Essential Papers To Carry While Traveling

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Any authority looking at airline tickets, boarding passes and passports will examine names carefully. TSA and other security authorities often require that key papers (e.g., airline tickets, passports) precisely reflect your full name. This applies to all persons in your travel group, e.g., spouse, children (toddlers perhaps excepted). It starts by making sure that whoever books your cruise (and any associated airline tickets) accurately enters each full name on reservations and later-generated tickets.


Passports/Visas

In this case of traveling with Star Cruises, your trip itinerary will involve foreign countries and cities, so you must prepare for a cruise as you would for any other international trip, to include passports, perhaps visas. Many countries to be visited may levy few or no visa requirements on day-visitors via cruise ship. But, check with the cruise line (through your agent if used) well ahead of time. Some lines will arrange needed visas for scheduled port visits, but also check specifically for visa requirements if you have an international flight itinerary.

Some countries will require that your passport have more than six months before it expires as of the date your cruise starts, e.g., many that require visas will not issue any under passports with less time.

Lacking such a passport, or any needed visa, you risk being denied boarding on embarkation day...without refund or other compensation. You may also not be covered by travel insurance purchased.

Very occasionally, port officials in certain countries will require review of all passenger passports before clearing the ship for passengers to go ashore. If so, they often join the ship a few days in-advance, and the ship will announce a day or so before the port visit that the staff needs to gather all passports for inspection.

Before you leave home, make machine or photo color copies of at least the primary, facing pages of each passport...per details in the above linked article. Use the passports when instructed by authorities, e.g., going through airport, airline or customs and immigration processing, processing for initial ship's embarkation. Take them with you on the rare occasion needed ashore per ship's announcements. Otherwise, once on-board, leave them in your cabin's safe and take the copies ashore instead, along with government-issued photo identification, e.g., driver's license.

Boarding Passes and Tickets

Once booked, you need to promptly go to your cruise line's web site to "register". (Immigration authorities require that any ship leaving their jurisdiction have personal data of all passengers at least 3 or more days before cruise departure, but don't wait that long. Your agent or the line may have to mail these papers to you.) There (using your booking number), complete all details about all people cruising in your group. Data needed will include full names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers (or the equivalent for other countries), passport details, emergency contact names and phone numbers, how you want your shipboard account established/paid (see "Embarkation" below).

Once registered, the site will often allow you to print your boarding passes if within 60 days or so of the cruise. Others may mail them to you as noted above. You may get one set listing all persons in your group, or a set for each person. Each may also include the cruise contract and boarding instructions and times. If you've paid for flights or airport-to-port transfers, you should also find vouchers or flight tickets (or Internet links to them for printing at home). If you don't have these key papers in-hand in some usable form at least three weeks before your cruise, notify your agent/cruise line immediately.

Each person will need his/her boarding pass and passport to be processed on-board.


Other Essential Papers

Take no more prescription medications than you'll need on your trip...with convincing documentation that they belong to you and are necessary, e.g., labeled bottles with your name, copy of the doctor's prescription. If any contains a controlled/narcotic ingredient, make absolutely sure you will not violate any law of any country you'll enter...even as a through cruise or flight passenger, e.g., as needed, have the country's written permission to carry the meds within its borders. Otherwise, the consequences in a few countries can be severe.

Avoid paying duty on what you already own. If you have purchased travel insurance, take at least a summary of the policy coverage and how to contact the insurer for help from wherever you will go on the trip.

Source:  http://wikitravel.org/en/Cruise_ships 

For Bookings go to http://www.starcruises.com/en/home.aspx

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