Cherbourg (in)formalities experience

[John_Silver]

Thought it may be useful to share experience of entering France via Cherbourg:

Completed preavis form pre departure on Saturday. Blistering broad reach over from Chi yesterday. Phoned Police Aux Frontieres this morning. Invited over to their office ( turn left v right as approach Carrefour - Google maps is your friend). Passport stamped. No questions. No Covid certs required, although did proffer one. On my way in five minutes, after a pleasant chat with the duty officer.

 

[benjenbav]

Thought it may be useful to share experience of entering France via Cherbourg:

Completed preavis form pre departure on Saturday. Blistering broad reach over from Chi yesterday. Phoned Police Aux Frontieres this morning. Invited over to their office ( turn left v right as approach Carrefour - Google maps is your friend). Passport stamped. No questions. No Covid certs required, although did proffer one. On my way in five minutes, after a pleasant chat with the duty officer.

Sounds like a mild inconvenience to the honest and unlikely to be effective against the dishonest.

 

[ashtead]

I wonder if the same helpful attitude will apply though after a whole summer of visitors? It would seem far simpler to delegate the paper stamping to the staff of the marina unless the check in machines are arriving this summer.

 

[Stemar]

I wonder if the same helpful attitude will apply though after a whole summer of visitors? It would seem far simpler to delegate the paper stamping to the staff of the marina unless the check in machines are arriving this summer.

I'm sure that will come. Better yet would be a gizmo that reads your passport and prints out a sticker. Or says "An error has occurred, Report to the Immigration office immediately."

 

[Aardee]

Does anyone know if you need to check out and back in if you leave Cherbourg, stop overnight in Guernsey then into St Malo?

 

[ashtead]

I had a helpful email today from Hamon magili at cherbourg marina with a copy of form etc -I guess as we are on his mailing list . Maybe he should post on this forum.

 

[ashtead]

Does anyone know if you need to check out and back in if you leave Cherbourg, stop overnight in Guernsey then into St Malo?

My impression is if you want to allow time to continue to run in France it makes no difference .clearly if days in eu per year are in short supply getting an Irish passport might be a solution.

 

[newtothis]

.clearly if days in eu per year are in short supply getting an Irish passport might be a solution.

That does rather depend on one's genealogy. It requires at least one grandparent to have had the good sense to be born in Ireland, I think.

 

[DJE]

Does anyone know if you need to check out and back in if you leave Cherbourg, stop overnight in Guernsey then into St Malo?

Sounds like if you didn't you would have left France without clearing out and re-entered France without clearing in. Wonder if they'd turn a blind eye.

 

[ashtead]

I guess many travelling to st Malo might have a change of plans though due to weather,fuel, crew, gear issues, wind changes etc though which they might not predict when leaving cherbourg .

 

[ithet]

I had a helpful email today from Hamon magili at cherbourg marina with a copy of form etc -I guess as we are on his mailing list . Maybe he should post on this forum.

Here is text of email, and the attached form. Other attachment was a flyer which I have added as screenshot below as the pdf was too large for forum:

Hello, We hope that you are enjoying a nice start of the sailing season. As we are getting many enquiries from British sailors after Brexit, I thought it would be worth informing you about the easy procedure to enter France. I have therefore attached a flyer explaining the procedure, as well as the form that you need to complete before your arrival in Cherbourg. I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that Port Chantereyne will host the Drheam Cup race from the 13th to the 17th July 2022, which means that most visitors' berths will be used for the purpose of this event. We therefore very much encourage you to plan your cruise accordingly and to organise your stopover in Cherbourg anytime outside these dates. Port Chantereyne team looks forward to welcoming you again ! Best wishes and enjoy a sunny day,

L'équipe de Port Chantereyne Port Chantereyne Bureau du port de plaisance 50100 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin Standard : 02 33 87 65 70 www.portchantereyne.fr ≥ New reception opening time from the 15th of April to the 30th of September : 8am - 11pm

 

[ithet]

 

[wizard]

I had the same email yesterday. They are obviously keen to have us come and visit again, business is business after all.

 

[doug748]

I have not followed this thread very closely so apologies if this has already been posted:

UK cruisers can now enter France through any port - Yachting Monthly

Full marks to the Cruising Association (and, it seems, zero points to the RYA)

.

 

[DFL1010]

I have not followed this thread very closely so apologies if this has already been posted:

UK cruisers can now enter France through any port - Yachting Monthly

Full marks to the Cruising Association (and, it seems, zero points to the RYA)

.

Not trying to be argumentative, but is this still the case? May 2021 is a long time ago in this field unfortunately.

p.s. that dig at the end is a little unnecessary, no?

 

[doug748]

Perhaps a CA member could investigate and let us know? The information is still live and a French form available on their website.

 

[riverteign]

I asked the PAF at Cherbourg about this 2 weeks ago and it isn't the case. The passport needs to be stamped by the PAF at a port of entry. You could travel by land to a port of entry to get it stamped before leaving from another port and if there is a large group at, for example, St Vaast, they may travel to you if it is pre-arranged.

 

[Fizzing]

Thought it may be useful to share experience of entering France via Cherbourg:

Completed preavis form pre departure on Saturday. Blistering broad reach over from Chi yesterday. Phoned Police Aux Frontieres this morning. Invited over to their office ( turn left v right as approach Carrefour - Google maps is your friend). Passport stamped. No questions. No Covid certs required, although did proffer one. On my way in five minutes, after a pleasant chat with the duty officer.

Very helpful information..one question: On the preavis form an "Address (town)" is requested for for each crew member. Is this the town of birth as per passport or town of residence?

 

[John_Silver]

Very helpful information..one question: On the preavis form an "Address (town)" is requested for for each crew member. Is this the town of birth as per passport or town of residence?

I used place of birth , as per passport. I did ask the duty officer about whether that was correct. She shrugged and said (words to the effect) “just UK will do.”
All in all the PAF were very relaxed. My impression was that, if you were making an effort to comply, they were happy.

 

[TiggerToo]

As a lover of all things bureaucratic, this thread fills me with joy (not).

Ach! for the days when you could freely sail in and sail out...

[For those who REALLY love all of this, I hope you will not be hankering for the introduction of similar shenanigans when we sail between Devon and Cornwall]

Nonetheless, thanks for everyone who contributed. It is really useful to know what works.