Thanks for the link. I am looking for something that can hold passports. This bag does not look like it will stretch that much.
On a cruise you show your passport to the ship personnel when you go through check-in . . . at after that point, you need only need your ship ID to come and go from the ship. They don't check your passport over and over again. When you stop at an island, the ship's personnel will run your ship ID through a machine, which will "log you off the ship" and when you return, they'll run your card through again. You won't need your passport again until you are ready to leave the ship and return to the US. At that point, US Customs will look at your passport.
The bottom line: You won't be needing your passport for island stops, and taking it off the ship just gives you a chance to lose it. Worst of all, if a pickpocket does manage to get your passport, it will be a problem for perhaps the rest of your life, as the pickpocket will certainly sell it to someone who will use it to enter the US illegally.
Taking your passport off the ship is both dangerous and cumbersome. Even with caution, it can be lost or pickpocketed, and then you're in trouble because you can't go through US customs. Also, if you're taking part in any water activities, you'll have to worry about the passports being damaged (I don't know why they don't go to a laminated card, so this wouldn't be a problem -- the old-fashioned paper books are archaic). I personally know someone who lost her passports in a taxi; she wasn't drinking, isn't a flighty idiot who can't keep up with things . . . but she took a moment in the taxi to arrange things in her shopping bag, and in that moment she set her passports to the side, and they slipped down between the seats. You have LITTLE CONTROL over whether a pickpocket chooses you, or whether you make a small mistake with big consequences.
Some people will warn you that if you are left behind by the ship, you'll need your passport to fly home. I'd suggest that you don't miss the ship. They tell you exactly what time the ship will sail -- it's printed at the top of the newsletter you'll receive on your pillow every night -- and as long as you don't cut it too close, you're going to be fine. Even if you should have an accident of some sort in your few hours ashore, you're probably going to prefer to get back to the ship and seek medical treatment there rather than seek out help on an island. You should wear a watch and understand the difference between ship time and island time. You should have cash in your pocket for a cab, if your plans should go awry or if someone is having trouble walking back to the pier. Most of all, you should plan to be back
at least a full hour before the ship sails. But you have TREMENDOUS CONTROL over whether you get back to the ship on time. Most people who get left behind are actually
at the pier in plenty of time to board, but they say to themselves, "I have an hour before I need to board. I'm going to drink a couple cheap beers, or I'm going to shop a bit" . . . and suddenly that hour has slipped by, and they're only a couple hundred yards from the ship as it leaves. If you don't make foolish choices, your chances of being left behind are essentially nil.
So, really, if you're looking for this product JUST for your passport, reconsider that choice altogether.
