My husband's employer is getting him a 1 year work visa for a project based out their office near Frankfurt. For work purposes they will not allow us to stay a day over 1 year because it changes his assignment status with his company from a "short term" to "long term" and I am sure has some financial reasons. We are coming along with him and will get resident cards (I am not allowed to work under his visa status).

We are considering alternative means of getting to Europe/Germany instead of a direct flight--Transatlantic Cruise!!

The 1 cruise I am leaning towards if the timing works out would travel from Texas to Barcelona (2 wk Disney Magic). If we disembark in Spain --I would assume we would go thru some sort of passport checkpoint but then we have to make our way to Frankfurt. There is a good chance we will travel by train through Paris then onto Frankfurt. Is there a passport check at each city or how do we "arrive" into Germany and get proof for residency and have our passport stamped??

The 2nd cruise line option is Queen Mary 2 to London depending upon the date we can possibly get one that goes on to Hamburg. Obviously the Hamburg end point would be much easier to navigate but depending upon the corp desired start date may not be an option. Cunard runs the TA cruises regularly between NYC and London but then we would have to get from London to Frankfurt.

Are there any rules that say we must arrive directly into Germany? The cost of the cruise is about the same as the plane tickets.