Do you bring passport to excursions?

[Artisticgirl]

This will be the first time I will be booking an excursion outside of the ship and was wondering if those that do bring there passports when departing the ship on an excursion? On one hand I feel if anything, God forbid, happened I would have my identification but on the other am afraid of losing it or having it stolen if we leave our bags to go cave tubing or zip lining. Any comments would be appreciated.

[crewsweeper]

You do not need your passport at all on any excursion, ship sponsored or private, unless you are trying to leave or enter the country the port is in by any means other than the cruise ship you came on.

 

If you believe you are taking a private excursion or DIY that has a risk of you missing the ship (last tender in Belize), you may wish to take your passport with you so you can try to catch the ship at its next port of call. For cave tubing this is very rare as these proprietors are fully engaged in ship scheduling and they know that missing a ship gets back to others and hurts their business. Likewise, private excursions to Bannister Island or Goff's Caye. That said, there is no guarantee as things do happen and delays can occur. For DIY trips to Caye Caulker/Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) via water taxi, missing the ship can be a greater probability if the water taxi has trouble. But it's also cruise ship passengers faults for not noting the time differences between ship time and Belize time. So check reviews of the excursions/vendors you may be planning on using. Add an hour to their estimated excursion time and a 1/2 hour delay in getting off the ship. Be sure you then have an hour buffer before the last tender. That'll help you to decide if there's enough time to do the excursion on your own.

[jwjcmj]

We always take a photo copy of our passport with us.

[mitsugirly]

Everyone always suggest that you make photo copies of your passport/birth cert or anything of value to bring to the port with you and leave the originals back on the ship. If anything was to happen, you could show to the embassy and the ship would also be able to retrieve your originals. However, if you brought them on shore and lost them, there is no retrieving anything.