Jump to content

Procedure of the Visa Stamp


Optifire

Recommended Posts

Hello, we are booked with Celebrity Equinox and are going with Ramses Tours this October for an overnight tour in Cairo. I know there has been many posts about the visa stamp being obtainable on the ship. My question is for all those out there that have done a private tour in Egypt and received a visa stamp on board the ship. How was the visa stamp given to you? Did they collect the passports, did you have to stand in a long line. Was the stamp given to you as you disembarked or was it obtainable on board the ship at your timely leisure. I have searched for these answers, but I can not find them. I appreciate any anwers you can give me on this issue. Happy Seas to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On our cruise, we had to hand in our passports before visiting Turkey (the country prior to our Egypt ports). They provide you with a voucher. The day before we docked in Egypt (Port Said) was a sea day and you were told to bring your voucher to the purser's desk and pick up your passport at any time within a fairly long window (6-10 hours; don't remember exactly).

 

The quick stay visa (really just a passport stamp) was in our passports when we picked them up. I do advise that you check your passport right there as you pick it up, as I have read on these boards of at least one person whose passport did not get stamped, for some reason, and he or she didn't discover it until they were getting off the ship the next morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks CruiseMom42 for the reply...Which cruise line were you on for this cruise? Ours will be on Celebrity Equinox. I'm sorry, I should have addressed the question better to find out how Celebrity passengers have experienced the visa stamp issue.

 

Thanks for posting...and Thanks Keith for pointing that out as it is so true that not all cruise lines have the same procedures in place for this.

 

So, for all those past Celebrity passengers who have done a private tour (not with the ship) in Egypt, could you please let me know the procedure of how Celebrity took care of giving you your visa stamp in your passport.

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...and Thanks Keith for pointing that out as it is so true that not all cruise lines have the same procedures in place for this.

 

So, for all those past Celebrity passengers who have done a private tour (not with the ship) in Egypt, could you please let me know the procedure of how Celebrity took care of giving you your visa stamp in your passport.

 

I will be visiting Egypt on the Norwegian Jade next spring. Are there any previous Jade passengers who could tell me how they handled passport visa stamps for private tours in Egypt? Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also want to mention something more about Egypt. We have been there three times starting in 2007 and all on the same ship and the procedures have been a bit different each time including some paperwork we had to fill in prior to arriving to the ports of call.

 

Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While it's true that there may be slight individual differences between lines, it seems that most are pretty similar in that you hand in your passport at some point, and you retrieve it prior to entry into Egypt. I haven't heard anyone mention any long lines. I think I read somewhere that on one line the cabin stewards collect and return them. On most lines, though, it seems the procedure is similar to what I stated. (My experience is on Princess, btw, sorry I left that out.)

 

The thread below is one I started a while back -- it contains experiences from cruisers on Princess, RCCL, Azamara, NCL, and Celebrity.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1008588&highlight=visa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be sure to limit your answer to how Celebrity handles this because all of this varies by cruise line.

 

Keith

 

Well, Keith, you see -- this board is populated by hundreds of lurkers who read a lot of posts and maybe never post anything.

 

Seeing a topic about visas in Egypt, they are going to check it out to see what they can learn. Therefore any and all information from a large variety of people on a large number of cruise lines is very worthwhile to them, even if it does not directly apply to the OP.

 

The OP does not own a thread, and the answers do not have to be (and actually, seldom are) tightly restricted to the exact question asked. That is one of the great values of the board.

 

We were on Princess, and our experience was as reported above. Since this is to comply with Egyptian government regulations, I suspect most cruise lines follow a very similar procedure. In our case we were in Israel the day before so it was an overnight turnaround -- hand in our passport as we returned from Israel, pick it up the next morning as we disembarked in Egypt. It was very fast and efficient.

 

Now that may or may not help the OP, but I suspect a lot of lurkers will be happy to read it.

 

;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will be visiting Egypt on the Norwegian Jade next spring. Are there any previous Jade passengers who could tell me how they handled passport visa stamps for private tours in Egypt? Thanks.

 

I had a private tour with Moustafa, but all U.S. passengers (and I believe most other nationalities) were treated alike whether on ship or private tours: passports were collected during the cruise (I don't remember which day) and returned the day before docking in Cairo with the visa stamp taken care of.

 

Just note - Before my cruise I read here about a family that couldn't find the visa stamp in one of the passports as they tried to get off of the ship in Alexandria, and lost some valuable time going back on board to track down where to get one, before finally finding it kind of hidden on one of the pages. So I checked all our passports as soon as I got them back and bookmarked the page where each stamp was so there wouldn't be any concern or delay the morning we got off the ship. (So Mike is correct - there's a lot for lurkers to learn from reading these threads no matter which ship they're on. It sure helped me!)

 

Have a great time! It's a wonderful itinerary.

 

Best,

Mia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all for your input on the stamp. We had a couple from our cruise that went to the Egyptian Consulate in NY as they were there anyway, and obtained their Visa Stamp for Egypt already at a cost of $15.00, not because they had to do it, but it now saves them the time on the ship to obtain one there. They are all done now and do not have to worry about the lines or the procedure, which would be nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all for your input on the stamp. We had a couple from our cruise that went to the Egyptian Consulate in NY as they were there anyway, and obtained their Visa Stamp for Egypt already at a cost of $15.00, not because they had to do it, but it now saves them the time on the ship to obtain one there. They are all done now and do not have to worry about the lines or the procedure, which would be nice.

 

I have a feeling they will still have to turn their passport in and retrieve it, as the Egyptian authorities will most likely want to verify that they have the visa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, Keith, you see -- this board is populated by hundreds of lurkers who read a lot of posts and maybe never post anything.

 

Seeing a topic about visas in Egypt, they are going to check it out to see what they can learn. Therefore any and all information from a large variety of people on a large number of cruise lines is very worthwhile to them, even if it does not directly apply to the OP.

 

The OP does not own a thread, and the answers do not have to be (and actually, seldom are) tightly restricted to the exact question asked. That is one of the great values of the board.

 

We were on Princess, and our experience was as reported above. Since this is to comply with Egyptian government regulations, I suspect most cruise lines follow a very similar procedure. In our case we were in Israel the day before so it was an overnight turnaround -- hand in our passport as we returned from Israel, pick it up the next morning as we disembarked in Egypt. It was very fast and efficient.

 

Now that may or may not help the OP, but I suspect a lot of lurkers will be happy to read it.

 

;)

 

I am well aware that there are many lurkers and people want to be helpful. I just know that when I ask questions I like to get answers that are specific to my original post. That was my only point. ;)

 

The procedures do vary by ship. Some cruise lines actually hold all passports the entire time. Other do not. Some obtain the visas during the course of the cruise before arriving in Egypt. Some do not. Some bring on board Egyptian personnel prior to arriving in Egpyt. This speeds up the process. Some do not. That is our experience. It can vary.

 

Anyway, looks like the OP has an approach.

 

Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I am reading all these posts on getting the visa stamp, but I have an added question that I could use some help on.

 

If you are taking a private overnight tour how is the visa stamp handled? I am getting no help from Princess, the res agents just say you get a 1 day stamp when you get off in Port Said and you get one when you get off in Alexandria - no one can explain how a private 2 day trip is handled. We are on a Ramses tour and I have emailed them as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am reading all these posts on getting the visa stamp, but I have an added question that I could use some help on.

 

If you are taking a private overnight tour how is the visa stamp handled? I am getting no help from Princess, the res agents just say you get a 1 day stamp when you get off in Port Said and you get one when you get off in Alexandria - no one can explain how a private 2 day trip is handled. We are on a Ramses tour and I have emailed them as well.

 

I'm a Princess cruiser so I say this lovingly: the Princess reps often have no idea what they are talking about. :o

 

You only need one "quick stay" visa -- it's good for up to 72 hours.

 

You do not have to worry about anything on day 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will be visiting Egypt on the Norwegian Jade next spring. Are there any previous Jade passengers who could tell me how they handled passport visa stamps for private tours in Egypt? Thanks.

On Jade last year, passports were collected at check-in. Egyptian immigration men flew into Izmir, in Turkey (where you are given a visa waiver card to go ashore), then the Egyptians spent that day, and the sea day, stamping every passport. It was announced when and where to collect your passport sometime on the sea day. The captain made an announcement, telling us these details, as some people had been upset at handing in their passports. I do not know that there was any difference for non-ship tours, and we met people who had travelled into Cairo by train....they didn't report problems. Their passports would have had the same stamp as it was an automatic process.

Jo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I researched Celebrity's website in refernce to the Visa Issue for Egypt and found a company that Celebrity uses, CIBT to answer all visa questions. I wrote an email to them with the question if we needed to obtain a visa for Egypt prior to our cruise if we were taking a private overnight tour in Cairo with Ramses Tours while we are docked in Egypt. Their response is listed below:

Thank you for your inquiry. Celebrity does not require US passport holders purchase an Egyptian visa prior to departure; it is obtained onboard the ship.

Thank you for choosing CIBT/ZVS.

Katura Gilmore

Visa & Passport Specialist I

Office: (800) 929-2428

Fax: (713) 622-3410

customerservice@cibt.com

customerservice@zvs.com

CIBT Global Visa and PassportProfessionals

USA - Canada - UK-The Netherlands – Germany - Switzerland

Please visit our websitewww.cibt.comfor moreinformation on visas and passports or contact our customer service team at1-800-929-2428.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I just got off a princess ship last week, with 2 days in egypt.

 

we turned in our passports the evening before egypt. we got them back in quick fashion the morning of our arrival. we did the overnight with a private tour (ramses). the egypt authorities prestamped the passports and once you have it in hand, you are set for your stay in egypt. we had to give them back for stamping at our next stop.

 

hope it helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...