Passport empty pages

[papaflamingo]

Ok...ok... I know... this has been discussed before, but I have a more specific question and don't actually feel like weeding through months of posts to see if it's been answered.  

We are going from Athens to Rome in Oct. and make stops in Israel and Egypt in addition to Greece, Italy, and Cyprus.  Does anyone know if any of these countries stamp the passport?

Additionally we will be doing Hong Kong to Tokyo next Feb.  The cruise stops in Taiwan, Shanghai, and Busan besides Hong Kong and Japanese ports. Anyone know if any of these ports will stamp passports? 

My wife is "freaking out" due to the email that everyone seemed to have received about having enough empty passport pages.  We currently have 12 empty pages and my theory is that will be plenty.  Any first hand knowledge? 

Thanks. Again I apologize for starting a new thread. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by papaflamingo

[Guerncruising]

Can’t answer fully but on our Southampton to Southampton cruise at the end of May Regent collected up all of our passports. No customs officials for us in France or Spain until the second day in Spain when we had a face to face with customs officials and our passports returned stamped!

Seemed a very odd procedure not to have a face to face on the first day in Spain.

 I expect that some of the changes in Europe are as a result of Brexit. Who knows?

[Scout16]

For Japan the stamped the passport every time you entered and left the country.  If you go to Busan after being in Japan you will have your passport stamped and then when you return to Japan you will have it stamped again followed by a stamp when you finally leave Japan.

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, Scout16 said:

For Japan the stamped the passport every time you entered and left the country.  If you go to Busan after being in Japan you will have your passport stamped and then when you return to Japan you will have it stamped again followed by a stamp when you finally leave Japan.

What about if you stop in one Japanese port then another the next day?  Will they stamp both ports?  And will they stamp on the same page or do you need a blank page for each entry and exit?

Edited July 9, 2023 by papaflamingo

[jeb_bud]

Some agents seem to look for the first available page to stamp and others just put the stamp wherever is convenient for them. 
 

On our Athens to Istanbul cruise in May we got stamped in Frankfurt(our first stop in the EU), Greece mid-cruise after a Turkey stop and in Istanbul as we disembarked. We had to surrender our passports while on the cruise for the first time in four Regent cruises. 

[RetiredandTravel]

The Japan stamp takes up 1/2 page, many EU countries 1/4.  Be careful of countries that you need a visa, they can take up a lot of space.  I'm sure you know this but when you order your passport you can order a larger one (more pages).

 

We only got stamped twice in Japan, arriving from US & Korea.   We went to many Japanese ports.

Edited July 9, 2023 by RetiredandTravel

[PaulMCO]

You definitely have enough. 

 

Rome Athens -- entering and leaving the EU on same page

Israel -- no (they give you a paper)

Egypt - yes one page

Japan -- entering, leaving , entering and leaving (2 pages max)

Korea 1page

Taiwan 1 page

China 2 pages -- One for a visa.  Has Regent informed you how Visas will be handled??  Will they do a cruise transit visa as in pre COVID or do you need a normal embassy visa. Something to think about or plan for.

Hong Kong  1 page entering and leaving

 

These are maximums, many times in the EU, they will use an old page with multiple stamps

Edited July 9, 2023 by PaulMCO

[papaflamingo]

15 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

You definitely have enough. 

 

Rome Athens -- entering and leaving the EU on same page

Israel -- no (they give you a paper)

Egypt - yes one page

Japan -- entering, leaving , entering and leaving (2 pages max)

Korea 1page

Taiwan 1 page

China 2 pages -- One for a visa.  Has Regent informed you how Visas will be handled??  Will they do a cruise transit visa as in pre COVID or do you need a normal embassy visa. Something to think about or plan for.

Hong Kong  1 page entering and leaving

 

These are maximums, many times in the EU, they will use an old page with multiple stamps

According to my booking, Regent will handle the visas for China.  I expect I could save money doing it myself, but in the grand scheme of things it'll be easier to let them do it. 

[Gilly]

The one thing about Japanese Immigration officials is that they squeeze their entry/exit stamps tightly into the corner/space available, unlike others (grr!) who stamp bang slap in the middle of an empty page!!

[papaflamingo]

3 hours ago, Gilly said:

The one thing about Japanese Immigration officials is that they squeeze their entry/exit stamps tightly into the corner/space available, unlike others (grr!) who stamp bang slap in the middle of an empty page!!

Very good to know.  Thanks! 

[PaulMCO]

21 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

According to my booking, Regent will handle the visas for China.  I expect I could save money doing it myself, but in the grand scheme of things it'll be easier to let them do it. 

I would inquire as to what that means -- we are on the Tokyo to Tokyo in March 24.  Regent added $399 to do the China Visa. That type of Visa requires you to do the work, using their VISA service VisaCentral.   We already have a 10 year Visa so we had that charge removed...

 

For those unfamiliar with their visa service --

 

https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=rssc

[papaflamingo]

16 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

I would inquire as to what that means -- we are on the Tokyo to Tokyo in March 24.  Regent added $399 to do the China Visa. That type of Visa requires you to do the work, using their VISA service VisaCentral.   We already have a 10 year Visa so we had that charge removed...

 

For those unfamiliar with their visa service --

 

https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=rssc

Thanks.  I'll check.  They also added $399 to our booking for China visas (multiple it says).  When I went on line I could get visas for less, but not absolutely sure it would be the correct visa so I figure I'd just let Regent handle it.  That's my theory anyway. 😎