Egypt port - Visa requirement?

[taxmantoo]

Will be on the Nieuw Statendam in Alexandria, Egypt for a one day stop and visit to Cairo for the pyramids.  Have been researching visa requirements on the Ports boards and there is very little info.  Wondering if anyone has been there recently as part of a HAL cruise and has any experience on this subject.  Even the Egyptian government's website states that a visa is required for cruise passengers but that the cruise lines usually handle it. I find it odd for the government to speak on behalf of the cruise lines and I am really not interested in "usually" or what other cruise lines do.  Anybody? Any advice?

[CruiserBruce]

Being as HAL only stops at Egypt once or twice a year, and given the recent Covid issues...not sure how "recent" the experience will be.

[cruisemom42]

Pre-Covid HAL obtained the Egyptian visas for everyone on board. There may have been a small charge to our room (like $10-$15).

 

I see no reason why this would have changed.

 

[OlsSalt]

Made several cruise stops in Egypt - yes the ship arranges the visas. So if they say they do, expect this  to be true. No extra work required on  your part. Egypt very much wants tourism to come back to their remarkable country, so I suspect they will be doing everything they can to make this easy.

 

Hope you enjoy this port stop - it will be a jam packed day. It can assault the senses, so be ready for it.  I have loved every visit to Egypt and each has been chaotic in ways not found in other countries but mainly a very welcoming country. Be very careful about eating or drinking anything. 

[lissie]

Not HAL but  all the cruise lines are probably the same . We stopped in Safaga (for Luxor) on Cunard last October. Some people spents $100's getting visas - but they weren't required. The ship collected our passports and were returned after the visit with our stamps in and out of Egypt. No charge 

[bcummin]

I was on ms Zaandam that stopped in Sharm el Sheik and Safaga, Egypt last October.  HAL took care of whatever Visa there was.  Sharm was a regular port to enter, but Safaga was different.  Our HAL tour bus left the ship and stopped at the immigration building.  All passengers left the bus to enter the building for inspection, then reboarded our bus to enjoy the long tour to Luxor.  Returning to Safaga, we again left the bus to go through the immigration building before reboarding the bus to return to the ship. I could look up more details, but the important thing is that I did not have to take care of anything, except for the time-wasting inconveniences in Safaga.

Enjoy your day at Alexandria.

Barbara

[Nang]

The itinerary I received from HAL for this cruise lists several ports as "Visa required for some" but not the one for Egypt. I will trust the "advice" in the itinerary (and that provided above).

[lissie]

12 hours ago, Nang said:

The itinerary I received from HAL for this cruise lists several ports as "Visa required for some" but not the one for Egypt. I will trust the "advice" in the itinerary (and that provided above).

Those itineraries are very USA-centric. I'm cruising to US/Canada/Greenland/Iceland and its only the later 2 countries with the "visa required for some".  They are both part of Schengen and  do not require a visa for me or even an visa waiver. Canada and the USA both do require me to have that paperwork in place though.  If you are cruising through the Med next  year you may need an ETIAS for Greece. 

 

Just like airlines, cruise lines take no responsibility on providing the correct visa information so its always worth double checking their advice 

Edited May 28, 2023 by lissie

[Nang]

4 hours ago, lissie said:

Those itineraries are very USA-centric. I'm cruising to US/Canada/Greenland/Iceland and its only the later 2 countries with the "visa required for some".  They are both part of Schengen and  do not require a visa for me or even an visa waiver. Canada and the USA both do require me to have that paperwork in place though.  If you are cruising through the Med next  year you may need an ETIAS for Greece. 

 

Just like airlines, cruise lines take no responsibility on providing the correct visa information so its always worth double checking their advice 

Just as "Canada centric" as well, but even more apt is "misleading for many". Could not agree with you more on the need to double check.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

We were on the Grand Africa last October - the first HAL ship to stop in Egypt post - Covid.

We are also Canadian. The ship took care of any visa required for Egypt for all American and Canadian passengers. I can’t say for certain if that was the same for other nationalities or not. 

[Bessbus]

I will be onboard Niew Statendam in September and have a ships tour booked from Alexandria to the pyramids. I am from the UK. Is it safe to assume that the necessary visa arrangements will be taken care of by HAL. 

[Nang]

On 6/12/2023 at 3:55 AM, Bessbus said:

I will be onboard Niew Statendam in September and have a ships tour booked from Alexandria to the pyramids. I am from the UK. Is it safe to assume that the necessary visa arrangements will be taken care of by HAL. 

We are on the 17 Sept sailing, are you as well?

 

Based on what I have read I am assuming the ship will organise the visa ...

 

From the HAL website go to Identification documents in https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/faq/know-before-you-go.html

 

Scrolling and reading will eventually lead you to  "Visas" where you will find this link  https://cibtvisas.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=hollandamericaline 

while the really useful  bit is this link in that page  https://cibtvisas.com/additional-client-info . It states clearly here we do not need to organise a visa for Egypt, Israel or Turkey. That is good enough for me.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Nang

[Bessbus]

Afternoon. Yes we will be on the 17th Sept sailing. Very kind of you to do some research on my behalf. The info is also good enough for me and I will rely on the ship to organise the necessary visa for our day in Egypt. 
Again much appreciated. 

  

[Heidi13]

On 6/11/2023 at 11:25 AM, Bessbus said:

I will be onboard Niew Statendam in September and have a ships tour booked from Alexandria to the pyramids. I am from the UK. Is it safe to assume that the necessary visa arrangements will be taken care of by HAL. 

 

Never on HAL, but I have cruised into Egyptian ports many times and the ship always arranged the Visa upon arrival. Also used my UK passport.

[Bessbus]

21 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Never on HAL, but I have cruised into Egyptian ports many times and the ship always arranged the Visa upon arrival. Also used my UK passport.

Many thanks for your re-assuring reply. 

[Nukman01]

Hi,

we are UK citizens sailing on the 17th September Nieuw Statendam cruise with Alexander, Egypt in the itinerary. I contacted HAL UK office today and asked the question, “Do we need a visa for entry into Egypt?”, the advice I was given was that cruise passengers are covered by 72hour visa exempt scheme, thus no need to obtain an Egypt visa, good news 😎