Martinique now requiring cruise passengers to have passport

[lklgoodman]

Just saw this on the bottom(or side if not on phone) of this board. I know DCL has some southern cruises coming up, not sure if they go to Martinique or not. If you are going there you now must have a passport if you want to get off the ship. Doesn't say why they are now requiring one, but wanted to point it out. Hopefully all TAs and DCL are letting those going there know about this.

 

[sethschroeder]

Looks like January 26th goes there. Might want to post it on their ship meet-up thread as well?

 

[lklgoodman]

Looks like January 26th goes there. Might want to post it on their ship meet-up thread as well?

Good idea! Just posted it there. Looks like no one has posted there in a month, so hopefully everyone going there will find out. It said Carnival sent letters to their passengers, I would assume DCL will do the same.

 

[StarSeven7]

I'm on that cruise and I was going to post this on our other social media page (which is more active).

 

[lklgoodman]

I'm on that cruise and I was going to post this on our other social media page (which is more active).

Glad you've seen it and sharing with others. Enjoy your cruise. Curious if DCL has notified you.

 

[lanejudy]

If you are going there you now must have a passport if you want to get off the ship.

Just to clarify - if any one port on the itinerary requires a passport, you will not be allowed to cruise without one. It isn’t a case of “if you want to get off” vs just stay onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[lklgoodman]

Just to clarify - if any one port on the itinerary requires a passport, you will not be allowed to cruise without one. It isn’t a case of “if you want to get off” vs just stay onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

Good to know, the article didn't state that. It just said you'd have to have one if you wanted to get off the ship there. We are hoping to do a Southern cruise sometime, thankfully we have passports.

 

[StarSeven7]

I haven't heard anything from DCL. Someone in my other social media group said they called DCL and they were told it didn't apply to this cruise but I can't see how that would be possible.

Edited to add: and a lot of those people are saying they'll just stay on the ship in Martinique. I passed on the info that they aren't able to board without a passport.

 

[anricat]

PIF was yesterday so the timing is awful. I hope that if indeed DCL is going to require passports for this sailing they will alert all those sailing AND allow those who do not wish to obtain passports to cancel if they need too (without penalty).

We are sailing on this cruise (and already have passports) but we haven't heard a peep from DCL about this. I asked my TA and she was unaware of it as well.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

PIF was yesterday so the timing is awful. I hope that if indeed DCL is going to require passports for this sailing they will alert all those sailing AND allow those who do not wish to obtain passports to cancel if they need too (without penalty).

We are sailing on this cruise (and already have passports) but we haven't heard a peep from DCL about this. I asked my TA and she was unaware of it as well.

As with most cruiselines, it's on the passenger to find out what documentation is necessary. Typically their Terms & Conditions may mention what sorts of documentation may be necessary, but they will not tell you specifically "this is what you have to have".

I'm not sure they will notify anyone of the change.

 

[StarSeven7]

Honestly, passports are such a small percentage of the expenses when you travel, I can't understand anyone canceling because they don't want to pay for them! But I know that some will be unhappy about it. For U.S. passports, a brand new one is $145 which is $14.50 per year to travel almost anywhere in the world. It's not very much.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just to clarify - if any one port on the itinerary requires a passport, you will not be allowed to cruise without one. It isn’t a case of “if you want to get off” vs just stay onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

I looked it up earlier, and the press releases do state clearly that passengers simply won’t be able to get off the ship. While I normally say what you said, I have a feeling in this case right now it might be different.

As with most cruiselines, it's on the passenger to find out what documentation is necessary.

This JUST changed, and it’s a doozy IMO, so I think cruise lines will try to inform people. IMO.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

and the press releases do state clearly that passengers simply won’t be able to get off the ship.

Well, that's wrong. If you don't have the proper documentation to debark a ship when in port, you will not be allowed to get on the ship in the first place. Reason? Because, when a ship is in port, your are "in" that country. If there were an emergency, and you HAD to get off the ship (regardless if you say "I won't get off the ship), you have to have the proper documentation.

 

[cgolf]

Well, that's wrong. If you don't have the proper documentation to debark a ship when in port, you will not be allowed to get on the ship in the first place. Reason? Because, when a ship is in port, your are "in" that country. If there were an emergency, and you HAD to get off the ship (regardless if you say "I won't get off the ship), you have to have the proper documentation.

If what you are saying is true that they wouldn’t be able to board without a passport DCL needs to let the cruisers know! They state the recommended documents to have, when the policy changes to required documents than they need to inform people. If they don’t it is on them because people could point to their policy to show where DCL is in the wrong. Big difference between recommended and required.

This isn’t a difficult thing for them and could save a lot of headaches if this is the case.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If what you are saying is true that they wouldn’t be able to board without a passport DCL needs to let the cruisers know! They state the recommended documents to have, when the policy changes to required documents than they need to inform people. If they don’t it is on them because people could point to their policy to show where DCL is in the wrong. Big difference between recommended and required.

This isn’t a difficult thing for them and could save a lot of headaches if this is the case.

The DCL website says:


At check-in, all Guests must present valid passports or other acceptable proof of citizenship.

• Under My Reservations you'll find important travel guidelines and regulations relevant to your individual itinerary. However, it is your responsibility to check with your travel agent, government agency, embassy or consulate to ensure that you have all the proper documentation to board the ship and enter each of the countries on your cruise. U.S. travelers can visit the U.S. State Department's travel website or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center at (877) 4USA-PPT [877-487-2778] for more information.

Important International Travel Advisories

• Guests without proper documentation will be denied boarding.
• Travel restrictions for each destination country may vary according to a Guest's citizenship.

 

[cgolf]

The DCL website says:


At check-in, all Guests must present valid passports or other acceptable proof of citizenship.

• Under My Reservations you'll find important travel guidelines and regulations relevant to your individual itinerary. However, it is your responsibility to check with your travel agent, government agency, embassy or consulate to ensure that you have all the proper documentation to board the ship and enter each of the countries on your cruise. U.S. travelers can visit the U.S. State Department's travel website or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center at (877) 4USA-PPT [877-487-2778] for more information.

Important International Travel Advisories

• Guests without proper documentation will be denied boarding.
• Travel restrictions for each destination country may vary according to a Guest's citizenship.

Sure, and I bet Carnival has something similar written in, they do see below and I pasted link as well to cover me. I bet you many cruisers don’t know that and would be caught short. You can defend DCL all you want, but this would be so simple for them to help out the folks on this cruise and show that great Disney service.

We always travel with a passport, but I know everyone doesn’t. Whether they should is a different topic for a different day

From the Carnival site.
If you go to the Carnival site below they have basically the same language as DCL about this topic that would cover them if they didn’t inform their customers.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answe...NUWNWNyU3RThURVBucF9VcTZubVVmaXRkNFElMjElMjE=

 

[lklgoodman]

I agree that it is up to each passenger to make sure they have the proper paperwork necessary for the cruise they are taking. However I also think Disney and other cruise lines should be notifying passengers about this very recent change. If you booked this cruise on opening day, that would have been nearly a year ago. Someone who may have never cruised before and even someone who has cruised before may have read the info on Disney's site a year ago, thinking they didn't need a passport and are now unaware of this change. Most times I read about changes that Disney makes from this board and from Scott's site. I didn't know either existed until after my 3rd cruise. Someone already posted on here that someone on this cruise called Disney and the cm told them that they didn't need a passport for the cruise. So, which is it? Do they or don't they? Doesn't sound like even the cms might know the correct answer. We have passports, so it wouldn't affect us(not even taking this cruise), but I feel bad for anyone who thought they wouldn't need one, and then show up at the port and can't even get on the ship. As others have pointed out, it would be good customer service on Disney's part to inform their customers. Disney is suppose to be so much better than other lines(or so they have us believing, isn't that why we all pay so much more to sail on them?). Carnival has already informed their customers, I expect Disney to do the same for their customers.

 

[StarSeven7]

I’m the one who’s on that cruise and I agree that DCL should contact everyone because it seems there’s a lot of misinformation going around. A lot of people in the group have contacted their TA and we’re told that this info is wrong, they don’t need a passport or they can just stay on the ship and some have been told that by DCL directly. I’ve never cruised before so I’m not pretending that I know the answer but I just hope this doesn’t mess things up for people. Another person on that page is speculating that DCL might just drop this port from the schedule now. We always travel with passports so that would make me sad!

 

[lklgoodman]

I’m the one who’s on that cruise and I agree that DCL should contact everyone because it seems there’s a lot of misinformation going around. A lot of people in the group have contacted their TA and we’re told that this info is wrong, they don’t need a passport or they can just stay on the ship and some have been told that by DCL directly. I’ve never cruised before so I’m not pretending that I know the answer but I just hope this doesn’t mess things up for people. Another person on that page is speculating that DCL might just drop this port from the schedule now. We always travel with passports so that would make me sad!

Glad you have your passports. We have ours also, but if I didn't this type of situation would make me get it, I'd rather have it and not need it. Like you said earlier, it's just a little over $10/year, never really thought about it that way before, good way to look at it. Hopefully the cruise will go off like it should and everyone will have a great time. Let us know when you get back.

 

[adamki]

Well, that's wrong. If you don't have the proper documentation to debark a ship when in port, you will not be allowed to get on the ship in the first place. Reason? Because, when a ship is in port, your are "in" that country. If there were an emergency, and you HAD to get off the ship (regardless if you say "I won't get off the ship), you have to have the proper documentation.

In my experience, I 100% agree with @PrincessShmoo about not being able to board and then stay on the ship if a given port requires a passport. The situation in Martinique appears to be the exception that proves this rule because I got a message from DCL about our January cruise:

Dear adamki,
{...Introduction and irrelevant information about a port swap...}

In addition, Martinique has recently changed their document policy for cruise visitors and now require all Guests to have a valid, unexpired passport. Martinique will not allow anyone to go ashore without a passport and Guests without a valid passport will need to stay onboard while the ship is in port.

A valid passport is only necessary to visit Martinique. For more information on what documents are required to board the ship, please visit https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/ships-cruises/required-documents.

We look forward to welcoming you onboard and providing you with an exceptional cruise experience.

Sincerely,

The Cast and Crew
Disney Cruise Line

I don't know if the island is simply phasing in the requirement and allowing this situation for some period of time or if this will be status quo ... and who knows what would happen in the event of a medical emergency on board while at port. It's just easier to have a passport and eliminate the 'what-ifs'.