Passport Confiscation

Well its really not like its ome evil conspricacy to seperate innocent tourists from their passporst and sell them into white slavery,, LOL
I guess it would also shock you to learn in some places when you check into a hotel they ask for your passport,, and have been known to keep it overnight. Likely so they can make black market copies to sell...( joking)

I think you should contact the cruise line you are going to cruise with and ask them ... or at least go on a cruise board,, cruisecritics.com is an excellant one and the people there all cruise( while only some of do here) so you are more likely to get a lot of first hand info.

Good luck, and don't be so stressed,, remember millions cruise and enjoy it , and if they did give up their passports they likely got them back just fine.

I've heard that some lines hold your passport too but I suspect it's more like checking into a hotel. They hold your passport until they get it entered in their manifest (for reporting to law enforcement) then return it to you. I haven't been on a European cruise yet but have always had my passport in hand after check-in for other international cruises. It may be that smaller ships hold it longer.

The process is becoming more automated - business class hotels (and I suspect most cruises) hand your passport back to you almost instantly. Smaller hotels may still take awhile. They will often say they need your passport for several hours but in most cases will give it back sooner if you ask.

My advice, go with the flow. If they hold your passport, it's because you (and all the other passengers) won't need it. If you are asked for your passport at some point, you won't be dinged if you tell them honestly that your cruise ship has it.

TC - I've worked with The Cruise Lines for many , many years and YES - They HOLD your passports when you embark and generally give them back at the port before you disembark. This is actually for your well being so that your passport is not lost!! If, for example , you want to go into the Casino at Cannes or Barcelona you can simply go to The Purser's square and they will be happy to give you your passport. "Confiscate" shows a real lack of understanding on your part and perhaps a Valium??

I have traveled extensivly and lived in Europe and have never been required to surrender my passport at any hotel. I have cruised extensively (but not in or around Europe) and have never been required to surrender my passport to the cruise line. I have never lost a passport either.

I was not talking about the cruise line taking the passport for a few hours. I was told that the cruise line took passengers' passports during embarkation and did not return them until the last day of the cruise. As a result, passengers who went ashore in ports did so without their passports. If a passenger missed the ship's departure, they were left behind without their passport. The cruise line stated that the passenger would be on his own and should not expect assistance from the cruise line.

I am not stressed out, am not paranoid, and do not need Valium. I was simply trying to call upon the experience of others who may have encountered the situation I described. This board has been the source of much good information in the past both for me and from me. It is a shame that some individuals feel it necessary to ridicule others rather than providing useful assistance. Thanks to those of you who did provide useful information. TC

Is your cruise going to Italy?

In Italy, as a tourist, you are required to register with the police. Rather than forcing you to go down to the police station, all hotels will take your passport, some for a few minutes, others overnite, so they can make the report for you.

As a cruise passenger, you are also required to register with the police. The cruise line does this for you. (It's all ridiculous and mired in paperwork, but it still must be done.)

While I don't know what other countries you're traveling to, they may also need to do this. Additionally, they will want copies of your passport just in case something happens to you.

Rather than the word CONFISCATE, why not think of it as holding it temporarily. You can get it back any time you want--especially when going ashore.

As a matter fact I actually have some experience which some of the prior posters do not, I have frequently given my passport, sometimes over night, to hotel. Not uncommon so don't know where you have been traveling. Have been on seven European cruises. I think on all of the cruises at one time or another the cruise ship took the passports for a few days. One cruise took the passports for the whole cruise. That cruise was primarily in the Agean == Greece, Turkey. I don't this the cruise line is playing parent to prevent you from losing your passport. It depends on the ports and the immigration polices of that couuntry. You get a receipt for the passport and was told to use that for evidence of a passport. Never needed to.

Never tried but seriously doubt that you could get your passport back until the cruise is through with them.. It is done routinely and it absolutely nothing to get excitd about.

Frankly I did offer you some very good advice, I said go on a cruise board where there will be many posters who have likely taken the same cruise on the same line as you planning.

PS ,, you have a great sense of humor. Not.

Secondly, I HAVE given my passport up at hotels overnight, so it most certainly does happen.

Thirdly the word confiscate in block letters is inflamatory so you got an inflamed reply.

And lastly, if you have cruised before you should be aware that the procedure for those who miss the ship is that the purser gives your passport to the ships agent ashore. You are NOT left without it.

It depends on the countries you are cruising to. On our South American cruise, they took our passport and gave it back when we got into our last port in Chile.
It felt strange not having it, but that was the procedure for this trip.

I'll jump on top of the scrum and add that starting your post with the accusatory statement that the cruise line "CONFISCATES" your passport as if it's some sort of conspiracy was why you got some snippy responses. I don't doubt that you have travelled and never had your passport held overnight; but most people that have travelled a lot have. It's probably less common today with better technologies, but hotels still sometimes hold it overnight if they are busy or small. Conductors on overnight trains often hold them overnight and return in the morning. Guess if you decided on a whim to get off the train at 2:00 AM you'd be left without your passport.

I'd check the cruise policy very carefully to fully understand how they handle shore calls. But if it bothers you, don't take the cruise.

I took a Baltic cruise last June, 12 nights, 6 countries, including Russia. My passport was always in my possession - in the safe in my cabin when I wasn't ashore. I'm pretty sure we had to have passports with us when we disembarked, so we could show them (photo id) to reboard.

Holland America also collected our passports when we cruised to Japan. We have taken many cruises (though mostly Caribbean) where this never happened. I thought it was a request/requirement of the Japanese authorities and not Holland America, but I cannot say for certain. We were processed through customs (or was it immigration?) before embarking in our first Japanese port (it was a trans-Pacific cruise) and our passports were returned at that time. Other firsts on that cruise: No cell or internet on ship once entering Japanese waters, and retinal photograph ID (??) at custom/passport party. Go with the flow..no pun intended. And BTW, years and years ago as I recall we routinely gave our passports to European hotels; we were surprised once we returned to Europe to find this had changed. We did have to show our passports in Italy at internet cafes, a rule imposed by the Italian gov't as were were told.

We cruised with Holland America frim Venice, calling at Croatia, Greece (multiple ports), Turkey and Malta, back to Venice and the ship held our passport for the whole trip.

We cruised from Amsterdam to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Denmark and Norway ith Celebrity and they did not take our passport. Not sure if it is the cruiseline or the destinations that make the difference.

We have also had to surrender our passports to hotels in Italy.

The US government now offers a passport card. It's laminated and CC or DL size. I think it's about $25. It replaces the need for a passport for travel to Canada, the Caribbean and I think Mexico. I always travel with both my passport and my passport card. If the ship or a hotels hold your passport, you always have the card as a form of identification and proof of citizenship. It also gets you thru airport security.

Interesting one. The Australian Government frowns upon the practice of hotels keeping passports overnight for processing etc. Especially after the recent fiasco where 3 Australian Passport holders identities were forged and used by gunmen in an assasination in Dubai. They hadn't ever travelled to Dubai. I read of an account where a recent Aussie traveller to the Middle East refused to hand his passport over to kept by the hotel overnight. He stood his ground and it was processed immediately. Bit more difficult though when taking a cruise.

US cruise lines hold Canadian passports in the same manner for trips to the Bahamas, Mexico, etc.

It's not a big deal. Probably safer with them then in your pocket.

I second Pat's reply to check out cruisecritic.com, you will get answers there. I have taken several cruises, some lines hold your passport at the front desk and when you go ashore they return it. When you get back on the ship they take it back. As other posters have said this is for customs in the different cities and save you the time of have to go through customs your self.

Always have a copy of your passport anyway.

Overnight trains (international), regularly as a matter of course, take your passport and hand it back in the morning. I've had this happen on virtually every trip on one...as recently as a couple of years ago from Paris to Rome.

I too routinely had to handover my passport on night trains in years past. Since Switzerland joined Schengen last year I've taken two nights and the attendants have told me they don't do that anymore. YMMV.

Well, seeing all the other responese, I thought I'd add my two cents, although my experiences are not cruise related. I've always traveled with full size color copies of my passports and visas and in some cases, those copies were accepted in lieu of my actual passport, such as at hotel check-in. In fact, the tour company that I traveled with required that we bring copies with us for just that reason. I've also been on trains, where at the border crossings, immigration officers will come on board, collect all the passports, process them somewhere in the station, and then bring them back into the train again. The whole process might last several hours but we never felt in any danger.

We took a Transatlantic cruise from Italy which made several port calls along the way. Before boarding the ship, we handed over our passports and received ship passes which were plastic id's with an electronic information strip containing our individual details. The passports went into the ship's safe. The id's were used for on-board shopping and for disembarkation and embarkation when they were processed to record which passengers left the ship and returned. We were told that immigration officials from each port might or might not come aboard to check the passports. I don't recall when we got the passports back other than it was prior to San Juan, PR where the cruise terminated. We've also had to leave our passports with the desk at hotels in Europe, the last time in Rome. It made me nervous the first time I did it, but since then I don't worry about it. I hope this info is helpful.

When taking a ferry from Kusadasi (Turkey) to Samos, a
fellow comes and collects everyone's passport and then
takes them across a main street to an office where they
are processed. This takes about 20 minutes and during
that time the Americans taking the ferry were absolutely
paranoid thinking this official had run away to Rio with
their passports. Meanwhile, the Europeans and Canadians
(us) were very casual about the situation and not at all
concerned that they would be passportless and stuck
for eternity in a midnight express jail in Turkey.

Of course, the passports were returned and our fellow
travellers were able to wipe the sweat from their
foreheads and relax.

Most of the ships will give you your passport at port stops if you request it, some passengers need to conduct business that requires them to have their passports. They will ask possibly ask you to return it when re-boarding the ship. On the cruises where passports are collected, the purpose is to make clearing the port entries easier and faster. If they do not have all the passports, they have to run down the passengers they do not have one for and have them show up to clear the port. If you get there at 2:00 am, do you really want to be woken up for that? Not all ships do this, and it does depend on itinerary. Keep a copy with you, and if it makes you feel better, arrange to pick up your passport before leaving the ship at each port.

Just returned from cruise from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego. Celebrity "required" our passports 3 or 4 days before the end of the cruise. We were reluctant to surrender our documents. We still had Mexican ports of call and wanted to have our passports on us (you just never know what can happen). We also believe that you should never let your passport out of your sight unless it is with a customs or immigration official. If you have always had your passport in your possession you can verify to a customs or immigration officer that it is your document and is unaltered. It also avoids, however unlikely, opportunities for the document to be unlawfully copied or altered and identify theft. We asked if US customs had ordered the passports to be turned over or if we were legally required to turn them over. Result: we did not have to turn them over.

Anchient thread.