OK, here’s the question. Did you have to surrender your passport?

[LarryL]

They took our passports in Barcelona for our Transatlantic to FLL. All our ports were Spanish including the Canaries.

[Kezzie62]

I carry electronic copies of our passports and insurance and important phone numbers and emergency contact details on a credit card size flash drive. It goes with me everywhere.

 

 

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[cruisnpat]

We had to give up our passport on one of our TA's. I think it was when we went from FLL. to Barcelona. Wasn't sure about giving it up but didn't have a choice, got it back the last day of the cruise. No problems.

[The Viking]

Joining the EU, which Croatia did last year, automatically commits you to being a Schengen country.

 

 

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Schengen and EU are 2 very different things and, unless they changes it lately, joining EU does not automatically enter the country in EU.

 

Schengen is a passport/immigration agreement where as EU is a trade agreement and with time developed to much more, except passport control.

[Clarea]

They took our passports in Barcelona for our Transatlantic to FLL. All our ports were Spanish including the Canaries.

Interesting. We've done a TA from Barcelona to FLL, and another from Barcelona to New Orleans. Both had a stop in the Canaries and they did not take our passports.

[negc]

Last May we did a Transatlantic on the Vision. Our 2nd Port of Call was Cork, Ireland and the ship collected all passports before that stop and we received them back the day after. Think they did some major customs check with authorities that day.

We had a similar situation on our last two westbound TAs (Jewel and Brilliance) when Ireland was on our itinerary and on our very first TA on Brilliance of the Seas in 2002. The only other occasion when we had to hand in our passports was when we did a southern Caribbean sailing out of Aruba on the Seawind Crown.

[LarryL]

Interesting. We've done a TA from Barcelona to FLL, and another from Barcelona to New Orleans. Both had a stop in the Canaries and they did not take our passports.

 

Ours was on the Liberty in 2011, I don't recall what day they returned them, but it was a fiasco and a lot of people were upset with way it was handled. It was as if they hadn't gone through the process before. The explanation was so we could clear the ports quicker.

[Clarea]

Ours was on the Liberty in 2011, I don't recall what day they returned them, but it was a fiasco and a lot of people were upset with way it was handled. It was as if they hadn't gone through the process before. The explanation was so we could clear the ports quicker.

We were on Voyager and were with you and QM2 in port the same day in Tenerife.

Edited March 17, 2014 by clarea

[Essexlass2]

We are from UK but I believe we had to take our passports (not copies) ashore with us in Venice.

[LarryL]

We were on Voyager and were with you and QM2 in port the same day in Tenerife.

 

Wish we were there now. I loved those sea days that followed.:p We saw another Royal ship in Cadiz, too. We couldn't tell which one it was though.

Edited March 17, 2014 by LarryL

[Clarea]

Wish we were there now. I loved those sea days that followed.:p We saw another Royal ship in Cadiz, too. We couldn't tell which one it was though.

One was Splendour, in dry dock. The other was Voyager.

 

Yes, miss those sea days too.

[Mark_K]

Schengen and EU are 2 very different things and, unless they changes it lately, joining EU does not automatically enter the country in EU.

 

 

 

Schengen is a passport/immigration agreement where as EU is a trade agreement and with time developed to much more, except passport control.

Subsequent to the passage of the Amsterdam Treaty all EU countries (except those which opted out originally) are legally required to be a part of the Schengen area. If Croatia has not already done so, they will be required to.

 

 

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[pspercy]

Did you board in a mainland European port?

 

Most likely you did and that is why. Ireland is part of the EU (European Union) but is not a member of the Schengen agreement' date=' therefore you are required to present id to immigration before you can enter.[/quote']

 

That TA last May was Ft Lauderdale to Copenhagen, first stop was the Azores, second Cobh - we were on it too but don't remember anything about passports, it's no big deal anyway, been going on for decades :D

[Folk Singer]

Absolutely not! Taken 3 cruises form Barcelona with most of the above itineraries. The passport once placed in the cabin safe is never taken out. Montenegro is a new port and don't know what their requirements are. They can look at it to confirm ID, but you should never surrender your passport.

 

The only time that we needed to take the passport with us was some 10 years ago in Croatia, before they became member of the EU.

 

 

good to know.

[JimAOk1945]

This is great information!!!!

 

Thanks to everyone for posting!

[grand isle joe]

Not specifically related to this itinerary, but we have had to turn in our passports when cruising in Asia, specifically prior to docking in Malaysia.

 

...I would think that Malaysia has more to worry about today than collecting passports......but as stated usually if you stay within the EU you have no need BUT the down side that if you stay within the EU you pay that VAT tax on board......:eek:

[critterchick]

Same for us when cruising in to or out of Australia.

 

We didn't have to surrender our passports for our R/T Sydney cruise in 2010. But it was only to NZ and back.

 

I agree I think it is the stop in Turkey that requires the cruise lines to hold US passports. I didn't like the idea but really had no choice! I am sure there are other countries where the same would apply.

 

Just another point, when asking these questions please let everyone know what country you are coming from (where your passport is issued out of) as not all on CC are from the same place and rules change depending on country.

 

OP's profile says he's from the US.

 

Montenegro and Croatia as well as Turkey are not members of Schengen so you will either have to surrender passports or go through immigration in these countries.

 

This is the same for the person who said they had to surrender passport during a TA as England and Ireland not members of Schengen either.

 

Look up "Schengen"

 

We visited Croatia before they were admitted to the EU and did not have to give up our passports or report to immigration - perhaps it was conducted behind the scenes.

 

So, OP, I'd say there's no way to know for certain, and it's best to be prepared with a copy of your passport that you can carry with you (it's useless for travel but at least will have your information if disaster strikes) and another to leave behind in the safe.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Didn't have to hand passports in but we boarded in Venice and had an overnight there and had to take passports with when we went back into Venice, this was in May and October last year.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

[Folk Singer]

We always cary a copy of our passports and never had to show it or surrender it so far.

[JimAOk1945]

I really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to reply to my question and offer suggestions.

 

We will make it a point to carry copies of our passports.

 

Thanks everyone and happy cruising!

[Jobeth66]

We did the exact same itinerary on the Celebrity Solstice in 2011. I'm 99.99% positive we had to take our passports with us when we left the ship in Dubrovnik, the passport control people checked them before we left the port area, and again when we came back to the ship.

 

It's possible that's changed, but make sure you pay attention to the announcements & read anything the put in your cabin - there were more than a few people on our cruise who had to return to the ship for their passports before they could go anywhere.

 

(And DEFINITELY be on deck or on your balcony for the Bay of Kotor, it's an absolutely breathtaking trip through the fjord. That was our favorite sail in/sail away, even above Venice.)

[TravelerThom]

Subsequent to the passage of the Amsterdam Treaty all EU countries (except those which opted out originally) are legally required to be a part of the Schengen area. If Croatia has not already done so, they will be required to.

"Required to":D

 

Just like Sweden is required to join the Euro currency zone, BUT is required to submit documentation in order to be allowed to join, and this they refuse to do.

 

You carefully sidestepped the issue that there are countries in Schengen who are not part of EU, and have NO current intentions of joining EU (Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland). Things get very complicated in sorting out who's-who in Europe. Croatia is part of EU, but not part of the Europen Economic Area, the Eurozone nor Schengen. Ireland and Cyprus are part of EU, the European Economic Zone, the Eurozone, but not Schengen. UK, Romania, Bulgaria are all part of the EU and the European Economic Zone, but not the Eurozone nor Schengen. Ireland would like to be part of Schengen, but the UK does not want to be, and if Ireland joined Schengen, the UK would close the border in Ireland. Some of these countries have obligations and desires to further integrate into "the US of Europe", other countries have no current desire to do so. We haven't begun to discuss mini-countries (Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City) that are not official part of the EU but use the Euro and are effectively in Schengen since for all practical purposes they have open borders with Schengen countries. And then there are countries like Montenegro and Kosovo who while not Schengen nor affiliates of the European Monetary Zone, have no currency other than than the Euro. I have been to almost all of these countries, and still find it confusing to keep them straight.

 

As far as passports are concerned, get them stamped when entering the Schengen Zone and basically no worries until departing Schengen. Southern Europe (eg Italy, Portugal, Spain) and some other countries are pretty lax about stamping you into Schengen, but you are in for a major hassle if you attempt to depart Schengen from Germany without a Schengen entry stamp. I'm willing to irritate the Immigration guy and get my Entry Stamp, rather than fight with the "we have our rules" Emigration guy.

 

Thom

[JimAOk1945]

"Required to":D

 

Just like Sweden is required to join the Euro currency zone, BUT is required to submit documentation in order to be allowed to join, and this they refuse to do.

 

You carefully sidestepped the issue that there are countries in Schengen who are not part of EU, and have NO current intentions of joining EU (Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland). Things get very complicated in sorting out who's-who in Europe. Croatia is part of EU, but not part of the Europen Economic Area, the Eurozone nor Schengen. Ireland and Cyprus are part of EU, the European Economic Zone, the Eurozone, but not Schengen. UK, Romania, Bulgaria are all part of the EU and the European Economic Zone, but not the Eurozone nor Schengen. Ireland would like to be part of Schengen, but the UK does not want to be, and if Ireland joined Schengen, the UK would close the border in Ireland. Some of these countries have obligations and desires to further integrate into "the US of Europe", other countries have no current desire to do so. We haven't begun to discuss mini-countries (Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City) that are not official part of the EU but use the Euro and are effectively in Schengen since for all practical purposes they have open borders with Schengen countries. And then there are countries like Montenegro and Kosovo who while not Schengen nor affiliates of the European Monetary Zone, have no currency other than than the Euro. I have been to almost all of these countries, and still find it confusing to keep them straight.

 

As far as passports are concerned, get them stamped when entering the Schengen Zone and basically no worries until departing Schengen. Southern Europe (eg Italy, Portugal, Spain) and some other countries are pretty lax about stamping you into Schengen, but you are in for a major hassle if you attempt to depart Schengen from Germany without a Schengen entry stamp. I'm willing to irritate the Immigration guy and get my Entry Stamp, rather than fight with the "we have our rules" Emigration guy.

 

Thom

OK, now I'm confused! Based on my itinerary (see post #1) will we be visiting any country where we should get our passport stamped to avoid problems?

 

If yes, where do we find the Immigration guy you mentioned in order to get our stamps?

[wassup4565]

Autumn 2012, we were not asked to hand over our passports to the ship at all. We visited Croatia, Montenegro and Kusadasi (Turkey), as well as various Greek islands and Venice.

 

I don`t remember being asked to produce the passport in any port - the ship card was enough as I recall. I took my passport ashore with me, as that is my habit when traveling in a foreign country.

[smoosh21]

Absolutely not! Taken 3 cruises form Barcelona with most of the above itineraries. The passport once placed in the cabin safe is never taken out. Montenegro is a new port and don't know what their requirements are. They can look at it to confirm ID, but you should never surrender your passport.

 

The only time that we needed to take the passport with us was some 10 years ago in Croatia, before they became member of the EU.

 

 

I have had to surrender my passport when cruising in Argentina and also Ecuador. They were given back after a day or so, but they were surrendered. I am also expecting that I may have to surrender my passport on my upcoming cruise as we visit Turkey.

 

It will all depend on the itinerary. Some locations require it.