Thread: Do you carry your passport off the ship in Ports?

Originally Posted by Krazy Kruizers

No - once we are on the ship the passports go into the safe.

Use driver's license.

You can use your driver's liscense every time they ask for an ID? I thought a passport was required for that outside the USA if you have one.

I can't imagine not getting my passport stamped as I enter ports. To me it would not seem right to go all over the world and have a book with no stamps.

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

You can use your driver's liscense every time they ask for an ID? I thought a passport was required for that outside the USA if you have one.

I can't imagine not getting my passport stamped as I enter ports. To me it would not seem right to go all over the world and have a book with no stamps.

All you need to get back on the ship is a photo ID, such as a driver's license, and your sail & sign card. The only time you have to have your passport is if you're flying back into the US from a foreign port. In fact, you don't even need a passport for a cruise at all if you're doing a "closed loop" cruise. That's where you leaving from and returning to the same U.S. port and visiting the Caribbean, Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, etc. Of course, if you don't have a passport for these situations, then you will need an original birth certificate (not a copy) along with a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license. But if you have a passport, that's always the easiest thing to use. Just keep it in the safe in your cabin as you don't need it in port.

Most ports do not have anywhere to stamp your passport, especially in the Caribbean.

We've traveled all over the world and have never needed our passport, with the exception of Russia, except when arriving or departing Europe. And even our Baltic and Greek cruises, we never had to present it, nor were there any places to get it stamped. During these two cruises, we visited Italy, Croatia, Greek, Turkey, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia - always left our passports in the safe.

Pete

What are all the cancellation pages for if there are no stamps? Is it only good for land tours?

I thought somebody would stamp it at the pier when I debark.

With some exception, such as going into Russia, the only time they'll stamp your passport is when you go through Customs at the airport when arriving. I know people who cruise on a regular basis and the only stamps in their passport are when they arrive back into the U.S. - they don't have any foreign stamps anywhere in their passport.

Occasionally, some places will have a place that will stamp your passport if you ask, but when arriving by ship, usually not.

If all you plan to do are close-loop cruises out of the U.S., there's no reason to get a passport.

But I always suggest it because should you get sick or injured in a foreign port and have to fly back into the U.S. and don't have one, then you're going to spend alot of time and effort going to the U.S. embassy and getting a temporary one.

But if you're ever going to fly into a foreign country from the U.S. or to the U.S. from a foreign country, you have to have one, so you might as well get it.

Pete

We use our drivers licences as photo ID.

So my first stamp will be for the United States, not Canada?

When we did a Canada/New England cruise out of Baltimore, we never took our passports out of the safe and we were never asked for it, nor were there any places to get it stamped.

So to answer you question, yes.