Royal Caribbean warns of long EES waits before two transatlantics

Two Royal Caribbean transatlantic cruises come with a long wait in the terminal before you board. The reason in the guest email is the European Union’s Entry/Exit System.

Royal Caribbean Blog, Elizabeth Wright, updated 15 Oct 2026, prints the email. The site’s RSS feed timestamps that item at 10:40 a.m. Eastern the same day. No Royal Caribbean newsroom post for the email was found. This site does not have the message outside that article.

What the email says

The blog says the emails went to guests on Odyssey of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas. It quotes this:

As this sailing departs the European Union, face-to-face immigration will be conducted in the terminal after check-in but prior to boarding the ship for all guests, regardless of citizenship or residency. This requirement is part of the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) and adds an additional step to the normal embarkation process.

The next lines it quotes:

This required immigration process will greatly slow the overall embarkation process and create much longer wait times at the terminal, possibly exceeding 90 minutes.

The quoted email says “possibly exceeding 90 minutes.” Later, the blog says travelers should expect waits exceeding 90 minutes. The word “possibly” is in the email. It is not in that later sentence.

The blog says terminal space is limited. Guests on both cruises should arrive in the window they already picked. Show up early or late, and the risk it describes is being turned away in bad weather. That instruction is the blog’s prose. It is not inside the quotation marks.

The article does not print a fare change or an onboard credit for the wait.

Which sailings?

Odyssey of the Seas leaves Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, on Sunday 25 Oct 2026. The blog calls it a 14-night transatlantic. The calls it lists are La Spezia, Barcelona, Cartagena, Lisbon, and Ponta Delgada in the Azores. It prints the arrival as Cape Bayonne, New Jersey. Those ports are the blog’s list. They are not inside the email quotes.

Explorer of the Seas leaves Barcelona on Saturday 31 Oct 2026. The blog calls it a 13-night transatlantic. For the ports, it cites CruiseMapper: Palma de Mallorca, Cartagena, Ponta Delgada, and King’s Wharf, Bermuda, then Port Canaveral on Friday 13 Nov. This post did not open CruiseMapper. Treat that port list as the blog’s citation, and check the one in your booking.

The quoted email talks about “this sailing” and “all guests” on it. The blog ties the emails to these two cruises. It does not print a Royal Caribbean statement that every Europe departure this month uses the same terminal step.

Passport, ESTA, and ETIAS

In its section on who EES covers, the blog says the system applies to non-EU and non-Schengen nationals, including U.S. citizens. It says fingerprint and facial scans replace passport stamps. It also says that, according to Royal Caribbean, EES requires face-to-face immigration for all cruise passengers. That “all cruise passengers” line is the blog’s attribution. The quoted email says “all guests” on “this sailing,” whatever the citizenship.

The blog says every passenger needs a passport book, not a card, valid at least six months after the cruise ends. Otherwise boarding is denied. That rule is the blog’s sentence. It is not inside the email quotes above.

The blog says guests from certain countries need a U.S. visa or an ESTA before boarding. It does not list the countries. It does quote the email on a replaced passport:

If you have received a new or replacement passport since your ESTA was approved, you must apply for a new ESTA. ESTA approvals are linked to the specific passport used during the application process. As a result, your previous ESTA is no longer valid once that passport has been replaced, even if the ESTA itself has not yet expired.

ETIAS is a different authorization. The blog says it is not required to travel to Europe now, because implementation has been postponed. It says the European Union has not announced a start date, and that ETIAS is not expected until 2027. It uses “supposedly” for a cause it ties to technical hurdles and the start of EES. That cause is the blog’s hedge. The article does not link an EU notice for it.

What this means for you

If you are on Odyssey on 25 Oct, or Explorer on 31 Oct, plan the terminal. The email puts immigration after check-in and before you board, for every guest on that sailing. Build in a wait that may pass 90 minutes. Use the arrival window you picked. A passport card does not meet the rule the blog prints. The book needs six months past the day the cruise ends. If the passport on your ESTA was replaced, apply again before you fly. ETIAS is not something these reports say you need for these sailings. Facts above follow Royal Caribbean Blog, Elizabeth Wright, updated 15 Oct 2026.