Reigert2008 Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Good day! I saw this article about how cruisers on a Carnival ship have to hand over thier passports to the cruise line so customs can check them out. In the article, Carnival says this is not abnormal, but I've never seen anyone here mention it before. We have never cruised from outside the US (yet) but are looking at doing a European based cruise in 2025 and wanted to ask here if there ae any itineraries that this practice tends to happen more on or if it's all of them. For me, I don't like for my passport to be out of my sight, so this does make me a little uneasy, but I guess that's life I'm more than happy to wait in a line to have customs check me out with my passport to ensure that that i never lose control of my documents. Article -- https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-addresses-issue-of-handing-over-passports/113932 Thanks so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_Texas Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Have cruised a ton of U.S. and Europe multiple times as well as Australia / New Zealand. Have never surrendered passport on RCL, Viking, or Celestyal. RCIfan1912 and Reigert2008 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shari Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 We had to surrender our passports when we were on a transpacific and approaching the French Polynesian Islands per their government. After we finished our port stops there we all were given a time to pick them up again. So Carnival doing this may have something to do with the itinerary. RCIfan1912 and Ryan79 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan79 Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Unfortunately when you are dealing with customs of other countries, you don’t get to pick and choose options you are comfortable with. You do what you are told and it’s not up for discussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F1guynz Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 I think in Asia it is more common depending on where you are sailing to. You get them back near the end of the cruise I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Not uncommon in some countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Years ago, travelling to the US as Europeans, we had to surrender our passports when we checked in for our Royal Caribbean cruise. They were returned to us by immigration officers who came on board a few days later in St. Thomas. All non-Americans (I guess Canadians were maybe exempt) had to present themselves to the officers in the MDR to collect their passports before being allowed to disembark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonOasis Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 If you are concerned about it I would suggest you just look up each individual country you're visiting or hoping to visit on the cruise to see what their entry requirements are for cruise guest. Cruise lines don't just take your passport for no reason when they take them or ask you to surrender them it is because they are required to do so at as a requirement of whatever country (port of call) you are entering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki007 Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 In europe we purchased an extend your stay on celebrity which allowed us to stay on the ship until 3 PM on the final day. We had to surrender our passports to guest services in the morning and pick them up on the way off the ship. I assume that how they no you actually got off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatyBoaty Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 3 hours ago, Shari said: We had to surrender our passports when we were on a transpacific and approaching the French Polynesian Islands per their government. After we finished our port stops there we all were given a time to pick them up again. So Carnival doing this may have something to do with the itinerary. Yes, same. They collected our passports last week a couple days before we arrived in French Polynesia and returned them the day after we left those ports. Everyone had to turn in passports regardless of nationality. It was incredibly well run - we dropped off and picked up on the midship elevator lobby of our stateroom deck. They checked the passports in and carefully verified identity when returning. No lines and no concerns. Xaa and Shari 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totalmorganmove Posted October 25, 2023 Report Share Posted October 25, 2023 Very common when cruising in Asia. From my experience, they collect them in on embarkation and they are very well organised. We never had to talk to immigration at any port we went to across multiple countries and everything was handled for us - very easy. On the day before we arrived back in Singapore, they had an organised system to pick them up on your room deck elevator lobby. They checked them against sea pass and returned. As someone who always keeps their passport on them, I was a bit unnerved about the idea at first. But it was seamless, and far less stressful than times I've crossed borders of the same countries by land or air! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villageidiot Posted October 25, 2023 Report Share Posted October 25, 2023 Back in 1973 we (mom, dad, sister me) flew into Dubai from Iran. On arrival at the airport they had all passengers put their passports in a large cardboard box as we exited the plane. When we flew back out three days later we got to dig through that large box with all the other passengers looking for our passports. Surprisingly there were no issues. Still the most bizarre passport control I have ever encountered. WAAAYTOOO, TessFromFlorida and Xaa 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXcruzer Posted October 25, 2023 Report Share Posted October 25, 2023 We did Scandinavia and St Petersburg itinerary and had to surrender our passports to Royal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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