Ukrainian citizens must have biometric passport to embark without visa

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 30

Review summary

Per the travel requirement provided by MSC Cruise (msc-booking@email.msccruisesusa.com), it reads like all Ukrainian citizens can visit the ports of call on this itinerary without Schengen visa and no stipulation about the specific type of passport required. As the wife (with US citizenship) to a Ukrainian husband, little did I know this only applies to biometric passport holders. I purchased the cruise as a surprise Christmas trip for my husband, who had never been on a cruise. After we left our bags at the front of the cruise terminal for check in, we were disappointed to find out at the embarkation desk that my husband wasn’t allowed to embark, so we couldn’t get on the boat. We were also traveling with my parents who are almost 80 years old. When I mentioned that they need someone to take care of them on the boat without us there, it would have been nice if someone would at least try to understand what will their needs be. Instead, everyone seems to look the other way when this was brought up and provided an option that my parents could give up the cruise and leave with us as well. One of the staffs suggested we visit the embassy the next business day to see if we could get a last minute visa, and rejoin the cruise from a different port. We took that suggestion, so I encouraged my parents to continue to go onboard, which they were very reluctant but did so in the end. We waited almost 2 hours to get our bags back out from the boat and left the cruise terminal without being able to experience the cruise, which I am sure would have been wonderful. As for the last-minute visa suggestion, no such thing exists, we just ended up spending precious time doing research, asking around, and visited different embassies to no avail.

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