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Do I need a passport to go on a cruise?

It is a condition of carriage that all guests embarking on a cruise holiday in non-UK waters must hold a full and valid passport that conforms to the entry requirements of each destination visited. It must be valid for at least 6 months on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe (not including Ireland). If you renewed your current passport before the previous had expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Please note that any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months needed.

It is your responsibility to ensure you hold a valid passport. If you need to renew your passport, please allow at least one month for your application to be processed - and more time during peak holiday periods.

As you will be denied boarding if unable to present your passport at check-in, please ensure your passport is kept in your hand luggage.

For guests sailing on a British Isles cruise (excluding the Channel Islands) we are pleased to advise that Photo ID is sufficient for visits to only UK ports. Please check with our Reservations Team at the time you make your booking.

Forms of photo ID that we can accept are:

  • A valid if expired passport (this must have expired no more than 2 years from the date of departure)
  • Photo driving licence
  • Council issued travel card
  • Photo firearms licence
  • European National ID card/citizen card

Please note, this applies to UK nationals only.

PASSPORT VALIDITY REQUIREMENTS

With the current back log of passport applications at the UK passport office,  in regards to your future cruise booking with us to ensure you check that your passport meets the requirements of the countries your cruise is visiting and if it does not, to make plans to renew your passport as soon as possible.

As the carrier, we are responsible to ensure we advise all guests of the passport requirements for their cruise holiday and we generally require all guests to ensure their passport has at least 6 months validity from the date of return of the cruise, regardless of the countries visited on the cruise and this requirement is supported by our passport & visa specialist CIBT Visas.

For non EU countries, the general requirement is for at least 6 months validity after the return date of the cruise.

For EU countries, since Brexit there are two requirements for passports and both requirements must be met:

  1. Less than 10 years old on the date you enter the country – please check the date of issue of your passport and ensure it is less than 10 years from when you enter the countries on your cruise.
  2. Valid for at least 3 months after the date you leave the country*.

*This three month validity should be within the 10 years of your passport’s issue date.

IMPORTANT: Check both the issue date and the expiry date in your passport. If you renewed your passport early, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. This could affect the requirement for your passport to be less than 10 years old.

In other words, EU countries consider the expiry date of a passport as the date 10 years after it was issued and not necessarily the expiry date printed on the passport.

Please ensure you allow extra time to renew your passport for your forthcoming cruise due to the current back log.

It is also a requirement of all immigration authorities that your passport is not damaged in any way or has no missing pages - we strongly recommend you check the condition of your passport prior to travel.

If your passport does not meet the requirements for the countries you are visiting on the cruise, you will be unable to travel and will be required to either transfer your booking to a cruise where your current passport or a new passport meets the relevant requirements.

If you are unsure if your passport meets the requirements of your cruise, please contact us at guest.services@fredolsen.co.uk or by calling 0800 0355 145.

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