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On October 23, 2023, Carnival Freedom left Barcelona fresh from dry dock in Cádiz, bound for Valencia, Málaga, Las Palmas and then across the Atlantic to Port Canaveral. On embarkation day, guests were told to hand over their passports.
Carnival’s brand ambassador John Heald explained it publicly, and Cruise Hive reported his answer: Spanish immigration required it, the line had only learned about it days earlier, and the passports would be “stored in a safe on board” until after Las Palmas. Without it, the ship couldn’t make its Spanish calls.
Here’s the odd part. The international treaty that governs ship arrivals says your passport should never leave your hands.
Why Do Cruise Ships Take Your Passport?
Cruise ships take your passport so that immigration officers in the ports you visit can clear every passenger at once, usually on board and often at night, instead of lining up thousands of people at a border desk. The cruise lines say they do it either because a port country requires it or to save you the queue. It is most common on Asian and European itineraries. On round-trip sailings from US ports, the passport usually stays with you. You normally get a receipt, and the passport comes back after the last port that needs it or at the end of the cruise.
The lines’ own documents say the same thing in their own words. Holland America says that on international cruises the front office “may collect passports” to “prepare for immigration formalities.” A Celebrity letter to guests on a 14-night Japan and Korea cruise from Yokohama in October 2019 said it would collect them “in order to complete the immigration formalities for you at each port of call.”
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Send me the deals →What the Treaty Actually Says About Your Passport
The rulebook here is the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, known as FAL, run by the UN’s International Maritime Organization. Its annex has a section just for cruise ships, and one line in it is blunt. In the current numbering, as published in the Dutch treaty series:
“3.23 Standard. Passports or other official documents of identity shall at all times remain in the possession of cruise passengers.”
That wording isn’t new. The 1969 amendment, reproduced by Hong Kong’s Department of Justice, has the identical sentence as Standard 3.16.4. How it got here:
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| April 9, 1965 | FAL Convention adopted in London |
| March 5, 1967 | Convention enters into force |
| 1969 | Cruise section added. Standard 3.16.4: passports “shall at all times remain in the possession of cruise passengers.” Standard 3.16.7: no personal immigration examination “except for the purpose of establishing identity.” |
| April 8, 2016 | Resolution FAL.12(40) renumbers the annex. The passport rule becomes Standard 3.23 with the same words. The examination rule, now 3.26, adds exceptions for “security purposes” and “admissibility.” |
Two catches. First, FAL binds governments, not cruise lines: it limits what port authorities may demand. Second, the IMO explains that a government that finds a standard impracticable, or wants different rules, notifies the IMO’s Secretary-General of the difference. So a port country can still ask the ship to hand over passports, and the ship has little choice if it wants to dock.
The same annex also explains why officers prefer the pile-of-passports method. Recommended Practice 3.28 says inward control of cruise passengers “should be carried out on board before arrival” where practicable. Checking passports in a back office while you sleep is how that gets done.
Why Would a Port Country Want Them?
Three reasons come up again and again in official documents.
Speed. A big ship carries thousands of passengers. If officers inspect the passports in bulk, nobody queues. TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff privacy page says the passports are usually shown to the authorities early in the morning or late at night, so guests generally don’t need to be there.
Visas and landing permits. Some countries let the ship apply for shore permits on everyone’s behalf. Japan’s immigration enforcement regulation (official English translation) sets out a “permission to land in Japan for cruise ship tourists” that the ship’s master or carrier applies for, with each passenger’s fingerprints and photograph. Stays are capped at seven days if the ship calls at one Japanese port, or 30 days for two or more. TUI says it collects passports “to comply with visa, entry and exit requirements” outside the Schengen area and names Singapore as a country that requires it.
Someone gets fined if it goes wrong. The ship and its agent answer for anyone who slips through. The shipping insurer ITIC described a 2019 case in the Canary Islands where only one of 15 Brazilian cruise passengers had completed Spanish border control. Spain’s Interior Ministry pursued the local ship agent, who faced a possible fine of up to €140,000, or €10,000 a passenger. No penalty was imposed in the end, and ITIC paid the agent’s US$7,500 legal bill. Holding the passports means none can go ashore unchecked.
Which Cruise Lines Say They Collect Passports?
Here’s what each line says in its own documents or through its spokesperson. None of them promises to collect on every cruise. It depends on the itinerary.
| Line | What it says | When you get it back |
|---|---|---|
| Holland America | On international cruises the front office “may collect passports”; “You will receive a receipt” | “Distribution timing will be communicated on board” |
| Celebrity (2019 Japan and Korea letter) | Collects all passports after check-in and holds them at Guest Relations; asks guests to bring two photocopies of the photo page | “When all procedures are complete” |
| TUI Cruises (Mein Schiff) | Collects for non-Schengen trips to meet entry and exit rules; says it does not store copies | At the end of the cruise, or sooner if no longer needed |
| Carnival (Carnival Freedom, Oct 2023) | Collected on embarkation day for Spanish immigration; kept in a safe on board | After the last Spanish port, Las Palmas |
On ordinary sailings, Carnival leaves the passport with you. In 2025 Heald told a guest the line has no official policy on carrying it ashore, but gave a strong steer, Cruise Hive reported: “You should not take your original passport with you when you go ashore.” Carry a photo ID or a copy instead.
Collection isn’t always the end of it. The cruise writer Emma Le Teace notes that guests may still have to attend face-to-face immigration checks even when the ship holds their passports, and that in Japan everyone had to leave the ship for one, even guests staying aboard.
What to Do If the Ship Asks for Yours
Hand it over. Emma Le Teace says opting out is generally not possible, and Carnival said its Spanish calls depended on it. Then protect yourself:
- Bring copies. Celebrity asked for two photocopies of the photo page. Keep one in your bag ashore and a phone photo too.
- Keep the receipt. Holland America issues one, and it’s how you get the right passport back.
- Pack a second photo ID. A driver’s licence covers reboarding checks while the passport sits in the safe.
- Read the daily programme. Face-to-face immigration calls can be early in the morning or late at night.
- Flying home mid-cruise or leaving early? Tell guest services as soon as you know so the passport is ready.
If you miss the ship, the passport doesn’t sail off forever. Heald described Carnival’s process: housekeeping officers, a guest services officer and a security officer retrieve it from your cabin, safe included, and pass it to the ship’s port agent to return to you.
Not sure whether your cruise collects passports? Check your booking documents first. Celebrity’s 2019 letter went out before sailing. As Carnival Freedom showed, though, a port can change the rules days before you board.
Cruise Chaos earns nothing from cruise lines, travel agents or booking links. Every fact here links to where we read it, and we read the FAL treaty text and Japan’s regulation ourselves on November 6, 2026. If something has changed, tell us and we’ll correct it.
Coming up on Cruise Chaos: do cruise ships have hair dryers?
Keep Reading
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- What Documents Do I Need for a Cruise? Birth Certificates, IDs and Kids
- What to Expect on Cruise Embarkation Day: Cabins, Lunch and Luggage
Sources
- International Maritime Organization: Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL)
- Tractatenblad 2016, 153: FAL annex as amended by Resolution FAL.12(40) (September 28, 2016)
- Hong Kong Department of Justice: 1969 Amendment to the Annex to the FAL Convention (PDF)
- Japanese Law Translation: Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 13-2
- Holland America Line: What are the boarding procedures?
- Celebrity Cruises: guest letter, Celebrity Millennium Japan and Korea sailing, October 12, 2019 (PDF)
- TUI Cruises (Mein Schiff): Collection of passports
- Cruise Hive: Carnival Cruise Line Addresses Issue of Handing Over Passports (Melissa Mayntz, October 24, 2023)
- Cruise Hive: Carnival Clarifies What Guests Should Do With Passports in Port (Melissa Mayntz, September 25, 2025)
- ITIC: Passport perils (claims review, April 4, 2019)
- Emma Cruises: Why Do Cruise Ships Keep Your Passport?
