Passports for the Kids in Tortola?

[milkwest]

Hi. We're on the Fantasy in June, cruising the Eastern Caribbean. I was looking into an independent dolphin shore excursion and the operator is saying that passports are "an essential requirement" to visit Tortola.

Can anyone confirm? We have 3 kids under 16 and was not intending to get passports for them, as the Disney site state they only need their birth certificates. Perhaps we should obtain some form of official ID for them?

Thanks for any guidance you have!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi. We're on the Fantasy in June, cruising the Eastern Caribbean. I was looking into an independent dolphin shore excursion and the operator is saying that passports are "an essential requirement" to visit Tortola.

Can anyone confirm? We have 3 kids under 16 and was not intending to get passports for them, as the Disney site state they only need their birth certificates. Perhaps we should obtain some form of official ID for them?

Thanks for any guidance you have!

Is the excursion going off Tortola to another island (that may be in another country)? Generally Tortola doesn't require passports for cruise ship visitors. Maybe you can ask for clarification from them about why?

This is from the US Dept of State website:
Caribbean cruises that begin and end in the U.S. (closed loop cruises) do not require that you travel with a valid passport.
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/british-virgin-islands.html

But any travel, except closed loop cruises, requires a passport to enter Tortola.

 

[DisneyB]

We were on Tortola last week and took an excursion to Virgin Gorda. We only brought our drivers license and room keys with us and had no issues. If some thing happens and you miss the all aboard time you would need a pssport to fly home I believe but we were never asked for anything on the islands.

 

[milkwest]

Is the excursion going off Tortola to another island (that may be in another country)? Generally Tortola doesn't require passports for cruise ship visitors. Maybe you can ask for clarification from them about why?

This is from the US Dept of State website:
Caribbean cruises that begin and end in the U.S. (closed loop cruises) do not require that you travel with a valid passport.
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/british-virgin-islands.html

But any travel, except closed loop cruises, requires a passport to enter Tortola.

The excursion is a swimming with dolphins, so no, we are not leaving Tortola.

 

[Jestocost]

The excursion is a swimming with dolphins, so no, we are not leaving Tortola.

I know that if you are taking an excursion from St. Thomas that goes to the BVI--and there are some that do--then you would need a passport because you are traveling to the BVI on a private boat and not directly from the cruise ship. If you are docking in Tortola and doing an excursion in the BVI then you should not need a passport. If you book an excursion through DCL you should not have this problem. Not sure why the tour operator would be telling you this unless they are not clear that you are docking in Tortola.