Two more newbie questions

[Gill H]

1) On the Med cruise, do we need to take our passports with us off the ship during port excursions? Are they checked anywhere?

2) Is there air con in the staterooms? I would have thought so, but I saw mention of people taking portable fans, so I wondered!

[Guest]

You have to have some form of photo ID to leave and reboard the ship as far as I can recall Gill.

There's always been air con in all the staterooms we have stayed in.

[caj]

Yes to both questions. Passports go with you and are needed on and off the ship.
Air-conditioning yes.

[Julmops]

I've never had to show my passport while in the Med to be honest ... Your key card is usually enough ... The cruise line will provide with such information when you're on the ship. Air con is standard on every stateroom of each cruise ship.

[Bats]

You should always take your passport with you, just in case you get stuck in that country for some reason (illness, accident etc).

Without your passport, you could be in trouble.

A lot of US guests take fans for the white noise they create. I have never understood why people even start on the route with their children ... my step daughters ex boyfriend couldn't sleep unless the hairdryer was going. It was because his mum used to put in to drown out the noise of the TV downstairs etc .. madness!

[Pootle]

No, you don't have to take your passport with you at most Med ports. The ship's daily bulletin will tell you if you need to take photo ID or a passport. I just take the part of my driving licence with my picture. Can't recall being asked to show it though.

My understanding is that if you don't make it back to the ship for any reason, your cabin would be emptied and the contents left with the port agent. So I don't carry my passport, but I do always have details of the ship's port agent with me - again, provided for each port of call.

[Omega1]

You don't have to take your passport, only a type of government ID. I fully understand Bats' point but we take a photocopy of our passport and leave the originals in the cabin safe. You hear so many stories about pickpockets/bag snatches where passports have been stolen - even a case recently of an ape in Gibraltar taking a woman's bag with her passport in it! Personally, I think the risk of theft is greater than the risk of missing the ship.
So when we go ashore we take - ship card, photo driving license, passport photocopy and contact details for port agent (provided by the ship).
On a recent cruise in the far east, the ship held on to our passports for immigration purposes. Officials came on board and checked passports overnight so as to do away with queueing when going ashore. The only time we were 'allowed' to reclaim our passports was when doing an overnight visit to Bangkok.
If by any chance you do miss the ship, contact the port agent who will inform the ship and assist you in getting to the next port (at your own expense) - your stuff won't be offloaded in such circumstances.

[katiec68]

We did a Norwegian cruise. The only thing we were told we HAD to carry at all times was our "boarding card" little credit card thingy. We had to show it getting on and off but no-one ever asked for our passports (but we only visiting the one country).

Katie x

[DIBBadmin]

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[Gill H]

Thanks all. Much to mull over!

We will probably do DCL excursions and are leaning towards half day ones as we don't cope with heat very well. So we should be back on tge ship in plenty of time.

We will want to rest and change before dinner and we are on main seating, so half days sound the best plan.