Hello! A first time cruiser here. I booked a 26-day cruise on MSC Splendida from Italy to South Africa and I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to know which visas I need. I'm from Finland. I've never been on an international cruise before, save the ones that sail between Finland and Sweden/Estonia, so, inside Shengen and no visa questions there.
The cruise ship has two stops in Egypt, with Suez canal transit in between. It has a shore day in Alexandria on 2th Nov and Safaga on 5th Nov. So, how does this work visa-wise? I assume that a visa is needed. Is it one entry or two entries? And what's the process, are passengers supposed to get this beforehand or is it somehow managed by the ship?
I would have expected there to be info on this on MSC website by now. The ship will sail in less than four weeks, after all. But there is no information regarding this specific cruise, only some older ones with stops somewhat different. With the other stops the situation seems clearer as the stops are for one day only but with this one, I really don't know, I feel like an idiot. But surely there's someone who's taken this cruise before, so, please advice me.
Also, apparently MSC does not want to offer customer service in any other way than on the phone. No chat, no email. Frankly, this seems ridiculous in 2023. I wonder if they realise that they have customers whose first language is not English and who might wish for service in written form. EDIT: Oh, there seems to be a contact form on msccruises.fi though I couldn't find the same on the US site! I can only access my booking through the US site so that's what I've been using but I posted my question anyway. Let's see if they care to answer.
