Sri Lanka

[HPfoodie]

Apparently SS have pulled Sri Lanka from their itinerary in December (Spirit). So far no one knows where the revised schedule will be. We were booked on a cruise Singapore to Mumbai including Sri Lanka in March ‘23 but decided this week to cancel as UK citizens cannot apply for an Indian E visa and obtaining an appointment for the paper version is proving to be extremely difficult. So India will have to wait. We were also concerned that the 3 days in Sri Lanka would be pulled. Looking like that may be the case. 

[Silver Spectre]

Not surprised that SS have pulled out of Sri Lanka. The situation there is dire economically and almost certainly not safe for any tourists.

[jpalbny]

  

  

2 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Not surprised that SS have pulled out of Sri Lanka. The situation there is dire economically and almost certainly not safe for any tourists.

 

A shame, Silver. I have wanted to go there (for some reason) for a long time. One of my former residents is from there, and apparently his family is VERY connected. So he's been saying that when travel is safe again, he'll hook me up with a VIP tour.

[Stumblefoot]

22 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

  ...he's been saying that when travel is safe again, he'll hook me up with a VIP tour.

Keep Stumble abreast since Sri Lanka was removed from our 2022 itinerary before the voyage was ultimately cancelled completely by Silversea.

[Daveywavey70]

India and Sri Lanka are both holidays I’ve had cancelled in the last couple of years. The e-visa situation in India is baffling as almost every other country other than the UK is allowed. The situation in Sri Lanka is just awful. I Hope things improve soon for them.

[Silver Spectre]

34 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

  

  

 

A shame, Silver. I have wanted to go there (for some reason) for a long time. One of my former residents is from there, and apparently his family is VERY connected. So he's been saying that when travel is safe again, he'll hook me up with a VIP tour.

Agreed, we had a great trip there to watch cricket in late 2018, lovely people and lovely country, however the government followed weird green policies that devastated agriculture, got deeply in hock to the Chinese, who don’t do debt forgiveness and then the pandemic killed tourism. It’s a basket case.

[Fletcher]

India presently allows over 170 countries to apply for eVisas.  The UK is currently excluded, mainly because we have a great many citizens of Pakistani heritage and India wants to ban them from entering. I do not see he situation changing.  You can pay agencies to do the legwork for you if you cannot attend in person.   Trailfinders have quoted me £250pp.

 

I am becoming extremely angry with Silversea - the December 2022 cruise Mumbai-Singapore cruise is still bookable on their website with the Sri Lanka ports. This is wholly unacceptable.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Fletcher

[turtlemichael]

The situation in Sri Lanka is very difficult. I know Australians who went there mid-year for cricket and had no issues. But I can see that there are risks attached and SS needs to clarify the position and alternative plans soon for a number of cruises in the coming months.

 

With regard to Indian E visas, for those who are eligible to get them, they can only be applied for 30 days in advance which means for us, and anyone else on WC23, we would already be on the cruise and attempting to get a visa after embarkation. What a hassle.  

Edited October 4, 2022 by turtlemichael

[HPfoodie]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

You can pay agencies to do the legwork for you if you cannot attend in person.   Trailfinders have quoted me £250pp.

Hopefully they have secured an appointment for you. Someone on the SS Facebook group mentioned that Trailfinders had suspended the service last week due to the difficulty in booking appointments. There’s an interesting article in the Independent by Simon Calder about the debacle. Just glad we were able to cancel without any penalties. Think there are 15 countries still ineligible for the E visa. 

[Silver Spectre]

8 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

The situation in Sri Lanka is very difficult. I know Australians who went there mid-year for cricket and had no issues. But I can see that there are risks attached and SS needs to clarify the position and alternative plans soon for a number of cruises in the coming months.

 

With regard to Indian E visas, for those who are eligible to get them, they can only be applied for 30 days in advance which means for us, and anyone else on WC23, we would already be on the cruise and attempting to get a visa after embarkation. What a hassle.  

When we discovered that we needed Saudi visas whilst mid voyage on WC22, the Finance Officer on the ship did all the heavy lifting for us. Hopefully SS will sort it out for you.

[Fletcher]

On 10/4/2022 at 11:11 AM, Silver Spectre said:

When we discovered that we needed Saudi visas whilst mid voyage on WC22, the Finance Officer on the ship did all the heavy lifting for us. Hopefully SS will sort it out for you.

Saudi in mid-cruise would be different.  India is a embarkation point with entry through an airport.

A week ago Silversea advised us that Sri Lanka was cancelled.  Today I found I was able to book excursions in Colombo.  What on Earth is happening here?

[Stumblefoot]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

What on Earth is happening here?

Nothing nefarious.  Just typical SS IT.

[jpalbny]

30 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

Nothing nefarious.  Just typical SS IT.

 

Is that an oxymoron? 

[conchyjoe]

If it is any consolation, we did this cruise in 2019 and was very much looking forward to visiting Sri Lanka. In reality however, the overnight stay in Colombo turned out to be pretty much a waste of time. The shore excursions were very poor and of any port that was included on the trip (Mumbai to Singapore via Myanmar), Colombo was at the bottom of our favorite list at the end of the cruise.

Just another pin on the map was it’s only benefit to us.

 

 

 

 

[MBP&O2/O]

On 10/4/2022 at 1:42 AM, Fletcher said:

I am becoming extremely angry with Silversea - the December 2022 cruise Mumbai-Singapore cruise is still bookable on their website with the Sri Lanka ports. This is wholly unacceptable.

They did this last year. Cancelled a Northern European cruise and made it a 'round England' one instead .... but continued to sell the original one. Corporate really couldn't give a #### !

[Catlover54]

On 10/3/2022 at 3:39 PM, Silver Spectre said:

Agreed, we had a great trip there to watch cricket in late 2018, lovely people and lovely country, however the government followed weird green policies that devastated agriculture, got deeply in hock to the Chinese, who don’t do debt forgiveness and then the pandemic killed tourism. It’s a basket case.

 

That sums it up quite well!  It is sad -- they had been doing so well for a while, with vast economic improvements.

 

There is, of course, also the anti-LGBT ambience that many of the 'lovely people' unfortunately tolerate and/or support

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Sri_Lanka

 

[Fletcher]

We have bailed out of the Mumbai-Singapore cruise.  The loss of Sri Lanka was one factor.  Another is the problems in obtaining a visa for India.   We had planned on getting a visa specialist to arrange this for us as we live far from London but now the Indians insist that everyone attend one of their three High Commissions (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh).  Our visa specialist advised us to still use them as they would meet us at the Indian office and take us through the complicated process. We would have to be finger-printed and possibly have our eyes photographed. Our visa specialist said the passports would be posted back within a month but that was not guaranteed because of a vast backlog.  The price has also gone up to over £300.  It is easier to obtain a visa for Iran. (This only applies to UK and I think Canadian citizens.  US citizens simply get an e-visa.)

 

Personally I think Silversea will ultimately cancel all Indian ports as well as Sri Lanka.  Seabourn have done this for a similar Encore voyage in December and will sail from Male, Maldives.  I can see that Siilversea has a major headache here, not only for our cruise but the preceding one which ends in Mumbai.  And then of course is the issue of Hong Kong further down the Spirit's schedule.  It's a big mess.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Fletcher

[turtlemichael]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Personally I think Silversea will ultimately cancel all Indian ports as well as Sri Lanka.  ... And then of course is the issue of Hong Kong further down the Spirit's schedule.  It's a big mess.

And potentially a big mess for the World cruise, which I'm on, a month or two later. After Myanmar was understandably canceled, an overnight in Chennai was substituted.  In addition, there are two stops in Sri Lanka before heading out across the Indian Ocean. If Silversea cancel India and Sri Lanka, it's hard to see what can be substituted.

[DCCruiser57]

If they cancel India, I wonder what they would do with our mid-voyage land adventure to Nepal as it is supposed to return to the ship in Chennai.

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, DCCruiser57 said:

If they cancel India, I wonder what they would do with our mid-voyage land adventure to Nepal as it is supposed to return to the ship in Chennai.

Chennai only made sense if they went to Colombo and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka.  I can't see them circumnavigating Sri Lanka simply to go to Chennai.  I still think they will drop India altogether. 

[HPfoodie]

We cancelled Singapore to Mumbai almost 3 weeks ago and it’s still listed on MySilversea. 🤷‍♀️ Our travel agent is handling things. 

[Fletcher]

xxxx

Edited October 24, 2022 by Fletcher

[HPfoodie]

Apparently Sri Lanka back on. 🤷‍♀️