Schengen related question

[dritan]

Hi again

This is a "hit and hope" type question in case anyone has encountered this situation.  So on top of the challenge of covid testing, I've added to the stress by inviting along a friend who lives in the UK and holds a Refugee Travel Document from the UK authority.

To cut a long story short - we've worked out that she does not require a schengen visa to enter Italy ( for either the flight and the cruise starts and ends in Savona).  However, we will be making stops in France and Spain, which seem to require a schengen visa.    Since it has taken us several weeks to get any kind of clarification from embassies, we can no longer meet the time frames for getting this visa at either the UK's Spanish or French consulates.  I expect there has been an upsurge in applications this week due to the easing of travel restrictions announced by the UK govt.  

I'm trying to find out if we can get on in Italy and she stays on the ship for the French and Spanish stops, and then goes on excursions for the remaining Italian ports.  Costa have said to leave it with them but that was over a week now and they dont really seem to understand my question.

Has anyone got experience of having ports of call in the schengen area  where they have been allowed to stay on the ship if they don't have the schengen visa.

 

We are trying to avoid having to pay around £250 for an expedited schengen visa as the cost of this cruise would end up being less than the cost of testing and visas combined!!

 

Thanks

[dritan]

HI

 

I thought I'd share my update in case it helps anyone in a similar situation in the future.  ( I get that this is a really unique situation though).

 

After some chasing, Costa finally confirmed on Monday that my friend would not be allowed on the ship if she didn't have a schengen visa for the France and Spain stops ( despite Italy not needing her to have a visa).

They also confirmed that she couldn't just "stay on the ship" as implied on the french embassy website.

 

So we managed to get a fast track appointment and hoping that she gets her visa and travel document back before 22nd. We got the notification that is in being processed and that 10 working days is their standard with many happening before that.  So fingers crossed.