Visa required (?) and a few more questions for a HAL newbie

[jules815]

My husband and I will be doing the April TA from FLL to Rotterdam. On the itinerary it says "Visa required for some." We have stops in Bermuda, Brest, LaHavre, Guernsey and Dover. We're both US citizens. Does this apply to us? (My TA is traveling and hasn't gotten back to me yet...but she didn't think so.) Also, I booked our return flights from Amsterdam to Chicago thru Flight Ease and I can't seem to find any confirmation that I did that. No email (would it have gone to my TA if we booked?) and if it's on the HAL website somewhere, I can't seem to find it. I know we haven't paid for the flights yet, but it's giving me a little anxiety not being able to see a reservation.

 

One more question. We both have a $200 credit for an excursion. If we don't use it, would it turn into OBC or something like that? Many of the excursions are booked already, and the few that are available aren't really of interest. Thanks in advance. This group has already been so helpful. Appreciate all of you.

[Cruise Suzy]

8 minutes ago, jules815 said:

One more question. We both have a $200 credit for an excursion. If we don't use it, would it turn into OBC or something like that? Many of the excursions are booked already, and the few that are available aren't really of interest.

 

If you don't use the $200 for excursion(s), you lose it. It cannot be used for anything else. Same goes for the HIA dining credits.

[jules815]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

If you don't use the $200 for excursion(s), you lose it. It cannot be used for anything else. Same goes for the HIA dining credits.

That's what I thought. Thank you!

[dawnvip]

Check for visa requirements on HAL's partner site: https://cibtvisas.com/hollandamericaline

 

Note that the world is changing quickly, and visa requirements may change before your actual cruise embarkation, so check again when you are about 6 weeks out. 

[OlsSalt]

Looks like you are visiting primarily UK and "Schengen" countries on this TA cruise.  A great itinerary for your first HAL cruise, BTW.

 

Good to get up to speed on this topic - Schengen is basically the EU (European Union - common market) collection of countries now in Europe, that allows one entrance requirement for all of them.  You can run into this term "Schengen" at various airport security check lines. Threw me the first time I ran into it years ago, and had to get up to speed myself.  "Schengen" is the location where this inter-country agreement was made. 

 

No longer individual checks at each European country borders that way it used to be a few decades ago. But just today was a news story about Germany reinstituting border checks, so agree today this can be a fast moving field. Good you are trying to get up to sped ahead of time. 

 

Best resource is the website for each country you will be visiting. They will keep you up to date on any visa requirements. No longer automatic that a US passport opens most doors.  Also registering with the US State Dept "STEP" program makes more sense in  today's volatile world - letting them know where you are, as well as getting automatic notices of any changes in travel safety status.

 

Though today US State Dept just issued a "world wide" unsafe travel notice, so be aware of the politics than can also drive these decisions as well as actual practical travel assessments. 

[Vict0riann]

Depends ion when you are travelling. Next year, things will change..

 

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

[OlsSalt]

Sold our excursions can put on extra spaces later, and people do cancel. So put yourself on the waiting list now, and see what evolves later. 

[jules815]

57 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Sold our excursions can put on extra spaces later, and people do cancel. So put yourself on the waiting list now, and see what evolves later. 

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[Mary229]

Here is the new Europe Visa page, as Ann mentioned.  You will need this and it can be gotten and carried digitally 

1 hour ago, Vict0riann said:

Depends ion when you are travelling. Next year, things will change..

 

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

 

[jules815]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Looks like you are visiting primarily UK and "Schengen" countries on this TA cruise.  A great itinerary for your first HAL cruise, BTW.

 

Good to get up to speed on this topic - Schengen is basically the EU (European Union - common market) collection of countries now in Europe, that allows one entrance requirement for all of them.  You can run into this term "Schengen" at various airport security check lines. Threw me the first time I ran into it years ago, and had to get up to speed myself.  "Schengen" is the location where this inter-country agreement was made. 

 

No longer individual checks at each European country borders that way it used to be a few decades ago. But just today was a news story about Germany reinstituting border checks, so agree today this can be a fast moving field. Good you are trying to get up to sped ahead of time. 

 

Best resource is the website for each country you will be visiting. They will keep you up to date on any visa requirements. No longer automatic that a US passport opens most doors.  Also registering with the US State Dept "STEP" program makes more sense in  today's volatile world - letting them know where you are, as well as getting automatic notices of any changes in travel safety status.

 

Though today US State Dept just issued a "world wide" unsafe travel notice, so be aware of the politics than can also drive these decisions as well as actual practical travel assessments. 

Thanks for the info. I believe we registered with the US Department of State for the TA we did out of Barcelona in 2016. I was going thru my travel information earlier today and have phone numbers and other information we needed back then. 

Glad to hear this is a good itinerary for a first time with HAL. We're doing it because we'll be in FLL for a wedding. We were originally booked on Celebrity Ascent TA going into Barcelona, (kind of bummed we're missing Portugal) and then they moved the wedding date to a week later. We had to cancel that one and found the HAL TA sailing the Sunday after the new wedding date. Excited to be visiting all new ports that honestly weren't even on our radar and trying a new cruise line.

[jules815]

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Here is the new Europe Visa page, as Ann mentioned.  You will need this and it can be gotten and carried digitally 

 

Great thank you so much. 

[jules815]

4 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Here is the new Europe Visa page, as Ann mentioned.  You will need this and it can be gotten and carried digitally 

 

How long does it take to receive? 

 

[Mary229]

34 minutes ago, jules815 said:

How long does it take to receive? 

 

No one knows as they haven’t yet started the registration process

[Haljo1935]

8 hours ago, dawnvip said:

Check for visa requirements on HAL's partner site: https://cibtvisas.com/hollandamericaline

@jules815 first Welcome to HAL and congrats on your fabulous cruise!!

In addition to the Etias site @Vict0riann provided, you will want to check this one @dawnvip provided; it has more than just visa requirements. You can check every country while on the site. Give yourself plenty of time so you can take action if needed, but check again as you get closer because as others mentioned, things change quickly.

Safe travels, enjoy your cruise!

[SUESEABE]

https://etias.com/articles/etias-implementation-likely-delayed-to-2025

 

Elias probably won't go into effect until 2025.