Help please Egypt Visa questions

[ritraveler]

We are sailing on the Apex on September 26 to Egypt which we will need a visa for. Both my roll call and the facebook page for this cruise has a lot of differing opinions and real uncertainty as to how exactly to complete the E-visa application online.. apparently there have been many calls to celebrity about this and there’s been a lot of non definitive information.. I guess because we are the first cruise returning to Egypt.. I’ve heard from some that the ship might handle this onboard but there is no guarantee of getting approved in time to go ashore so I don’t think I want to just wait and see .. the application online isn’t just for cruises so some of the questions regarding the host information is unclear.. they want our hosts phone number in Egypt, the address ( port of Alexandria?)

fax number in Egypt 🤷‍♀️ anybody have any good info?

[cruisemom42]

Egypt has an arrangement with cruise ships. What they have is basically a "visa of convenience" -- these are granted more or less "en masse" for arriving passengers on cruise ships. The ship obtains the visas on your behalf. There will likely be a small charge on your shipboard account for this convenience.

 

This is always a very confusing issue because shoreside personnel have no idea of these individual circumstances. But I've traveled to Egypt on three different cruise lines and it has been handled exactly the same way on all three (except that some ships charge passengers back more than others....🙄).

 

Whether you obtain the online visa or not, you won't be able to get off the ship until the ship is cleared. Getting the visa in advance seems to just confuse them and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't go ahead and obtain another one for you onboard ship anyway.

 

 

[itchtocruz]

In April of this year, our itinerary was changed to bypass Israel, and Egypt was substituted in its place two days before departing Athens.  Visas were provided by the cruise line while onboard. Can't say for sure if the accommodations were provided for us because we were on a luxury cruise line or because it was a last minute change.   

[Miss Vickie]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:59 PM, cruisemom42 said:

Egypt has an arrangement with cruise ships. What they have is basically a "visa of convenience" -- these are granted more or less "en masse" for arriving passengers on cruise ships. The ship obtains the visas on your behalf. There will likely be a small charge on your shipboard account for this convenience.

 

This is always a very confusing issue because shoreside personnel have no idea of these individual circumstances. But I've traveled to Egypt on three different cruise lines and it has been handled exactly the same way on all three (except that some ships charge passengers back more than others....🙄).

 

Whether you obtain the online visa or not, you won't be able to get off the ship until the ship is cleared. Getting the visa in advance seems to just confuse them and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't go ahead and obtain another one for you onboard ship anyway.

 

 

Were any of your Egypt visits on HAL? We’re booked on a 2024 Med cruise with them that spends 2 days in Egypt. I’ve called HAL twice about the visa and both times they told me we’d have to get it on our own.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Miss Vickie

[PROCRUISE]

45 minutes ago, Miss Vickie said:

Were any of your Egypt visits on HAL? We’re booked on a 2024 Med cruise with them that spends 2 days in Egypt. I’ve called HAL twice about the visa and both times they told me we’d have to get it on our own.

I'm more inclined to agree with cruisemom42. I visited Egypt by land but the visa was acquired at the airport when landing in Cairo. I do remember, when doing the Baltic Sea cruise with HAL when you spent two days in St. Petersburg, HAL handled the required visa's and added the charge to our onboard accounts. I suspect you'll have to move up the chain, aside from just the representatives, who I've recently found give you different answers for the same question due to new staffing.

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Miss Vickie said:

Were any of your Egypt visits on HAL? We’re booked on a 2024 Med cruise with them that spends 2 days in Egypt. I’ve called HAL twice about the visa and both times they told me we’d have to get it on our own.

 

Yes, as it happens, one of the cruises was on HAL. As I said, the people who answer the phones land-side have no clue. It has led to countless confused posts over the years.

 

 

[Fly and Sail]

Egypt offers eVisas now if you want to be certain and get it out of the way ahead of time.

[ritraveler]

Thank you all for your input.. it’s so confusing when people get conflicting answers. I was looking through my cruise confirmation doc and in the fine print  it has a section on passports/ visas and refers questions regarding them to the website for Visa Central so I contacted them. This was my response from them for what it’s worth.

 

Hello Terri,
 
Thank you for reaching out.  
 
Visas on arrival: For U.S Citizens, it is not necessary to complete visa applications through VisaCentral for the following destinations as the cruise line will be obtaining these visas on your behalf: Kenya*, Indonesia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Jordan, Oman, Papua New Guinea. If a fee is required to obtain these visas, it will be charged to your onboard account. * Please note, if you are doing a pre-cruise tour in Kenya, a visa is required.  This visa can be obtained in advance through VisaCentral or upon arrival at the airport. If you hold a foreign passport, you must confirm with the cruise line if it will be able to secure visas for you onboard the ship for your nationality.
 
 
Kind Regards,
Diara Brown
Customer Service Specialist
T (toll free) +1.800.929.2428
Visit us at www.CIBTvisas.com (https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.cibtvisas.com/__;!!OiWDNh-9Pw!5jAKECYlgUoHzAF-eX7puUwgNQPDssCVAInamdXb2xreFzq709QevcHYO4GDIsVrdhX8NSOoG56ISBexsOw8JJNjFjavicE$)

[Bocabeach]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:59 PM, cruisemom42 said:

Egypt has an arrangement with cruise ships. What they have is basically a "visa of convenience" -- these are granted more or less "en masse" for arriving passengers on cruise ships. The ship obtains the visas on your behalf. There will likely be a small charge on your shipboard account for this convenience.

 

This is always a very confusing issue because shoreside personnel have no idea of these individual circumstances. But I've traveled to Egypt on three different cruise lines and it has been handled exactly the same way on all three (except that some ships charge passengers back more than others....🙄).

 

Whether you obtain the online visa or not, you won't be able to get off the ship until the ship is cleared. Getting the visa in advance seems to just confuse them and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't go ahead and obtain another one for you onboard ship anyway.

 

 

Do you remember how this was handled?  Did the cruise lines collect the passports 2-3 days prior to arriving in Egypt and have them stamped? Or this was done when the ships arrived in Egypt? I have a private excursion and wonder when I can get off the ship. I’m so concerned about making people wait if it were the latter. I have been trying to get an evisa but so far haven’t been able to attach our passports. So frustrating!

[Karen450]

14 hours ago, Bocabeach said:

Do you remember how this was handled?  Did the cruise lines collect the passports 2-3 days prior to arriving in Egypt and have them stamped? Or this was done when the ships arrived in Egypt? I have a private excursion and wonder when I can get off the ship. I’m so concerned about making people wait if it were the latter. I have been trying to get an evisa but so far haven’t been able to attach our passports. So frustrating!

I simply took a photo of my passport page, and emailed it to myself using a photo size of less than the size required by the Egyptian authorities.  When you send the email it will ask you what size do you want to send the photo. I then opened my email on my laptop computer and saved the photo onto my desktop.  I then attached this photo to my application.  Not fancy but it was accepted.  Make sure the passport number and bottom code are clearly legible.  Hope this helps! 

[Bocabeach]

1 hour ago, Karen450 said:

I simply took a photo of my passport page, and emailed it to myself using a photo size of less than the size required by the Egyptian authorities.  When you send the email it will ask you what size do you want to send the photo. I then opened my email on my laptop computer and saved the photo onto my desktop.  I then attached this photo to my application.  Not fancy but it was accepted.  Make sure the passport number and bottom code are clearly legible.  Hope this helps! 

Thank you for your advice. I think one of the issues could be because I used an iPhone/iPad to apply, not a laptop, which I don’t have. I wonder how many iPhone/IPad users have successfully gotten their visas. Those who successfully received their visas used their laptops, including you. 
 

I read the (mostly negative, of course) reviews on Trust Pilot. A lot of users attached their passports, the system accepted them, got confirmed and paid for their applications, and learned the next day that their passports were rejected, and they had to reattach them. Some lost as much as $100, which means they failed 4 times for a single entry visa. 
 

i tried again yesterday, using all the tips I have learned along the way. I successful attached my passport but I’m concerned about going to the next step, which is confirm and pay. It’s now in draft form I. still have time to do so - my cruise is not until October 16, and there are 2 cruises before mine, on September 26 and October 6, with identical itineraries. So I’ll wait to see how Celebrity will handle the visas then. 
 

Once again, thank you for your time. 

[Karen450]

Of course all of this collective angst would be eliminated if Celebrity clearly and consistently communicated its procedures.  I also foresee lines at guest services by visa holders who are charged $25+ each by Celebrity for visa processing on the ship.  

[Bocabeach]

13 hours ago, Karen450 said:

Of course all of this collective angst would be eliminated if Celebrity clearly and consistently communicated its procedures.  I also foresee lines at guest services by visa holders who are charged $25+ each by Celebrity for visa processing on the ship.  

Agree
 

Hopefully they will collect our passports a couple days in advance, and have the Egyptian immigration officials coming onboard and stamp them prior to our ship docking in Alexandria, with the fees added to our accounts. This is the best case scenario. 

[Fly and Sail]

18 hours ago, Bocabeach said:

Thank you for your advice. I think one of the issues could be because I used an iPhone/iPad to apply, not a laptop, which I don’t have. I wonder how many iPhone/IPad users have successfully gotten their visas. Those who successfully received their visas used their laptops, including you. 
 

I read the (mostly negative, of course) reviews on Trust Pilot. A lot of users attached their passports, the system accepted them, got confirmed and paid for their applications, and learned the next day that their passports were rejected, and they had to reattach them. Some lost as much as $100, which means they failed 4 times for a single entry visa. 
 

i tried again yesterday, using all the tips I have learned along the way. I successful attached my passport but I’m concerned about going to the next step, which is confirm and pay. It’s now in draft form I. still have time to do so - my cruise is not until October 16, and there are 2 cruises before mine, on September 26 and October 6, with identical itineraries. So I’ll wait to see how Celebrity will handle the visas then. 
 

Once again, thank you for your time. 

 

I had no problems with the OFFICIAL evisa site.

[cruisinsusin]

On 7/19/2023 at 7:33 PM, ritraveler said:

Thank you all for your input.. it’s so confusing when people get conflicting answers. I was looking through my cruise confirmation doc and in the fine print  it has a section on passports/ visas and refers questions regarding them to the website for Visa Central so I contacted them. This was my response from them for what it’s worth.

 

Hello Terri,
 
Thank you for reaching out.  
 
Visas on arrival: For U.S Citizens, it is not necessary to complete visa applications through VisaCentral for the following destinations as the cruise line will be obtaining these visas on your behalf: Kenya*, Indonesia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Jordan, Oman, Papua New Guinea. If a fee is required to obtain these visas, it will be charged to your onboard account. 

I just went to the Visa central website for a Celebrity cruise and it definitely states that an e-visa is required for US visitors to Vietnam and guides through the process to get one- doesnt sound like Celebrity will be doing that on board. It is cheaper to go thru the official Vietnam website than thru Visa Central however.

Edited August 18, 2023 by cruisinsusin
typo

[Archee]

I have been having the same issues with trying to find out what the procedure will be when we arrive in Alexandria.  One email from Celebrity said a 72 hour visa will be available upon arrival in Alexandria, when I asked further questions about this someone else from customer services replied saying that the visa needs to be purchased via the visa portal.  Not clear at all!
If anyone has applied for a visa, have you used the Alexandria cruise port address as your address in Egypt, have you said it is one entry (although we are there for 2 days), what have you put as the Travelled From Country? 
I have emailed customer services at the cruise port but not received a reply as yet.

[golferguy3]

I came across this thread for the same issue.  On Celebrity and stopping in Egypt too.

 

On VISA CENTRAL web page for Egypt, it has this note....

"When you are on a Celebrity Cruise and  transiting a Turkey Port of Call aboard a Celebrity Cruises ship A visa is not required to travel to this destination."

Since our ship is going to Turkey after Egypt we don't need a Visa?  This is very confusing.   Or does Turkey get visited first?  Or does it matter?    Can't believe Celebrity is silent on this and sends us over toe Visa Central who wants $170, which is absurd

[chrisn-au]

13 minutes ago, golferguy3 said:

I came across this thread for the same issue.  On Celebrity and stopping in Egypt too.

From my understanding (assuming US,UK,AUS ) travellers - note Canadians MAY ?? be different  for Egypt 

 

Again please do your own assessment and research - this is just what seems to be the consensus 

 

1. a visa is NOT required for Turkey - that is clear from the Turkish visa website as visiting by sea for leas than 24 hours 

 

2. a visa is NOT required for Israel. Clear from local country advice

 

3. a visa is probably not required for Egypt as it will be obtained on the ship. It has been unclear and a number of people (myself included ) have got a evisa although in all likelihood not required

 

the Egypt evisa is relatively simple to obtain for $25 USD

 

For Canadians the Egypt visa requirements are a little bit more complicated as the evisa will not be valid from 1 October and while some people are assuming that the onboard visa will suffice, I personally would be a bit nervous . There are a number of other threads discussing this  

I concur celebrity could do a lot better here 

 

[golferguy3]

I just got through to Visa Central by phone and Sully at VC (They are really CIBT as CIBT did the telephone survey after the call) stated that Celebrity will handle the Visa's for everyone for Egypt upon arrival.     

Hope that helps...

[Archee]

Hi - does anyone have any further information on this subject? This is primarily directed at anyone currently on board the Apex as presumably at this stage on your trip you will know what is happening.

[PopsGiGi]

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has traveled by Celebrity Cruise Lines to Alexandria Egypt this year.  Did the cruise line provide the travel visa?  I have read all the suggestions and history.  Now I'm hoping to hear from someone who has done it - recently. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by PopsGiGi

[SSAtlantic]

It has been posted by someone on the current Apex cruise that passports were collected on the sea day before Alexandria, stamped by Egyptian authorizes when the ship docked at 2am, then they could collect their passports between 5-7 am. The poster has not reported back if it went smoothly. We are doing this next year, so I have been following. 

[golferguy3]

For Apex passengers in October 6 and 16, 2023, sailings Egypt has been cancelled.  The visa issue is not of any value now.  Ugh

[cruisestitch]

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