Does Celebrity take passports?

[Cruisin'Jenny2]

I'm on my first Celebrity cruise, a transatlantic on Constellation, Rome-Livorno-Cartagena-Morocco-Canary Is.-Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Is it generally Celebrity's policy to try to take passports away from all passengers upon embarkation - keeping them until the night before disembarkation?

 

I do my own thing for shore excursions and I refuse to leave the ship without my passport (just in case I don't make "all aboard"). I've always been successful with at least obtaining my passport prior to leaving the ship, but sometimes it's a MAJOR pain in the butt! - and a total waste of my shore-time.

 

Am I going to have issues with Celebrity???

 

Thanks,

Jen

[cruisestitch]

Celebrity does what they are required to do -- it is dependent on your nationality and the immigration officials at the countries you will visit.

 

They may take all passports, only those from certain countries, or none. You probably cannot find out ahead of time. Immigrations officials may decide to take them on one cruise and not the next.

 

Sorry, but if you absolutely will not leave the ship without your passport, you may find yourself staying on the ship.

 

Most passengers take a color photocopy of the inside page with your photograph with them when they go ashore.

[Karynanne]

It depends on the itinerary. I highly doubt you will be affected. We only had that occur once, and that was in New Zealand. We usually leave our passports in the safe onboard and bring copies with us, when going ashore.

[CathyCruises]

. . .and I refuse to leave the ship WITH my passport!

[boards]

We were recently on a Celebrity Infinity cruise around the British Isles. When we began our visits to ports in Ireland it was required by the officials of Ireland that Celebrity collect our passports and they were returned to us after our visits to ports in Ireland ended.

[bigbenboys]

USA citizen point of view.

 

You should always have some form of ID with you. Copy of passport or your photo drivers license. I personally don't like giving my passport up on the ship. I also don't want to take it off the ship either. I want my passport in my room in the safe. The only country that I always had my passport with me was Moscow, Russia. I was there for about 30 days. You have to have your passport and resident card with you at all time. Most countries don't require giving up your passport while on a cruise. The ones off hand that I do remember. Indonesia, Vietnam, Argentina?, Russia, Brazil, Ireland. Richard

[Algebralovr]

If they do take the passports, and you are noton board and checked back in via the electronic system, they will leave your passport with the agent listed in the port docs.

 

If they don't take the passports and you don't arriv back at the ship in time, they will enter your room and open the safe, retrieve your passports and leave them with the agent as well.

 

I have seen where they collected passports and then if you were getting off the ship they checked them back out to you at the ports.

 

So, no way to know until you are there.

[nps001]

Jen,

As others have posted, it is not the cruise line that decides this but each country. Many counties require a customs check before entering the country. Celebrity does this on your behalf. Think of it this way, though--If they didn't take the passports and present them on your behalf, you'd have to stand in line with 3,000 other cruises waiting to get your passport checked and that would cut into your shore excursion time also. So this actually works in your favor.

 

I know that Greece requires this, but not certain of the countries you are visiting.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[We're The Groupnors]

On our many Celebrity cruises they have only taken passports when they had to due to customs regulations of the various countries being visited, but even on our recent Asia cruise they did not hold them the entire time. They would let passengers know when they would be available for pick up after the customs officers on board had finished with them, and would take them again at the gangway if needed for the following country's customs officers. We always got a receipt.

[Hlitner]

Depending on your itinerary they may take your passports at embarkation and not return them to near the end of the cruise. However (and this is the big 'However), if you want your Passport at a certain port you only have to stop at the Guest Relations desk and tell them you would like your Passport. They will get your Passport and may ask you to return it (later in the day) if they still need it for future port clearance procedures. There can be a hitch with the process. In one port I needed my Passport for a rental car company, but had to wait nearly an hour (while the ship was in port) because the local authorities were actually reviewing Passports (in the pursers office). We had to wait until they were finished.

 

Hank

[Charles4515]

It depends on the itinerary. I highly doubt you will be affected. We only had that occur once, and that was in New Zealand. We usually leave our passports in the safe onboard and bring copies with us, when going ashore.

 

 

Like you and others I leave my passports in the safe unless it is required to have them. Russia was the only one that required having it.

 

On cruises that collect passports it is because some countries require it. They will collect passports on Med. cruises that call on Turkey for example. I am sure Celebrity would rather not do it! They have to collect them. That is why they collect them. The issue is not with Celebrity. On my cruise they took them at boarding. Someone could have refused but then they would not have been allowed to board.

 

I think it is possible that they will take it on that itinerary because Morocco is on the itinerary. But I don't know that as a fact.

[fleckle]

We have had it done different ways on different itineraries on different ships at different times.

 

It is really no big deal, however they do it.

 

We greatly prefer when they collect the passports and handle the immigration processing at ports for us rather than making us get up at the crack of dawn and wait in a long line to present our passports to the immigration officials ourselves, (which we have also needed to do on some cruises).

 

On cruises where they kept the passports, they gave us a receipt for them.

At ports where we needed to take the passports off the ship with us, they always let us know.

 

It was never a problem or cause for concern, no matter which method was used, but just annoying on the cruises where we had to wait with our passports in the long lines.

 

 

As others have explained, if you are not on board when the ship leaves the port they will leave your passport with the port agent.

 

[bigbenboys]

If they do take the passports, and you are noton board and checked back in via the electronic system, they will leave your passport with the agent listed in the port docs.

 

If they don't take the passports and you don't arriv back at the ship in time, they will enter your room and open the safe, retrieve your passports and leave them with the agent as well.

 

I have seen where they collected passports and then if you were getting off the ship they checked them back out to you at the ports.

 

So, no way to know until you are there.

 

This is great news. I was thinking I would have to go to the US Embassy and get a new passport. You learn new things everyday. Thanks, Richard

[cobeck]

We were in Greece, Italy and Turkey on a Med cruise in June and our passports were in the safe in our state room the entire cruise. No problems but we do carry photo copies of our passports in a safe place when we leave the ship.

[Essiesmom]

We did the TA on Infinity this year, FLL to Harwich. UK immigration boarded at Ponta Delgada and collected our passports after we left port there. They were returned to us several days later and we did not have to go through immigration when we landed at Harwich. EM

[Northern Aurora]

We've had our passports collected twice while on Celebrity cruises. Once was on a Honolulu to Sydney cruise, and our passports were returned as soon as we left French Polynesia. The second time was on a transatlantic, and only those passengers continuing onto the following cruise were instructed to take their passports to Guest Relations. Over 300 passengers continued on to the next cruise, and it was such a time saver for us to have Celebrity handle the Immigration issues. We just picked up our passports prior to the end of the first cruise, and left the ship to spend a full day in Barcelona before continuing on to a Mediterranean cruise.

 

I've always felt it much safer to leave our passports in the stateroom safe. We take a copy of the pertinent information with us if we really feel we need to do so. But I've never read any report that Celebrity, or for that matter, any cruise line, has lost a passport.

[uktog]

I prefer it whenCelebrity has my passport, I know it is in safe hands. In never ever take it off ship unless it is a requirement of that country, I carry a certified copy with me and a photo driving licence "in case"

[Keith1010]

As just about everyone has noted this one varies by itinerary.

 

Personally, if our passports were not held we would leave them locked in a safe.

 

For me it comes down to odds. I believe that there is a higher probability of the passports becoming lost or stolen if we take them into port with us than the odds of us needing them in port. The benefit when the cruise line holds them is if you missed the ship they would give them to the port agent to hold for you anyway.

 

We do take with us copies of the passports which I realize are not official but we take them along with passport photos so in the unlikely event where we needed new passports this would help to facilitate getting them.

 

Keith

[owensjro]

I've never understood the idea of taking a copy of the passport instead of the real thing. The copy will not get you back into the US. It barely even helps to get a new passport in an emergency...the only thing you really "need" (and in fact, you don't even need this) is your old passport number. When you are issued a replacement passport you are issued a brand new passport with new number, etc.

 

They ask for the old passport number if you know it just so they can cancel that one...but if you don't have it they can look it up as well.

 

We always take our real passports off the ship with us as it is the only way to guarantee an easy return to the US if you need it.

 

Jim

[dkjretired]

I've never understood the idea of taking a copy of the passport instead of the real thing. The copy will not get you back into the US. It barely even helps to get a new passport in an emergency...the only thing you really "need" (and in fact, you don't even need this) is your old passport number. When you are issued a replacement passport you are issued a brand new passport with new number, etc.

 

They ask for the old passport number if you know it just so they can cancel that one...but if you don't have it they can look it up as well.

 

We always take our real passports off the ship with us as it is the only way to guarantee an easy return to the US if you need it.

 

Jim

 

I agree with you but it is not the majority opinion on this board and hasn't been for many years. My whole point is what is the purpose of a passport. Most people will never have a problem but all it takes is once.

[boogs]

I know that Greece requires this,

 

They will collect passports on Med. cruises that call on Turkey for example.

 

Greece and Turkey do not require this. We stopped at Rhodes and Mykonos Greece and Kusadasi, Turkey last October and our passports were never required to go ashore. As with all other ports of call on out Med cruise, we left our passports safely stored in our room safe and kept a photo copy of it with us in the case of an emergency. Our passports were never required for any of our stops in France, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey and Slovenia. They were in our safes the entire cruise.

[Trainer]

I have had passports taken at embarkation on Celebrity for South American cruises. The color copies are useful for 1. using a money exchange service and 2. for identification when returning to the ship. I always get a receipt from the cruise and then use it to get my passport back near the end of the trip. In Ecuador and Chile, our exit from the ports was delayed as the country's immigration control insisted on individually checking and stamping each passport. If the passengers had each had their own it would have taken even more hours to clear the ship. So, yes I let the ship have my passport without a fuss. But I do carry a good color copy off the ship.

[john2003]

It seems to me that it is largely a question of one's tolerance for risk. I am comfortable with the ship having the passport and handing it out enroute if required, unless there is a special need. If I got stranded the passport would only be one of the issues I would face.

 

If every passenger requested their passport before disembarking the entire process would be impossible and if we all cleared immigration individually it would be similarly impossible.