Passport ID in port?

[marcyleecorgan]

Thanks for politicizing this. That's always helpful to a conversation.

I'm confused about why I never seem to see any comments from you anymore that aren't about your feeling that Americans are entitled jerks. It seems like you used to comment on the DLP board regarding other topics, but now whenever I see you over there it's a tirade like this one, and now in the cruise forum, too? It's really starting to feel like you're just hunting for opportunities to politicize the conversation.

It is NOT political. It is cultural. There is a difference.

 

[kiford]

When we go to the Med, I will feel more comfortable wearing our passports in a neck pouch when in port rather than leaving them on the ship, especially since we have to travel so far inland in some ports.

In many ports on Med cruises, you are required to take them with you. The Navigator will tell you when you need to carry them. Occasionally, you may be required to turn them into the ship and they will hold them and you'll pick them up later. This happened when we visited Athens, Turkey, and then Myknonos. We had to take our passports when visiting Athens. I think we may have had to have them for Turkey, and then we had to hand them in. I think we then stopped in Mykonos without them and picked them up after we left. I know that, at some point, the Greek authorities came on board to spot check physical passports and review the passenger list. We were told that, because we'd stopped in a non-Greek port before, we had to go through passport control again. Mykonos doesn't really have much infrastructure at the port so I suspect that's a major factor for why you don't do it individually. On our Baltic cruise, we had to have them at every port. I'm pretty sure for most of the Italian and French ports we didn't need to take them because we'd sailed from Barcelona and we were already in the EU so there was no passport control. So we left them in the safe.

Never had to have them in the Caribbean or Bahamian cruises and I would never take them off the ship there; far too much chance of theft and I'm much less likely to miss the ship. I always have a copy on my phone (secured), and take the port agent information with me plus I have phone numbers and addresses of the local Canadian embassy.

 

[AquaDame]

I just dont get the whole attitude many Americans have about passports. You are going to a foreign country, therefore having a passport on your person is a given. Its like so many have this entitled thought, oh Im American I dont need my passport on me when I leave the ship, cos you know Im an American and that makes me special...

Turn it around, many Americans have very low tolerance for foreigners in America, expect foreigners to speak English and to have their ID with them at all times, yet Americans go to foreign countries and behave as if they are still on American soil!

I'd revist the OP...

Just read this on the passport and visas site:

• You may be required to present a passport to enter the foreign ports that your cruise is visiting.

I'd argue that given this language it is NOT a given that you carry your passport with you, and DCL makes sure you have ID (we just show our drivers' license even though we do tend to carry our passports) and the KTTWC on you - they don't specify a passport either. Far from acting in an entitled manner, many are just confused. If it said to take your passport and KTTWC or the passport/visa site said to make sure to carry it with you then I'm sure more Americans would make it a habit.

 

[MSPeeler]

....... back to my OP.

I'm asking if it is required to be SHOWN when entering the port.

Thanks.

 

[kiford]

.I'm asking if it is required to be SHOWN when entering the port.

Not for closed loop Caribbean cruises. You'll show your ID when you check in before you board and not at individual ports. If, for some reason, you would be required to have or show your passport to disembark or reboard at any port, the Navigator will say so.

 

[MSPeeler]

Not for closed loop Caribbean cruises. You'll show your ID when you check in before you board and not at individual ports. If, for some reason, you would be required to have or show your passport to disembark or reboard at any port, the Navigator will say so.

Thank you very much.

 

[YawningDodo]

I can assure you, I have no political agenda what so ever. I am interested in a wide range of topics and conversations so I click on the NEW POSTS link on the forum. As someone who comes from an island country where international travel and having a passport is standard and automatic, I guess Im just fascinated by the complete opposite attitude of some Americans. Also I travel regularly to American and have done so for over 15 years, so I guess I have seen alot more in real life of American than most Europeans. Its just totally and utterly fascinating to contrast and compare America and Americans with Europe and Europeans.

Alot of people (in general, Americans, Europeans, Australians, Africans) are not aware of how they are perceived and how their social and cultural behaviours are viewed when they are not in their home environment ie when they travel to a foreign country. Something which is a cultural or behavioural norm in their home land may be viewed very differently in a different country. Thats all part of foreign travel, being outside your comfort zone and experiencing things a different way.

Of course, many rest-of-the-world citizens don’t even want to take their passports to WDW, and get irritated that their IDs aren’t accepted there for alcohol. They state how worried they are about losing them. But it’s the same thing. Foreign soil but not wanting to take your passport with them...

[...]Does it help if I, an American (a wannabe expatriate since ‘95), say that many Americans are entitled jerks? Does it help unpoliticize it? (And before you think it IS political on my part, take a look at the year I just mentioned...)

Okay, the word I needed was "cultural," not "political." That's what I get for reiterating language used by another poster in an attempt to emphasize their point that this discussion feels out of place rather than more carefully choosing my own words. I suppose, too, that I should have been more clear about the fact that my objection isn't that I don't believe there's any such thing as entitled Americans; my objection is that in the last week or two I've noticed a lot of repetitive replies about this in the DLP forum and I think it's both out of place and unhelpful -- this thread was just the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, from my perspective.

If someone's asking a question like the one in this OP, it's because they're not sure of the answer -- ditto several of the posts I've seen BadPinkTink reply to this way in the DLP forum. People are looking for information, and by definition someone who's looking for this kind of info ahead of their trip is someone who doesn't automatically feel entitled to just do whatever on foreign soil and assume it'll work out in their favor due to their country of citizenship. For example, when I was preparing for my cruise I asked on this board (somewhat incredulously) for verification that vendors in Cozumel would be willing and able to accept American money -- one could take that to mean that I'm an entitled American who thinks our money should be accepted everywhere, or one could take it to mean that I'd heard it somewhere, thought it sounded possible but not entirely likely, and wanted verification one way or another so I'd know whether I could avoid the trouble and expense of exchanging money for a single day's visit. Similarly, one could take this thread to be an example of entitled attitudes, or one could take it as an example of a mix of experienced and inexperienced cruisers sharing the pros and cons of a widely accepted (and perfectly legal) practice (or, you know, an OP seeking a specific answer they finally got on the second page). bumbershoot made another good point, too -- it's not only Americans who resist carrying a passport on foreign soil when they perceive themselves to be in a relatively safe locale with no obvious, pressing need for it. And yet we see this assumption that it's an American issue and all related to specifically American attitudes. I just don't think it's a helpful thing to (repeatedly) add to the discussion, as being met with incredulity over perceived entitlement is frankly likely to make people more reluctant rather than less to ask clarifying questions and find out things they need to know in order to be able to successfully travel abroad without endangering themselves or being an annoyance to the people they meet.

I'd revist the OP...

Just read this on the passport and visas site:

• You may be required to present a passport to enter the foreign ports that your cruise is visiting.

I'd argue that given this language it is NOT a given that you carry your passport with you, and DCL makes sure you have ID (we just show our drivers' license even though we do tend to carry our passports) and the KTTWC on you - they don't specify a passport either. Far from acting in an entitled manner, many are just confused. If it said to take your passport and KTTWC or the passport/visa site said to make sure to carry it with you then I'm sure more Americans would make it a habit.

Thank you, this sums up the actual answer to the question (and the other issues being discussed) very well.