Passport stamps in each country?

I'm curious if our passports will get stamps in each port/country that we go to?

Thanks!

It's unlikely.

If you're flying over, you'll get a stamp at your point of entry into the EU.

Once onboard ship, with a few exceptions, if you stay within the EU you won't get additional stamps. If you exit the EU (for example, you visit Turkey or Albania or Montenegro) you are likely to get a stamp there, and following that, to get another stamp for the country where you re-enter the EU.

However, on cruises I find that this doesn't always happen precisely as written. ;) One thing for certain is that if you need a visa to entry a country -- even if it's just a visa of convenience like Egypt -- you are likely to get stamped.

It is unlikely and unpredictable. We have not gotten stamps when we expected we would, and been surprised once or twice when we got them. But in general, not as many stamps as in the past.

You have to remember, in order to get stamps, either you have to stand in line with everyone else getting off the ship to get your passport checked, which really slows down tourist activity, or you need to allow the ship to hold your passport while on the cruise. This happens (and was the source of one of our unexpected stamps) but it scares a lot of people. There are regular threads here by people who are shocked that their passport will be out of their hands for days.

On a 12 night Baltic cruise with numerous countries visited, the only stamp I got was for St Petersburg, Russia, (and of course, flying into the UK from USA)

Thanks for the info! It would be nice to get a stamp from each as memorabilia, but yeah the long lines would slow things down and I also really don't care to have my passport out of my hands for several days.

We've flown to Europe from the US a few times but have never cruised there. I assume getting off the ship in port is the same as a Caribbean cruise...? Just get on/off with the ship card and passport for photo ID?

Most places do not require you to carry your passport. In fact, on some cruises the ship may hold your passport for a period of time or for the entire trip (generally this is to facilitate any passport review or stamping that DOES need to happen).

If there is anywhere that a passport IS required ashore, the cruise staff will let you know in the shore briefings and daily ship news. It is definitely the exception and not the rule.

Thanks for the info! It would be nice to get a stamp from each as memorabilia, but yeah the long lines would slow things down and I also really don't care to have my passport out of my hands for several days.

 

We've flown to Europe from the US a few times but have never cruised there. I assume getting off the ship in port is the same as a Caribbean cruise...? Just get on/off with the ship card and passport for photo ID?

Just bare in mind that it is common for ships to collect passports, and do any clearance with the authorities. This speeds up the ship being cleared for people to get off immensely. It is not new, it has been happening for a very long time. The ships don't want to hold your passport if they don't have to, but seeing how crazy things can be if everyone is forced to stand in line to clear into a new country, the ship holding your passport save tons of time.

Thank you for all this information! It helps to know what to expect. I'm glad that we won't have to stand in lines. I do kind of wish we could get a passport stamp from each place we went, though.

Thanks again!

In Europe we have a number of countries, witch belong to "Room of Schengen". Roughly the countries of the European Union (but not GB, IRE, on the other Hand Norway for example is part of Schengen....) In this countries there are no border patrol officers, and so, there will be no chances for any stamps... ;). ;)

Once you are in, you are in. :cool:

In Europe we have a number of countries, witch belong to "Room of Schengen". Roughly the countries of the European Union (but not GB, IRE, on the other Hand Norway for example is part of Schengen....) In this countries there are no border patrol officers, and so, there will be no chances for any stamps... ;). ;)

 

Once you are in, you are in. :cool:

To clarify this a little...if you fly into any Schengen country, like we did this year (SFO-MUC) you will get a stamp entering, and exiting at whatever place you exit (in our case, a return flight out of MUC). Countries definitely have Immigration officials for this purpose.

However, when we crossed in to Austria, and 10 days later, back into Germany, there were no checks at the border, and no Immigration officers. So no Austrian stamp. Similarly, if you fly into BCN, you will get a stamp. Then get on the ship, stop in France, Greece and Italy...no stamps. But when you go to exit Italy, flying home from the Rome airport, you will get a stamp.

In a related manner, we sailed out of CPH (stamp when we landed at FRA and connected to CPH), to several stops in Norway (no stamps), then the Shetland Islands, which had a requirement for face to face meeting with local Immigration authorities, but no stamp. Took hours for the ship to clear, as only two Immigration officers were assigned, much to the dismay of ship's officials, and the tour providers.

The ship then took possession of our passports. We next stopped twice in Irish ports, and then got our passports back, which now had Irish stamps in them! We then sailed to Rotterdam, where we got a stamp exiting the ship, and one flying out at the airport.

Moral of the story...stamps can appear at varying times, sometimes easy, sometimes not.