Collection of passports upon embarkation

[Kate-AHF]

We've only sailed on Marina/Riviera with Oceania, and embark on Sirena for 5 weeks in 26 days.  Marina/Riviera did not collect passports.  Other cruiselines we have experience with (Silversea/Seabourn) did, so we are used to it.

 

The pre-cruise docs we received today state that Sirena will collect passports upon embarkation.  That's fine, and it may be because they are so much smaller than O class.  But does this actually happen on the R class ships?

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

We've only sailed on Marina/Riviera with Oceania, and embark on Sirena for 5 weeks in 26 days.  Marina/Riviera did not collect passports.  Other cruiselines we have experience with (Silversea/Seabourn) did, so we are used to it.

 

The pre-cruise docs we received today state that Sirena will collect passports upon embarkation.  That's fine, and it may be because they are so much smaller than O class.  But does this actually happen on the R class ships?

We've had our passports collected on both R and O class ships. Perhaps the nature of your itineraries on Marina and Riviera were such that the purser's office having custody of the passports was not necessary as local officials did not needed to inspect them during your cruises.

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Kate-AHF said:

We've only sailed on Marina/Riviera with Oceania, and embark on Sirena for 5 weeks in 26 days.  Marina/Riviera did not collect passports.  Other cruiselines we have experience with (Silversea/Seabourn) did, so we are used to it.

 

The pre-cruise docs we received today state that Sirena will collect passports upon embarkation.  That's fine, and it may be because they are so much smaller than O class.  But does this actually happen on the R class ships?

Usually they collect ours   as we are Canadian  even on Caribbean cruises

  it can also depend on the ports of call  & if  they would need  them for several port clearances

 I keep a photo copy of mine  in the safe  ..that is just me

[Hlitner]

Having Passports collected is because requirements related to 1 or more of your ports.  It has nothing to do with the size of the ship.  

 

Hank

[PaulMCO]

Probably because you start in the UK then enter the Schengen (EU) countries. Ship would needed to be cleared in your first port.  They may return them after this clearance since I think you stay in the EU.

[Mura]

Agree with most of these comments.  On all Oceania ships we've always had our passports collected.  If we were in a port (say Russia),  then they would return us to them for that port and we might (or might not) need to return them upon return to the ship.  There has been some occasions when passports were returned to us prior to the end of the cruise and we were permitted to keep them until we left the ship. Depends on the itinerary ...

 

And also depends on the ports and immigration restrictions I suppose.

 

Mura

[MEFIowa]

18 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Usually they collect ours as we are Canadian even on Caribbean cruises...

I was glad O didn't on Riviera on our 12/13-23/21 W. Caribbean cruise. Kept ours in our room safe for the entire trip and our 5 excursions. Never took it out or looked at it until we emptied the safe at the end.

 

As others have pointed out, highly port and itinerary specific.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

I was glad O didn't on Riviera on our 12/13-23/21 W. Caribbean cruise. Kept ours in our room safe for the entire trip and our 5 excursions. Never took it out or looked at it until we emptied the safe at the end.

 

As others have pointed out, highly port and itinerary specific.

But you are  American ..it is different  for you  than other citizens

[MEFIowa]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

But you are American. it is different for you than other citizens

Didn't hear anyone mention anything about passports in 12/21, met many foreign nationals on board.

 

BUT I'll check around on Sirena in 11/22 in E. Caribbean. I wonder if the French on St. Bart's will be different? (As opposed to St Kitts, St Vincent and Dominica, which I assume may treat us like the W. Caribbean nations.)

[LHT28]

15 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

Didn't hear anyone mention anything about passports in 12/21, met many foreign nationals on board.

 

BUT I'll check around on Sirena in 11/22 in E. Caribbean. I wonder if the French on St. Bart's will be different? (As opposed to St Kitts, St Vincent and Dominica, which I assume may treat us like the W. Caribbean nations.)

it does depend on the ports  if Oceania takes  foreign citizens passports at check in

Us citizens are not usually in the line up to collect passports at the end of the cruises  IME

 

Just the facts of life 😉

 

[sunlover12]

I recall just one cruise I've been on where everyone's passports were collected, including US citizens. It was on Oceania Regatta, Miami to San Francisco. We got them back the day before we arrived in San Francisco. We sailed through many countries and I don't know which of those was requiring it.

[Plainfred]

Ditto advice to have a copy of passport.  If lost you will need number and expiration of it to complete full app for new temp passport including new photo. Don’t expect any phone help from embassy. Must use State Dept website (voluminous) for app and instructions, bring app and get to embassy an hour before opening if major city. Works fine if you have everything exactly right.  Other ID irrelevant. From London experience. 

[emd138]

We had ours (US citizens) collected once on a Caribbean cruise on Sirena.  On 2 other cruises on Insignia, they did not.  I still have the sticker on mine with our name and room number to easily tell which one is mine or my husband's, haha!  I really did not like handing it over, but it was fine.

 

[RD64]

Back in the dinosaur days - circa 1995 on my first Caribbean cruise on the Norway - passports were always collected at embarkation, held by the Purser’s Office, and returned prior to debarkation.

 

Fast forward to 2019 - Transatlantic Lisbon to Boston with HAL - passports collected upon embarkation, and returned prior to first Canadian port - not a big deal at all.

[Cruise Wonderland]

It mainly depends on your itinerary (the countries involved). Sometimes the guest's nationality is also a reason.

 

If you go to exotic voyages, or countries that will stamp your passport / require visa, it is more common for the cruise line to keep your passport, so that the local immigration officers can inspect and stamp the passports more quickly (the cruise line will reserve the conference room or card room for them to handle this).

 

European voyages usually do not keep your passport, as inspection is not required across different EU countries.

 

Here in Asia, our passports are often kept by the cruise line, even it is just a short cruise to one country only. The cruise line will collect all the passports on Day 1. Immigration officers will stamp all of them overnight (yes, sometimes they may stay onboard and travel with the passengers to the next country), and the cruise line will return the passports to us the next day.

[GICNJC]

Definitely depends on where you are cruising.  On three of our cruises, they kept the passports (Canadian) but on our recent Baltic cruise they did not.