Schengen Rules when cruising

[cruisetilidrop]

We will be on a cruise starting in England going to Spain, Portugal and France returning to England. How does this rule apply? Has anyone done a cruise to these countries from the US. Do I need to apply for Visas. Confused.

Thank you in advance.

[Harters]

To be certain, I'd suggest checking the website of the relevant department of your own government. It is likely that the three Schengen countries will have the same visa requirement but travel to the UK may be different. I'd be pretty sure that a visa is  not required for the UK,as these arrangements are most often reciprocal  and I know from recent travel that I didnt require a visa for the States (although I did need to complete and pay for an ESTA certificate). 

[ozscotart]

We were discussing this last night, as to what happens when entering Schengen ports, and concluded no one knows. We do know that they are expecting complete chaos and long queues when it starts in October at Dover and St Pancras, and they have French immigration officers to process the fingerprints etc. Who knows what might happen if you’re first Schengen port is small with six large ships in? Or when you visit a non Schengen port (eg Gibraltar) and then go to another Schengen port having started off as your first port being Schengen. Happily our next European cruise is in September, we might avoid booking another until we see how this works. 

[bookbabe]

Our last cruise went in and out of the Schengen Area a few times (B2B Istanbul to Bergen, including Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands).  Generally, passports were collected a day or two before the switch, and immigration did their thing behind the scenes, and then you went to collect your passport that evening when you returned to the ship after your first day in the new area.  We usually got a card to show or a sticker on our key card as the immigration compliance proof.

 

I do not remember any port where we had to actually line up and do immigration, other than ones where the segment was ending and most passengers were leaving the ship.

[fruitmachine]

2 hours ago, bookbabe said:

Our last cruise went in and out of the Schengen Area a few times (B2B Istanbul to Bergen, including Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands).  Generally, passports were collected a day or two before the switch, and immigration did their thing behind the scenes, and then you went to collect your passport that evening when you returned to the ship after your first day in the new area.  We usually got a card to show or a sticker on our key card as the immigration compliance proof.

 

I do not remember any port where we had to actually line up and do immigration, other than ones where the segment was ending and most passengers were leaving the ship.

The issue is that the EU are introducing a new system from October.  Everyone entering will need to register biometric information, and the only way to do that will be in-person.  For cross-channel ferry & tunnel journeys, we already have the French check happening on UK soil, hence the reason those routes are making the biggest headlines here...  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckmm866p23mo