India Visa

[Grand Cru]

We are booked on the Nautica from Dubai to Singapore, I have read on cruise critic that Oceania will sort the visa on board, as we are calling in to several ports that require a visa, I would like to get confirmation from Oceania so does anyone have their email please.

[LHT28]

it would be faster to call them

[PaulMCO]

You will need a visa for India.  That can be done electronically...

 

https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=oceania

 

As Lynne (LHT28) stated call guest services.  Generally except for China and India, Oceania will do them or they are not required (transit) and bill your account.

[Grand Cru]

Thankyou for your reply but time difference from uk, still looking for email address as we don’t go until December.

[FlyerTalker]

Oceania did not do Indian visas in our prior cruises to those ports.  Guests were required to obtain them on their own, and to have them prior to boarding.

 

As mentioned, India now has an electronic system, so the old hassle of dealing with consulates is pretty much over for most visitors from "western" countries.

 

The VisaCentral link posted above will take you to where you can fill in a form and VisaCentral will then electronically submit them on your behalf.  Note that going this route will result in both the actual visa fees to the Indian government, along with a fee to VC for them forwarding the data to India.  You can also apply for the visa directly from the Indian government and forego the VC fee.

 

 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Grand Cru said:

Thankyou for your reply but time difference from uk, still looking for email address as we don’t go until December.

Do you have a TA?

 If you can check the Oceania  UK website  under  "Contact US" at the bottom of the page it should have a UK number   emailing you may or may not get an answer before Dec

 

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html

[babysteps]

If you are using a TA they likely have a form letter from O for your cruise detailing all visa requirements.

 

That was our experience for Feb 2023 Nautica cruise as US based passengers.

 

I think our TA checked with us at least 3 times to make sure all was in order

[firsttimers68]

We did our Indian visas electronically. Be aware that the turnaround time is VERY fast! You have to activate visa, i.e. travel within a certain time of it being approved. I think it's 28 days, then you have a month validity. I think my application was approved within 8 hours. It's very easy to do yourself rather than via an agent.

 

[Harters]

17 hours ago, Grand Cru said:

time difference from uk,

Look at O's website which will have a number to phone from the UK. It's always been staffed during British daytime hours, in my experience. 

[Godblessourhome]

10 hours ago, firsttimers68 said:

We did our Indian visas electronically. Be aware that the turnaround time is VERY fast! You have to activate visa, i.e. travel within a certain time of it being approved. I think it's 28 days, then you have a month validity. I think my application was approved within 8 hours. It's very easy to do yourself rather than via an agent.

 

Did you apply for the 30-day India Tourist EVisa?  

 

[FlyerTalker]

32 minutes ago, Godblessourhome said:

Did you apply for the 30-day India Tourist EVisa?  

 

 

Yes.  Easy.

[Godblessourhome]

5 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Yes.  Easy.

Thank you for sharing the info!

That explains why: You have to activate visa, i.e. travel within a certain time of it being approved. I think it's 28 days, then you have a month validity. 

As, we are going to apply for the 1-year tourist EVisa, it is a bit different for the validity.

[firsttimers68]

1 hour ago, Godblessourhome said:

Did you apply for the 30-day India Tourist EVisa?  

 

I did yes, you would have to check when you need to start using 1 year visa as it may be different.

[Godblessourhome]

4 minutes ago, firsttimers68 said:

I did yes, you would have to check when you need to start using 1 year visa as it may be different.

Thank you for the advice.

May I please ask, on the visa application form, they ask for the "Details of the Reference in India".  What did you put down for NAME, ADDRESS, and PHONE NUMBER in India?

Will it be correct that, for NAME, I put Oceania Cruises, ADDRESS: Oceania's Ship Name; and Phone number 1-800-531-5619??

Appreciate your advices please.

Thank you!!

[firsttimers68]

18 hours ago, Godblessourhome said:

Thank you for the advice.

May I please ask, on the visa application form, they ask for the "Details of the Reference in India".  What did you put down for NAME, ADDRESS, and PHONE NUMBER in India?

Will it be correct that, for NAME, I put Oceania Cruises, ADDRESS: Oceania's Ship Name; and Phone number 1-800-531-5619??

Appreciate your advices please.

Thank you!!

I used ships details when I did it yes and no problem. As I said in an earlier post my 30 day e-visa was approved within a few hours, which is fantastic. Have the best time in an amazing country!

[Godblessourhome]

3 hours ago, firsttimers68 said:

I used ships details when I did it yes and no problem. As I said in an earlier post my 30 day e-visa was approved within a few hours, which is fantastic. Have the best time in an amazing country!

Thank you!!  When is your sailing?

Have a safe and smooth sailing. Enjoy and have a wonderful time.

[firsttimers68]

14 hours ago, Godblessourhome said:

Thank you!!  When is your sailing?

Have a safe and smooth sailing. Enjoy and have a wonderful time.

We did our trip in March, and had an absolutely brilliant time.

[Godblessourhome]

13 hours ago, firsttimers68 said:

We did our trip in March, and had an absolutely brilliant time.

Our trip to India (among other places) will be in December.  But we will only return home in November from our September trip. So there are not be much time in between trips.  That is why we want to get our India visa approved before we leave home for our September trip.

Lots of planning before our long trips!!

Thanks for sharing information here so that we can be better informed and plan ahead of time.

 

[mumcat]

On 8/10/2023 at 6:54 AM, firsttimers68 said:

We did our trip in March, and had an absolutely brilliant time.

May I ask if you were on a cruise and if so, did you take the ship's tours or did you go onshore independently? I'm currently trying to decide what to do on our December O cruise from Dubai to S'pore. The ship's tours are quite expensive especially in Mumbai. 

[mumcat]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:17 PM, Grand Cru said:

We are booked on the Nautica from Dubai to Singapore, I have read on cruise critic that Oceania will sort the visa on board, as we are calling in to several ports that require a visa, I would like to get confirmation from Oceania so does anyone have their email please.

We are on this cruise and earlier this week, we received emails from O detailing which places require visas and how to get them. I assume that you will have received these emails by now.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

1 hour ago, mumcat said:

May I ask if you were on a cruise and if so, did you take the ship's tours or did you go onshore independently? I'm currently trying to decide what to do on our December O cruise from Dubai to S'pore. The ship's tours are quite expensive especially in Mumbai. 

On our February cruise Mumbai was a "turn around" stop where the BTB joined.  To say it was a goat rodeo is an understatement.  Be aware that O excursion staff will be very anxious at this stop if conditions are the same. Mumbai was our first Indian stop. O pursers will have taken your passport early on in the cruise, possibly at embarkation, depending on the port. Because Mumbai was our first Indian stop, everyone, including crew and officers, had to disembark and go through immigration, customs and security. The lines were unbelievable. Pursers will give you your passport and e visa before you enter the bldg and then your e visa will be stamped again at each Indian port but, even if we were not taking an excursion, everyone had to exit in Mumbai or we couldn't exit anywhere else in India. The shore ex folks shut down their set up in the Main stage precisely at the meeting time for the last sponsored excursion so, if you were even 5 minutes late, you were SOL.  Yet, nothing moved for at least 90 minutes. My advice is if you can find a private excursion that you like, take that as they will wait for you to get through n the mess but you won't have to wait for 1000 other people to get through the morass.

[firsttimers68]

1 hour ago, mumcat said:

May I ask if you were on a cruise and if so, did you take the ship's tours or did you go onshore independently? I'm currently trying to decide what to do on our December O cruise from Dubai to S'pore. The ship's tours are quite expensive especially in Mumbai. 

```We cruised into Mumbai a few years ago. What we did was on leaving the ship and going out through gates into street is walk past many of the taxi drivers touting for business to near the end of taxi line, well away from entrance. We spoke to a lovely young guy and told him we wanted to see the sights, Gandhi house, laundry etc and agreed a price. We also arranged to meet him in the evening so he could take us to a non tourist restaurant. It was a brilliant day and he was very reasonably priced and an absolute gentleman. You will hav a fantastic time I am sure.

[mumcat]

1 hour ago, firsttimers68 said:

```We cruised into Mumbai a few years ago. What we did was on leaving the ship and going out through gates into street is walk past many of the taxi drivers touting for business to near the end of taxi line, well away from entrance. We spoke to a lovely young guy and told him we wanted to see the sights, Gandhi house, laundry etc and agreed a price. We also arranged to meet him in the evening so he could take us to a non tourist restaurant. It was a brilliant day and he was very reasonably priced and an absolute gentleman. You will hav a fantastic time I am sure.

Thank you. I am speaking to a tour company in Mumbai to organise something. I'm not such a free spirit as you are and like to have things sorted in advance 😊.  But I'm sure we will have a great time.

[mumcat]

2 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

On our February cruise Mumbai was a "turn around" stop where the BTB joined.  To say it was a goat rodeo is an understatement.  Be aware that O excursion staff will be very anxious at this stop if conditions are the same. Mumbai was our first Indian stop. O pursers will have taken your passport early on in the cruise, possibly at embarkation, depending on the port. Because Mumbai was our first Indian stop, everyone, including crew and officers, had to disembark and go through immigration, customs and security. The lines were unbelievable. Pursers will give you your passport and e visa before you enter the bldg and then your e visa will be stamped again at each Indian port but, even if we were not taking an excursion, everyone had to exit in Mumbai or we couldn't exit anywhere else in India. The shore ex folks shut down their set up in the Main stage precisely at the meeting time for the last sponsored excursion so, if you were even 5 minutes late, you were SOL.  Yet, nothing moved for at least 90 minutes. My advice is if you can find a private excursion that you like, take that as they will wait for you to get through n the mess but you won't have to wait for 1000 other people to get through the morass.

I had read that the Indian formalities can be time consuming but nothing like you described. Thank you for posting as it's better to be well prepared.