travelordie

Post #275 provided us with helpful hints for completing the online e-visa application. We filled in the applications last Friday and received our two e-visas Monday morning…less than 72 hours after submission. Our cruise line claims that they will provide us with Egyptian transit visas but in case that changes (we board on October 27th) we decided to get the e-visas anyway.

We are currently travelling and will be until we board our ship. Therefore, applying to the Egyptian Embassy was not an option. I contacted Azamara to ask about visas for Egypt and received this response: "No visa is required for Canadian residents if they arrive onboard and have booked a shore excursion and return onboard before vessel departure. The exemption will be submitted via our agency and subject to antitreaties approvals. If you have not booked a shore excursion, you cannot leave the vessel, unless you have obtained a visa from an Egyptian embassy or consulate abroad before arriving at the airport/onboard the ship."

We'll be on a cruise visiting Egypt at the end of October. Why would you apply for a $150 pp visa from the Egyptian Embassy in Ottawa when you can apply for an Egyptian e-visa online for $25 pp? Note that Canadians must apply before October 1st for the e-visa.

Yes, I'll do that sometime in late October. We embark on October 27th or thereabouts.

I know that in some Chinese ports, either ship excursions or Chinese government authorized tour operators will allow passengers to get off the ship but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that both options exist for Egypt. However, I am just guessing with respect to Egypt. Sorry, but there’s nothing in my response from Azamara which answers your question.

I have still not heard back from the Egypt e-visa Portal and therefore cannot apply for an e-visa. Fortunately, I did hear back from Azamara Customer Service a few minutes ago and they answered my question about whether Canadians need an Egyptian visa for our October, 2023 cruise. Azamara's response was exactly what we had hoped for. Here it is: "No visa is required for Canadian residents if they arrive onboard and have booked a shore excursion and return onboard before vessel departure. The exemption will be submitted via our agency and subject to antitreaties approvals. If you have not booked a shore excursion, you cannot leave the vessel, unless you have obtained a visa from an Egyptian embassy or consulate abroad before arriving at the airport/onboard the ship."

Thanks, this is very useful to know.

Thanks, I like this idea but will wait a day just in case the Egypt e-Visa Portal responds to our inquiries on their contact form. I described the problem on the contact form and am waiting for a response. My wife did the same. We'll open new email accounts if we fail to receive a response.

We looked at your video which will be very helpful to us if ever we receive an email from Egypt verifying our email address. We've still received nothing despite using an approved browser, Chrome. We tried applying again and the screen stated "Account already exists" but won't be active until we reply to the verification email. Meanwhile, we have not received a verification email.

Thanks, I tried that but its not there. My wife also tried to apply with her email address and also failed to receive a verify email.

So the first step in applying is to verify your email address. When we attempted to apply on the website, the message on the site stated..." We sent you an email to _________ with a button to verify your email address." However, they did not send an email so now we're stuck and can't proceed.

I’m playing it safe and assuming that Celebrity is wrong and that both the Egyptian Embassy in Canada and Global Affairs Canada have now posted the most up-to-date information. We will be in an Egyptian port on an Azamara cruise in October of this year so will be applying for an e-visa before October 1st. Sending our passports to the Egyptian Embassy or Consulate is not an option since we are currently travelling on other cruise lines and cannot give up our passports in the interim. During our last visit to Egypt which was on a Viking cruise in February 2023, our e-visa was sufficient for boarding but it has now expired. Viking did not offer Canadians an Egyptian transit visa on board in February so I’d be surprised if Celebrity is now offering one.

We will apply before October 1st and hope that it will be valid for entry after October 1st. We have no choice given that we can’t give up our passports before the cruise. We last applied for an Egyptian e-visa in February and it was approved within 48 hours.

We are in a similar position. We are currently travelling abroad and will continue to do so until embarkation. We have no alternative but to apply for an e-visa as we need our passports.

Great news that this applies to non-Egyptian Canadians as well and many thanks for reassuring us that you received the same response when you called. We’ll be applying for an e-visa.