It’s normal when entering a foreign country.
Yes, we just had a trip on NCL from Boston to Bermuda, then Maine, then back to Boston. Before we could get off in Maine, customs agents did a face check and passport scan.
It was odd that they waited until Maine, but maybe there are no customs agents on standby in Bermuda. It was still mid-trip, but coming back to the U.S., so I guess it made sense.
Is one of your next stops in a different country from where you last were?
Edit: just saw it’s Bahamas to Bahamas for you. Strange.
On Celebrity Apex a few years ago, we had passport checks after Iceland, before our next stop in Northern Ireland. They used a sea day for the border checks.
On a Mediterranean cruise I took, something similar happened. At dinner, we heard from two couples who got their cabins checked. Apparently, the crew went down two floors asking everyone to step into the hall with their passports, one room at a time. They were looking for an extra passenger. The search didn’t reach our deck, though.
I’m currently on Reflection, and what’s going on is we’re stopping in Key West today instead of Tuesday, and we were in Bimini yesterday. Because of the Bahamas stop, now there’s a passport check before we enter the U.S. This wasn’t random at all.
@Nile
Same thing happened to me on an MSC cruise that got diverted to Miami. Everyone on board HAD to get off and go through customs, then either return to the ship or explore Miami. The change was weather-related, so we missed Ocean Cay and ended up in Miami.
Some passengers started spreading rumors it was the DEA looking for drugs. My first thought was they’d be doing it wrong if they were expecting people to bring anything suspicious with them to customs!