Visas World Cruise

[Stupet]

Can anyone help with this….official channels very unhelpful.

My 80 year old dad booked a world cruise with p&o and is using their link to a company to get his visas.

Some he can’t get until 3 weeks before… would the staff people on the boat help him do that?

He is panicking that they won’t let him on the boat unless he has all the visas…some sites say all paper work has to be done in order to board ship, others say visa for Egypt for example, can be done on board….but which is it!

Any help guidance appreciated p&o just see all the paper work us up to him to sort, and offered no guidance.

 

Thanks 

[crystalspin]

57 minutes ago, Stupet said:

Any help guidance appreciated p&o just see all the paper work us up to him to sort, and offered no guidance.

Is this P&O-UK or P&O-Australia?

 

We have "boards" for each of those lines:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/22-po-cruises-uk/

or 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/332-pampo-cruises-australia/

 

Also boards for chatting with other cruisers from your area:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/

or

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/

 

Hope you find your answers!

[Essiesmom]

There might also be a roll call for his cruise, and CC members there will be discussing visas.  EM

[Host Kat]

8 hours ago, Stupet said:

Can anyone help with this….official channels very unhelpful.

My 80 year old dad booked a world cruise with p&o and is using their link to a company to get his visas.

Some he can’t get until 3 weeks before… would the staff people on the boat help him do that?

He is panicking that they won’t let him on the boat unless he has all the visas…some sites say all paper work has to be done in order to board ship, others say visa for Egypt for example, can be done on board….but which is it!

Any help guidance appreciated p&o just see all the paper work us up to him to sort, and offered no guidance.

 

Thanks 

 

Hello @Stupet and welcome to Cruise Critic and the message boards!

 

I see you have a UK IP Address. (Don't worry, only Hosts & Administrators can see the information. It is not available to members.) Therefore, I'm guessing your dad booked a P&O Cruises ( UK ) cruise. And yes, the contract your dad agreed to when booking the cruise states it is up to the passenger to verify what documents are needed and then obtain them. That is standard for most cruise lines, not just P&O.

 

To help you out your new thread has been moved to the World Cruising forum where it will be on topic. It is the place for world and extended length cruisers to share advice and experiences. Browse through the thread titles on this forum looking for threads of interest. You will probably find Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

@Essiesmom is correct about the Roll Call for your dad's cruise. To find Cruise Critic members sailing the same cruise, you need to post on the specific Cruise Critic Roll Call thread for the cruise line, ship and sail date. Since you did not mention the ship or sail date, I cannot refer you to the Roll Call thread for the cruise if one has already been created.

 

Please read What is a Roll Call? Everything you Need to Know and How To: Create A New Roll Call. For more information about our famous Roll Calls, please read the Roll Calls and Our Policy Regarding Facebook and Roll Calls sections in the Guidelines. We also have the following Cruise Critic article from last year you might enjoy: 8 Reasons to Join a Cruise Critic Roll Call

 

There is a "captive audience" there since the posters on the Roll Call thread for his cruise are all sailing together! The Roll Call thread members may have important information posted in the Roll Call thread. Especially those that may have sailed the line, ship or itinerary before. Roll Calls are for people to get to know one another before their cruise. Therefore, there will be all kinds of discussion. And I feel sure visas are part of the discussion for his cruise.

 

The Cruise Critic website and the message boards are both great resources for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are glad you found us! Please feel free to browse the message board categories list for all our various forums. Click here Cruise Critic Community. Please read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

If you ever need technical help in regard to using the Cruise Critic message board software, go to the Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here! forum. You will see a large amount of "How to..." pinned threads toward the top of the forum's first page. Also, browse through the threads in the forum looking for threads of interest. You will probably find Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

So sorry this is so long, but I sincerely hope this information will be helpful to someone new to posting on our message boards. We are glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Host Kat

[At7Seas]

Cruise lines definitely know about deadlines some countries handle. For example will I be on the Atlantic Ocean when Sri Lanka allows starting with the procedure for the required transit ETA on my own world cruise. Luckily it is an online procedure. And I was on a cruise in Egypt in March. My passport was collected, stamped by the Egyptian authorities and returned. They gave free transit visa for 72 hours, but this was really checked every single time I left the ship and returned. Only those citizens that need to visit the Egyptian embassy for visa were excluded from this simple procedure.
 
Please be aware that countries often have quite different rules for different passport holders, and it is not always easy to understand the logic behind. I don’t know about which passport we are talking. It is always a good idea to look at the website of foreign affairs of your own country, there are normally travel advises. Also quite good, but not giving any warranty, is https://visaindex.com/. For world cruises interesting exemptions might be: Vietnam (if visa are required, not needed for passport) transit visa available aboard, Oman hands out a cruise visitor card, Jordan has cruise visa on arrival.

 

[Stupet]

Dad followed link on p&o website to citb (or similar ) to get his visas. Paid £400+ and waiting for Oman Egypt Sri Lanka Indonesia. They wanted pics of passport and he’s still waiting for visas.

 

he has standard uk passport 

 

doesn’t seem right to me…they give him so little info….sounds like he doesn’t need a visa for Egypt at all prepaid for

 

so confused, and he is just chucking money as it as scared he won’t be allowed to go

[At7Seas]

It is disgusting that this kind of companies earn a lot of money with in many cases useless services and factually cause more problems than they solve. For your father you can gather detailed information for general visits here: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
 
I am not aware about Indonesia having special rules for cruise tourists, I never cruised there. Regular e-visa up to 30 days have a fee of roughly 25 £ to be paid in Rupiah. Normally you would apply for e-visa. https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/
 
Sri Lanka requires from cruise guests visiting not longer than 48 hours transit ETA, these are free and available online only within 90 days from arrival. Same time frame for Sri Lanka tourist ETA for stays up to 30 days the fee would be 50 US$. Only a couple of personal and passport details are needed as well as information regarding ship and itinerary. Simple as that. https://eta.gov.lk/slvisa/
 
Oman has no visa requirement up to 48 hours for guests only visiting with cruise ship. Everybody going ashore gets a green plastic card to prove being legally in the country if needed. I had to show it entering the port and it was collected when going aboard again. My passport remained aboard and got a stamp while I was visiting the country. No costs involved.
 
Egypt visa are regularly done on arrival, but can be done online as well. Both at a fee of 25 US$ for 28 days. How cruises are handled I mentioned above, the 72 hour requirement is without passage through the Suez Canal, since passing through does not require any documentation or passport check. https://visa2egypt.gov.eg/
 
Souvenirs form Egypt, 72 h “quick trip” from Safaga Port
 

 
Regular visa sticker, bought at Hurghada airport (and yes, it was exchanging money against sticker, sticker was stamped by border offical, that's it)
 

 
And stamps from Oman collected during a cruise
 

[Stupet]

Thank you kindly

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, Stupet said:

Can anyone help with this….official channels very unhelpful.

My 80 year old dad booked a world cruise with p&o and is using their link to a company to get his visas.

Some he can’t get until 3 weeks before… would the staff people on the boat help him do that?

He is panicking that they won’t let him on the boat unless he has all the visas…some sites say all paper work has to be done in order to board ship, others say visa for Egypt for example, can be done on board….but which is it!

Any help guidance appreciated p&o just see all the paper work us up to him to sort, and offered no guidance.

 

Thanks 

 

I haven't used P&O's Visa Service since I worked for them back in the 1980's, so my info is definitely not current.

 

However, I have used a Visa service multiple times and for the fee they charge, they should be answering all questions. With our previous World Cruise, we used the cruise line's Visa service and they took care of all issues.

 

When a Visa application could not be submitted before the cruise began, they recorded details of our passports and once they were received, forwarded the Visas to the ship.

 

With respect to Egypt, on every previous visit and I have made many, they issued Visas to the pax when the ship arrived in port. However, I have read multiple articles where cruise pax now require an eVisa before arrival. This only changed within the past few months. You should not need to research these requirement, as the Visa service should be aware of the current requirement and advise accordingly.

 

Here is a relevant website

https://www.egyptvisaspro.com/news/egypt-visa-for-cruises#:~:text=Yes%2C you will need a,during your stay in Egypt.

 

I would call the Visa service on your dad's behalf and ask them how they plan to acquire each Visa and provide the required documents to your dad. If they advise some will be sent to the ship, I would call P&O and confirm this is acceptable.

 

If the Visa service won't acquire the Visas once he is aboard the ship, I expect some of the Pursers will assist him with the application. Since the WC has an older demographic they will deal with these issues on a regular basis.

 

Good luck getting it resolved.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Heidi13

[At7Seas]

Here a few things are mixed up completely. Especially there were no major changes to the system applied, just that Turkish citizens are admitted to visa on arrival / e-visa / quick trips, while Canadians no longer can and need to go to the embassy.
 
Egypt knows three categories of nationalities. A very few Arab nationals may enter without formalities. A bit larger group may enter only after the embassy has handed out visa in advance. The by far largest group, among them UK citizens, may choose between the versions discussed here, of course the quick trip is only possible on very short visits.
 
Who wants interrupting a flight for up to 24 hours can get into Egypt on what is called “quick trip”, who visits Egypt on a cruise at sea gets even 72 hours as quick trip. Legally it is a transit visa given on arrival free of charge, factually it is just a stamp one doesn’t need to do anything for.
 
Who arrives at an airport and stays for more than 24 hours should buy visa on the spot, although getting e-visa is not complicated it is still easier to hand 25 US$ cash over the counter before going to the passport check. It is even faster when the border officer does not need to compare the data on the e-visa with those in the passport, but just has a look into the passport before stamping it.
 
The commercial site Heidi linked states: “A visa is necessary to disembark temporarily from a cruise. Tourists can make their own visa arrangements and use a prearranged e-Visa.” Yes, they can. They can pay the company Heidi linked for this service 84 US$ instead of 25 US$ for simply forwarding data. It is allowed, Egypt - in opposite to other countries - does not discourage or even forbid to use third parties forwarding the data. Cruise guests can ask the Egyptian government directly for e-visa. And of course they can choose to get the quick trip stamp aboard.
 
And to leave no gap in information:
 
A Nile cruise doesn’t cross any border and lasts too long that it is technically impossible to use the quick trip regulations to avoid paying for visa.
 
A part of Sinai including Sharm el Sheikh follows different rules, the visa for this area is a free stamp, just it is not allowed to visit other parts of Egypt with this visa.

 

[exiledowl]

The Indonesian embassy informed me that visa on arrival is the norm there.

But that is for each entry ; we are taking a world cruise later this month and enter Indonesia on 2 separate occasions and therefore need to pay twice. 

[JanR]

DW and I have been traveling over the last 18 months extensively (including a World Cruise).  I can only give my experience through this, understanding that I am an American and the protocol for UK citizens may be differently—although it didn’t seem to be the case for most countries.  
 

1.  We did our own research for each of the countries we were visiting.  This included our US State Department website as well as the embassies of each country to our country.  We made our own spreadsheet of this information.  
 

2.  Fortunately, China was the only country that required a physical visa from their embassy or consulate.  We were prepared to do this but our WC deleted China from the itinerary as the country was slow to open up to tourism.  China’s procedures might have changed since then. 
 

3. For all other that required a Visa, they were all e-visas which we did online.  Some required these to be completed prior to arrival, others were issued on arrival.  We concentrated at home on those that needed to be done ahead of time.  Note that some countries have a limit on how early you can file for a visa.  I think India was that way, so we did those on the ship.  
 

4.  Also, we found that many of the e-visas that were to be granted on arrival, the cruise line either did those on our behalf or gave instructions on-board.  I’ll caveat that we were sailing on MSC and not P&O so the procedures very well may be different.  
 

As long as none of your countries require a visa from their embassy/consulate (like our China is experience) don’t fret too much about it.  It is a pain, but in the end will not be a severe obstacle. 

[At7Seas]

It was just yesterday that China was in the news with introducing visa free travels to boost tourism. Two things to learn from this fact: things can change unexpectedly and inform yourself whether it is the same for your passport.
 
The different procedures and fees for visa make it obvious that countries have different intentions. Australia for example with the recently introduced e-visa for Western passports to phase out the ETA collects quite a lot of data and issues these visa for free. Obviously they are screening and who doesn‘t trigger a closer look is welcome without paying anything. Others give you a simple stamp into a passport and call it visa on arrival. No practical difference to any other country that wants to check legal stay and prohibit overstaying by stamping a passport. And there are countries collecting money for a simple immigration stamp, just as a kind of tourist tax, an arrival tax in opposite to the departure taxes other countries charge.
 
And regarding e-visa there are deadlines indeed, India allows the application 120 days before arrival only for one year and for five year visa, that one for the short term visit it is even shorter. Sri Lanka handles 90 days before arrival for every type of ETA. At least at the airport this is also available on arrival, on my last cruise to Sri Lanka there was no option to apply for in port, before passport only was sufficient. Australia has another policy, validity starts immediately and you have to leave again within one year after application. BTW, these three are already all countries I personally need more than just showing a passport valid long enough on my own world cruise, another three countries require principally visa, but have exemptions for cruise guests.
 
Yes, I am writing this from a privileged point of view. I am an ordinary citizen having my passport from a rich country that has a government not being in conflict with many other countries. With some differences in details the British father of Stupet is similarly privileged. That makes travelling easy. Through the years I learned that there is no need being afraid about visa. Especially nowadays we don‘t need to run from one embassy to the other for a world cruise, since most countries reduced their efforts and want to see our data electronically in advance - if at all.
 
And still there is a lot of panic about visa, nourished by companies that in the very most cases want to sell useless services. Just as the company that Heidi found, which does not provide any additional value. If somebody has to run from A to B for you applying for visa as in the old days it is completely justified paying this person. But if you have to file exactly the same data online as with the governmental online system? That is completely useless. And Heidi’s company charges you 336 % of the governmental fee for zero additional value. They produce online content just to show how good they are for you and to convince you that you really need them to get through this procedure - even in cases you may enter the country without paying any fee. Panic as a business model. The same with the company the father of Stupet used. They collected a lot of money and just cause headaches.

 

[zoncom]

  Am on this years Oceania WC. Egypt, to our sorrow, has been cancelled. No Visa for China. These ripoff artists will still sell you a unneccessary   Visa.Several other ports have waived short term Visas too. Beware!,