Do you?

[Ta8633]

When going ashore and/or on excursion, is it best to take you passport with you or leave locked in room safe. Have a copy at least with you.

[geovet]

I have done it both ways. Recently, I have also taken a picture of them with my cell phone.

[hockeyluver]

you are going to get many different answers to this one :p

 

Personally we carry a photocopy with us and keep the original in a safe. While I know a copy wont get us on a plane back to Canada, the copy with all the info will help to expedite a temporary passport to get home. A lot safer than having your passport lost or stolen.

 

This is what we were told to do when we asked at the passport office the last time we went to renew our passports.

[Warm Breezes]

When going ashore and/or on excursion, is it best to take you passport with you or leave locked in room safe. Have a copy at least with you.

 

I take a copy of my passport and birth certificate and my DL with me. My passport is left in the safe.

[Bostonjetset]

Depends on the port. Usually I leave it in the safe but I did take it ashore in Roatan, Honduras to get a stamp just for fun. :D

 

In Bermuda, they require that you have your passport with you at all times so you must take it ashore; the customs people DO check before they let you through security back to the ship.

[wrigley80]

No...we have never taken our passports off the ship. Its just one more thing to keep track of while ashore

[Sauer-kraut]

Leave it on the ship. The thing you NEED to take off the ship with you is the PORT AGENT's telephone number (listed in the daily ship's paper), if you have emergency on shore that is the person you need to contact. They will take care of things with the ship for you.

[Keith1010]

Oh you will have a zillion posts on this.

 

We do not take our passport unless it is required which is rarely the case.

 

My view is that there is much more risk of having my passport stolen or lost than any benefits of having it with me.

 

Keith

[sparks1093]

In Bermuda, they require that you have your passport with you at all times so you must take it ashore; the customs people DO check before they let you through security back to the ship.

 

What do they do for the folks who are using a birth certificate on a closed loop cruise?

 

OP, as others have said answers will vary. I know that many advocate obtaining a passport in case you miss the ship so you may fly back quicker so it seems kind of silly to leave it on the ship where it will do you no good (yes, I know that people say that the crew will retrieve your passport from the safe and give it to the port agent but there is conflicting info about that). When the day comes that I have a passport it will be going ashore with me.;)

[trev71]

you are going to get many different answers to this one :p

 

Personally we carry a photocopy with us and keep the original in a safe. While I know a copy wont get us on a plane back to Canada, the copy with all the info will help to expedite a temporary passport to get home. A lot safer than having your passport lost or stolen.

 

This is what we were told to do when we asked at the passport office the last time we went to renew our passports.

 

 

I dont take my passport with me when I go ashore I leave it in my stateroom.. When I go to port all i take with me is my Drivers License and my Creditcard and some cash.. and of course my seapass card... Two crusies ago i saw a guy take his passport with him up the dunn driver falls and when we got back on the bus his passport was literally destoryed..

 

 

Also like the poster above me posted it sure would help having a passport if you miss the ship.. So its personal preference I suppose...

[Gunner22aa]

... many countries insist you carry it especially on our Asia cruise because of the need for visas and or landing stamps. The norm for us is a colour photocopy of the main page with picture and some other form of picture ID such as a drivers lisence or alike. Many places only want to see your cruise card especially in the Caribbean. Totally depends on the country we are in.

[kitty9]

 

In Bermuda, they require that you have your passport with you at all times so you must take it ashore; the customs people DO check before they let you through security back to the ship.

 

This is not the case. I've been to Bermuda a few times on cruises and have NEVER been required to have my passport on me when leaving the ship. There has never been any security people on Kings Wharf that check passports or ID's. We got off the ship, walked to the ferry to Hamilton and never saw any security checking anything. The only security was from the ship itself that check your sign and sail card before you're allowed on the gangway.

 

And, many people cruise to Bermuda with only their birth certificates and photo ID, so if what you say is true, what do all those people do?

[griffy116]

On our last cruise to the Med, the cruise ship kept our passports so obviously we didn't have them available to take off the ship. We always e-mail a copy to ourselves. That way, we can easily access it but it can't get stolen or lost. We also e-mail a copy of our credit cards (front and back) and DL. I can't remember the exact point in the cruise that we were notified to come collect our passports. It was quite orderly and efficient and didn't take much time.

[OCruisers]

Unless we are instructed by the ship to take our passports with us at a port, we leave ours locked in the save and take a copy of it with us.

We also take the name & number of the port agent with us.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[sail7seas]

I made color copies of info page of our passports and laminated them. We carry those when we go ashore and leave our passports in the safe.

 

[boogs]

What do they do for the folks who are using a birth certificate on a closed loop cruise?

 

OP, as others have said answers will vary. I know that many advocate obtaining a passport in case you miss the ship so you may fly back quicker so it seems kind of silly to leave it on the ship where it will do you no good (yes, I know that people say that the crew will retrieve your passport from the safe and give it to the port agent but there is conflicting info about that). When the day comes that I have a passport it will be going ashore with me.;)

 

There is no "conflicting info" about this, only conflicting levels of acceptance that it is true. I have NEVER heard of a person who was left behind without their passport. Have you?

 

OP, rather than believe this claim of "conflicting info", believe this: during a Q&A session with Captain Nicholas Pagonis of Celebrity Constellation a couple of years ago, someone asked what would happen to their passports if they missed the ship. The captain explained that retrieving passports was ALWAYS attempted. He said that in about 70% of the instances the passports were found in the safe and turned over to the port representative. He also mentioned that they do not go through drawers, suitcases, or personal belongings if a passport is not in the safe. If you can't believe the captain about performing such a simple courtesy, then who can you believe?

 

Even the US State Department recommends leaving them in your safe. Quoted directly from their website: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/...fety_1747.html

 

"Carry the minimum number of valuables, and plan places to conceal them. Your passport, cash and credit cards are most secure when locked in a hotel safe. When you have to carry them on your person, you may wish to put them each in a different place rather than all in one wallet or pouch. Avoid handbags, fanny packs and outside pockets that are easy targets for thieves. Inside pockets and a sturdy shoulder bag with the strap worn across your chest are somewhat safer. One of the safest places to carry valuables is in a pouch or money belt worn under your clothing."

 

Stolen or lost passports are a hot commodity on the black market, especially US passports. They can be worth thousands of dollars to someone bent on illegal activities. Personally, I don't want to come back from a vacation and having to deal with the ramifications of someone using my stolen passport for illegal activities.

[OCruisers]

When we recently renewed our passports, in addition to the passport books we also ordered the passport cards to use in ports rather than a copies of our passports. :)

 

Our regular passport books will be in our cabin safe as always.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Bostonjetset]

What do they do for the folks who are using a birth certificate on a closed loop cruise?

 

OP, as others have said answers will vary. I know that many advocate obtaining a passport in case you miss the ship so you may fly back quicker so it seems kind of silly to leave it on the ship where it will do you no good (yes, I know that people say that the crew will retrieve your passport from the safe and give it to the port agent but there is conflicting info about that). When the day comes that I have a passport it will be going ashore with me.;)

 

 

 

This is not the case. I've been to Bermuda a few times on cruises and have NEVER been required to have my passport on me when leaving the ship. There has never been any security people on Kings Wharf that check passports or ID's. We got off the ship, walked to the ferry to Hamilton and never saw any security checking anything. The only security was from the ship itself that check your sign and sail card before you're allowed on the gangway.

 

And, many people cruise to Bermuda with only their birth certificates and photo ID, so if what you say is true, what do all those people do?

 

I honestly have no idea what people travelling with a birth certificate would do; I have a passport and have had one since I was a young boy. In fact, I don't understand why anyone would not have a passport as they are quite easy to obtain and are valid for 10 years.

 

I know that when I traveled to Bermuda on the NCL Breakaway the ship instructed us to carry "picture ID" ashore with us and my passport WAS checked in the port by an officer of HM Customs, once when exiting the port and EVERY time when returning to the ship.

 

The official website of Bermuda's Dept. of Immigration states "while some nationals do not require a visa, visitors from all countries must

present a valid, machine-readable passport to ensure entry/landing in Bermuda." Now I understand that exceptions do happen and some may get onto the island without a passport but that is the official law of Bermuda. Some may get away with a driver's license but the ship stressed that a picture ID was required; your ship card was not enough.

[cherylandtk]

There is no "conflicting info" about this, only conflicting levels of acceptance that it is true. I have NEVER heard of a person who was left behind without their passport. Have you? Yes, I have. It has been four years now, but two incidents of this have been posted on these boards.

 

OP, rather than believe this claim of "conflicting info", believe this: during a Q&A session with Captain Nicholas Pagonis of Celebrity Constellation a couple of years ago, someone asked what would happen to their passports if they missed the ship. The captain explained that retrieving passports was ALWAYS attempted. He said that in about 70% of the instances the passports were found in the safe and turned over to the port representative. He also mentioned that they do not go through drawers, suitcases, or personal belongings if a passport is not in the safe. If you can't believe the captain about performing such a simple courtesy, then who can you believe?I also agree with all you have said here. Current practice IS that cruise lines do check the safe if a passenger has not returned to the ship. But, as you also pointed out, if you happen to be the one who leaves the passport in the nightstand, thinking you had it in your daypack because you checked your safe and it was not there, then you could find yourself on shore without your passport while it sails away with the ship. In a few instances, the ship is not allowed to leave unless they KNOW the left passenger has the appropriate documentation to return home. This is generally not the case in Caribbean ports, but some countries do require that.

Not so long ago, many cruiseline policies only required that they search for the passport (in the safe or elsewhere) if the port was in one of these countries with documentation requirements. Now, I do believe that most cruise policies will look in the safe, and as you noted, this is a highly successful option, but only in about two out of three cases.

 

eta-And, since I am sure you will want to read this for yourself, here is the original report, start page 7, post #122.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=998726&page=7

[iheartbda]

I honestly have no idea what people travelling with a birth certificate would do; I have a passport and have had one since I was a young boy. In fact, I don't understand why anyone would not have a passport as they are quite easy to obtain and are valid for 10 years.

 

I know that when I traveled to Bermuda on the NCL Breakaway the ship instructed us to carry "picture ID" ashore with us and my passport WAS checked in the port by an officer of HM Customs, once when exiting the port and EVERY time when returning to the ship.

 

The official website of Bermuda's Dept. of Immigration states "while some nationals do not require a visa, visitors from all countries must

present a valid, machine-readable passport to ensure entry/landing in Bermuda." Now I understand that exceptions do happen and some may get onto the island without a passport but that is the official law of Bermuda. Some may get away with a driver's license but the ship stressed that a picture ID was required; your ship card was not enough.

Your first post was totally wrong and this one is not right either. The number of times I've been to Bermuda is in the double digits and never have needed to take the passport off the ship. I leave mine in the cabin safe and take a color copy.

 

Yes, the ship will advise you to take a phot ID but that does not mean your passport, a driver's license will suffice. If you use your passport as you photo ID, of course that is what the cistoms officials will check each time when leaving the ship and when getting back on.

 

It's not a matter of "getting away" with a driver's license, it is perfectly acceptable. Once again, the ship stressed a photo ID which is not necessarily a passport, and yes, the ship card is not enough.

 

The official website of the Bermuda Dept. of Immigration may state what you posted above but you will be hard pressed to find anyone who has cruised there to have been denied entry without a passport and just some other type of official ID such as a driver's license.

[jocap]

A cruise line asked passengers to carry their passport number and the city of issue ashore, unless advised to carry the passport itself (quite rare, in my experience). We do that by taking a photocopy, and another of our insurance papers.

[sparks1093]

There is no "conflicting info" about this, only conflicting levels of acceptance that it is true. I have NEVER heard of a person who was left behind without their passport. Have you?

 

"When you have to carry them on your person, you may wish to put them each in a different place rather than all in one wallet or pouch.

 

While I find the Celebrity Captain to be a credible source I also find cherylandtk to be a credible source;), hence my "claim" of conflicting info (and it really isn't a claim, more of an observation). I have always followed the quoted language when going ashore and suspect that most passports are stolen because the passport is in a camera bag or purse.

[sparks1093]

I honestly have no idea what people travelling with a birth certificate would do; I have a passport and have had one since I was a young boy. In fact, I don't understand why anyone would not have a passport as they are quite easy to obtain and are valid for 10 years.

 

I know that when I traveled to Bermuda on the NCL Breakaway the ship instructed us to carry "picture ID" ashore with us and my passport WAS checked in the port by an officer of HM Customs, once when exiting the port and EVERY time when returning to the ship.

 

The official website of Bermuda's Dept. of Immigration states "while some nationals do not require a visa, visitors from all countries must

present a valid, machine-readable passport to ensure entry/landing in Bermuda." Now I understand that exceptions do happen and some may get onto the island without a passport but that is the official law of Bermuda. Some may get away with a driver's license but the ship stressed that a picture ID was required; your ship card was not enough.

 

I can't speak for everyone and would not presume to, but I don't have a passport for the simple reason that it isn't required for the types of travel that I am able to do at this time. I am only able to travel on closed loop cruises at the moment which do have an exception to the passport requirement. The chances of me having to fly back from the cruise are small enough that I feel comfortable traveling without a passport. Should that risk change then of course I would re-evaluate the situation and obtain a passport.

 

As for Bermuda, if the law you quote were the operative law than passengers on a cruise ship traveling without a passport would not be allowed ashore. Bermuda, like many countries in the Western Hemisphere, has an exception for cruise ship passengers. Yes, they looked at your passport because you presented it and used it as your photo ID, but they would have done the same with a drivers license.

[Keith1010]

sparks1093 you are correct.

 

All a passenger needed to do was show a government id with a photo such as a drivers license.

 

Keith

[cruiserssandr]

We were told by the people in security in Bermuda DO NOT take your passport on shore. They told us to leave it in the safe of our cabin.