When on a cruise & leaving the ship for a tour, what do you do with your passport?

On all of my past cruises, when going off of the ship & on a tour, DH & I have always left our passports on the ship, in our cabin's safe. I've never thought twice about this & never had an inclination to take my passport off of the ship.

 

While preparing for my upcoming cruise, I've read sooo many articles about how to handle your passport, especially when you're off the ship & on tours.

 

I know to make copies of my passport & will leave 1 copy at home with my mom & then take another copy on the cruise. But the articles I've come across have given me food for thought in that some advise you to take your passport with you anytime that you leave the ship.

The reasoning for this is that in the event that something happens to you, like if you don't make it back to the ship on time for some reason & the ship leaves you, you will have your passport with you, which is said to make it easier for you in the event that you have to travel from your current port & meet the ship at the next destination or if you have to go back home.

It has been said that a copy of your passport is not helpful in those cases & you can't really travel with a copy. The only thing that the copy of the passport will do is help to get you a new one quicker.

 

So ofcourse, this has me thinking, what do you do with your passport when leaving the ship? Do you always take it with you no matter what?

Do you leave it in the safe until the end of the cruise, not removing it until its time return home?

RCCL told us to bring our passports off the ship. They said it would be required to get back on. I remember them checking sometimes and other times not at all. We took ours off the ship in Jamaica and Mexico. We left it in the safe in Labadee.

Wow, I don't remember doing that on the last RCCL cruise that I was on. I just remember using my Set Sail card/room key as ID to get back on the ship. So this is interesting. Maybe I won't even have a choice!

On the cruises I've been on we needed ours a lot - they stamped them when we were getting off

What ship and itinerary are you doing?

I've always taken mine with me. I just never felt comfortable leaving it on the ship. It was also the only form of official ID I had (I don't have my license yet, shhhh!!!), so I figured better to have it with me just in case.

They do offer passport cards. It's the size of a CC or DL. They recognize it on cruises. Once I get my new passport when I change my name, I'll be getting one of these also.

I can't remember if I originally had Explorer or Adventure of the Seas booked but one day I noticed the cabin that I wanted was less on Serenade of the Seas so we switched. We're doing the Southern Caribbean.

You bring up a good point. We tend to book tours on our own as opposed to booking with the ship & if anything happened we'd definitely be in trouble leaving our passports on the ship.

Thanks for all of your responses. I guess I'll find out their process next week. Maybe I won't even have a choice & I'll be required to take it with me.
I'll certainly post my review upon my return...Now to packing

I'll probably look into this too when my passport expires & its time to renew.