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World Cruise visas


Scrapnana
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I've asked this on the Cunard board but thought I might get more answers here. Recently I received about 10 emails from my TA that Cunard had sent her about visas. Good news is that most of them can be bought when we reach the port. Bad news - still have to get the China and India ones ourselves. Cunard recommends using Visa Central [formerly Zierer]. For those in the U.S., have you used this company? If not, did you use another company and would you recommend it? I've already decided that I do not want to make two trips to D.C. to get Chinese and Indian has to be gotten through Travisa (so a trip to D.C. would not help that).

 

Thanks for your input!

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I used them several years ago on another cruise line. They are a good service.

 

You pay more when you use a service but when you have to get multiple visas it makes it easier.

 

Now, I use Pinnacle Travel Document Systems since the cruise line that we sail on uses them as Cunard uses Visa Central.

 

Keith

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  • 2 weeks later...

Scrapnana, are you going to the Andaman Islands (India)? If so, you will need to obtain an additional permit, not simply the Indian visa. This should be declared to Travisa when you apply for the visa. I sailed Swan Hellenic through the Andamans, which processed the permit for its pax. However, not all lines provide that service & require the pax to obtain their own. I also purchased a 10-yr Indian visa, since there are such peculiar waiting periods b'n travels & now, if I find I have to fly through India, the issue has been proactively solved.

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Scrapnana, are you going to the Andaman Islands (India)? If so, you will need to obtain an additional permit, not simply the Indian visa. This should be declared to Travisa when you apply for the visa. I sailed Swan Hellenic through the Andamans, which processed the permit for its pax. However, not all lines provide that service & require the pax to obtain their own. I also purchased a 10-yr Indian visa, since there are such peculiar waiting periods b'n travels & now, if I find I have to fly through India, the issue has been proactively solved.

 

We are only going to Mumbai in India. I considered getting the 10 year one but my passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 years later...
passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred.

I think you are able to carry the old one and the new one ..

 

Absolutely, as have carried 2 passports due to visas in an expired passport for a few years and never had a problem entering Brazil, China and India. Also carried print-outs from the countries website (it is usually in FAQs) as additional verification it is okay.

Edited by take us away
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Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D).

 

Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times).

 

It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back.

 

I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price.

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  • 1 month later...
Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D).

 

Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times).

 

It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back.

 

I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price.

 

We used VisaCentral when it was Zierer, for our Brazil visas. Was really pleased with them. Would love to have an excuse to need more visas. ;)

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I am going on the world cruise in Jan 2016 Queen Mary 2 and just used visa central for the three major visas we need - India and China and Brazil also got Argentina and Australia. I hope you are not going to Brazil because depending where you live, it is a major problem now. We live in Maryland not far from the Embassy but I know of others who are connected to the consulates in other parts of the country. Don't use the visa central concierge service --it is not necessary -- but always ask for a supervisor since it is a call center and this way you will always get the correct answer

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  • 1 month later...
Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D).

 

Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times).

 

It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back.

 

I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price.

 

Was the 15 day time period for both China and India visas? If I were to do this, I am wondering how long I would be without my passport? Just in case I might plan other travels, etc.

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Was the 15 day time period for both China and India visas? If I were to do this, I am wondering how long I would be without my passport? Just in case I might plan other travels, etc.

 

Yes, it was. I have to admit that I was kind of stressed sending my passport, especially after the UPS man told me that they would not insure passports but the next day I logged into Visa Central and saw that mine had been received. I would definitely use a service again if needed (and I hope it will be;)).

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One thing about visas is that the amount of turn around, the rules and other related issues change often. I have obtained a China Visa several times and just about each year the rules change and sometimes turnaround is faster than other times. Same for other places requiring a visa.

 

Keith

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  • 3 months later...

I used CIBT/Visa Central in Los Angeles to obtain Chinese Visas for my family's tour of Asia this summer. I too was worried about shipping our passports (with a prepaid FedEx label, by the way) but I received an email the next day saying they were safely received. They were very efficient, and we had our passports back within 10 days without having to pay the rush surcharge. That being said, we might have just been lucky and gotten our applications in before the big rush of passengers who found out at the last minute they would need Visas. (Convoluted rules and frequent changes created a lot of confusion.)

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