Does the purser hold the passports on European cruises?

[Pitcruiser]

When we sailed from Venice on Splendour our passports were held. They were returned toward the end of the cruise and were stamped for entry to Crete.

[orchidj5]

There is no one "correct" answer to this question. It depends upon the intenerary and your country of citizenship. Last summer we went on a combination Land and Cruise trip of about 25 days that covered alot of southern Europe. We cleared EU immigration in Venice and were only asked for our passports at hotel check in for the remainder of our land travels ( in Italy and Switzerland). When we boarded the ship for the first portion of our B2B cruise passports were held for all non-EU citizens. The intenerary was Sicily, Turkey, Athens and Irkalion and Greece requires passports for all non-EU citizens. They were returned to Us on the last sea day and we kept them durning the second week of the B2B ( Genoa, Villefranche,Barcelona, Palma,Caligiari) since we had already cleared EU immigration. We presented them for an EU exit stamp before boarding our flight in Rome.

[TravelerThom]

There is no one "correct" answer to this question. It depends upon the intenerary and your country of citizenship. Last summer we went on a combination Land and Cruise trip of about 25 days that covered alot of southern Europe. We cleared EU immigration in Venice and were only asked for our passports at hotel check in for the remainder of our land travels ( in Italy and Switzerland). When we boarded the ship for the first portion of our B2B cruise passports were held for all non-EU citizens. The intenerary was Sicily, Turkey, Athens and Irkalion and Greece requires passports for all non-EU citizens. They were returned to Us on the last sea day and we kept them durning the second week of the B2B ( Genoa, Villefranche,Barcelona, Palma,Caligiari) since we had already cleared EU immigration. We presented them for an EU exit stamp before boarding our flight in Rome.

This should be entirely an issue of whether you enter or leave the Schengen zone. Most, but not all, of the EU is in Schengen, and most, but not all, of Schengen is in the EU. What you are calling EU immigration is in fact Schengen Zone immigration. As a US citizen [except for very limited exceptions] you have to have a passport to enter the Schengen Zone. I don't think Greece, any more than any other Schengen country, requires a passport for all non-EU citizens. You should be able to enter Greece by air or ferry from another Schengen country without showing your passport. Greece does require a passport [or National Identity card issued by an EU country] for everyone who is crossing the Schengen zone border; if you are entering Greece from Turkey, you are crossing the Schengen zone border. The exit stamp you got in Rome was for departure from Schengen, and would also be required if, for example you were flying to London [in the EU, but not in Schengen].

 

Thom

[MS52]

Last summer we cruised from Kusadasi, Turkey to Athens Greece with three stops at Greek islands. Our passports were held until the final day.

 

This summer we cruised the Baltics. Our passports were not held. In fact, the only place that they were even checked when we got off the ship was in St. Petersburg.

 

So I guess the answer is - it depends!

[TravelerThom]

Adding to this thread--they did indeed take our passports on our Eastern Med. cruise on the Splendour last month. The claim was that "Montenegro" needed them, but we didn't get the passports back until a week after Montenegro, and ours were stamped on our second day back in Greece after being in Turkey :confused::confused::confused:

 

Oh, and they took US passports only...

The only part of this that I find surprising is that they took US passports only - are you sure of that? Not only are Montenegro and Turkey not in the Schengen zone, they aren't in the EU either. I have crossed all these borders and it is hard to believe that they are not going to demand documentation, and Greece is definitely in violation of the Schengen Agreement if it is not checking documentation if you are reentering Schengen.

 

Yes Montenegro wants to see and stamp your passport [at least I have several Montenegro stamps from entering by ship]. But just because Montenegro has seen your passport does not eliminated the fact that Turkey will want to see your passport, and that then Greece will have to process you back into the Schengen Zone. Greece should have stamped you in at the first port of entry, but at least they got around to it sometime - after all Greek time is pretty flexible.

 

Thom

[Langley Cruisers]

Just back from Med cruise on Brilliance and because we went to Turkey, all non-EU passports were held. Someone else here mentioned only the US passports were held but we are one Canadian and one American and they took both of ours. A letter of explanation/apology was issued at the pier and it was also in our stateroom when we got there. We had one non-EU port and the passports were returned the day after we left Turkish "waters", for lack of a better word.

 

It was all very organized and since there was absolutely nothing we could do about it, we let it roll off our backs. The letter of explanation called it "mandatory", so no arguments from us. :)

 

By the way, will probably write a review once we get home (still in Barcelona!) but in Turkey they absolutely still take Euros. The Compass incorrectly stated that merchants only take the Turkish Lyra... naw, they all took Euros, no problem.

[mjsshipboy]

Everyone who posts their experiences needs to state which nationality they are.

 

As the previous poster mentioned, going into Turkey, all non-EU passports are held and checked by the Turkish immigration.

 

People who get antsy about handing their passports in at check-in should be allowed to keep them, but then on arrival in each of the ports, they should be forced to sit with the ship's pursers staff for three or four hours and wait for their passport to be cleared, before they can go ashore. The ship and the individual immigration authorities are doing you a favor by not forcing you to do a face-to-face check.

 

Crossing borders within Europe, as a British passport holder (But I live in the US) I still have to have my passport and go through immigration, even if just passing from France to Spain. As a previous poster rightly mentioned, the UK opted out of Schengen. The UK also does not have an official ID card system, like most other European nations. So if you ain't got a passport, you ain't going anywhere! British citizens DO have to pass through immigration when entering the Republic of Ireland. I honestly can't remember if I had to pass through immigration when I returned.

 

I do remember one time, landing at Birmingham airport from Germany (Birmingham UK, that is) that we did not pass through immigration... we entered the domestic arrivals hall. This was never explained to us.

 

As a non EU citizen, when crossing land borders, you have to show your passport every time. On a cruise, most countries relax this rule and don't wish to prcess 2000 - 4000 people for a 6 hour day trip. (The same way they do in the Caribbean as you go from island to island, as a day-tripper, regardless of nationality, you are exempt from immigration).

[Paulxyz2004]

Slovenia is an EU member and in the Schengen Agreement - which basically means it has open internal borders with the rest of the EU. If you're just getting public transport over the border from Italy, you shouldn't be asked for passport. On every other Schengen border I've ever crossed, the only indication is a sign over the road saying something like "Welcome to Germany", and that's it. Not that I've ever done Italy/Slovenia, but it would be breaking EU rules to even check passports!

 

Although I strongly suspect the cruise ship won't hold your passport, be very surprised if they do.

 

That´s certainly wrong information !

It is not breaking any EU rules to check passports at any border between Schengen countries.

While passport controlls are not a standard procedure within the Schengen area anymore they do still happen and you have to be prepared for them.

 

Denmark for example is just now implementing regular controlls between the Danish and German border again.

 

Crossing the border between Germany and the Netherlands by car is usually just a drive through and you only recognize the signs, but otoh it´s not an unusual occurance to encounter controlls. Crossing the same border by train I rarely encounter a border crossing without a passport control.

 

Bottom line, there is no rule against controlls within the Schengen area and you should never cross any border within the Schengen area not being prepared to show your proper ID. Even if you cross the border in the morning without problems you could run into problems on the way back in the afternoon.

[deltatango]

Well for me, I would not venture in any Country/cross borders/walk a round without my passport, only the country I live in, and I am in the EU UK, you see all these terms and conditions on borders that you can travel without a passport, but everywhere I have been they want to see it.

[zijlweg]

Last month I was in Edinburgh and had to surrender my passport.

A month before I was in Harwich and nothing had to be surrendered.

Both Costa cruises.

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

To enter a Schengen country as a first point of entry arriving from a non-Schengen country, you have to show a valid travel document.

 

For a U.S. / Canadian / British national, this travel document must be a passport.

 

For a citizen of most continental EU countries, this travel document can be a National ID card.

 

When crossing borders between Schengen countries, you must be in possession of a valid travel document, even if there is no control by the police. Once again, for example, for a Brit, the only valid travel document is a passport. For a Spaniard, on the other hand, a National ID Card is considered to be a valid travel document.

 

The Brits are at somewhat of a disadvantage by not having a National ID Card. Back in the old days, and just like the thoughts in the United States, this was considered to be reminiscent of a police state so it was rejected. However, nowadays, everybody's personal data are stored in one form or another in the government's computer system, so I don't see the big deal anymore in having a National ID Card.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[TravelerThom]

...Crossing borders within Europe, as a British passport holder (But I live in the US) I still have to have my passport and go through immigration, even if just passing from France to Spain. As a previous poster rightly mentioned, the UK opted out of Schengen. The UK also does not have an official ID card system, like most other European nations. So if you ain't got a passport, you ain't going anywhere! British citizens DO have to pass through immigration when entering the Republic of Ireland...

 

As a non EU citizen, when crossing land borders, you have to show your passport every time. On a cruise, most countries relax this rule and don't wish to prcess 2000 - 4000 people for a 6 hour day trip. (The same way they do in the Caribbean as you go from island to island, as a day-tripper, regardless of nationality, you are exempt from immigration).

Since you are a British passport holder [i'm US] I expect you know more about this than I do, but this certainly does not conform to my experiences. I have driven across the UK - Republic of Ireland border at multiple locations, and there was no sign of any immigration control; in fact there wasn't even a sign to tell you that you had crossed the border other than the one telling you that the speed limit units had changed from metric to English [or vice-versa]. I thought the lack of "Welcome to..." signs very strange, but all I could figure out is that it is hard to vandalize a sign that isn't there.

 

In the last several years I have crossed national borders within Schengen many times [probably fifty times] and NOT ONCE have I had to present a passport or any other document [i'm not saying they don't have the authority to request documents, but I am saying that I definitely am not being asked to show anything].

 

Thom

[celle]

Hey there, fancy seeing you here! Of course we're on the same sailing as you and of course, we can't wait. But we're actually in Koper on the 9th (ship leaves Venice on the 8th). Don't know if that will affect your plans or not (Trieste is kind of between Venice and Koper, but I don't know that I'd want to venture to Trieste on sailing day and risk missing the ship for some unforseen reason).

 

But to answer your question, it may depend on the itinerary, not sure. They didn't hold our passports on our Baltic cruise last Sept.

 

See ya 'round!

 

Cruise-specific information.

 

We just got off the July 9th cruise on Voyager. Our ports were Koper (Slovenia), Ravenna (Italy), Bari (Italy) and Dubrovnik (Croatia).

 

Only the passports of passengers who were not EU citizens were collected. These passports were not collected until the evening of our day in Ravenna and were returned to us on the evening of our day in Bari.

 

We were told that the Croatian authorities would inspect all non-EU passports during the day we were in Bari (they must have boarded the ship). We all had to carry our passports ashore in Dubrovnik (but didn't have to show them anywhere).

 

Hope this helps!

[dln929]

Cruise-specific information.

 

We just got off the July 9th cruise on Voyager. Our ports were Koper (Slovenia), Ravenna (Italy), Bari (Italy) and Dubrovnik (Croatia).

 

Only the passports of passengers who were not EU citizens were collected. These passports were not collected until the evening of our day in Ravenna and were returned to us on the evening of our day in Bari.

 

We were told that the Croatian authorities would inspect all non-EU passports during the day we were in Bari (they must have boarded the ship). We all had to carry our passports ashore in Dubrovnik (but didn't have to show them anywhere).

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you celle!