Cherbourg- Anyone been recently?

[Devon Boy]

Hi All,

I’m looking a taking a group to Cherbourg in July however I have been hearing mixed things about getting cleared upon arrival and delays.

It is unlikely we would be there for more than 24h before heading to the Channel Islands. Has anyone had undue delays in being able to drop the “Q” flag and get ashore?

Any other relevant / useful information greatly received.

 

[lektran]

Not that recent but we were there this time last year. On arrival we walked to the PAF office, maybe a 30 minute walk and were stamped in without issue. On departure the officers were coming to the marina every morning so we joined that queue and were done in 10 minutes. We had all our paperwork but in both cases they only cared about the passports.

 

[michael_w]

2 years ago the PAF came to the captinerie at 09:00 and 18:00 either download and print their form. Having it on your phone was good too.

 

[John_Silver]

In Cherbourg over the (French) double Bank Holidays, last week: PaF were doing an 09.00 surgery then. Not evenings. But the officers on the ground were happy to stamp me out, to Guernsey, for the following day. (Which, out of interest, the desk officer, who replied to my pre-avis submission said was not permitted. And that I should attend their Rue Dom Pedro offices at crazy o'clock immediately prior to catching the tide, the following day......)
Got the impression that usually there is an 18.00 too (The Capitainerie have a timetable pinned up by the desk)
Numbers shouldn't be an issue. When I turned up, the entire crew of TS Royalist were being processed!

 

[MontyMariner]

the officers on the ground were happy to stamp me out, to Guernsey, for the following day

Yes, I wanted an early start so got stamped out the previous evening.
There was a thread recently informing that the paf email address had changed to dipn50-paf-cic@interieur.gouv.fr

 

[John_Silver]

On the “get ashore” question. Any of the PaF that I visit (Dieppe, Cherbourg, Roscoff) seem quite happy for me to stamp in on the morning after an afternoon/ evening arrival, with a bag full of fresh patisserie (making it plain that I’ve been ashore). So free to wander from arrival, with a pre avis submitted as evidence of good intent, I’d say.

 

[Boathook]

I went to Cherbourg in July last year. The PaF were at the marina office at 9am and 6pm. They collected the forms and then stamped the passport. No questions about when you arrived or were leaving.
The marina was only concerned about collecting berthing fees so had no dealings with PaF.

 

[strudders]

Hi All,

I’m looking a taking a group to Cherbourg in July however I have been hearing mixed things about getting cleared upon arrival and delays.

It is unlikely we would be there for more than 24h before heading to the Channel Islands. Has anyone had undue delays in being able to drop the “Q” flag and get ashore?

Any other relevant / useful information greatly received.

Just been there and from May to September the police come to the marina office every morning at 0900 for stamping passports in and out. (Same as last year) You should download the form off the Port Chanterayne website (I think only the french version has the link) and send it the day before or ealry in the morning as I did yesterday. Although the marina office can also give you one and they take it on the day. Email address has changed though - dipn50-paf-cic@interieur.gouv.fr. Nobody seems to care about Q flags - folks put them up but nobody come round - we didn't bother

 

[Devon Boy]

Thanks all. This is all very reassuring. The group I’m taking are disabled and really don’t want to be stuck onboard any longer then they need to and may struggle if they were getting caught up in onerous procedures to the point I was thinking of shelving the whole French bit of the trip.

 

[DJE]

Might be an idea to check your dates against the Tour Des Ports race schedule. When they're in town visitors berths can be a bit hard to find.

Tour des ports de la Manche – LA COURSE CROISIERE FRANCAISE