if you are going to France on your cruise-a new issue

[susiesan]

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/foreigners-now-have-to-pay-e36-to-convert-their-vaccination-certificates-into-french-health-passes/

 

It will now cost you 36euros for the pass to get into buildings and restaurants in France.

 

Thus, from now on, third-country travellers in France will have to obtain a health pass at one of the designated pharmacies in the country while also paying a fee of €36 per application. No prior appointment is required for converting the pass.

[cotto22]

We are scheduled for an Oceania tour in Nice. Guess our first stop will be a "designated pharmacy". I applied for our health pass long before the office closed down, but was unsuccessful in getting one, and they totally ignored my emails. 

  Another hoop to jump through!

[Hlitner]

Ahhh so now we have the 4th change to the ever changing rules.  I would imagine there will soon be a 5th and perhaps even subsequent changes.  So consider a cruiser on the Seabourn Ovation who disembarks (in April) in Monte Carlo and wants to fly out of the Nice Cote d'Azure Airport.  It seems that under these rules those folks would have to get a taxi to the single pharmacy in all of NIce that is currently on the list (one can imagine the queues since there is only one pharmacy in downtown Nice).  Once at that pharmacy they would need to apply for the new Pass (fill out an application, pay your money, show your paper vaccination document and Passport) and get this new certificate downloaded to their phone (so every traveler will need to have a Smartphone that works).  Once it is on the phone with the necessary QR code the person should be good to go just about anywhere in the EU!  Maybe.  And that seems to be the rule as of today.  But what about tomorrow?

 

Hank

[Belfastman]

20 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Ahhh so now we have the 4th change to the ever changing rules.  I would imagine there will soon be a 5th and perhaps even subsequent changes.  So consider a cruiser on the Seabourn Ovation who disembarks (in April) in Monte Carlo and wants to fly out of the Nice Cote d'Azure Airport.  It seems that under these rules those folks would have to get a taxi to the single pharmacy in all of NIce that is currently on the list (one can imagine the queues since there is only one pharmacy in downtown Nice).  Once at that pharmacy they would need to apply for the new Pass (fill out an application, pay your money, show your paper vaccination document and Passport) and get this new certificate downloaded to their phone (so every traveler will need to have a Smartphone that works).  Once it is on the phone with the necessary QR code the person should be good to go just about anywhere in the EU!  Maybe.  And that seems to be the rule as of today.  But what about tomorrow?

 

Hank

Not sure that this will do anywhere outside of France (ie. not anywhere in EU such as Spain or Italy). Also those with the UK certificate do not require this.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Belfastman

[Hlitner]

7 minutes ago, Belfastman said:

Not sure that this will do anywhere outside of France (ie. not anywhere in EU). Those with the UK certificate do not require this.

True.   Those who are residents of the EU will likely not be too inconvenienced.  But this will quickly put another nail into the coffin of the French tourist industry that traditionally depends on North Americans to add to their revenue.  While many folks in our part of the world are considering returning to Europe next Spring we now get another hassle.  Those of us who have been traveling throughout COVID (we have recently been in Turkey, Greece and Barbados) have had to work our way through various rules.  But France (and some other EU countries) have been changing their rules with every new moon and this makes advance planning even more difficult.  We constantly hear from others that their solution is to simply stay home until at least 2023 and this does not bode well for the tourism and cruise industry

 

Hank

[pinotlover]

We are scheduled for a Rhine River boat cruise next June. That cruise has one (1) stop currently scheduled in France, a one day stop in Strasbourg. Will the schedule now change and eliminate that stop or:

 

1. Will most people just remain on the boat; or

 

2.  Will the tour buses first go to the designated pharmacy and everybody stand in line for the pass to spend the 6-7 hours there; or

 

3.  All the tours are changed to outdoor itineraries visiting only sights not requiring the Pass?

 

I’m betting a German city is substituted and Strasbourg is by passed. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by pinotlover

[KS&JW]

13 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

We are scheduled for a Rhine River boat cruise next June. 

Next June?  Things will change several times between now and next June

[patty1955]

We were just in France on an Oceania cruise and only one place (a art gallery/museum) ask for the card.

[jeno]

We are in France now and have been asked in every restaurant and to enter the grounds of a vineyard.  We have the pass. 

[HiFi43]

We were also in France on Oceania, took private tours and were never asked for a health pass, even though we had one,  and were only asked for our vaccination card at one restaurant. We’ll be in France on Oceania a week from Thursday and we’ll see what happens at that point…we got our French Health pass with the help of the Oceania Concierge in less than 5 minutes even though we never had to use it. With all the different forms we had to fill out for different countries we never had to use one although to get off the ship in some countries we had to take the free Oceania Antigen tests. Oceania has testing down to a very efficient process.

[susiesan]

I would advise anyone with a cruise  or flight that goes anywhere in Europe to subscribe to the newsletter 

schengenvisainfo.com  The web site keeps up with the daily changing European covid, travel, and visa information. I rate it 5 stars for visitors to the EU.  Thankfully, my cruise next April does not go to France. of course other EU countries could adopt this French regulation. We could be faced with paying multiple health pass fees for every single country visited on a cruise. 

[KS&JW]

Like anything we will have to wait and see.  However,  currently you can just use your vaccine card to get into restaurants etc.  The pass sanitaire was nice, but I know many people who did not get one and were still able to do indoor things that require vaccination. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, KS&JW said:

Like anything we will have to wait and see.  However,  currently you can just use your vaccine card to get into restaurants etc.  The pass sanitaire was nice, but I know many people who did not get one and were still able to do indoor things that require vaccination. 

Apparently what you say is no longer true....as of today.  Although it is difficult to know exactly how this will play out the new rules seem to require the Pass Sanitaire for entry into just about every place and most public transportation.  I cannot find any more references to allowing the use of our vaccination cards other then at the few pharmacies that are authorized to process and issue the Pass Sanitaire.   Of course knowing the French government there will be clarifications and more changes in the coming days/weeks,

 

Hank

[cotto22]

I had to call Oceania yesterday about a canceled shore excursion for our Rome to Miami cruise and I asked the rep about this new protocol. My question was whether the Oceania tour bus would just take us to the pharmacy for passes and he said that was he had been told. 

  I hope the pharmacy is ready for a crowd.

[hawkesbaynz]

I imagine it will change again in due course. The French love their bureaucracy.

 

As of today the French can travel to the USA to visit Diseyland, cruise from Florida and visit their US based families etc. 

[Harters]

On 11/6/2021 at 3:27 PM, Belfastman said:

Also those with the UK certificate do not require this.

As I understand it, from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website, the UK certificate of vaccination is fine for France (and, I believe, for all Schengen countries - although I need to check that is all I need for Spain, which I'm visiitng for 3 weeks in Janaury)). However, the certificate need to be dated from 1/11. There is the digital pass, which can be downloaded to a phone if you have one or printed off as a pdf. These are time limited certificates. As I don't have a phone, I took the other option some weeks back to apply for my certificate as a letter, which has no expiry date . That came in July but, of course, I'm now having to reapply so I get one dated from after 1/11.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Harters

[LGW59]

On 11/6/2021 at 1:53 PM, susiesan said:

I would advise anyone with a cruise  or flight that goes anywhere in Europe to subscribe to the newsletter 

schengenvisainfo.com  The web site keeps up with the daily changing European covid, travel, and visa information. I rate it 5 stars for visitors to the EU.  Thankfully, my cruise next April does not go to France. of course other EU countries could adopt this French regulation. We could be faced with paying multiple health pass fees for every single country visited on a cruise. 

Their country their rules, if we don’t like it we don’t have to go.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The French website was quickly overwhelmed by applications, and it became a joke that you got the answer after you had returned home [and the answer was: 'denied, as you have already left France'].  The pharmacies were expected to issue these passes with no payment to cover their costs, and it took time away from serving local customers – so they refused.  So France came up with a solution that may actually work:  make it worthwhile for the pharmacies to cooperate and thereby vastly expand the number of locations.  To me this is a practical success worth celebrating, not a money-grab.  Somebody has to pay for the process, and why shouldn't it be the person benefiting from it?

[basor]

On 11/6/2021 at 6:53 PM, susiesan said:

I would advise anyone with a cruise  or flight that goes anywhere in Europe to subscribe to the newsletter 

schengenvisainfo.com  The web site keeps up with the daily changing European covid, travel, and visa information. I rate it 5 stars for visitors to the EU.  Thankfully, my cruise next April does not go to France. of course other EU countries could adopt this French regulation. We could be faced with paying multiple health pass fees for every single country visited on a cruise. 

We will be there in a week while oboard Marina and will be happy to report how it is being handled and if it is a problem.....since things change daily, people should not get excited about a rule today for a cruise in several months.   Rules that caused epople to ring their hands a month ago are totally irrevelvant today.   

[mauibabes]

We were just in Marseille and Toulon on Riviera and so far no major issues or problems with the requirements. We did not go into any museums or restaurants so I-can not speak to that. 
Italy is still the biggest pain in the 🤬🤬🤬

mauibabes

[Pizzasteve]

FYI, if you have an application that was accepted by the old web site, log in and message them about your travel date.  We did and were approved yesterday, receiving the QR code link in an email within about 10 minutes. While one can no longer create a new account, it does appear that they are working the backlogged queue of existing applications.

 

Hopefully this helps out a few of you. Vive le France. Crossing border today.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Pizzasteve

[PhD-iva]

3 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

FYI, if you have an application that was accepted by the old web site, log in and message them about your travel date.  We did and were approved yesterday, receiving the QR code link in an email within about 10 minutes. While one can no longer create a new account, it does appear that they are working the backlogged queue of existing applications.

 

Hopefully this helps out a few of you. Vive le France. Crossing border today.

I’m confused. My French Health pass application was accepted and I have a QR code with (I think) no expiration date. Do I now need to do something else???

[cotto22]

I don't think so. I had applied for the QR code almost 2 weeks ago and it stayed in process. I got an email today that it was approved. My husband's is under review. So, it appears as if there are two protocols going on. I tried to message the office about my husband, and I got the reply that the messaging center was permanently closed.