Passports on Excursions

[Belle102498]

Hi everyone! My husband and I will be doing a RC cruise in May to the Eastern Caribbean. We have booked an excursion at St Thomas where we do a bus sightseeing thing, a little bit of shopping, and about 2 hours at the beach. My question is (since we've never done an excursion before) what do you do with your passports while you are at the beach? I really want to "play" in the water, but it's just me and my husband, so I'm not real comfortable leaving my belongings there while we go frolicking I'm not planning on taking a credit card or anything else of great value. I will take some cash, but maybe only $50 or so. I'm just concerned about the passport...What does everyone else do with theirs when they are at the beach? Is there someone from the cruise line at the beach that we can trust to watch over out belongings? Thanks so much for any and all information And please forgive me if this really is a silly question...I really don't know much about cruising and excursions

 

[msmayor]

Husband and I are cruising in two weeks and I purchased a waterproof case from Amazon for our valuables and I will 'wear' it while in the water if we both decide to go in at the same time.

They sell different sizes...I didn't need to get one that will hold our passports since our only beach/water day is on Labadee where we'll be right near the ship the whole day but if we were going to beach it at another port I'd have gotten the larger wallet.

 

[Belle102498]

Thanks for the info!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi everyone! My husband and I will be doing a RC cruise in May to the Eastern Caribbean. We have booked an excursion at St Thomas where we do a bus sightseeing thing, a little bit of shopping, and about 2 hours at the beach. My question is (since we've never done an excursion before) what do you do with your passports while you are at the beach?

Passports specifically.... You will find that the cruise line might very well tell you that you do NOT need to carry your passport off the ship. Nassau, St Maarten, and San Juan they told us (in the Navigators on Disney and Compasses on RCCL) we simply needed A photo ID and the room keycard. Not the passport necessarily. It's a guess, but I imagine it would be the same for St Thomas.

This makes some nervous. But taking passports off the ship makes others nervous.

If the ship doesn't require you to take them off (and I might add that 4 times getting back on the ship from the places above, plus Coco Cay and Castaway Cay, I have never had to show my ID) and you're comfy with that, just take your driver's license and the keycard. And some cash for tipping.

For those things I bought a Witz brand plastic "box" thing that hangs from a lanyard. Got it from REI. It's basically waterproof. Called the "see it safe".

But it's NOT big enough to hold a passport.

While googling, I see that Witz also makes a passport "locker" that is just like what I have, only bigger. Nice!

 

[Yvet]

We aleays take them with us.

The reason for a passport ( for US residents) is that they can travel in case of an emergancy....
If you get injured during a excursion and/or miss the boat you need that passport fot traveling back to the US....

 

[bumbershoot]

And the reason that others do NOT take them with them (when it's not required to get back on the ship) is the fear/concern/worry/thought of being mugged or losing them while off the ship.

IMO both are equally possible and both are valid viewpoints.


A prudent person who leaves them should make sure to bring a cellphone that could, in an emergency, be used where they are, as well as the contact info for the ship's officer at the port. That way if something happened them could contact the ship and they could start working to assist them, even if that just means getting into the safe and somehow getting your passports to them.

(too many "thems" there...started off with "you" but it felt too personal...)