Transatlantic Cruises and Schengen

[Nado44]

On the Celebrity Apex Eastbound on 30 April 2022 with stops in the Azores, France, Belgium and the UK before arriving in Amsterdam (AMS) on 14 May.

 

Does anyone know if American passport holders will be "stamped" into Schengen in Ponta Delgada or AMS? In other words, does Day 1 of the 90-day Schengen visa begin in the Azores or in the Netherlands?

[JandCphil]

On the same cruise with you. Join our roll call page. Lots of great info there. 

[jacquesmm]

But what is the answer? We are thinking of the same type cruise.

[Heidi13]

Regardless of passport, if you are from outside the Schengen area, you enter the zone at the first port and depart when you last leave the zone.

 

Since the Azore are in the Schengen Zones, this will be your first entry and all days aboard the ship will count until departure Belgium, as UK is not in the zone. You will then re-enter in Amsterdam.

[Hlitner]

I understand that some folks care about things like Passport Stamps.  But in recent years we have found that it is hit/miss if a Passport is stamped.  In theory, when you enter Europe you should get stamped at the first Schengen port (airport) and after that it really depends.  When we enter through airports we always get a stamp.  On cruise ships it has varied.  

 

Funny related story.  Many decades ago we decided to take our first trip into China while we were vacationing in Hong Kong (which was then a British protectorate).  We took a high speed boat from Hong Kong to a Chinese city as a day trip.  In those days this could only be done as part of a authorized  (by China) tour.  When we finally reached Guanzhou our guide told us that if we wanted to get our Passports stamped we had to give a small bribe to the immigration guy.  We paid the small bribe to our guide who then paid the border guard and did get the stamp.  A few refused to pay the bribe and did not get a stamp :).  

 

A few years later (before the EU) we took our then 8 year old DD on a Eurorail trip through 4 Countries.  When we crossed from Germany into Holland an immigration walked through the train car glancing at Passports but he did not stamp.  DD asked him if she could have her Passport stamped and he told us he did not even have a stamp.  But he radioed one of his partners (checking other cars) who later came over to our seat and did stamp DD's Passport :).  

 

Hank

[Clay Clayton]

On 3/4/2022 at 6:54 PM, Heidi13 said:

Regardless of passport, if you are from outside the Schengen area, you enter the zone at the first port and depart when you last leave the zone.

 

Since the Azore are in the Schengen Zones, this will be your first entry and all days aboard the ship will count until departure Belgium, as UK is not in the zone. You will then re-enter in Amsterdam.

Andy

I agree with you but on our two long term stays in Europe after a Transatlantic we never went through any sort of Immigration before disembarkation.  Our transplant is included stops in Madeira, Cadiz, and Valencia and while we elected to start counting our Schengen  days in Madeira I don’t think we really needed to do so.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Andy

I agree with you but on our two long term stays in Europe after a Transatlantic we never went through any sort of Immigration before disembarkation.  Our transplant is included stops in Madeira, Cadiz, and Valencia and while we elected to start counting our Schengen  days in Madeira I don’t think we really needed to do so.

 

Clay - We had a similar experience, with no immigration onboard or ashore, except prior to the UK arrival. When visiting the Schengen Zone the ship required Judi's passport before the first port, as she only has a Canadian one. Since I use my UK passport in Europe, they didn't require mine.

 

Once they completed the formalities at the first Schengen port, she had her passport returned and not required again. Her passport wasn't stamped on arrival.

 

Even although they don't stamp the passports, we are still required to count the days in Schengen, to ensure we don't go over.

[hallasm]

@Heidi13 explanation is correct - First day in The Azores and all following days at the ship including sea days except day in the UK will count.

[Clay Clayton]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay - We had a similar experience, with no immigration onboard or ashore, except prior to the UK arrival. When visiting the Schengen Zone the ship required Judi's passport before the first port, as she only has a Canadian one. Since I use my UK passport in Europe, they didn't require mine.

 

Once they completed the formalities at the first Schengen port, she had her passport returned and not required again. Her passport wasn't stamped on arrival.

 

Even although they don't stamp the passports, we are still required to count the days in Schengen, to ensure we don't go over.

To my knowledge, unlike Judy, we never had to present our passports at any of the Schengen ports prior to disembarkation in Barcelona. As I noted, we elected to start counting with Madeira but unless Viking submitted their scan of our passport to immigration , I don’t believe there was a way for the authorities to have known we had entered Schengen. 

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

unless Viking submitted their scan of our passport to immigration , I don’t believe there was a way for the authorities to have known we had entered Schengen. 

All of your information is on the passenger manifest, which is submitted at each port, so the EU (Schengen) authorities get that information. 

[Clay Clayton]

2 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

All of your information is on the passenger manifest, which is submitted at each port, so the EU (Schengen) authorities get that information. 

Yes but do they enter it into any sort of system?  Anyway, it was for the very reason you state that we scheduled our return (after a month or so in Bulgaria to stop the clock) to be on day 88 after Madeira just in case. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[chengkp75]

5 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Yes but do they enter it into any sort of system?  Anyway, it was for the very reason you state that we scheduled our return (after a month or so in Bulgaria to stop the clock) to be on day 88 after Madeira just in case. 

As the Schengen treaty is incorporated into law of the EU, each EU member reports border crossings to the central authority.

[Nado44]

We were advised by a friend at the US State department to have the Azores considered as Day 1 even if passport stamping does not take place there. "Better to be safe than sorry" and "an overstayed visa never goes unnoticed" are direct quotes we received.

[chengkp75]

41 minutes ago, Nado44 said:

We were advised by a friend at the US State department to have the Azores considered as Day 1 even if passport stamping does not take place there. "Better to be safe than sorry" and "an overstayed visa never goes unnoticed" are direct quotes we received.

With today's electronic culture, passport stamping is going the way of buggy whips.

[hallasm]

20 hours ago, Nado44 said:

We were advised by a friend at the US State department to have the Azores considered as Day

There is no doubt - The Azores are part of the Schengen Zone - The day will count and so will days at sea after The Azores count.

[Pudgesmom]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:50 PM, chengkp75 said:

With today's electronic culture, passport stamping is going the way of buggy whips.

The good news about that is no worries about running out of pages!