Getting your UK passport stamped when departing the EU ports

[John117]

This is primarily a question for the Brits out there. When we left the EU the rules on free travel across borders changed. Now anyone with a UK passport can only spend 90 days in each 180 day period in the EU. The recommended way of proving you have complied with this is to ensure you have your passport stamped when you depart from the EU. This is easy to achieve if you fly in and out of an EU airport but if you enter the EU to embark a cruise ship and return to the UK by ship it is not so easy and presumably the clock on your 90 days keeps running?

 

I have contacted my TA who contacted Regent who are looking into it! I also contacted Regent direct and all they could offer was to keep a hold of the disembarkation letter from the purser on the ship as proof you left the ship. I am not sure how this would work at the passport check point in an EU airport?

 

I am sure there have been quite a few cruises where this has cropped up so I wondered if any of you can advise how the problem was overcome.

 

I depart on Splendor on 26th July Copenhagen to Southampton so this will be the first test for us. I will speak to the Purser on board to see if he has any ideas.

 

[sxphil]

Your passport never leaves the ship its all done on a group basis when the ship arrives and departs

NO Stamp required 

[John117]

15 minutes ago, sxphil said:

Your passport never leaves the ship its all done on a group basis when the ship arrives and departs

NO Stamp required 

Yes and that's the point. When I arrive at Copenhagen airport my passport will be stamped as entering the EU but it will not be stamped again to say that I have left.

[beaujolais]

23 minutes ago, John117 said:

This is primarily a question for the Brits out there. When we left the EU the rules on free travel across borders changed. Now anyone with a UK passport can only spend 90 days in each 180 day period in the EU. The recommended way of proving you have complied with this is to ensure you have your passport stamped when you depart from the EU. This is easy to achieve if you fly in and out of an EU airport but if you enter the EU to embark a cruise ship and return to the UK by ship it is not so easy and presumably the clock on your 90 days keeps running?

 

I have contacted my TA who contacted Regent who are looking into it! I also contacted Regent direct and all they could offer was to keep a hold of the disembarkation letter from the purser on the ship as proof you left the ship. I am not sure how this would work at the passport check point in an EU airport?

 

I am sure there have been quite a few cruises where this has cropped up so I wondered if any of you can advise how the problem was overcome.

 

I depart on Splendor on 26th July Copenhagen to Southampton so this will be the first test for us. I will speak to the Purser on board to see if he has any ideas.

 

 

Hi John

We cruised from Venice to Southampton in April/May 2022 and I have just checked my UK passport and I have  an immigration stamp from the authorities in Le Havre which was the last European port before Southampton

Regent had kept our passports do it looks as if the authorities come onboard and stamp your passports at the last port before the UK

[John117]

1 minute ago, beaujolais said:

 

Hi John

We cruised from Venice to Southampton in April/May 2022 and I have just checked my UK passport and I have  an immigration stamp from the authorities in Le Havre which was the last European port before Southampton

Regent had kept our passports do it looks as if the authorities come onboard and stamp your passports at the last port before the UK

Thanks for that. That process would make sense but on our cruise it is a bit more complicated as we leave Norway and go to Scotland, followed by Southern Ireland and then back to the UK again. Perhaps they will do that twice?

[sxphil]

4 minutes ago, John117 said:

Yes and that's the point. When I arrive at Copenhagen airport my passport will be stamped as entering the EU but it will not be stamped again to say that I have left.

I see your point, I had assumed you would depart from Copenhagen and get a stamp as you left

 

Perhaps someone else has an idea

[beaujolais]

5 minutes ago, John117 said:

Thanks for that. That process would make sense but on our cruise it is a bit more complicated as we leave Norway and go to Scotland, followed by Southern Ireland and then back to the UK again. Perhaps they will do that twice?

 

Southern Ireland is special

We have just returned from a SS cruise that visited Dublin Iceland and various UK ports

As Ireland is a special case for UK residents no stamps needed but we did have them for the visit to Iceland

 

[swansong]

5 hours ago, John117 said:

This is primarily a question for the Brits out there. When we left the EU the rules on free travel across borders changed. Now anyone with a UK passport can only spend 90 days in each 180 day period in the EU. The recommended way of proving you have complied with this is to ensure you have your passport stamped when you depart from the EU. This is easy to achieve if you fly in and out of an EU airport but if you enter the EU to embark a cruise ship and return to the UK by ship it is not so easy and presumably the clock on your 90 days keeps running?

 

I have contacted my TA who contacted Regent who are looking into it! I also contacted Regent direct and all they could offer was to keep a hold of the disembarkation letter from the purser on the ship as proof you left the ship. I am not sure how this would work at the passport check point in an EU airport?

 

I am sure there have been quite a few cruises where this has cropped up so I wondered if any of you can advise how the problem was overcome.

 

I depart on Splendor on 26th July Copenhagen to Southampton so this will be the first test for us. I will speak to the Purser on board to see if he has any ideas.

 

A couple of years ago we had a problem. Sailed from Barcelona to Southampton. Before we sailed I emailed Regent to ask whether our passports would get an exit stamp when we left the EU. They said yes. It didn’t happen. When we arrived in Southampton we asked Border Force to show we had re entered the UK but they wouldn’t. Last year when departing from Malta we had an issue where passport control picked up on the fact that we hadn’t apparently left the EU the previous year. Fortunately I had the

presence of mind to bring the cruise documentation from the previous cruise to prove we had returned to the UK. It was a little embarrassing as we held up the queue for some considerable time. We still carry those documents and also keep our airline boarding passes when we go and leave the EU just in case.

[Snore42]

Wouldn't the customs agent have seen when your passport was scanned in the UK?  All passports are scanned these days and a record comes up in the system of all places it's logged, regardless of physical stamp they give you in the passport.  

[welshfamily]

We wondered about this issue last year. 

Left from Barcelona flew back from Rome into Uk. Stamped as returning at airport. 

No issue when flying out to Tenerife at Easter.

However when disembarking at Southampton year before no sign of customs just left ship and collected car

Will now make sure last years cruise Documents are on Phone now just in case.

Please let us know how you get on

[swansong]

15 hours ago, Snore42 said:

Wouldn't the customs agent have seen when your passport was scanned in the UK?  All passports are scanned these days and a record comes up in the system of all places it's logged, regardless of physical stamp they give you in the passport.  

Our passports weren’t scanned, UK BorderForce came on board and just looked at our passports. I asked for an entry stamp but they wouldn’t give me one.

[Gilly]

Most of our EU stamps show in and out, but there's one "out" that's missing - not cruise related.  That single missing "out" stamp renders all the others useless, since there's no record of how many days we spent in the EU during that year (2022).  Has anyone asked?  Does anyone seem bothered?  No.  So neither am I!!  (Until something happens that changes that mindset 😉 )