Disembarking in Mediterranean --Barcelona

[mlkitt3]

We are doing a 33 day cruise from Istanbul to Barcelona I have two questions I hope you well cruised CC's will be able to help me with.

 

1. As we are leaving from Turkey when we get to a European city eg Athens, Rome etc will there be some type of immigration to process through? Or could this happen in Barcelona our final debarkation point?

 

2. We are in Barcelona port overnight our last night of the cruise. Can we take our own luggage off the ship on the last morning and disembark early eg 7:00 am. Or are there security and Spanish authority to be dealt with that means disembarking at set times?

 

Thanks for any information about these questions

Cheers:rolleyes:

[kazu]

We are doing a 33 day cruise from Istanbul to Barcelona I have two questions I hope you well cruised CC's will be able to help me with.

 

1. As we are leaving from Turkey when we get to a European city eg Athens, Rome etc will there be some type of immigration to process through? Or could this happen in Barcelona our final debarkation point?

 

2. We are in Barcelona port overnight our last night of the cruise. Can we take our own luggage off the ship on the last morning and disembark early eg 7:00 am. Or are there security and Spanish authority to be dealt with that means disembarking at set times?

 

Thanks for any information about these questions

Cheers:rolleyes:

 

I can help with question 2 I believe - disembarking in Barcelona - if you can manage your own luggage (with no help) you can do self disembarkation and be one of the first ones off. My memory is failing but I believe that disembarkation started around 6:30 or 7:00 when we were there. I would say by 7:30 AM to be on the safe side :D

 

Barcelona is a great city to overnight in:D

[Randyk47]

We entered the EU through England so a bit of the reverse but it was nothing. They ran our passports through some kind of reader, looked at us to obviously match our faces with the passport pictures, and waved us through. Flew from London to Barcelona and went through what I'd best describe as "passport control" but again nothing other than a quick glance. My impression was that getting in and around EU countries is relatively easy, much easier than getting into the US. Once in Spain and then on the cruise any interface with immigration and customs officials in subsequent countries was totally transparent to us. We barely saw port security personnel at most ports. Should add that in Turkey, which is not a member of the EU, we did need a visa but that was at the end of our cruise and the ship arranged those for us. I understand that if we'd started our cruise in Turkey we would have had to get Turkey visas at the airport before entering the country.

[cruisemom42]

Because you're starting out from Istanbul, you will need to get a visa at the airport. It's just a matter of paying for the visa sticker (no form, no hassle). This is done at a window just to the left of the lines for passport control, and you must purchase the sticker before getting into the passport line. I believe the current price for US citizens is $20 US or 15 euro -- they will accept either but they want exact change.

 

Be advised that the ship may hold your passports upon boarding. Any passport review will occur at the port where you enter the EU, and will probably not involve you as a passenger. The ships generally keep the passports in case they need to be reviewed and/or stamped.

 

Assuming your last stop before Barcelona is in the EU, you won't have any official red tape to go through when you disembark. Since the ship is already in port, you should be able to leave early in the a.m., as long as the ship has someone on duty to scan your card, etc. I've departed ships in the really wee hours occasionally. Walking through the deserted port of Piraeus at 3:00 am with absolutely no one around springs to mind; I felt like a deserter slinking off the ship in the middle of the night!

 

You just need to confirm your timing with the ship.

[Randyk47]

Because you're starting out from Istanbul, you will need to get a visa at the airport. It's just a matter of paying for the visa sticker (no form, no hassle). This is done at a window just to the left of the lines for passport control, and you must purchase the sticker before getting into the passport line. I believe the current price for US citizens is $20 US or 15 euro -- they will accept either but they want exact change.

 

Be advised that the ship may hold your passports upon boarding. Any passport review will occur at the port where you enter the EU, and will probably not involve you as a passenger. The ships generally keep the passports in case they need to be reviewed and/or stamped.

 

Assuming your last stop before Barcelona is in the EU, you won't have any official red tape to go through when you disembark. Since the ship is already in port, you should be able to leave early in the a.m., as long as the ship has someone on duty to scan your card, etc. I've departed ships in the really wee hours occasionally. Walking through the deserted port of Piraeus at 3:00 am with absolutely no one around springs to mind; I felt like a deserter slinking off the ship in the middle of the night!

 

You just need to confirm your timing with the ship.

 

Interesting you should mention Piraeus. After we got home from our cruise we looked through our passports and the only evidence of any official review of our passports was a stamp from Greek immigration in Piraeus. That doesn't mean our passports, which were indeed held by the ship for the whole cruise, weren't examined at other ports it's was just the only stamp other than our Turkish visa at the end of the cruise.

[bcnvcanada]

The ship will most likely keep you passport upon departure, and when you arrived in EU are someone will run your passport, off times the officials come on board and spend a couple of day running passports thru a scanner, other times it is done while in an EU port. On T/A yu some times have to do a face to face, in the med, we have never had to do. When the ship docks in Barta, and they are cleared, you will be able to walk off. There are always many taxi in cue at the port, even though there may be many cruise ships in port.

[mlkitt3]

Thank you for the information makes me feel comfortable about the cruise and what to expect.

Cheers. ;)