Cruise Trip Reports
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| Departure Date | Countries Entered | Cruise Line | Trip Details | Would you recommend this itinerary to others? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-28 | France Italy Monaco Spain Vatican City (Holy See) | Viking River Cruises | Took Viking's Iconic Western Mediterranean from Barcelona, Spain, to Rome, Italy, with stops in Palamós (Spain), Marseille (France), Monaco, and Livorno (Italy). No registry related issues or questions anywhere in Europe. EES (EU Entry/Exit System, a new digital system to electronically register short-stay, non-EU nationals crossing the Schengen Area's external borders) had just launched at the Barcelona airport and I have a common name so there was a European issue that needed to be cleared but was unrelated to me or any charges I had. If you like cruising, it is a great option since there's no one under 18, the service is wonderful, and the ship is immaculate. Upon arrival at Dulles I was directed to secondary screening. The whole process took about 30 minutes with waiting and questions on itinerary, travel companions, and if all my registration information is up to date (this was the first time they'd asked that). No searching of bags or phone. | Yes |
| 2025-10-14 | France Germany Italy Malta | Norwegian Cruise Line | Booked a Mediterranean cruise (Italy, France, Greece, Malta) with NCL months in advance. Was notified within days of departure that I was flagged by security and could not board. I have traveled to Europe multiple times with no issues previously. This was to be my first cruise, however. Current PFR with conviction nearly 20 years ago. | No |
| 2023-10-19 | Italy | Carnival Cruise Line | Carnival had all information for over two years during family trip planning. Booked multiple cabins, Flew to Netherlands and connected to Italy with no problems. Spent a week in Italy with no issues. A few days before our cruise, the leader of the group received an email saying my cabin had been cancelled and refunded. We contacted Carnival and they refused to engage in discussion. | No |
| 2024-07-07 | Austria Germany Hungary | Viking Cruises | Danube River cruise. Departed Washington, DC to Frankfurt, Germany to Budapest, Hungary. Five-minute review of documentation at immigration in Frankfurt. No issues in Budapest. On the cruise, no incidents in Budapest, or Vienna and Krems, Austria. At Passau, Germany, was interviewed about our itinerary by three Passau police officers for about ten minutes. Told me it was "a random inspection", returned my passport and told me to have a nice trip. No issues in Regensburg, Germany or Prague where my wife and I stayed for a couple of nights. Returning to the US, secondary screening searched my phone, probably because luggage wasn't available for inspection because of a delay in offloading the plane. | Yes |
| 2025-02-02 | Belize Mexico The Bahamas | MSC Cruises | Disembarked at every port without a hitch using only the cruise card and a REAL ID driver's license for identification. Upon return to Florida, there was no in-person immigration check, a quick snap of a photo, and out the terminal. | Yes |
| 2024-03-29 | Aruba The Bahamas Turks and Caicos Islands | Holland America Line | Sailed on Holland America Rotterdam. Held for two hours on arrival at the port in Fort Lauderdale, luggage and phone searched. | Yes |
| 2025-01-01 | United States | Royal Caribbean International | Royal Caribbean is categorically denying anyone with a conviction. I cruised with them in 2016 and after a review was able to cruise. I reached out in advance to see if could return and this is what they sent. "Regarding your inquiry, as part of our current healthy return to service protocols, we have enhanced our security screening processes and updated our company policy regarding guests convicted of sexual offenses. Royal Caribbean Group will not allow any guest who has been convicted of a sexual crime and/or is/was on the national sex offender registry to sail on any of our ships or brands." | No |
| 2022-06-04 | Spain | Regent Seven Seas Cruises | We visited ports in Spain, Morocco (I did not get off the ship in Morocco) and Portugal. While Regent initially seems much more expensive, everything except for a very few shore excursions, gambling and massage treatments is included. Soft drinks, beer, wine, alcohol, shore excursions, business class air outside the US, coach air in the US, upscale restaurants, all tips, airport transfers, hotel the night before the cruise, unlimited wifi, fresh flowers and fruit in the cabin, everything is included. Passengers are older, seldom any children aboard so we are welcome. Cabins are spacious with a great bed, walk in closet, tub and seperate full-size shower and balcony. The ships range from 400 to 750 passengers. The food is really excellent, even better than on Oceana. There are no art sales, no photos taken to try to sell to you. The staff is the best of any of the 6 cruise lines we have traveled. We have been on 10 Regent cruises, and we highly, highly recommend them. When you consider all of the extra costs (drinks, wifi, tips, shore excursions, transfers, air fare, etc.) that mainline cruises charge you for, Regent is pretty close to the same price for a true luxury experience. This particular cruise visited a variety of ports in Spain and Portugal, with one stop in Morocco. Morocco does not allow us to enter, so I stayed on the ship. My wife went on a tour and said that no one was checking passports or identification, but I didn't want to take any chances. Entering Spain was no problem, although I understand that most of the European Union has instituted some new paperwork hoops for us to jump through. Arrival at Chicago was typical. I was taken into a smaller room and had to hand over my electronics. After 30 minutes or so, I was released, but our paperwork was marked requiring that our bags be searched. Then we were allowed to exit. | Yes |
| 2019-02-24 | Aruba The Bahamas Curaçao Netherlands Antilles Turks and Caicos Islands | Holland America Line | 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Koningsdam | Yes |
| 2023-10-08 | United States | Celebrity Cruises | We booked a cruise on Celebrity that left Los Angeles and stopped at several California cities with one stop in Mexico. We figured we would not get off in Mexico. We received an email from Celebrity one week prior to the cruise wanting my husband to call them. They said the are owned by Royal Caribbean and their rules are that nobody with such a conviction is allowed to travel. Mind you, my husband received deferred adjudication, so it must be that being on the registry triggered their denial. We thought it would be a good cruise being that it left US and returned to the US with only one stop in Mexico. The only good thing is that they did give us a refund for the cruise. | No |
| 2024-10-27 | Cayman Islands Columbia | Holland America Line | Denied entry to Cartegena, Columbia. Border police conducted interview on ship. They had a printout from USA of my picture and conviction information. I was denied entry based upon these documents from USA. Georgetown, Cayman Islands border police requested an interview upon the arrival of the ship. However, the ship did not stop at Cayman Islands due to heavy seas and wind. Probably would have denied entry. Was denied entry on a similar cruise in 2025. Holland America was nonjudgmental about my issues with the Border police at these ports. | Maybe |
| 2019-11-24 | Aruba Curaçao | Holland America Line | The 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise to Aruba, Curacao and Half Moon Cay was uneventful. | Yes |