without it, you may retrieve it from the Passenger Services Desk after the ship is cleared at each port. You must return the passport when you come back. I have done this many times with no problem.

For those that are getting ready to jump on me for taking my passport into port, thank you in advance for respecting my choice and not going down that path.

This Costa situation is difficult, because it sounds like people were rushed to the lifeboats and some could not get to their cabins.

Having a digital copy of your passport and documentation is a very good suggestion. For my cruise in March, I'll scan everything, create a .pdf and send it to myself so I can download and view it on my iPhone and tablet.

Without power, they couldn't have gotten into their safe anyway. Or do they have a battery back-up?

 

I think most safes are battery operated.

There have been posts by people who could not open their safes until crew came and changed out the batteries.

Depending on the location of their cabin, passengers on the Costa ship would have had difficulty getting there to get their passport and other things.

In a situation such as the one last night, I think the reason many people are without passports

is that they couldn't physically return to their cabins to fetch them.

Frankly, that would be the last thing on my mind if ordered to abandon ship, as obviously in a disaster such as this, with multiple people affected,

the various consulates spring into action -- they'll all have new passports in no time.

 

Titanic took 2 hours and 40 minutes!

How fast/slow is your ship sinking?

Can you risk returning to your cabin for ANYthing?

Is it worth your drowning like a trapped rat?

.

Without power, they couldn't have gotten into their safe anyway. Or do they have a battery back-up?

 

Having a digital copy of your passport and documentation is a very good suggestion. For my cruise in March, I'll scan everything, create a .pdf and send it to myself so I can download and view it on my iPhone and tablet.

Having paper and electronic copies is a good backup. I still raise a fuss every time as cruise line confiscates my passport. The last time it happened was on a cruise approaching Ireland and the ship's staff said it was OK to go ahore without my passport and that I could carry a photocopy of my passport if I had one - to which I replied "That's odd, I needed to carry my passport when I arrived at Shannon airport two weeks before the cruise and if a copy will suffice, how about I settle my shipboard acccount with a photocopy of my money?" They were not amused.

My big question that I can never get a satisfactory answer to is "What sort of security is provided by immigration officials "examining" a batch of passports without the passport holder present and perhaps already on shore"

My big question that I can never get a satisfactory answer to is "What sort of security is provided by immigration officials "examining" a batch of passports without the passport holder present and perhaps already on shore"

The usual protocol is for the immigration officials to board the ship at the port prior to entering their country so the ship's clearance is performed before docking (and before anyone is allowed to go ashore). I don't believe passports are required to travel between EU countries any more. If you are arriving from outside the EU (say on a flight from the US) then you will be going through the immigration process in some form.

All I can say is I sure am glad I was "warned" about surrending the passports before we went on our TA last year. I would have argued like crazy had I not known they were going to take them. I didn't feel real comfortable about them being out of my possession, but at least I knew it was what they always do.

But....even if I had my own passport - there is no way in the world I would have risked going back down to my cabin to get it out of my safe if I thought I was on a sinking ship!

The usual protocol is for the immigration officials to board the ship at the port prior to entering their country so the ship's clearance is performed before docking (and before anyone is allowed to go ashore). I don't believe passports are required to travel between EU countries any more. If you are arriving from outside the EU (say on a flight from the US) then you will be going through the immigration process in some form.

In this instance, the previous port was in France. In between France and Ireland, all PAX were told to report to the MDR to turn in our passports for Ireland immigration to examine. They were not on board at that time, but would board the ship when it docked in Cobh. We were told it was OK to go ahore without our passports. Ireland immigration officials came on board sometime that day and "examined" the passports enmasse without the passport holder being present. So, my question about security remains: "What sort of security is provided by immigration officials "examining" a batch of passports without the passport holder present and perhaps already on shore"

So, my question about security remains: "What sort of security is provided by immigration officials "examining" a batch of passports without the passport holder present and perhaps already on shore"

I don't understand the question. Security for what? Security for the country examining the passports? Security for the passports themselves?

For the country you're entering, passports are not about physical security in most instances. Passports aren't scanned against every criminal and terrorist database in the world when you present them in an airport. Passports are primarily for immigration control, for knowing that the people entering the country have the legal right to do so (either a visa or subject to a visa waiver program). For that purpose, the passport holder need not be present. The country you're entering is trusting that the passports were previously checked to make sure the person holding them matched the passport, just as they always trust that the country issuing the passport did so properly and in good faith.

On the December 24 Star Princess South American cruise, we gave up our passports prior to boarding in Rio and got them back two days prior to arriving in Valparaiso, Chile. Never noticed before this cruise, but at each port, the Wheelhouse Bar was roped off for use by the local authorities. When we recieved our passports back, they included a stamp in the passport for each of the ports we visited.

If you have surrendered your passport and do not want to go ashore without it, you may retrieve it from the Passenger Services Desk after the ship is cleared at each port. You must return the passport when you come back. I have done this many times with no problem.

 

For those that are getting ready to jump on me for taking my passport into port, thank you in advance for respecting my choice and not going down that path.

Snowskier--

Thanks for this information! We had no idea we could do this and we are certain there are many just like us! Good to know....and we'll be in line behind you! ;-)

msk1

I just saw an interview on the Today show with two passengers off the wrecked Costa ship. They said the cruise line took their passports when they boarded.

It's a real comfort to know that the passports are still safely locked in the purser's safe instead of with the passport holders.:rolleyes:

I think I'll raise an even bigger fuss the next time the cruise line tries to confiscate my passport. I probably won't win if I want to board, but if enough people would make a fuss, then the cruise line and the immigration officials may find another way to do it.

I just saw an interview on the Today show with two passengers off the wrecked Costa ship. They said the cruise line took their passports when they boarded.

 

It's a real comfort to know that the passports are still safely locked in the purser's safe instead of with the passport holders.:rolleyes:

 

I think I'll raise an even bigger fuss the next time the cruise line tries to confiscate my passport. I probably won't win if I want to board, but if enough people would make a fuss, then the cruise line and the immigration officials may find another way to do it.

Just so you know, most passports are "owned" by the issuing country and not owned by the person that they are issued to, so complaining to a cruise line about "your" passport has little effect. Instead, you need to talk to your government about allowing the practice.

When one checked(s) into hotels around the world, it was/is standard proceedure for the desk clerk to ask for a passport and to hold it so some time, including the entire hotel stay.

This is just FYI.....

I have never heard of surrendering your passport. Even when I went to St. Petersburg I was always in possession of my passport. Do people do this voluntarily or is it mandatory by the cruise line? :confused:

I have never heard of surrendering your passport. Even when I went to St. Petersburg I was always in possession of my passport. Do people do this voluntarily or is it mandatory by the cruise line? :confused:

It is mandated by the country you are visiting. On a Venice to Rome we had to surrender passports at check in time for the Turkish authorities to examine prior to our call there. A couple of days later we got a letter in the cabin to say to retrieve passports from the pursers desk at a specified time.

If someone does not want to surrender their passport when required to , then there is a good chance you will not be allowed to board. The cruise lines do not make the rules, the countries on the itinerary do.

We are never comfortable surrendering our passports. We did so in Israel and Egypt, St. Petersburg, Russia, etc., etc.

 

What do others feel about this? We'll be required to do this again this summer in the Mediterranean. I well realize some countries mandate this as a condition of entry.

 

Reading about these folks currently stranded in Italy brings this up again. We'd appreciate your experienced comments!

 

msk1

I completely agree with you. I find it most unnerving. I first ran across this practice in the early 1980's when I traveled to Moscow and we were forced to surrender our passports upon check-in at the hotel. I was extremely worried about being "behind the Iron Curtain" without a passport (visions of the Gulag) and kept asking at the desk for it back, but was given a variety of excuses (we are checking your flight, etc). We did not receive our passports back until they dropped us at the airport at the end of the stay. Our tour guide handed them to us as we disembarked the bus to enter the airport. Even during the bus ride to the airport we were not told when we would get our passports back.

There are some countries that require this and I do not know of a way around it if you want to travel there. I would advise keeping a copy of your passport with you in case the confiscator of your passport should lose it. You can also avoid traveling to those countries that confiscate passports.

I always give a paper copy of my passport to hotels when they are required to register my details.

Just for clarity, on various cruises we were advised to carry our passports in St Petersburg, in Israel and in Egypt. We did have to surrender them prior to our arrival on board for the purpose of either a) checking/verifying them or b) stamping each passport with a quick-stay visa (for Egypt). In Israel, the security officers also met individually with every passenger -- which took some doing on a ship of 2400 passengers. I would hate to think that was necessary for every country.

I take no issue with these procedures. It seems to me that this is what a passport is for -- to verify certain things about the individual and ascertain they are not a security risk to the country. There is no requirement that examination of one's passport or other identity documents must be done while they are in your possession. I think some people forget that allowing someone who is not a citizen entry into another country is entirely at the discretion of those who uphold that country's security.

I have never heard of surrendering your passport. Even when I went to St. Petersburg I was always in possession of my passport. Do people do this voluntarily or is it mandatory by the cruise line? :confused:

It's not the cruise line, but the countries you visit. They're the ones with the laws pertaining to passports. I've had my passport taken on at least 30 of my cruises. If you don't surrender it, you won't get on the ship.