UK cruise documents for US and Canadian citizens: passport, UK ETA and Europe

For a cruise from Dover, Tilbury or Greenwich, a US or Canadian citizen needs two things before flying in: a passport with plenty of time left on it and a UK ETA. Europe's new travel authorization, ETIAS, is not needed yet. Each rule below comes from the government that sets it or from the cruise line's own page, as we read them on November 9, 2026.

What documents do you need for a cruise from London?

Document	Who needs it	What the source says
Passport	Everyone	Valid six months beyond the end of your trip, on the four cruise lines' pages below
UK ETA	US and Canadian citizens without a British or Irish passport	£20 on gov.uk on November 9, 2026, lasts two years or until the passport expires
ETIAS for Europe	Nobody yet	Not in operation on November 9, 2026, the EU says
Visa for Ireland	Not US or Canadian citizens	US citizens are not visa required for up to 90 days, Ireland's consulate says, and Canada is on Ireland's non-visa list

Your line may ask for more, such as visas for a port outside Europe. Its booking documents list them.

How long does your passport need to be valid?

Plan on six months past the last day of your trip. That is the cruise lines' figure, and it is stricter than either government's.

• The UK. Gov.uk says visitors from outside the EU must have a valid passport, and that it should be valid for the whole of the stay.
• The Schengen area. The EU's Your Europe site says a non-EU visitor's passport should be valid for at least 3 months after the date you intend to leave and must have been issued within the last 10 years.
• The cruise lines. All four lines we checked set six months beyond the end of the trip, as a requirement or a strong recommendation.

Line	What its own page says
Viking	Its page for Into the Midnight Sun, which sails between Greenwich and Bergen, says the passport must be valid for 6 months beyond your planned trip dates. Its FAQ says the expiration date should be at least six months after your return date.
Holland America	For voyages that end outside the US, a passport valid for six months beyond the completion of your travel is required.
Carnival	For Europe and transatlantic cruises, US citizens must carry a passport book valid for at least six months beyond the end of travel. Its page for Canadian citizens sets the same six months for Europe cruises.
Seabourn	Highly recommends a passport valid for at least six months beyond the completion date of your travel.

Seabourn adds that passports are normally held by the pursers on board to clear the ship in port. Azamara and Regent also sail from Dover; read their own documents pages for their rules.

Do you need a UK ETA for a cruise from London?

Yes. Gov.uk says you usually need an ETA rather than a visa if you are from the USA or Canada, and the Home Office's caseworker guidance says the requirement applies to all routes and modes of entry into the UK. You need it to enter the UK when you fly in for the cruise, whichever of the three ports you sail from.

• Cost. £20 on gov.uk on November 9, 2026, with no refund once you apply.
• How long it lasts. Two years, or until your passport expires if that is sooner. You can travel to the UK as many times as you want while it is valid, and each visit can last up to 6 months.
• Who in your party. Each person needs their own, babies and children included. You can apply for other people.
• Dual citizens. If you are also a British or Irish citizen, gov.uk says you cannot get an ETA, and you can prove your citizenship with a valid British or Irish passport instead.
• At the terminal. Holland America says it will ask for your UK ETA confirmation or visa at check-in, and guests without valid UK entry documents may be denied boarding without a refund. Viking's Into the Midnight Sun page also says US and Canadian citizens need an ETA for the UK.

One ETA covers the whole cruise, including British Isles itineraries that return to UK ports. Belfast, for example, is on 59 sailings in our schedule.

How do you apply for a UK ETA?

On gov.uk or in the UK ETA app, which gov.uk links from its ETA page. Gov.uk warns that other websites may charge more and that you cannot get a faster decision through another site or app.

1. Have the passport you will travel with, an email address and a credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
2. Apply in the app, which scans your passport and face with your phone's camera, or online with a photo of the passport and of your face.
3. Wait for the email. Gov.uk says you will usually get a decision within a day, but it can take up to 3 working days, and you must not travel until the email confirms you have an ETA.
4. Travel with that passport. The ETA is linked to the passport you applied with, and you only need to show the passport.

Do you need ETIAS for a cruise to Norway, the Baltic or the Mediterranean?

Not on November 9, 2026. The EU's official ETIAS site said that day that ETIAS is not in operation and that no applications are being collected. It also said the EU will announce the start date several months before launch. So a site that asks you to pay for ETIAS today is not the EU's.

When it starts, the EU says ETIAS will cover visa-exempt travelers, US and Canadian citizens among them, visiting 30 European countries. That list includes Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Iceland, which between them cover most of the ports on our Norway, Baltic and Mediterranean itineraries. The EU's site lists the fee as EUR 20.

Some cruise line pages lag behind. Holland America's and Carnival's pages still gave a projected start in the last quarter of 2026 when we read them, so go by the EU's own site.

The Entry/Exit System

The EU's Entry/Exit System, EES, is already running. It registers the entries and exits of non-EU nationals on a short stay at the external borders of the countries using it, Norway included, in place of passport stamps. The EU says it has been fully operational at all external border crossing points since April 10, 2026. A short stay means up to 90 days in any 180-day period, counted across all those countries together.

What about Ireland?

Ireland is on many British Isles itineraries, and Dublin alone is on 56 sailings in our schedule. Ireland's embassies say it is not party to the Schengen Agreement, and the EU says EU visa rules do not apply there, since Ireland sets its own. It is not on the ETIAS list either.

• US citizens. Ireland's consulate in San Francisco says US citizens are not visa required and may stay up to 90 days for tourism or business.
• Canadian citizens. Canada is in the non-visa required column of the Irish government's nationality list, as published by the Embassy of Ireland in Belgium and last updated May 12, 2025.
• On arrival. Ireland's embassies say every citizen of a country outside the European Economic Area goes through immigration control on entering Ireland, visa or not.
• The EES. The EU says passports are still stamped by hand in Ireland and Cyprus.

What about Norway?

Norway is not in the EU, but the EU lists it as one of four non-EU countries in the Schengen area, and Norway is on the EU's lists for ETIAS and the Entry/Exit System. Holland America's Norway cruises from Dover are round trips, so you come back to the UK. Viking's one-way trips that end in Bergen, 25 in our schedule, mean flying home from Norway, so that is where you leave the Schengen area.

Other ports on the itinerary

Gov.uk says the ETA also covers Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, and a few sailings in our schedule call at St Peter Port in Guernsey. Some sailings also call in Morocco or Gibraltar, and a few longer voyages in Greenland or the Faroe Islands. We have not covered those rules here. Your line's documents for the voyage list what each port needs, and Viking, Holland America, Carnival and Seabourn all say on their pages that the traveler is responsible for having the right documents.

This is general information

This guide sums up what gov.uk, the EU, the Irish government and four cruise lines published on November 9, 2026. Entry rules change, and your cruise line's documents for your booking are the final word. Check gov.uk and the EU's sites again before you travel.

For the rest of the planning, see flying to London for a cruise and the first-time cruiser FAQ.