Query passport/yukon shore excursion

[annski]

We have a query re passport requirement for entering Yukon Canada on a shore excursion from Skagway. As we are Australian, the cruise line last time took our passports, now on booking the shore excursion it requests that you either have a passport / US drivers licence to take as ID. The idea of a copy of a passport doesnt seem to have any legal standing, or in this instance ?? is that the option .. or do we request our passport back for the excursion and wouls we get it back. Any advice or previous experience would be helpful thanks ann

[dyeadave]

I sometimes do that summit tour, for fair disclosure, and for several years now, our border [Alaska,US] seems in a fair state of flux on this issue!?! The cruise ships, whether by design or dereliction, seem fairly cavileer about the whole delemia if you don't book through them!?!

I have a group of Australians who return every May just to go up to the border [the summit] just so the newbies in the group can play in the snow!

In past years that made us stand out from the "standardized" tours since I was the only one who will rent myself out by the hour, in Skagway, and we would spend a fair bit of extra time up there, playing snowball fight, falling through, etc.! You might imagine the consternation that caused on one occasion when we showed up back at our border with a middle aged man fairly wet and rumpled, and smiling about the whole experience!?!

At any rate we usually sort out the new season that way and for the past several years, passports have become a minimum for anyone at our border. You should tell the ship people that you are planning a trip into Canada and they will give you your passports when you tell them directly. You should be sure to bring them along for the day even if you are placing yourselves on "weather standby" to avoid a fog tour. That way you can be ready to go if the fog clears later in the day!