Asian Passengers Need Visa For Baltic Ports?

[petesweet]

My sister-in-law is Filipino and is joining us for a group tour to the Baltics. We do not need visas, but her travel agent is unsure whether she needs them. We have Russia covered (going on private group tour), but if we just want to do our own walking tours in some of the other ports, does she need a visa for those countries? (I hate that the travel agent does not know!!)

[ahti01]

I m afraid that citizen of Philipines needs visa to visit countries of European Union.

Most of EU countries have signed so called Schengen treaty. What does Schengen mean?

 

In 1985, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland decided to abolish checks on persons crossing over their internal borders.

 

This border control-free territory became known as the Schengen area, after the small town in Luxembourg where the first agreement was signed.

 

Today the Schengen area is composed of 24 states, and most of it overlaps with European Union (EU) territory. Although Great Britain, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania are EU member states, they have not signed the Schengen Agreement. Also, Norway and Iceland are not EU member states, but they are part of the Schengen area.

 

One of the principles of Schengen is the free movement of persons. Checks of persons are not carried out at internal border crossings. There are only border controls at the Schengen area’s external borders.

 

Information from the website of Estonian Minsiry of Foreign Affaires

http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_132/

 

I do not know itinerary of your ship, therefore please check what is your first port of call and contact embassy of that country to get Schengen visa and or other embassies if you want to visit some non Schengen countries as well.

[Globaliser]

What is the itinerary of the cruise? There are often different rules for arriving in a country by air, and calling at a port in that country for the day as one stop in the middle of a cruise - in the latter case, passengers are often treated as "in transit", with less stringent visa rules than if arriving by air and properly entering the country.

[Keith1010]

My recommendation is for you to contact a Visa Service. There are plenty to choose from.

 

Keith

[HeinBloed]

If you have a so-called Schengen visa:

 

Since Dec 21, 2007 you do not need any additional visa except for

 

Russian ports (St. Petersburg or Kleipeida).

 

All other ports are covered under the Schengen treaty.

 

For Russia you get it with the booking of your shore excursion (on board or via tour operator ashore).

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[petesweet]

If you have a so-called Schengen visa:

 

Since Dec 21, 2007 you do not need any additional visa except for

 

Russian ports (St. Petersburg or Kleipeida).

 

All other ports are covered under the Schengen treaty.

 

For Russia you get it with the booking of your shore excursion (on board or via tour operator ashore).

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

 

Thanks for that reply. I have passed it on.

[HeinBloed]

Thanks for that reply. I have passed it on.

 

I remarked on your cruiseticker that you are on the NORWEGIAN JEWEL, i. e. you are boarding in Dover but UK is not member of Schengen treaty regarding the passport control part. So maybe you'll need an additional visa for getting on your cruise in Dover.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[ahti01]

Klaipeda and Kaliningrad

 

Klaipeda (former Memel) is not part of Russia, but it is the largest (actually the single) port city of Lithuania.Lithuania like other new EU memebers joined Schengen treaty in December 2007. Probably you meant Kaliningrad (former Köningsberg), center and largest city of Russian province (oblast) which is located between Poland and Lithuania.History of both cities are similar somehow. They were long time cities where Germans dominated located in East Prussia.

 

East Prussia enclosed the bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians who related Lithuanian tribes.

 

During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights. The indigenous Balts who survived the conquest were gradually converted to Christianity. Because of Germanization and colonisation over the following centuries, Germans became the dominant ethnic group, while Poles and Prussian Lithuanians formed minorities. From the 13th century on, East Prussia was part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, which became the Duchy of Prussia in 1525.

 

Between 1829 and 1878, the Province of East Prussia was joined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia. The Kingdom of Prussia became the leading state of the German Empire after its creation in 1871. The Treaty of Versailles following World War I then made East Prussia an exclave from the rest of Germany, and separated also the Memelland (just Klaipeda area, not current Kaliningrad ) which was taken over by Lithuanians in January 1923 and . After the ultimatium of A. Hitler Klaipeda area was returned to Germany. Following Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, the whole former East Prussian territory was partitioned between Soviet Union (the Kaliningrad Oblast), Polish People's Republic (now the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), and Lithuanian SSR (the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region). The East Prussian capital of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The German population of the province largely evacuated during the war, but several hundreds of thousands died.

 

Why Köningsberg was renamed Kaliningrad ?

 

Kalinin fos formally president of Soviet Union 1919- 1946. But his power was very limited, Stalin was a man who was real leader. Kalinin was very loyal to Satlin, even after that when his wife was arrested in 1938. Kalinin did not want or was not capable to do anything to protect his wife Jekaterina Loorberg (she was born in Estonia), and so wife of Soviet president was sent to Soviet concentration camp where she spent 10 years. Only in just before death of Mikhial Kalinin she got permission to return to Moscow.

 

 

So Kaliningrad- Kalinin city or Kalinin castle.

 

Kaliningrad Region is located on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. With an area of 15 100 km2, it is the smallest region of the Russian Federation. It extends a maximum of 195 km from west to east and 110 km from north to south.

 

So the region is in an unusual geographic location, being entirely cut off from the rest of Russia by the Baltic States. It borders on Lithuania in the north and east (length of border - 200 km), Poland in the south (210 km), and the Baltic Sea in the west (140 km of coastline).

http://www.kommersant.com/t-43/r_5/n_386/Kaliningrad_Region

 

Soviet time Kaliningrad area was very military area. It had formerly been an area closed to foreigners where major formations of the Russian army and Navy had been shifted.

At least 700 sq km were used for military purpose in the region of Kaliningrad (Headquarters and communication centre are in Kaliningrad, a Navy base and a naval infantry brigade located in Baltiysk, 5 air and sea bases, 2 missiles sites, as well as naval logistics installations, weapon stocks and navy schools)

http://www.bdcol.ee/fileadmin/docs/bdrev13/8._Matthieu_Chillaud_and_Frank_Tetard-Demilitarisation_of_Kaliningrad.pdf

 

Even later after Western experts estimate that the total Kaliningrad garrison includes as many as 200,000 military personnel, compared with the official Russian figure of 100,000.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/kor-kaliningrad.htm

 

Kaliningrad Oblast is the headquarters of the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet and the site of one of its two main naval bases in the region, Baltiisk. Armed forces comparable in size to the entire Polish army are stationed in Kaliningrad Oblast http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/agency/mf-baltic.htm

 

Kaliningrad Oblast is the most heavily militarized area of the Russian Federation, and the density of military infrastructure is the highest in Europe. Kaliningrad also functions as the headquarters of the Russian Baltic Fleet, circled by Chernyakhovsk (air base), Donskoye (air base) and Kaliningrad Chkalovsk (naval air base). Since 1991 the Russians transferred numerous tactical nuclear warheads to the enclave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad#_note-7

 

Nowadays Kaliningrad oblast is not so totally military area like it was in Soviet period. Kaliningrad has been a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for many years.

Last 5-6 years , economic growth in Kaliningrad has been faster than the Russian average. It has become an centre for manufactured goods from the EU and a centre for Russian exports to the world. Trade is booming in Kaliningrad, due to customs and tax benefits granted to it by the Federal Governmen (special economic zone).There are some visible examples of foreign investment in Kaliningrad (for example production Hummer cars H3 !- http://www.gmeurope.com/news/2006/news_060405.html ), but in general investment levels are still relatively low.

http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/north_dim/kalin/index.htm

 

Kaliningrad is out of cruise routes- this why you can not find cruises listed for this port of call. But some exceptions do exist- like EuroCruises- http://www.cruise-reports.com/CruiseLines/EuroCruises/EuroCruises.htm

[Member]

What a lesson.... Now these two Canadians shall finalize the Costa Victoria 11-nights Baltic cruise to the off-beated Klaipeda, Riga, Tallinn, Gdynia, among others. Even better, according to my TA, we don't need any travel visa for these except St. Petersburg. Cheers!!