The passport is the best way to go for identification especially in an emergency or if there is any sort of problem in a foreign port.

Hi Folks. I have been very busy for the past while and only mangaed to get into here a few times in the past several months so I am just trying to catch up on things. Whew, what a pack of posts.

As mentioned last year, we are booked on the Paradise for back to back Eastern and Western Carribean starting on the 21st of July for our 25th anniversary. It has been a long wait but I'm sure it will be well worth it. My tuxes are both ready to get a work out, did I mention that they have expandable waists on the pants. Could come in handy.

Thisisgreattobebackhere!

I e-mailed the big guys in Ottawa asking them to clarify what documents are needed by US visitors to Canada, but to date have not heard back from them - sounds familiar, doesn't it! When I do received a reply, I will post it here.

Congratulations on your 25th Anniversary. Have a wonderful cruise. We also celebrated our 25th anniversary by taking our first cruise on HAL, naturally. That was in 1981 - long time ago!

[ 05-21-2002: Message edited by: sympatico ]

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Originally posted by sympatico:
Welcome back CTrail. We've missed you. Are you enjoying our nice summer weather?

I e-mailed the big guys in Ottawa asking them to clarify what documents are needed by US visitors to Canada, but to date have not heard back from them........
[ 05-21-2002: Message edited by: sympatico ]

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Same as before - Birth Certificate and photo ID - Passports not rquired

CTrail:
Congratulations! 1977 was a good year! - we too are celebrating our 25th - too bad HAL's Statendam no longer goes to Bermuda - have to think of something else!

Enjoy your Paradise cruise - forget the expanded waistline!

Happy cruisin'

[ 05-21-2002: Message edited by: Green ]

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Originally posted by sympatico:
I know you are not travelling with HAL, but their brochure states "Having a vailid passport with you when travelling to a foreign coutry is always advisable.

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Is it not compulsory???

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Originally posted by gohaze:
Malcolm...that's because the UK hasn't signed the Schengen Agreement.
...peter

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[ 05-22-2002: Message edited by: gohaze ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Peter, have you made that up or is my education lacking?

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Nope, he hasn't made it up... He explains above, but I just wanted you to know that it is indeed real ... The UK seems to want it both ways, to be an EU member, but not to be sucked in to things like the Scehngen, or the Euro currency, for example. Personally, I think the EU is a large group of people who stand around talking at each other in foreign languages and coming up with nonsense regulations...

My local paper has a section of quotes made the day before... One of them was by one of the late-night TV folks, that said something to the effect of, "The EU have come up with their toughest statements on the Middle East yet. They have enacted new regulations stating that all dates must be of equal quality, and within one centimeter of each other in size..." But I don't know, this is just the impression I get. If I were a European, I think I would have a better understanding of the EU and how it works...

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Originally posted by gohaze:
Malcolm...the Agreement came into effect back in '95...

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Ahhh...thanks peter, you are a cornucopia of infomation.

Us Brits are not very good Europeans! We really do not want to loose our sovereignty. Can you imagine the USA giving up the Dollar - even if it did make good economic sense.

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Originally posted by gohaze:
Malcolm...before we leave the subject I'd just like to mention that we have EC Passports as well. We use either depending on where we are - it's easy waving that red one around Europe - and we've recovered the extra cost by saving on Visa charges, some of which can be pretty exorbitant.
...peter

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You mean that you have Canadian and EC passports? Are British passports EC passports, or are they not, because of the Schengen?

I know this isn't exactly a cruising topic, but I for one find it very interesting.

All EU-countries except UK and Ireland has signed the Schengen Agreement. Even Norway and Iceland has signed the Agreement despite they are not members in EU, this is due to the fact that even before this agreement you could travel between the Nordic countries without a passport.

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Originally posted by gohaze:
NY...we have Canadian and British EC passports. What Schengen means is that once you enter one of those countries you don't have border controls to go to another Schengen country, but you do to another EC country like the UK. The Scandinavian countries have something similar between them.
...peter

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Originally posted by Green:
I also have two passports, Canadian and European Community United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland passport - sailed from New York to Lisbon on my Canadian doc. and then flew Lisbon to London on my EC - no Customs, walked right through. All legal!

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OK, I am now thorougly confused...

If a UK passport is an EC passport, so that you can travel with it between the UK and other EC countries without customs, what makes this different from travelling between Shcengen countries?

And how can Norway and Iceland be a part of the Schengen agreement, without being part of EU? Does this mean that if they so desired (the government doesn't, the business do) Switzerland could be part of the agreement without joining the EU? Could the US, or Canada, be a part of the Schengen agreement too (I know we wouldn't want to, but maybe the Canadians would)...

I find it wierd how all these international governing bodies overlap... EU, NATO, UN, CIS, British Commonwealth, NAFTA, etc...

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

OK, I am now thorougly confused...

If a UK passport is an EC passport, so that you can travel with it between the UK and other EC countries without customs

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You can't. There are customs. Separate channels and areas for passengers returning from the EU and those returning from outside the EU.

We not have to pay any tax or duty in the UK on goods bought duty paid in other EU countries for our *own* use. So the presence of any official looking customs area at the point of arrival is minmal, but they are there watching.

There are guidelines for the amounts of alcohol and tobacco which are regarded as reasonable for personal use. Anythng over this will be questioned. You can't bring in back to sell on to friends etc.

So yes, there are customs, but can quite easily see why Green didn't think there were.

Oh. So a UK passport is NOT an EU passport. This means that Green and Gohaze are mistaken? They don't have them after all?

I do now remember on my last trip I was seated next to a French couple and their passports said "Republique Francaise/Communique European" or something like that...

When entering the UK we always look to see which is the shortest line EU or outside EU as we can use either.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:
Hello,

Oh. So a UK passport is NOT an EU passport. This means that Green and Gohaze are mistaken? They don't have them after all?

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Yes it is, and no they're not It gets confusing.

Travellers within the Schengen Member States can move between them without customs or passports checks. As we are not members we still have to wave our passports in the right places, but really in practice this is no more than a quick glance at the photo and sometimes not even that.

There are still our customs limits as explained above. In practice unless you have a van full of cigarettes and booze obviously more than you could possibly use yourself, you won't be asked any questions.

But our passports are still EU. Iceland and Norway are associate members so they can maintain the Nordic Passport Union with Sw, Dmk & Finland.

Well, I'm no expert either..prbably more confused.

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Originally posted by gohaze:

When entering the UK we always look to see which is the shortest line EU or outside EU as we can use either.

On the subject of Customs as mentioned by Pam, we flew into one of the Regional airports in the UK from Schiphol one trip and there was no Immigration check and whilest waiting for the bags I happened see the notice on the door to Customs -"If you have anything to declare please send a postcard"
...peter

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That's the best way to explain it! I have friends who have both US & UK passports. Just as useful.

That's one reason we didn't sign Schengen. We have to rely on others carrying out the external immigration and checks. We reserve the right of being able to do our own if wished. If you had had anything to declare that would have been dealt with at AMS, once in the EU you're free to travel. You can't carry many bottles of whiskey on a flight.