By Sarah Phillips
To me one of the best things about
having a passport is collecting all the cool stamps. One day my goal is to fill
an entire passport with stamps. With my first passport, I managed to collect
some pretty cool stamps while cruising throughout the Caribbean.
While sailing in the Caribbean, you don’t typically get your passport stamped
as Customs usually clears the entire ship, not each individual person. But,
with just a little bit of effort, there are several ports where you can get
passport stamps. Here are 5 places to spruce up your passport:
Grand Cayman. This is one of the coolest passport
stamps in the whole world (at least I think so!); it’s a peg leg turtle pirate. Yes,
seriously, a peg leg turtle pirate. This one’s pretty easy to get too. Once
you’ve arrived in port, after tendering in, there’s a small building with
Customs officials who will stamp your passport. The building’s usually
pretty easy to find, but we did stop to ask and make sure it was the right one
before we went in. This one is also a two for one – if you head over to Hell, Grand Cayman, they’ll give you a novelty stamp saying
you’ve been to Hell.
Aruba and Curacao. When sailing on the Carnival Miracle
a few years ago, we hit the jackpot of Passport Stamps. We got both of these on
one sailing. In both Aruba and Curacao, we
just asked where the Customs house (or office) was and then walked over. They
do keep normal business hours, so you’ll have to do it during the daytime. Both
islands were happy to stamp our passports though.
Cozumel, Mexico. This stamp is one of the few that’s
not in walking distance. You’ll need to take a taxi into downtown to get your
stamp here. I don’t have this one yet, but it’s on my list to get…soon! When
you get downtown, check out the main post office and you’ll find your stamp
waiting for you.
Nassau,Bahamas. This is another stamp that’s
located in/near the port and usually not too difficult to get. As you’re
heading back into the building to go through the security lines, there’s a
building past the chain link fence and guard. You’ll need to show your sail
pass and then head to the building for the passport stamp. Bonus, you should be
able to walk back to the ship at this point and not have to wait in security
lines.
Roatan, Honduras. This set up is very similar to Grand Cayman. There’s a small official building right as
you debark the ship in port where you can ask to have your passport stamped.
This one’s a simple stamp (kinda like a novelty stamp), but does say Isla
Roatan and has the date you visited the island.
Just to note, on some cruise lines,
you can take your passports to the Purser’s Desk or Guest Services and they’ll
get the passports stamped for you. However, please be aware, not every ship and
every cruise line offers this service.
What are some of your favorite
passport stamps? Ever fill up an entire passport and have to order extra pages?
Source
:Cruise Radio News
