Do I have to bring my passport with me on a cruise?

Question

I will be flying to Spain from Germany and then get on a cruise in the Canary Islands so will also be in Madeira which is a Portuguese island. I am an American citizen.

I have a resident's permit in Germany, do I need to take my passport with me?

Answer 1

This is the answer Aida cruise personalausweis:

Für alle AIDA Reisen, bei denen wir ausschließlich Häfen in der EU sowie in Norwegen und Island anlaufen, benötigen deutsche Staatsbürger zumindest einen gültigen Personalausweis, der mindestens 6 Monate über das Ende der Reise hinaus gültig ist.

Kinder bis zum vollendeten 16. Lebensjahr benötigen einen gültigen Kinderausweis mit Lichtbild, Kinderreisepass mit Lichtbild oder ebenfalls einen Personalausweis, mit einer jeweiligen Gültigkeit von mindestens 1 Monat über das Ende der Reise hinaus.

Hier erhalten Sie einen Überblick zu den betreffenden AIDA Reisen.

Auf den folgenden Routen besteht weiterhin Reisepass-Pflicht:

Ostsee-Routen mit Anlaufhafen St. Petersburg Mittelmeer-Routen mit Anlaufhäfen in Marokko, Tunesien, Ägypten und Türkei Bitte informieren Sie sich rechtzeitig vor Urlaubsbeginn über die Einreisebestimmungen in den jeweiligen Ländern, insbesondere bei Reisen außerhalb Europas, wie zum Beispiel nach Südamerika, Nordamerika und Südostasien.

Informieren Sie sich auf unseren Internetseiten unter www.aida.de sowie beim Auswärt igen Amt unter www.auswaertiges-amt.de.

Translation:

For all AIDA trips on which we only ports in the EU and in Norway and Iceland calling, German citizens need at least a valid identity card, which is at least 6 months after the end of the trip should be valid.

Children up to the age of 16 will need a valid children's passport with photo, child's passport with a photograph or also a passport addition, a respective validity of at least 1 month after the end of the journey.

Here is an overview of the travel concerned AIDA .

The following routes still require passport duty:

Baltic routes with port of St. Petersburg Mediterranean itineraries with ports of call in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey Please inform yourself in time before the holiday begins about relevant rules in the respective countries, especially when traveling outside Europe, such as South America, North America and Southeast Asia.

Inform yourself on our website at www.aida.de and the Foreign Office under www.auswaertiges-amt.de .

And for people that are have a residents permit in the: EU

If you are an EU national but you have family members who are not, they can accompany or join you in another EU country.

Your non-EU family members must carry a valid passport at all times and, depending on the country they are from, may also have to show an entry visa at the border.

To avoid problems, contact the consulate or embassy of the country you are travelling to well in advance to find out which documents your non-EU family member will be asked to present at the border.

I went on this cruise and the cruise line took my passport and held onto it for the whole trip. Every morning we were in port, the cruise line had to show my passport to the border guards. (After they showed my passport to the border guards I could pick up my passport but I didn't need it.) I did not have to be present when they showed it though.

Answer 2

Most EU countries require all people to have identification with them at all times. Most or all EU countries require non-EU citizens to have identification with them at all times.
You'd need to have ID with you to get into the EU and to your initial hotel (obviously), then to get from your initial hotel to the cruise ship, and from the ship to where ever you want to get off the ship. So even if you might not need it on the ship itself according to the cruise line rules (ask them...) you will by law need it to get to the ship.

According to this Italian site:

To enter, sojourn in or transit throughout the Schengen area, aliens must be in possession of a passport or other travel document recognized as valid for the purposes of crossing all Schengen States borders.

Also, your passport has to be valid for 6 months after you leave the EU AND can not be more than 10 years old by the time you enter (I'm unaware of any country issueing passports with a validity of more than 10 years btw., though they may exist).