Skyhigh

SS told me that we were required to have visas for SA even if we didn't plan to get off the ship. Don't know if the fact that we have 2 planned stops in SA makes a difference.

Other cruise lines are also adjusting their itineraries for next year. My moms Oceania in October was supposed to stop in Istanbul and Izmir, and they replaced those stops with Adriatic stops. That was the furthest east on that trip and the change was done for “safety” reasons.

Status update, i used the port name and the Ship name and voyage number and it was instantly approved. Something tells me this wasn't much of a big deal, but such a relief that its done!

Yeah, that is pretty messed up.

It sounds like the first 10 days is the same but the muscat to Dubai portion may be changing?

Thanks. SS was pretty good about explaining the difference between the transit and the Tourism visas, and I do have 2 ports so I appear to need the latter.

Thanks. Was this your only port or was it the first? I have 2 ports planned.

I have a trip coming up with 2 planned stops in Saudi Arabia , and everybody is pointing me to the Tourism EVisa. When applying for that it wants a hotel name, phone number and email. What have people successfully put here? I am thinking of using Silversea Moon Cruise Ship and leaving the phone number and email blank. Thoughts?

I called SS earlier this morning to book the 1/6 departure just to Muscat. He said that the itinerary had not changed and was very eager to book me on this trip.

I asked my TA to call Silversea for the 10 day from Petra on Jan 6. She says that the itinerary has not changed.

at least you are going the proper direction! Westbound will give you 25 hour days instead of 23 hour days. QM is a bigger ship, so there are pros and cons associated with that. Definitely the right ship to be on for a TA, but the Grill Restaurant on the promenade deck (people looking in on you as you eat), interior spa area with no public sauna, smaller Commodore Club are some of the downsides of QM relative to QV/QE

That should include a potential ship tour. I did not see one advertised on my recent voyage but some fellow non-grill guests mentioned that they finagled a tour of the bridge. Your concierge should make sure that you get in to whatever ends up being offered, and mentioning your interest in it to them will increase the likelihood that something does get offered.

on a recent QE voyage it was my experience that the people at the tour desk are trained to sign you up and then completely ignore any requests for changes regardless of the situation ( i only asked at that location as i was down there for other purposes). The concierge said he couldn't guarantee anything for my situation but he did come up with a very workable solution. So, yes, absolutely use the concierge. And make that one of your first stops on the ship as they will absolutely get you signed up for all of the events that you may want to attend even if they have not been announced yet. He kept trying to get a Commodore Club drinks tasting set up but they will only do that for 8-10 guests and at best only found 4.

on a recent QE, some of the items delivered for breakfast room service were not the same as what was served in the restuarant. For example, the room service grapefruit juice was the mucus colored presumably from concentrate as compared to the fresh squeezed dark pink served in the restaurant. Also, we were told that certain items were not available for room service as the ship was starting to run out, but there was still some availability at the Restaurant so the distinction of serving a grills guest for room service was not made in the room service kitchen. But a few things we starting doing is preording room service from the Grills menu when our excursion is schedule to arrive around the time the restaurant closes, and when dinner service runs long to have dessert and coffee delivered to the room, or to the grills lounge if you have plans to meet other guests there.

I think I just gained 10 pounds thanks to Sandro 🤣 Also heard that Osman will be moving to QA.

Very Nice! Sounds like another reason for me to find a new TA, who probably just wants to protect their commission.

are you booking directly with SS or via TA? I feel like this has happened to us a few times and we sometimes get OBC or a room "upgrade" - but still within veranda category.