Tom Crews

Navigate Here on CC boards and see posts 55, 78, 141 and keep reading to the end from there Home Categories Ports of Call Asia Vietnam Cruise Stops and E-visa

Get the single entry if your cruise goes from Vietnamese Port 1 to Vietnamese Port 2 to Vietnamese Port 3 without leaving Vietnam.. You will need a multiple entry visa, if your cruisegoes (for example) to Vietnamese Port 1, Vietnamese Port 2, Non-Vietnamese Port, then back to Vietnam for Vietnamese Port 3. In this case, you are entering Vietnam multiple times. You also need to know the name of the Vietnamese Ports as the actual port name is not the same as shown by the cruise line (think Rome / Civitavecchia). Let me see if I can find the translation list for the most common tourist ports. You will need it for your port of entry and port of leaving. It's posted in the Vietnam board if I recall.

Thanks to all here. I'm on the Celebrity Solstice sailing b2b from Sydney to Singapore and from Singapore to Hong Kong leaving SIngapore on November 3, 2024. A call to their customer service as well as several posts from other Celebrity cruisers said they would not issue any Visas on ship either for free or for a fee and we needed to apply on our own. Thanks to the information posted here, I was able to apply and to pay for them. Now all 4 are in processing status. Does anyone have any idea how long the VOA processing usually takes? Web site indicated could be up to 7 business days. (Our New Zealand visas were available in 5 minutes after payment. I was hoping I could get the Vietnam Visas within 48 hours). Best, John ps- if anyone is going to Indonesia (Bali?) their E-Visa software is very difficult to use. Many including myself have dubbed it the "worst web site we have ever encountered". After 2 1/2 days and many attempts I finally got all 4 visa's processed and paid for a Bali stop. An odd thing with the Indonesia evisa site is you can process a Visa and some transactions lack a link to be able to pay and show "waiting for payment" If so that is the like the black screen of death - you have to start over and reapply. Communicating with the folks running the site using Google translate is like talking to a squirrel, but less effective. If you need help for Indonesia Visas, I posted some tips and many DO NOT DO THIS learned from my experience under Asia Indonesia. Also see the Roll Call for Celebrity Solstice for the sailing from Sydney October 19, 2024 Cheers everyone!

There are two other filings you must make for indonesia, a tax and a arrival declaration but you make them later in the process and these go to different web sites. (They don't make it easy.perhaps they are trying to stop tourism). See post #453 on Roll call for Celebrity Solstice October 19, 2024 for details. Thanks to that poster for detailing the web sites and regulations. Go to that board and look for indonesia visa posts. There are other posters with helpful hints as well. New Zealand (best), Australia, Singapore (need arrival card) all have good easy to use web sites. Indonesia really, really needs help. Even if you get the information in and visa approved, there often is no way to pay Indonesia unless you do the visas individually and pay one at a time. If you are a web developer with e-commerce experience, that is a perfect opportunity to grow your business. Good Luck

I just lost 2 days of my life (that I will never get back), trying to get Indonesian B1 Tourist Visas for 4 people as we are passengers on the Celebrity Solstice stopping to Bali for 2 days. Getting this visa is like riding a bucking Bronco, you likely will need multiple attempts, I have researched this online and EVERYONE says don't put yourself through ths living hell and just apply at the port if you don't mind waiting in line and don't have an early excursion (we have an early excursion, so not an option for me) Here is what helped me apply on line and worked after multiple attempts. 1. Put aside a couple hours to prepare the documents and get the information together. 2. Use the right device. No iPhone or Apple (some report it's possible with additional software but I didn't pursue when it got rejected once).. Don't use Google Chrome. I used Microsoft Edge to apply based on a tip I saw online and it worked. 3. Scan your passports using your printer or a printer and save as .jpg files labeling them e.g. Mary passport.jpg etc 4. Open each passport and save a second time as a .pdf file and make sure that .pdf file is less than .999 in size. I used MS WORD to save as .pdf and resize my .pdf files. Label these as Mary passpt.pdf etc. 5. Do the same thing with your cruise itinerary (you have to show that you ar leaving Indonesia) and save as .pdf files labeling for each passenger cabin. 6. Go the the web site (which is absolutely positively is the WORST website I have ever used bar none, I'm 70) which is molina.imigrasi.go.id and set these up BUT DON"T DO UNITIL less than 90 days from the last day you will be in Indonesia. Your Indonesia visa will be good for only 30 days in the next 90 starting the day that you get it issued online.. 7. Now if you were traveling in a group, you would think you should put the group together in a batch and/or set up an account to pay for all of the at once. AND YOU WOULD BE WRONG! NO! DON'T DO THIS. Something will go wrong and you will lose the whole batch of work.. Process one at a time, pay, then download each one and relabel so you know what is in each file and print to printer. 8. Rinse and repeat for each person in your party. You have to pay the visas one at a time even if you set up an account (don't do this, I got 2 this way then the Indonesian Vsa folks locked my account. I set up a 2nd account and input the infor for 2 other people only to see the visas were "waiting for payment" but there was no button to take my credit card. You WILL have big issues so apply for these online (no account) and be ready with all of your information and labeled files on your computer to upload. 9. After the first visa payment, call your credit card company and tell them it's legit so they don't block your credit card when subsequent payments are charged for other visas. Be sure to try to upload every pdf file at least twice because sometimes (???) they don't upload and you will have no idea why until you see a message as the web site is kicking you off (so you have to start all over).. 10. Bali only tips. if you are going to Port Benoa then describe the Indonesian address as Port Benoa - Celebrity Solstice (or whatever the name of your ship). Input postal code 80362 and accept the information (then edit the postal code to 80222 leaving the other 80362 defaulted information) ...sounds strange to me and might work with 80362 but this was recommended from several sources on Celebrity Boards... Good luck

Spain Day Tours 5 stars * * * * * I recently took two separate tours with Spain Day tours. This company was very highly recommended on the cruise critic blogs. One was from the Port of Cadiz where we went to the Alcazar Palace in Seville. Second tour was from the Port of Malaga where we went to see the Alhambra Palace in Grenada. Both tours were extremely well organized. We received a very detailed listing from Spain Tours detailing what we would see, what would happen next, what to bring etc. A frequent problem arranging private tours that are not through the cruise line is that the tour operators and buses are difficult to find and it may take 45 minutes to round up everybody and get the tour going. Not so with Spain Tours. They gave extremely detailed instructions of where they would be right outside the gate of the cruise terminal, they were there on time with clearly Mark signs exactly as they promised to be and both tours went like clockwork. We left on time. We got back to the cruise ship in plenty of time. They build in a bit of a cushion so in case they were to have a flat tire they would guarantee you made it back to the cruise ship. His company is extremely professional and the guys are absolutely first rate. I've been on almost 20 cruises and used probably 40 different private tour companies and Spain tours is absolutely number one. The prices are very reasonable and the quality of the tours are excellent. You can book with confidence. There stellar reputation is well-earned and they deliver on what they promise. John and Lisa C Tampa, Florida Sailing on Celebrity Cruise lines