Northern Europe Regal Princess-Passport Stamps at Ports

[Cruise Queen II]

Going to be visiting 6 countries on our cruise in May. Looking to get my passport stamped in each country, does anyone know if there are ways to get it stamped? Visiting Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Tallinn, and Wamemunde.

 

 

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[FollowingTheSun]

All those countries are with in the Schengen Area so there won't be any immigration controls. The only place where you are likely to get stamped is St Petersberg. That's one of the things that make a Baltic cruise easier to do. The days of getting a passport full of exotic stamps is over. If they all used Euros, life would be easier still.

 

However, the way things are going, ID checks might reappear so the long queues getting on and off the boat will be back.

[fishywood]

Your passport will very likely be held by the purser's office. When transiting between an EU/Schengen zone port and an non-EU port if a face-to-face immigration inspection is required your passport will be returned for that day. Whether or not it is stamped is up to the local authorities. If only an en masse non-face-to-face inspection is called for the immigration authorities will board the ship and stamp them all at once at the purser's office.

 

As the previous response indicated, travel between two EU nations in the Schengen zone (such as Warnemunde to Copenhagen) is not considered an international border crossing anymore. To have your passport stamped under those circumstances could make it unclear how many separate entries/exits you made, and how many days at a time you spent in the Schengen zone and could subject you to extra questioning at final disembarkation and/or the airport for your flight home.

[skynight]

Forget about the stamps, doesn't happen any more.

When we did the Baltic we flew to Copenhagen through Iceland, where we went through immigration. When we landed in Denmark there was no further immigration. The only other place we went through immigration was St. Petersburg, which by the way you do both entering and exiting St. Petersburg. All other ports we just walked off the ship.

 

I don't remember that our passports were collected by Princess. I think we had them the entire time.

[Jeter02]

I took this cruse on the regal 2 summers ago. No stamps unfortunately. In St. Petersburg they gave you a special immigration form in Russian, but you have to hand back in for collection when arriving back on the ship. i would have loved the stamps in my passport, as Ihave a pretty nice collection thus far.

[casofilia]

If you want stamps in your passport then cruise Buenos Aires to San Francisco as we did this time last year, or from the Med to Singapore as we did late last year. Your passport will really fill up quickly!!

[trosebery]

Forget about the stamps, doesn't happen any more.

When we did the Baltic we flew to Copenhagen through Iceland, where we went through immigration. When we landed in Denmark there was no further immigration. The only other place we went through immigration was St. Petersburg, which by the way you do both entering and exiting St. Petersburg. All other ports we just walked off the ship.

 

I don't remember that our passports were collected by Princess. I think we had them the entire time.

 

This was exactly our experience on the Regal in the Baltic last summer: we got a stamp in Iceland (on our way to Copenhagen) and another stamp in St. Petersburg, but that was it. Everywhere else we just walked off the ship and no one asked to see anything. (And Princess did not collect passports at any time. Our passports were never out of our possession.)

 

ETA: BTW, do take a snapshot of the immigration form the Russians give you before they take it back. It's kinda cool to see all your details (including your name) in Cyrillic characters.

[susancruzs]

I had an issue leaving Copenhagen because my passport wasn't stamped. The guy was obsessed with the fact it wasn't stamped that I arrived so how could I be leaving. He was new and enthusiastic about his job! :D

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

I had an issue leaving Copenhagen because my passport wasn't stamped. The guy was obsessed with the fact it wasn't stamped that I arrived so how could I be leaving. He was new and enthusiastic about his job! :D

 

This happened to us a few years back. We entered Europe through Rome. The customs agents in Rome just waived everyone through without stamping our passports. When leaving Europe two weeks later through Amsterdam, the agents had a fit that our passports weren't stamped to show entry to Europe. Needless to say, we now make sure our passports are always stamped at point of entry.

[donaldsc]

Going to be visiting 6 countries on our cruise in May. Looking to get my passport stamped in each country, does anyone know if there are ways to get it stamped? Visiting Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Tallinn, and Wamemunde.

 

 

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What is this bit with getting passport stamps from every place you visit. It is not supposed to be a souvenir book. It is a legal document issued by your home country. If you want souvenir stamps, get a book like they sell for National Parks and get your stamps in the book.

 

DON

[ERvet]

I did a Norwegian cruise on X a few years ago. Round trip out of London. Due to family emergency I had to get off in Bergen. Boy did the guy at the airport look confused as to how I got into Norway. After I explained what was happening he did stamp my passport. So I have a Bergen one [emoji4]

 

 

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[ncarb]

Just returned from a Celebrity Silhoutte eastbound transatlantic cruise - ports Lisbon, LeHavre, Bruges and Amsterdam. We were detained by immigration folks at Schipol airport when returning home from Amsterdam because we had no entry stamp in the EU. After 15 minutes, they created a stamp showing entry in Lisbon. Fortunately we had our cruise documents handy. Same thing happened to other folks. Not sure if this is something new or unique to Schipol, but the cruise lines need to arrange for immigration at first EU port to stamp passports.

[lstone19]

Just returned from a Celebrity Silhoutte eastbound transatlantic cruise - ports Lisbon, LeHavre, Bruges and Amsterdam. We were detained by immigration folks at Schipol airport when returning home from Amsterdam because we had no entry stamp in the EU. After 15 minutes, they created a stamp showing entry in Lisbon. Fortunately we had our cruise documents handy. Same thing happened to other folks. Not sure if this is something new or unique to Schipol, but the cruise lines need to arrange for immigration at first EU port to stamp passports.

 

Technically, all Schengen entries and exits are supposed to be stamped (and note that the Schengen countries and the EU countries are not quite the same - for instance, the UK (for now) is in the EU but is not Schengen; OTOH, Norway is not in the EU but is Schengen). From what I've read, the different Schengen countries do not have a common database so the stamps are what prove conformance with their immigration laws. Except that, again from what I've read, entry and exit via cruise ship does not get stamped. So always maintain alternate proof of entry or exit when a stamp is missing.

 

We'll be on a westbound transatlantic in September. If possible, I'll make sure we get stamped at our last Schengen port. If we can't and we then have UK (the next port) entry stamps, that will probably serve as proof that we left (if we entered the UK, we must have left the Schengen area - although with cruises, that's not always proof as our passports from a Baltic cruise last summer show a Russian entry inside the dates of our Schengen entry and exit stamps).

 

My last Schengen trip (a business trip last fall) had me enter Germany but exit Belgium. Since then, I renewed my passport. We'll enter in Germany on our way to the cruise in September. It's probably overkill but I'll carry my old passport as well just in case German immigration says they have a record of me entering Germany in their computer but never leaving (since they won't know about the Belgian exit except for the stamp in the old passport).

[hawkeyetlse]

Not sure if this is something new or unique to Schipol, but the cruise lines need to arrange for immigration at first EU port to stamp passports.

It's not new and not unique to Schiphol (and strictly speaking the first EU port would not be enough, but it also depends if subsequent ports enter/exit the Schengen Area, etc. etc.)

 

You are correct, that non-EU passport holders are supposed to get a passport stamp when they enter the EU or Schengen, but for cruise ship passengers, I think each country can decide how strict they want to be about this, and they take into account how disruptive this is for the passengers. I think most of us are happy that they usually relax the rules vs. making everyone go through immigration controls. Even if they collect passports, someone still has to go through all the passports before the ship is cleared for people to get off, and that eats into everyone's time in port.

 

Also, if you give everyone an entry stamp, this will create problems in the other direction, for people who leave by cruise ship and never receive the corresponding exit stamp. (This is potentially a bigger deal, because the problem will only be detected the next time that person tries to enter, perhaps years later, so they probably won't have documentation of their cruise on hand to prove when/how they actually exited previously). The only way to do this really strictly is to make people go through immigration both getting off and getting back on the ship, and to do this at every port (because you never know 100% if the ship will stick to its itinerary, or if it might have to skip the next port for whatever reason), and no one wants that.

 

As you discovered, it's not usually a huge deal if you're missing an entry stamp, if you hold a "good" passport. But for people who could be suspected of entering illegally, it could be a different story. In that case it would be a good idea to seek out an immigration officer at the relevant port to get the proper entry stamp.

[anthonyy7]

The only passport stamp you'll get is in Russia plus your entry point in Europe prior to the cruise. Do you have a 50 page book and don't travel much? I wouldn't waste the space. Those books aren't cheap

[casofilia]

The only passport stamp you'll get is in Russia plus your entry point in Europe prior to the cruise.

 

Make sure you get the entry on especially if you are intending to leave by air at the end of the cruise and even more so if you are leaving from a different city. Also make sure you then get a leaving one; especially if you are returning to Europe in the not too far distant future.