Visa for haifa ?

[stai]

Haifa is one of the ports that we are stopping at. Was wondering if they require a Visa for cruisers? Our country does not have a relationship with Israel. I understand if we are going by land, we need a visa but if we are just stopping for a day, will they also ask to see one when the Israel authorities come up the ship to check for covid? Anyone has any experience on this ? We would really love to visit the Holy Land but getting a visa is rather troublesome as we have to go to their embassy in a neighboring country. Thank you in advance for all advice.

[perakcruiser]

Only Christians can go to Isreal for religious reasons. That is the official version. 

 

Many do indeed visit Israel, if you are Christian you best ask around at your church. 

 

MSC will most probably not give you an answer on this, maybe the Israeli embassy in Singapore will do. There is a small chance that the cruise stop is visa free, but there is also the chance that you will be denied boarding the whole cruise without a visa for Israel. 

[stai]

Our cruise does not start in israel, so worst case scenario, we stay on the ship.

 

We may book excursion with ship, and hope they will refund if we cannot get out. 

Thanks!!

[emmas gran]

You may need a visa whether you get off the ship or not, best check with MSC

[perakcruiser]

2 hours ago, stai said:

Our cruise does not start in israel, so worst case scenario, we stay on the ship.

No, the worst case is that you will not be allowed to board the ship at all as some countries will not allow MSC to dock with passengers without visa. 

 

If you want to research the Israeli government websites you can do so by using the Opera browser with VPN. Otherwise all Israel websites are blocked in Malaysia.  

 

41 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

You may need a visa whether you get off the ship or not, best check with MSC

From my experience with MSC (had this question on a cruise with a stop in Turkey) they will refuse to tell anything about it. Especially in this case as MSC does not have a office or website for Malaysia or Singapore. 

[stai]

thank you, both. I did message MSC but they did not reply. Looks like have to make contingency plans. Appreciate the heads up.