Paperwork needed besides ETA for UK and US passport?

[swimfin]

Hello! Thankfully, in another thread, a poster alerted me to needing an ETA to enter the UK! If I am taking the transatlantic cruise starting in Southampton stopping in Spain and Portugal and I get off the ship, will I need any other paperwork? We are doing tours through DCL, so I know I’m covered there, but in Madeira I might do things in the town and don’t want to run into issues getting on and off the ship. Cheers!

 

[Mommb]

There is an additional form that will be needed for the Schengen Area countries in Europe (including Spain and Portugal), but it will not be needed for US citizens until sometime in late 2026.

Starting in October 2025, US citizens will have fingerprints and photos taken upon entry into Schengen Area countries, but that does not involve advance planning.

 

[Geomom]

When is the cruise? ETA needed for UK. ETIAS for Schengen zone of Europe keeps being delayed, currently set to start last quarter of 2026.

 

[swimfin]

When is the cruise? ETA needed for UK. ETIAS for Schengen zone of Europe keeps being delayed, currently set to start last quarter of 2026.

I’m sailing this Nov 2025

 

[swimfin]

There is an additional form that will be needed for the Schengen Area countries in Europe (including Spain and Portugal), but it will not be needed for US citizens until sometime in late 2026.

Starting in October 2025, US citizens will have fingerprints and photos taken upon entry into Schengen Area countries, but that does not involve advance planning.

THANK YOU!

 

[Girl of the South]

Wow! First I have heard of the fingerprint thing! Thanks for the heads up! I read that it will be phased in over 6 months in larger airports and ports. I doubt any of the port stops in this years TA will be equipped to do it.

Used to be very easy to go to Europe and stay many months. No one cared.

The ETIAS had been coming for a decade, hasn’t it?

 

[swimfin]

Wow! First I have heard of the fingerprint thing! Thanks for the heads up! I read that it will be phased in over 6 months in larger airports and ports. I doubt any of the port stops in this years TA will be equipped to do it.

Used to be very easy to go to Europe and stay many months. No one cared.

The ETIAS had been coming for a decade, hasn’t it?

This!! Travel was so much easier years ago! THANK YOU again for all of the information as I’m still “stuck” in the old days of travel!

 

[Girl of the South]

I would happily be stuck in the old days . . . . on so many levels. Oh dear, I have become my mother!

 

[greensombrero]

The ETA for the UK is pretty easy. I wonder if EITAS will ever actually come, I kind of hope not we got old fashioned stamps taking the Eurostar to Paris and a cool boat one when we left Barcelona on the Southampton repositioning cruise. The new electronic stuff means no passport stamps. I even asked when we arrived at the UK in case they will on request and was told no.

 

[Geomom]

The ETA for the UK is pretty easy. I wonder if EITAS will ever actually come, I kind of hope not we got old fashioned stamps taking the Eurostar to Paris and a cool boat one when we left Barcelona on the Southampton repositioning cruise. The new electronic stuff means no passport stamps. I even asked when we arrived at the UK in case they will on request and was told no.

I was actually surprised we didn't get any passport stamps in 2023--Southampton cruise with stops in Netherlands and Norway, flew nonstop from Boston to Heathrow. In 2018, we got passport stamps from Copenhagen by Air, and St Petersburg, Russia by sea... the only passport stamps I have. No one has stamped it since on cruises.

 

[Girl of the South]

Yeah, very hard to get stamps these days. I went to Australia a few years ago and no stamp there, either. Never even spoke to a human! All done electronically. Now I want to take the Eurostar just to get a stamp! Now I can't remember which year I went where . . . AND they were different shapes and sometimes different colored inks! Very sad . . . my last two stamps were in and out of different airports and they were the same graphic. Boo!

1984 - 1986
They never stamped in order - just wherever there was space . . . AND they weren't very neat were they?

 

[Lesverts]

Wow! First I have heard of the fingerprint thing! Thanks for the heads up! I read that it will be phased in over 6 months in larger airports and ports. I doubt any of the port stops in this years TA will be equipped to do it.

Used to be very easy to go to Europe and stay many months. No one cared.

The ETIAS had been coming for a decade, hasn’t it?

I believe the issue is getting the Electronic Entry/Exit system going. Once operational it will make customs as smooth as it is for Canada and the USA but until then.

 

[Girl of the South]

And VISAs! You used to have to mail your passport to a consulate to get a 'proper' visa in your passport. All I got from the UK for the ETA was an email. Boring!

 

[Lesverts]

And VISAs! You used to have to mail your passport to a consulate to get a 'proper' visa in your passport. All I got from the UK for the ETA was an email. Boring!

View attachment 1000258

Lots of places still require Visas. Though for me the only countries that require a application Visa that I would actually want to visit are Algeria and Ghana.