NO cooperation between Apple stores in different countries. We made FOUR visits to Apple stores—Cologne, London, and twice to the Paris Louvre store—before my husband was finally able to exchange his water-damaged iPhone 5 with a replacement. He bought his replacement for 249 euros, only 1 1/2 days before he finished his three-week Europe vacation. The Louvre Apple store (which is underground in the Carousel shopping mall) was packed with confused and anxious Apple product users. Some customer assistants spoke English, some did not, but we don't expect foreign language use in such stores. I don't understand why #Apple does not come up with a simpler system that would reduce the confusion in all of their stores, including the US locales.
There must be a better way to take your iPhone to Europe. And yes, the morale of the story is NOT to drop the phone in water while on vacation.