Private excursions..do you take your passport ashore

[PTMary]

[quote name='Jane2357']You sound like a very wise women and [B]I'm right there with you[/B]! :D

Of course you are. Bless your heart. Edited June 9, 2015 by PTMary

[Jane2357]

[quote name='PTMary'][quote name='Jane2357']You sound like a very wise women and [B]I'm right there with you[/B]! :D

Of course you are. Bless your heart.[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]And as someone who has lived in the south and knows what "bless your heart" means --- right back at ya. :p[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Chunder Worthy]

[quote name='pzbz'][COLOR="Black"][COLOR="black"][COLOR="Green"][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
When you go ashore on a private excursion overseas do you take your passport ashore with you?:)[/QUOTE]

For such a small inconvenience of carrying it (in your money belt), it can pay off huge dividends in the event you actually find yourself required to present it. I always have it on my person when I tread on foreign soil because, well, you just never know....

[electro]

[QUOTE]OK, enough of this nonsense from you doubters. Why do you insist on refusing to believe what dozens of us have been telling people for years on these boards? Will you only believe it if it happens to you?
[/QUOTE]

I had dinner with the Staff Captain on a cruise last year and I asked him if they go to your safe and get your passport and leave it at the pier if you miss the ship.

He said that no, they do not do that.
There are occasions when the computers don't record that you've returned to the ship. That is why they page people who they believe are not on the ship at sail away time. They will not take the risk of leaving your passport at the pier and then finding out you are actually on the ship.

He said they only way they will go to you safe and retrieve your passport is if you contact the ship or port agent and tell them you will not make it back to the ship.

I have no reason to doubt the word of the Staff Captain (second in command) and take the word of "dozens of us have been telling people for years" who have no personal experience with this happening.

Lois

[PTMary]

[quote name='Chunder Worthy']... it can pay off huge dividends in the event you actually find yourself required to present it....[/QUOTE]

[quote name='SantaFeFan']....it will not pay "huge dividends" when it shows up missing due to carelessness - even the most careful occasionally slip up....[/QUOTE]

What are these 'huge dividends' I get from always carrying my passport? My husband and I have always taken the advice offered by many travel experts, and even the US State Department, to leave our passport in our room safe or hotel safe unless specifically told to carry it with us, which is rather rare. On two occasions we have needed it while touring the area away from our hotel without our passports. Once because of an accident caused by the husband of the other couple we were traveling with, and another due to my sudden illness requiring immediate hospitalization. In both cases the authorities graciously assisted us in retrieving our passports from our safes. In the case of the illness, the constable even volunteered to drive to the hotel and pick it up for us so my husband and children could stay by my side. In neither case did we suffer any consequences for not having them with us.

So I have a difficult time understanding what could possible happen that would cause the loss of "huge dividends" if we did not have them.

Can anyone please educate me? Edited June 10, 2015 by PTMary

[PTMary]

[quote name='electro']I had dinner with the Staff Captain on a cruise last year and I asked him if they go to your safe and get your passport and leave it at the pier if you miss the ship.

He said that no, they do not do that.
There are occasions when the computers don't record that you've returned to the ship. That is why they page people who they believe are not on the ship at sail away time. They will not take the risk of leaving your passport at the pier and then finding out you are actually on the ship.

He said they only way they will go to you safe and retrieve your passport is if you contact the ship or port agent and tell them you will not make it back to the ship.

I have no reason to doubt the word of the Staff Captain (second in command) and take the word of "dozens of us have been telling people for years" who have no personal experience with this happening.

Lois[/QUOTE]

And we have a stalemate. One poster says the Staff Captain said "no", and another poster who writes (in that same post you are quoting from - #40) that the Ship's Captain and First officer have told him "yes" on two separate occasions.

As I see it, the score is 2 to 1 in favor of "YES". :D

What is truly ironic is that you conveniently quote only the one line you want to challenge - "who have no personal experience with this happening" -and using it as a snub, while totally ignoring what he had been told by two high ranking officers, which just so happens to contradict what you are saying.

Was it selective reading? Biased editing? Or some other reason? ;) Edited June 10, 2015 by PTMary

[electro]

[quote name='PTMary']And we have a stalemate. One poster says the Staff Captain said "no", and another poster who writes (in that same post you are quoting from - #40) that the Ship's Captain and First officer have told him "yes" on two separate occasions.

As I see it, the score is 2 to 1 in favor of "YES". :D

What is truly ironic is that you conveniently quote only the one line you want to challenge - "who have no personal experience with this happening" -and using it as a snub, while totally ignoring what he had been told by two high ranking officers, which just so happens to contradict what you are saying.

Was it selective reading? Biased editing? Or some other reason? ;)[/QUOTE]

Well then, I will conclude that SOME cruise lines will get you passport and some will not.
I will continue to carry mine.

[darbytx]

Has anyone ever used the passport "card"? What about leaving the passport "book" in the safe and just taking the card? I need to renew mine before I sail and was considering getting both :) Thoughts???

[Chunder Worthy]

[quote name='SantaFeFan']Yep, you just never know. That is why I also bring all my important papers in my safe - including the safe, my own medical staff, my own lawyer, my own cook, my own security staff. I just don't know what is going to happen, so I must be prepared for every possible contingency, no matter how trivial. It is super important to be constantly on guard, always ready to spring into action, always positioned to whip out that passport at a moment's notice and avoid total disaster.[/QUOTE]

Er, the only thing you failed to mention you also brought was your rudeness.

Are you simply incapable of respectfully disagreeing with another's opinion instead of going out of your way to insult them with your contempt? You need to be. I answered the OP's question directly based on [I]my[/I] personal experience so don't deserve your thinly-veiled anger. This is a [I]cruise[/I] forum for heaven's sake -- some basic manners would serve you well.

[Flatbush Flyer]

[quote name='PTMary']And we have a stalemate. One poster says the Staff Captain said "no", and another poster who writes (in that same post you are quoting from - #40) that the Ship's Captain and First officer have told him "yes" on two separate occasions.

As I see it, the score is 2 to 1 in favor of "YES". :D

What is truly ironic is that you conveniently quote only the one line you want to challenge - "who have no personal experience with this happening" -and using it as a snub, while totally ignoring what he had been told by two high ranking officers, which just so happens to contradict what you are saying.

Was it selective reading? Biased editing? Or some other reason? ;)[/QUOTE]


Let's try some common sense here:

The printed "daily blurb" on cruise ships usually has emergency contact info, minimally, for the local port agent. If not, it's easy enough to get emergency number(s) from reception.

If you're on a ship that requires all passengers to have a passport (for ALL itineraries), chances are you will be required to surrender it to the purser (for safe keeping) at embarkation. If not, ask if you can turn it over to the purser's office (as an alternative to using the safe).

Wherever your passport is safely stowed on the ship, be prepared to contact the ship's agent (or the purser) if it looks like you may not make it back in time. That means carrying the contact info and your phone (and/or being sure that your tour operator can make that call for you).

If you don't make it back (and you have made the emergency call), your passport will be waiting for you - a far better alternative to having been pickpocketed or otherwise losing your passport on land.

And if it makes you feel any better, carry a photocopy of the passport ID pages or install the US CBP mobile passport app on your iphone. They won't get you on a plane. But, they will help in the replacement process.

[DYKWIA]

35 years of extensive travelling for business and pleasure the only times I recall ever needing my passport with me (apart from immigration) was
(1) to cash travellers cheques at a local bank
(2) to visit the national rail museum in New Delhi!!

I don't use travellers cheques any more, and India is just about the most beaurcratic country in the world - the only country I've arrived at where you were required to surrender your boarding pass stub on arrival.

I've Never had anyone wander up to me whilst doing my touristy stuff, demanding to see my passport (apart from at that train museum) and that includes, China, Burma, Laos, former eastern block countries (where the hotel would hold your passport) - we were even allowed to enter Burma for the day with our guide ( for a payment in $us) without our passport. I've visited palaces, parliaments, consulates, museums, hired cars and a helicopter or two, and the word passport has never been mentioned.

Along the way (and including last year on the Eclipse in Lisbon) I've met plenty of people who have been pickpocketed or even had their bags cut open - it is virtually an unrecorded crime in places like Spain now where the Police dont investigate it, and the criminals operate with near impunity. My father has been robbed 3 times in Spain in recent years and sites several more attempts (he looks after my mother in a wheelchair so is a vulnerable target).

If the ship advises you carry your passport, then apart from Schengen Area where I know it not to be absolutely unecessary, I would do. Cash and Credit Cards are far more important! The main use of a passport is to allow you in and out of a country. Edited June 10, 2015 by DYKWIA

[Bonnie J.]

We have taken close to 100 cruises and have NEVER taken our passports out of our safe! Security can go to your cabin and open your safe and get your passports if necessary. Cruise directors tell people not to take passports off the ship. Stolen passports bring MEGA $$$ which is why they say don't take them off the ship! You can be injured if a thief is robbing you.

[Jane2357]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]Wow - and still I would ask and have yet to receive an answer "why does this bother some of you so badly that others of us make the choice to carry ours"? There are insults flying (Bless your heart) and for what reason. We are all entitled to our opinions - why get so angry when someone doesn't agree. We all have our own experiences - trying to argue who is better traveled is plain silly - I've spent considerable time in China while my husband lived their for work and I never walked out the condo without my passport - never. Traveled through Europe with a friend who lives there , French citizen, and I never left her house without my passport. In a national emergency that passport could become invaluable to me.

I posted an actual link to a couple that said their passports were not retrieved, I conceded that perhaps if the ship knew you couldn't make it back they MIGHT leave your passport. I believe many of you have a false sense of security - and I will continue to carry mine when not held by the ship. God forbid I miss the ship - I will not have to spend up to two days getting photos, to the embassy and getting a new passport and then on a flight as I have read in a recent thread about someone being left in Nassau.

[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Bonnie J.]

When we started cruising, many years ago, the ship held ALL passports that we not from the US! They were given back the last night. Anyone with passports held by the ship could not take them ashore even if they wanted to!

[dsrdsrdsr]

[quote name='Jane2357'][SIZE=3][FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=blue]I will continue to carry mine when not held by the ship. God forbid I miss the ship - I will not have to spend up to two days getting photos, to the embassy and getting a new passport and then on a flight as I have read in a recent thread about someone being left in Nassau. [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[/quote]

I'm not even sure if you would be able to get a new passport in those circumstances. They'll issue a new one if it's lost, certainly; but the UK passport agency, at least, would not issue a new passport in 2 days if you know your old one is perfectly safe and secure, you know where it is, and it just doesn't happen to be a convenient place. I suppose if they have a wide definition of "emergency" you might have a chance?

[cruisemom42]

[quote name='Jane2357'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]Wow - and still I would ask and have yet to receive an answer "why does this bother some of you so badly that others of us make the choice to carry ours"? There are insults flying (Bless your heart) and for what reason. We are all entitled to our opinions - why get so angry when someone doesn't agree. We all have our own experiences - trying to argue who is better traveled is plain silly - I've spent considerable time in China while my husband lived their for work and I never walked out the condo without my passport - never. Traveled through Europe with a friend who lives there , French citizen, and I never left her house without my passport. In a national emergency that passport could become invaluable to me.

I posted an actual link to a couple that said their passports were not retrieved, I conceded that perhaps if the ship knew you couldn't make it back they MIGHT leave your passport. I believe many of you have a false sense of security - and I will continue to carry mine when not held by the ship. God forbid I miss the ship - I will not have to spend up to two days getting photos, to the embassy and getting a new passport and then on a flight as I have read in a recent thread about someone being left in Nassau.

[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

I agree it should be "live and let live." I think some are a little overzealous. But some people do feel strongly that you are putting your passport at risk by carrying it (however securely), because it is an item of value on the black market worldwide. Advice I've read from US Passport Office suggests not carrying one's passport unless it is absolutely required. I suppose we just have differing opinions as to whether it is "required" to carry it in ports. :D

I'm a seasoned traveler and have cruised for around 40 years; I've never once come close to missing the ship even though I do many private tours and whenever I can, I simply go on my own using public transportation. I also feel perfectly able to deal with any complexities of getting a new passport, if needed. It certainly wouldn't kill me to spend two extra days in Italy or Greece or most anywhere, actually. :) I fully realize that not everyone feels as secure about travel.

(Also, I've had friends get their passports stolen in Rome by pickpockets; they were able to get them replaced in a day.)

I'm off now to see if I can hunt down at least one of those threads where passports were retrieved from a cabin. I know I should've bookmarked it!

[cruisemom42]

Here's a post from someone who missed the ship on HAL and found their passports had been left with the port agent:

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43011104&postcount=54[/url]

[SantaFeFan]

[quote name='cruisemom42']Here's a post from someone who missed the ship on HAL and found their passports had been left with the port agent:

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43011104&postcount=54[/url][/QUOTE]

The $64,000 question is - "Did they notify the ship that they would be late?"

[quote name='Jane2357']I believe many of you have a false sense of security.[/QUOTE]

I am curious - what was the cruise line that told you they would not search the safe unless notified before hand? Edited June 10, 2015 by SantaFeFan

[zqvol]

[quote name='PoppyandNana']Interesting. Wonder what the circumstances, politically, were at that time. We have been to the Med three times and have never been asked to submit our passports. Regular, U.S. Citizen passport?[/quote]


It depends on the line. The luxury lines almost always hold all passports for all guests for the duration of the voyage. It doesn't matter if it is in Europe or the Caribbean or AK.

[Shak]

I have partaken in this conversation for years now and to me there is no right answer. I have chosen leaving my passport on board because I feel it gives me the most options. If you disagree I am OK with that.

A few years ago I remember reading a news article about a man that was denied boarding back on the cruise ship because his passport was stolen while on shore. I posted my recollections of the article and wouldn't you know it I got a response from someone that knew of the event and offed more details about that event. Look at post 42. She also offered some other information you may find useful.
[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=33148694[/url]

If you do carry your passport on shore I would suggest it be carried in the most secure way and not in a bag or pants pocket.

Shak