Indian Visa for cruise - Beware!

[icsys]

Here is a paste from the current India E-Visa web site:

• e-Visa is valid for entry through 25 designated Airports (i.e. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh,Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi & Vishakhapatnam) and 3 designated seaports (i.e. Cochin, Goa, Mangalore). However, the foreigner can take exit from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.
  

Note that the last item mentioned is that its only valid for 3 designated seaports...none of which is Mumbai. Most cruises do stop in Mumbai. Now perhaps you do know better then the Indian government,,,,but we are skeptical.

Hank

I find it quite disheartening how some cc members love to put down others by selective reading.

If only you had read post #47, just three above yours, you would have seen this:

The e-visa is perfectly acceptable provided the cruise has just two ports of call and they are designated sea ports.

It is the cruise lines who are saying only a paper visa is acceptable.

 

However...... if you are visiting a port that is NOT a designated sea port or visiting three or more, then you WILL need a full visa.

 

And for your perusal the following link:

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=175113

 

But the official Indian e-visa website does in deed still state only 3 designated sea ports.

Fortunately our cruise in April stops as two ports, Goa and Cochin.

Edited January 9, 2018 by icsys

[2CatsInFlorida]

So much red tape to just visit some countries but so easy to sneak into the USA over the border and get welfare and a get out of jail card free.

 

 

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[JBare]

There are a lot of interesting posts here and it is slightly confusing as recent reports and press suggest India is dropping the bio requirements for evisas and extending the number of ports for cruise ships. However the only thing that really matters is what the cruise line will allow you to board with. I booked direct with Celebrity and so have been kept informed of requirements, their latest email in November said this ..

 

"Guests from the United Kingdom and Ireland, amongst other countries, MUST obtain a Multiple Entry Tourist Visa for India before beginning their travel." and "Please note that the Indian E-Visa is not accepted for this cruise as the local immigration authorities are not able to process E-Visas on board."

 

This may of course change but it hasn't yet.

[icsys]

It would appear that Celebrity is now accepting the e-visa (for the President's cruise at least)

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=54954194&postcount=691

 

 

The communication still refers to biometric screening even though the requirement has been suspended for three years and replaced wit a bar code scan.

 

Obviously, if your cruise has more than two ports of call in India the e-visa is not acceptable for your sailing.