Bahamas Visa Requirement

[lynnemac]

Going to be sailing from Nassau in June on AOS. Why does the Bahamas require a visa to enter country if all I'm doing is transfering from the airport to the ship?

I sailed to Nassau two years ago and there were no requirements. Is their government just trying to make up for lost travel revenue? Seems like a gouge of in transit people!

 

Opinions.

[boscobeans]

29 minutes ago, lynnemac said:

Going to be sailing from Nassau in June on AOS. Why does the Bahamas require a visa to enter country if all I'm doing is transfering from the airport to the ship?

I sailed to Nassau two years ago and there were no requirements. Is their government just trying to make up for lost travel revenue? Seems like a gouge of in transit people!

 

Opinions.

Things are changing rapidly.. This may not be needed by the time you travel. FINGERS CROSSED

[not-enough-cruising]

43 minutes ago, lynnemac said:

Going to be sailing from Nassau in June on AOS. Why does the Bahamas require a visa to enter country if all I'm doing is transfering from the airport to the ship?

I sailed to Nassau two years ago and there were no requirements. Is their government just trying to make up for lost travel revenue? Seems like a gouge of in transit people!

 

Opinions.

It isn't a travel Visa in its traditional form.  It is a health Visa, and I do not view it as gouging anyone, but as a country doing the best they can to protect their island and citizens.

[not-enough-cruising]

10 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

Things are changing rapidly.. This may not be needed by the time you travel. FINGERS CROSSED

The Bahamian health Visa program will not be going away anytime soon.

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The Bahamian health Visa program will not be going away anytime soon.

But it has already changed. A PCR test is no longer required if you are vaccinated. 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

But it has already changed. A PCR test is no longer required if you are vaccinated. 

Oh, I agree.  It will evolve, but will not go away in the short term. The change that was made was exactly how a program like this should work, in my opinion.

Evolving with evidence based practices, but continuing to accomplish the ultimate goal.

[CruisingHogFan]

55 minutes ago, lynnemac said:

Going to be sailing from Nassau in June on AOS. Why does the Bahamas require a visa to enter country if all I'm doing is transfering from the airport to the ship?

I sailed to Nassau two years ago and there were no requirements. Is their government just trying to make up for lost travel revenue? Seems like a gouge of in transit people!

 

Opinions.

The health visa is the last of my worries for our cruise in July.
 

I’m actually glad they are doing it. Any precautions is great  and well needed to get us back to safely cruising!

[dswallow]

The Bahamas Health Visa also includes insurance coverage should you end up in a situation where you get quarantined or need COVID-related medical care or evacuation.

In its original form, when testing was the only entry method, it also covered the cost of the second test that is required during an over-5-day stay.

https://travel.gov.bs/www/static/Health_Visa_Benefit_Summary_FINAL_1106.pdf

 

And of course, The Bahamas is not the United States. Their country, their rules. 🙂

[smokeybandit]

17 minutes ago, dswallow said:

The Bahamas Health Visa also includes insurance coverage should you end up in a situation where you get quarantined or need COVID-related medical care or evacuation.

In its original form, when testing was the only entry method, it also covered the cost of the second test that is required during an over-5-day stay.

https://travel.gov.bs/www/static/Health_Visa_Benefit_Summary_FINAL_1106.pdf

 

And of course, The Bahamas is not the United States. Their country, their rules. 🙂

That could be a challenging claim though. I assume that is supposed to mean those just coming to the Bahamas on a port stop, not home port, but, you never know what these insurance adjusters will decide.

Edited May 2, 2021 by smokeybandit

[LBumb]

To me no biggie if I get to cruise

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, lynnemac said:

I sailed to Nassau two years ago and there were no requirements. Is their government just trying to make up for lost travel revenue? Seems like a gouge of in transit people!

 

Opinions.

Maybe it is because two years ago, there wasn’t a pandemic???

 

You need a health visa to get into the country. Maybe a week long visa (costs more) since it will need to be valid when you exit. We are on the Adventure in June and waiting for final directions from the cruise line. 

[smokeybandit]

Remember  (or, FYI) RC will add $50 OBC to offset the cost of the visa.

[AF-1]

Everyone who transits Bahamas; either one day or seven;  they want to make sure you are fully vaccinated and or negative covid.  Seems reasonable to me.  

[radarcruiser]

On 5/2/2021 at 1:30 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

But it has already changed. A PCR test is no longer required if you are vaccinated. 

I saw a news story saying the PM had indicated that vaccines would soon be accepted in lieu of an RT-PCR test.  I don’t see where that change has been made.  The https://travel.gov.bs/ site still shows a requirement for the test and makes no mention of vaccine acceptance.   
 

Can you point me to info that shows a vaccine suffices now?

 

[dswallow]

25 minutes ago, radarcruiser said:

I saw a news story saying the PM had indicated that vaccines would soon be accepted in lieu of an RT-PCR test.  I don’t see where that change has been made.  The https://travel.gov.bs/ site still shows a requirement for the test and makes no mention of vaccine acceptance.   
 

Can you point me to info that shows a vaccine suffices now?

 

 

https://www.bahamas.com/travelupdates

 

[radarcruiser]

1 hour ago, dswallow said:

 

https://www.bahamas.com/travelupdates

 

Thanks.   Wonder why they haven’t updated the other site?

[ArthurUSCG]

12 hours ago, radarcruiser said:

Thanks.   Wonder why they haven’t updated the other site?

Island time

[ArthurUSCG]

On 5/2/2021 at 5:45 PM, smokeybandit said:

That could be a challenging claim though. I assume that is supposed to mean those just coming to the Bahamas on a port stop, not home port, but, you never know what these insurance adjusters will decide.

Yep, and this is why I wouldn't travel with anyone that's not vaccinated yet. I wouldn't want to fly home an leave one of my kids there to recover.

Also, see that part about 31 days, I know a few people that were long haulers and tested positive for about 2 months.

[AF-1]

Thats good news for those going on this cruise.  Less hassle

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, ArthurUSCG said:

Yep, and this is why I wouldn't travel with anyone that's not vaccinated yet. I wouldn't want to fly home an leave one of my kids there to recover.

Also, see that part about 31 days, I know a few people that were long haulers and tested positive for about 2 months.

You can test positive for 3 months after exposure and never know you were exposed. It's one of the weaknesses of the PCR test.

[w8ng 2 cruise]

On 5/2/2021 at 7:19 PM, smokeybandit said:

Remember  (or, FYI) RC will add $50 OBC to offset the cost of the visa.

Can you direct me to this information at the RCCL website. 😊 thanks

[BirdTravels]

36 minutes ago, w8ng 2 cruise said:

Can you direct me to this information at the RCCL website. 😊 thanks

As far as I know, this was an early RCCL offer that they never followed through with. We did not get a OBC last week on the Adventure. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by BirdTravels

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

As far as I know, this was an early RCCL offer that they never followed through with. We did not get a OBC last week on the Adventure. 

Yes, they got rid of that note about OBC in later versions of the same document. Pretty sneaky on their part.