Passports on European cruises - do you have to surrender them?

[Boomer1]

Were on a European June/07 Grand (Rome to England), never had to surrender our passports and only needed to show them once after boarding and have them stamped before we arrived in Southampton. Good suggestion to carry a color photo copy of your passport though just in case when you are on shore.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We've had to surrender our passports on several cruises, most notably in Europe and South America. I don't have an issue with it...in fact, I kind of prefer doing it. Totally eliminates that whole "do you take your passport on shore with you?" discussion.

 

Two things to note, however: 1.) If you have to relinquish your passport, take it out of any case you might carry it in, particularly fancy leather ones. Most of the time, the ship won't even accept the cases, but when they used to, we had a friend whose case wasn't returned (and it wasn't a cheap one). And 2.) most of the time, my World Health addendum pages, which I keep with my passport, are checked but not kept (checked for Yellow Fever shots, etc.), but I carry a copy of them also, just in case they get lost along the way.