Expect a request for passport information and nationality when arranging a Halong Bay sightseeing ticket. Supplying those details in advance is separate from the document you must show at local boat check-in, the papers your ocean ship requires ashore and your permission to enter Vietnam.
Halong Shore Excursion recommends settling those questions before the port call, particularly if the ocean ship will retain your original passport. A completed passenger list does not prove that a phone photograph will be accepted at every checkpoint.
Why a day cruise needs identifying information
Quang Ninh’s official notice introduced identifying-information requirements for Halong Bay sightseeing tickets from 10 December 2025. It specifies passport information and nationality for international visitors. For a child or someone not yet eligible to be issued the relevant identity document, it calls for the guardian’s or guarantor’s name, identity-card or passport number and contact phone number for checking.
This concerns bay admission and visitor identification, so a day visitor should not assume it applies only to overnight stays. Establish which confirmed organiser or boat operator handles the ticketing for your booking and what it needs from each passenger.
| Question | Who must resolve it |
|---|---|
| Which data is needed for the bay ticket? | The organiser or local operator handling that ticket. |
| Which document must be shown at local check-in? | The operator responsible for the actual sailing and checkpoint. |
| Which papers must accompany you off and back onto the ocean ship? | Your cruise line. |
| Which visa or landing permission applies? | Your cruise line and the relevant immigration authority. |
A sightseeing ticket does not grant entry permission. Use the Halong port-call visa guide for the separate immigration questions.
Verify the request, then submit the required fields privately
Use the contact already identified on your booking confirmation. Ask for the exact fields, deadline, recipient and private submission method. Establish whether typed information is sufficient or an image of the passport data page is necessary; do not automatically send a full set of travel documents.
There is no universal submission deadline to borrow from another boat company. Your local sailing and ocean ship can have different requirements. Obtain an acknowledgement that the information is complete for the ticketing step, rather than treating a message-delivery tick as approval.
If an image is required, send only the requested page through the confirmed private channel. Do not place passport images in public reviews, comments or group chats with unrelated travellers. Do not send payment cards, visas or family documents simply because an unverified contact asks for “all travel papers.” Keep a record of the recipient and submission.
Check each passenger against the actual travel document
Use the passport the guest will travel with. Copy the name, passport number, nationality and other requested fields in the specified format. Country of residence is not necessarily nationality, and an older booking may contain a previous passport number.
- Distinguish similar characters, including zero and the letter O.
- Keep multiple names and surnames in the requested order; ask before shortening them.
- Make any requested issue, expiry or birth date unambiguous.
- Include every child, even where the fare is free or reduced.
- Report a renewed passport or changed passenger and obtain confirmation that the ticketing record was corrected.
For children without the relevant document, resolve the guardian or guarantor information with the organiser. This ticketing provision does not remove a child’s separate passport or immigration requirements for the international voyage.
If an error is found, state the booking reference, passenger and exact field to the verified organiser. Do not broadcast the complete passport image to multiple contacts in the hope that someone will fix it.
If the ocean ship holds the original passport
- Tell the excursion organiser before the port day.
- Ask which document the local sailing will accept: the original, a printed copy, a digital image or another specifically approved document.
- Take that answer to Guest Services and establish what the ship can release or supply.
- Confirm what every passenger must carry ashore and show when returning.
Neither “a photo is always enough” nor automatic cancellation follows from the ship holding the passport. The arrangement must work for both the local checkpoint and the cruise line. A cruise card alone does not replace another required document.
If the necessary paper cannot be produced, ask whether an approved alternative exists while there is still time to arrange it. Do not borrow another person’s identity or rely on an unofficial payment or promised exception at the pier.
Keep accepted documents with the passenger through transfers
Name the adult responsible for a family’s documents. Protect them from rain and water activities, and keep the accepted check-in document with the passenger when moving from the road vehicle to the sightseeing boat. A document left in a vehicle at the harbour may be unavailable when it is needed.
Keep any useful offline copy separately, following the ship’s and operator’s instructions; a backup does not replace an original where the original is required. If a passport is lost rather than held aboard, contact the ship and follow the lost-passport action guide. Correcting a bay ticket cannot replace a lost travel document.
If late release changes the local sailing
Ask whether the prepared passenger list and ticket remain valid for the revised boat, departure and route. Do not assume they transfer automatically. Recalculate the full outing before accepting a replacement, using the Halong late-arrival guide.
Document checks, boarding and the journey back still take time. Shorten the optional programme before consuming the return margin required by the ship’s all-aboard instruction.
Send Halong Shore Excursion your Ship + Arrival Date, guest count, chosen excursion and any notice that the ship will hold passports. Leave passport numbers out of a public initial enquiry. The completed plan needs an acknowledged ticketing record, an accepted local check-in document and the cruise line’s shore-document instruction for every passenger.