Saudi Arabia on MSC Virtuosa!

[nikkiw60]

Have found out couple of days ago that unless you book a fly cruise with MSC you will be have to get a visa for Saudi at £154 per person. Even if you stay on the ship! Saudi was not on the itinerary when we booked it was Bahrain. I am very angry about this. We have booked with 2 extra nights in Dubai at the end.

[sidari]

6 minutes ago, nikkiw60 said:

Have found out couple of days ago that unless you book a fly cruise with MSC you will be have to get a visa for Saudi at £154 per person. Even if you stay on the ship! Saudi was not on the itinerary when we booked it was Bahrain. I am very angry about this. We have booked with 2 extra nights in Dubai at the end.

So nice of MSC to actually inform you Nik. Wear a Newcastle shirt and you might get in for free.

Edited October 28, 2021 by sidari

[nikkiw60]

17 minutes ago, sidari said:

So nice of MSC to actually inform you Nik. Wear a Newcastle shirt and you might get in for free.

They didn’t! It was Jack! I have got him on the case! And good one re Newcastle shirt..

[sidari]

Nik ... First line was sarcasm lol ... 😁

[kremerlorraine]

.Where did you get this information? We are on the Barcelona- Dubai from 5/11 with a stop in Jeddah. There is no information about visa requirements from MSC. I understood the cost of the visa was more like £95. Still far too much for an excursion and totally unacceptable if you're not getting off!

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

5 hours ago, kremerlorraine said:

.Where did you get this information?

Yes, I'd like to know this information too. We're on a Virtuosa sailing in December that was going to Bahrain originally and then that port was switched to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

[perakcruiser]

12 hours ago, nikkiw60 said:

Have found out couple of days ago that unless you book a fly cruise with MSC you will be have to get a visa for Saudi at £154 per person. Even if you stay on the ship! Saudi was not on the itinerary when we booked it was Bahrain. I am very angry about this. We have booked with 2 extra nights in Dubai at the end.

Well, nobody took this cruise yet as the ship is still in Europe. But in a few days we will hopefully know more. 

 

But so far I never was charged for these kind of visa when not leaving the ship. OK, one time I was charged and had to go to reception the night before arrival and tell them that I will stay on the boat. The visa charge was immediately cancelled. 

 

I think you mix this up with the Red Sea cruises from MSC with the Bellissima. 

[nikkiw60]

I got the information first from our travel agent who told me to write a letter for him to forward saying  wasn’t happy about this. I then checked the Saudi website, where I got the amount from. I then phoned MSC myself to check. Note if you booked a fly cruise you are ok it is included in the fare.

[nikkiw60]

2 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Well, nobody took this cruise yet as the ship is still in Europe. But in a few days we will hopefully know more. 

 

But so far I never was charged for these kind of visa when not leaving the ship. OK, one time I was charged and had to go to reception the night before arrival and tell them that I will stay on the boat. The visa charge was immediately cancelled. 

 

I think you mix this up with the Red Sea cruises from MSC with the Bellissima. 

I am not mixing this up with Bellissima why would I ? I am on the Virtuosa who has a port stop in Saudi Arabia as I have said.

[hamrag]

58 minutes ago, nikkiw60 said:

....Note if you booked a fly cruise you are ok it is included in the fare.

That is discrimination. I could perhaps buy that line if flying to Saudi, but you aren't! Definitely strengthens your case, fight on and hoping you win!

[nikkiw60]

1 hour ago, ChC said:

Since the ship only make a call to Saudi Arabia without embark or disembark, in many cases, the shipping company should be able to obtain a shore visa for everyone onboard. It should not make any difference whether you are on fly-cruise package or not. If MSC is able to secure shore visa for fly-cruise people, it should be able to do so for another group too. Because if I understand correctly you all get on the ship in Dubai, not Saudi.

 

I would say the agent is confused. It is either visa on arrival or shore visa for everyone, or none.

 

However, there is a cruise on MSC depart from Jeddah to the red sea, I assume the agent you talked to is confused about that cruise with yours. Because if you purchase a fly-cruise package for that particular cruises depart from Jeddah to the red sea, the Saudi visa is indeed included. And if you book cruise only you will have to obtain visa on your own. 

 

So naturally what happened is the agent you talked to, might have looked at company files on Saudi, without deep understanding of the difference between the Jeddah cruise and your cruise depart from Dubai with a call in Saudi. It is very frustrating when this happens to you. MSC has obtained 'favours' from Saudi regarding tourists cruise industry. Your cruise call to Damman should be OK without too much hassle. 

 

My advice is to ask your travel agent double check TIMATIC to see if there is cruise ship related entry. If not, press MSC to talk to someone who actually knows what they are talking about instead of someone who simply look at the company files without really understand it. If that fails, cancel the cruise. 

To cancel the cruise we would loose our deposit. I was on the phone for a long time whilst the agent checked the information. The agent wasn’t confused about which cruise I am taking. My travel agent informed me in the first instance of this.

I was only posting in the first place to  1. To alert others taking this cruise. And 2. Because I am bloody annoyed. 
As anyone on this forum knows I am a flag flyer for MSC but on this occasion I am angry!
Hopefully the situation gets sorted. I am also looking at changing to a fly cruise but then we would losses our airline deposit so that wouldn’t be ideal.

The solution would be if they did the same as in Russia where if you book a tour you get the visa included.

I am not actually looking for advice as I am dealing with this and so is my travel agent, and I have also been looking at the government site for Saudi.

[perakcruiser]

4 hours ago, nikkiw60 said:

I am not mixing this up with Bellissima why would I ? I am on the Virtuosa who has a port stop in Saudi Arabia as I have said.

The Bellissima Fly&Cruise includes "SAUDI ARABIA VISA", the Virtuosa Fly&Cruise does not. 

 

And as many markets not allow the cruise companies to add any unavoidable extra charges that are not included in the advertised price, it is technically not possible for MSC to force you to pay for this visa if you don´t want to have it. 

 

It is in this way with St. Petersburg, Havana and so on. 

 

In your case where you booked the cruise with Bahrain it anyway is totally impossible that MSC charges you for a visa you don´t want. 

[perakcruiser]

2 minutes ago, nikkiw60 said:

and I have also been looking at the government site for Saudi.

Not useful as the cruise companies always have their own deals with the governments. And I have learnt that "normal" government officials don´t know these deals anyway and will probably give you a wrong answer. As we got from the Turkish immigration a couple of years before. Good we did not believe them and waited what will happen during the cruise. Result: No visa needed, all nationalities could leave the boat.

[nikkiw60]

Just seen this which should apply.. we are in port for less than 12 hours and technically we are in transit I would have thought..

[nikkiw60]

Update - TA has said that MSC are looking at doing the same as Russia to be able to add visa to shore excursion. Watch this space.

[zekekelso]

When it comes to Saudi Arabia, and answer is usually “who the hell knows.” These cruises are new. The whole concept of a tourist visa is new. There are forces within the country pushing for change. And forces pushing back. Gonna be interesting for sure. But I wouldn’t look at the situation and assume what “normally” happens will happen here. 
 

side note: I briefly looked at a cruise that included Saudi Arabia. The lack of clear information from MSC on visa issues really turned me off. Maybe someday. But for me, not now. 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

1 hour ago, nikkiw60 said:

Update - TA has said that MSC are looking at doing the same as Russia to be able to add visa to shore excursion. Watch this space.

Interestingly, a few weeks ago I wrote down shore excursion prices and they only offered one for Dammam. It was called Cultural Dammam (Tour DMM01) and it was USD$75 per person. Yesterday I went back to actually book shore excursions and there are sevaral options there and DMM01 is now called Cultural Damman For Fully Vaccinated Guests but it now costs USD$126. So my guess is that this includes the necessary visa for Saudi Arabia.

[8420PR]

I'm sure for Virtusoa Middle East cruises the visa is not required if you are staying on the ship, and if you disembark it might be provided for free (as it always was for Oman).  I think there is come confusion with MSC Bellisima, where a visa is required (and provided for free if you book a fly&cruise package, but not if you just book the cruise only).

 

https://www.msccruises.co.uk/faq/info-red-sea

 

 

[kremerlorraine]

We're due to sail on Virtuosa next Friday from Barcelona to Dubai with a stop in Jeddah. I'll let you know if there are any issues raised by MSC when we check in.

[perakcruiser]

2 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

Interestingly, a few weeks ago I wrote down shore excursion prices and they only offered one for Dammam. It was called Cultural Dammam (Tour DMM01) and it was USD$75 per person. Yesterday I went back to actually book shore excursions and there are sevaral options there and DMM01 is now called Cultural Damman For Fully Vaccinated Guests but it now costs USD$126. So my guess is that this includes the necessary visa for Saudi Arabia.

Hmm, when I checked a couple of days before there were two options, DMM01 ins now 109 € (I dont remember the old price as I did not consider it) and a much more spectacular called Al Ahsa, the forgotten oasis for unfortunately very steep 152 €. Now they have more already. King Abdulaziz Centrer for World Culture in Daharan (Tour DMM07) costs friendly 52 €. Will research this place in the next days, sounds quite interesting. 

 

If this excursion is available for 52 €, then the visa price (if there is one) cannot be very high. 

 

As I have booked under the law of the European Union whatever happens MSC anyway cannot charge me something extra i don´t want, so wait and see is the way to go. 

 

[perakcruiser]

18 minutes ago, ChC said:

If you can find the department within MSC they should be able to provide you with the most up-to-date information. But knowing MSC organisation behaviour I can only wish you the best of luck.

As you correctly assume, the immigration department at the MSC HQ strictly refuses to talk with customers and also does not give information to the hotline people. If you are very lucky you can catch a guy from the immigration desk on board, usually when asking at the reception and the staff points with the finger and says "Here is our immigration guy, you can ask him". Catch him and ask "Can we leave the ship in Istanbul?" and he will say "Yes, no matter what was told to you before, all passengers can go ashore in Istanbul" 🙂

 

As MSC has never been in Saudi Arabia and will start cruising to Dammam December onwards I would not be surprised if they also not already know everything full detail right now. 

[nikkiw60]

1 hour ago, perakcruiser said:

Hmm, when I checked a couple of days before there were two options, DMM01 ins now 109 € (I dont remember the old price as I did not consider it) and a much more spectacular called Al Ahsa, the forgotten oasis for unfortunately very steep 152 €. Now they have more already. King Abdulaziz Centrer for World Culture in Daharan (Tour DMM07) costs friendly 52 €. Will research this place in the next days, sounds quite interesting. 

 

If this excursion is available for 52 €, then the visa price (if there is one) cannot be very high. 

 

As I have booked under the law of the European Union whatever happens MSC anyway cannot charge me something extra i don´t want, so wait and see is the way to go. 

 

You would pay for the visa via the embassy if it is needed when you apply for it.

[nikkiw60]

59 minutes ago, ChC said:

 

My dear friend, read the comments below yours. The agent you talked to is totally confused with your cruise and the Jeddah Fly Cruise package. Read 8420PR's post on this issue, which incidentally proved my point. @8420PR

I am sorry but this is a very patronising post.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

1 hour ago, perakcruiser said:

Now they have more already. King Abdulaziz Centrer for World Culture in Daharan (Tour DMM07) costs friendly 52 €. Will research this place in the next days, sounds quite interesting. If this excursion is available for 52 €, then the visa price (if there is one) cannot be very high. 

 

 

 

Fascinating. On the U.S. website DMM07 has that same name as you mentioned above but it's USD$161 for a 5hr tour. What I ended up booking was DMM03 " ITHRA ON YOUR OWN - FOR FULLY VACCINATED GUESTS" which is a 4hr tour and takes you to Ithra. I googled Ithra and it's the same King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture! It was only USD$60 which is the same as your €52.

So basically I'm back to having no idea what's going on at that port!

My guess, and this is only a guess, is that the ship will collect all passports at the beginning of the cruise and return them at the end of the cruise, getting necessary visas along the way.

[perakcruiser]

34 minutes ago, nikkiw60 said:

You would pay for the visa via the embassy if it is needed when you apply for it.

No.