bleacher04

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

That is the Consulate in Montreal; I provided the email for the Embassy in Ottawa.

 

Good luck to all with the Egypt visa adventure... must be frustrating beyond belief.

Yes, thanks -- based on where we live, we had to go through the consulate, not the embassy.  Their rules.

We have our visas now, so the frustration is over.  Hopefully the info in this thread will help others in the future.

14 hours ago, d9704011 said:

The Egyptian Embassy email address is:

 

Embassy.ottawa1@mfa.gov.eg

Yes, but the consulate's email address was @videotron...  And their real preferred method of communication was Facebook Messenger...

15 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

The most frustrating search that I have had in my travel history is this Egypt Visa.

Again, agreed.  It seems that they made their decision in a huff, and then the bureaucrats spent 6+ months figuring out just exactly what the rules and process would be.

3 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

I think that we have to remember that it is not the cruise lines responsibility to tell us exactly what we need.  They only have to tell you that you must be aware of the Visa needed to enter.

 

It really boils down to the fact that we as travellers have the full responsibility to know what  is required to enter a country.

 

Cruise lines generally offer general information, and they also will have a "responsibility disclaimer" in their terms or cruise contract detailing that it is your responsibility.

 

Cruise lines will also encourage you to verify these needs with official sites and governments.

Agree 100% -- I was simply commenting that 6 months ago, different people at HAL were giving different (and sometimes conflicting) responses to the question of Egyptian visas for Canadians.  And their visa-advice agent, CIBTvisas, was at that time saying "sorry, we can't help you -- you have to apply in person".  Which we know now is incorrect.  Maybe everyone has their story straight now, but at the time it was all very confusing.  And so we took matters into our own hands (and it worked out).

And yes, cruise lines are in the business of selling cruises, not providing visa advice -- ultimately it is the traveller's responsibility, as you say.  However to this point, when I was checking in online for our cruise next month, I had to check off a box labelled "I understand the visa requirements".  Beside it was a link -- it did not tell you what the visa requirements were, only that it was your responsibility to find out, and to contact CIBTvisas (a private company) for more information.  This strikes me as a legal dodge.

Contrast this with our river cruise on the Mekong last year.  Our cruise consultant for that trip asked for our flight information, and then sent back personalized step-by-step, field-by-field instructions for how to complete the Vietnamese e-visa that we needed to fly into Saigon.  Sure, I know that they run this cruise back and forth 8 months a year, and larger sea-going cruise lines handle 20-50 times as many passengers per ship, but I also know that larger sea-going cruise lines have a documentation department that is supposed to advise on these very issues.  I will also concede that very few large-ship cruise itineraries include Egypt, and so information and experience was short.  But I think that they could have done better nonetheless.

Sorry if this has turned into a rant.  I just feel that in this particular case, a lot of people, including those issuing the visas, took a long time to figure out the correct response.

2 hours ago, stairMaster said:

 

I am booked on a HAL Oosterdam cruise this fall with a stop in Alexandria and have not received any information from them with regards to Visas for Egypt.  @bleacher04 Did you receive an email directly from HAL on this matter ?  

No, we got nothing from HAL.  And even on our booking confirmation there is no indication of "visa required for some" on the Egyptian ports (although there is for all of the EU ports, go figure...).  We were alerted to this situation late last year and did our own research, trying to communicate with the consulate and searching and posting in forums like this one and on our CC roll call.
 

This "visa required for Canadians" situation has been in place for almost a year, but as mentioned before (either on this thread or on our roll call), the responses others have received from HAL (and CIBTvisas) have been mixed and sometimes contradictory.

Since you live in BC, you will need to send your application to the embassy in Ottawa.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, our application took 3 weeks to process, including mailing times each way.

8 hours ago, seeriteR said:

Has anyone had experience with HAL cruises to Egypt for Canadians with US Residency? My parents are cruising in November, round trip from Florida with a stop in Egypt. Here is the info provided by HAL on the CIBTvisa website regarding visas:

Egypt - No visa required when in transit with the ship. *Except nationals of Canada need a visa for certain ports.

Not sure what is expected. Will the ship provide a visa? Which ports is it required? If he does not have a visa, can he board the ship and just not get off in Egypt? Is there a different process for him since he is a Canadian citizen but US Resident (w/green card)?

4 hours ago, Fouremco said:

A Canadian citizen travelling on a Canadian passport is subject to the same rules and regulations, whether residing in Canada or the US. I've read nothing here, on the embassy website or elsewhere on the internet suggesting that the Egyptian government has made an exception for Canadians currently living outside the country.

 

For certain destinations, including Egypt, HAL will provide visas when required, so passengers do not need to acquire them in advance of a cruise. However, as the CIBTvisa website indicates, Canadians are an exception when it comes to Egypt. As this and similar threads point out, this is the result of an Egyptian government decision last year that Canadians can no longer acquire visas upon arrival, but instead must acquire them in advance from either the embassy in Ottawa or the consulate general in Montreal.

 

As to your question about boarding without a visa, that would not be allowed, even if a passengers says that they'll remain on the ship. This scenario comes up every year with Alaskan cruises out of Seattle that stop in Canada, typically Victoria. Would-be passengers lacking the required documentation to enter Canada think that they'll be able to board if they just stay onboard while in port, only to be advised that they won't be allowed on the cruise.

 

Based on the foregoing, I see no option other than to acquire a visa. It can be done by mail, and I'd recommend not delaying the application.

I agree with @Fouremco that country of residency makes no difference; if someone is a Canadian citizen travelling on a Canadian passport, then they need a real in-passport visa to enter Egypt.

In this case however, HAL has told us and other passengers on our Sept-Oct N. Statendam cruise that Canadian passengers without a proper Egyptian visa will still be able to board the ship, but must remain on-board in the Egyptian ports (in our case Port Said and Alexandria).  This is indeed contrary to the experience for Alaskan cruises starting in Seattle and passing through Canada, and my only explanation would be that the boarding agents in Seattle know what to look for, while those in Civitavecchia (again in our case) probably won't.

I would also add that regardless of what HAL says, the risk of trying to do this without a visa is high; if you are allowed to board without a visa you can still be removed from the ship mid-voyage, before the ship reaches Egypt.  In 2019 we watched as a group of Chinese citizens were removed from the ship in Okinawa, as our next port was in Taiwan and none of them had the required Taiwanese visas.  Obviously no one had checked this during boarding Hong Kong...

With regard to timing keep in mind that Egyptian single-entry visas are only valid for 90 days (although multi-entry visas are valid for 180 days).

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

If you are on an Edge class ship, it really doesn´t matter. No dining times on E class. Only in the booking system.

Thanks, good to know.

11 hours ago, keesar said:

What ship will you be on?  That would make a difference.

Good question, and I don't know the answer right now -- my wife was looking at short 7-10 day cruises in the Caribbean in Nov/Dec, and I was mainly watching baseball...

Hi there folks, newbies to Celebrity, looking at a cruise later this year. "Anytime" dining appears to be unavailable (much to my surprise), which is what we normally do on other lines. So that pushes us to "Select" dining at 8:30 pm. And so here's the actual question: can we just accept the 8:30 pm slot and then show up whenever we want for Anytime dining? Most lines don't really care, but maybe some do?
Thank you for your experience & advice!

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

I assume that we will need a multi-entry Visa.

We fly through Egypt twice in a 3 week period, each with a 20 hour layover/connection.

The first time we will leave the airport for a hotel dayroom, and the second time we will leave to visit the pyramids and then to a hotel.

I don't know it for fact in this case, but typically if you need a visa to enter a country, and you are flying through but leaving the in-transit area of the airport, then you will need a visa.  So I would agree with your assumption.  And with all of the other expenses, the extra CAD $55 per person is worth the peace of mind IMO.

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Another question.

 

I understand that you don't want to apply too soon, but we have to ensure that we get our passports back and Visa's in good time for our trip.

 

I assume that because the application asks for the below, that even if you apply a couple months in advance, the Visa issued would be granted for the "Date of Arrival" and therefore valid for the 3 weeks that we need?

 

So here's another place where the Egyptian visa process is murky.  Example: our cruise will first enter Egypt on Oct. 2nd.  90 days prior to that date was July 5th, which is why we waited until July 8th to send in our applications.  But someone else on the cruise applied weeks earlier than that, and their single-entry visa came back dated Sept. 1 to Nov. 30th.  So although they applied "early", their time window is fine.

In our case, we opted for the multi-entry visa, for reasons I won't get into.  Our visas have no start date, but are valid for 180 days, with an expiry date of Jan. 22, 2025 -- or about 180 days from the date of processing, not from the date of arrival we entered into the application.

I don't know if this inconsistency is due to different rules for the single- versus multiple-entry visas, or something else (and you will likely never find that out).  But if I were in your position I would wait until 6 months before your last date of entry to submit the application.

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Is there any change for Canadians getting a Visa for Egypt?

We are transiting through early next year, but on the way back we want to jump out of the Cairo airport on a 20 hour layover to see the Pyramids.

 

We know that we currently do not need the Visa for the transit, but we will if we leave the airport.

 

What is the process now for Canadians?

There has been no change and there won't be until Canada and Egypt resolve their diplomatic spat.  In 2023 Canada required all Egyptian citizens to obtain official stamp-in-passport visas to visit Canada, and so Egypt invoked reciprocity and requires the same of Canada.

A description of the process and links for the application forms can be found in posts #27-34 in this forum.  Don't apply too early; a single-entry visa is only valid for 90 days, although the multi-entry visa is good for 180 days.

Hooray!  We just got our passports back from the Egyptian Consulate in Montreal -- with our Egyptian visas.  Exactly 3 weeks from when we sent them (via Canada Post Expresspost).

22 hours ago, ship101 said:

Bleacher04, did you hear anything from the Consulate in Montreal?  It is impossible to reach them over the phone and no answer to emails. 

Nothing so far.  The consulate received our applications on July 10th, and the return envelopes have not yet been entered in the ExpressPost system (which I guess means they are still in the consulate).  The consulate did say back in March to expect 3 weeks for turnaround -- others have been reporting much quicker times, but I think they were all going through the embassy in Ottawa.

I have not tried to contact the consulate lately, but I did find they responded quickly to emails sent to <egypt.consulate@videotron.ca>.  The problem is that they never actually answered any of my questions.  My wife also had some limited success contacting them through their Facebook page, using FB Messenger.

I am checking the tracking numbers daily, and will post when they are activated.

22 minutes ago, mjh said:

 

Paul, my apologies. I overlooked 2023 in your post. 

 

No need to apologize!  I hope that you have a wonderful time!
If he is one of your Cambodian guides, try to get into Fin's tour group; he was excellent.

23 minutes ago, mjh said:

Hi Paul, no tips to offer. I'm traveling with a group of 6 late November/ early December with a pre cruise in Saigon and post cruise as well. Maybe the same cruise.

Thanks @mjh -- this is actually an old thread now, as we did this journey last Nov/Dec (2023).  And it was fantastic!

And now back to the topic at hand.  We will be sending our visa applications by courier to the consulate in Montreal on Friday (July 5th).  I will post here how it goes and how long it takes.

On 6/29/2024 at 8:23 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

This takes the discussion slightly off topic, and although I understand you not feeling safe venturing out on your own and not on a tour, but for me, this is just the culture of the Egyptians and how they make their money and approach tourists.  

 

If you have been on a River Ship in Egypt you see how aggressively the rowboats pull up to the ships and try to sell to you on your balcony or on the sun deck of the ship.  

 

As much as I can understand your feeling unsafe, I see this kind of situation in many countries as walk tall, proud, confidently, don't make eye contact and don't engage and they leave you alone.  We saw so many tactics in Egypt even on tours where sellers were calling "Hey Linda" then "Hey Susan" then another name.... the same guy.  They are just hoping someone in the crowd is Linda or Susan and going to interact.

 

My husband is Chinese and he even got called to with broken Mandarin phrases.

Good comments @CDNPolar!  So, to take this even further off-topic 😁 occasionally it actually works out the other way.  We were in the Plaka in Athens some years back, and while everyone else was inside the shops, I was just hanging out.  A guy in a souvenir store store across the way starts waving at me and trying to get my attention, and I kept ignoring him.  Finally he shouts, "Hey, is that a Tilley hat?" (yes, I was wearing a Tilley hat).  So I said yes and reluctantly went over to see him.  It turns out that he had lots of family in Toronto, and travelled over for Taste of the Danforth every year.  We had a great time chatting, and he didn't try to sell me a thing.

On 4/10/2024 at 12:22 AM, mexico8 said:

My husband got his Visa in 5 days.   He brought it there in person on Monday afternoon and they called that it could be picked up on Friday.   He went on Monday and they said they would be closed for the rest of the week.    I don't know why but we were happy he got his so quickly.

Glad to hear that the turnaround was so quick.  Out of curiosity, did your husband go to the embassy in Ottawa or the consulate in Montreal? (it would depend I know on where you live in Quebec).

They were probably closed because Eid was last week.

On 3/21/2024 at 6:04 PM, willing292 said:

Thanks for the visa forms.  Our trip there was cancelled, unfortunately.

Sorry to hear that.  Was it a cruise, and if so, which line?

Thanks @RobInMN and @CastleCritic for your helpful comments!  I will read your reviews to double-check the excursions that we've selected.

On 3/16/2024 at 9:46 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

On a European river cruise it will be one or the other.  And frankly, as the cruise progresses and you are worn down by an early excursion, an after lunch excursion, and a lovely but lengthy dinner with your new friends – a little 'down time' becomes a really welcome thing!

Thanks @Host Jazzbeau  And I already know you are correct on your comments; on our first river cruise we started looking forward to any down time that came our way (including the very exciting "getting stuck on a sandbar").  And we met and connected with more great people on that cruise than we ever have on a larger sea-going cruise ship.

Greetings all!  My wife and I will be taking our second river cruise next month (April), on the AmaVerde from Bucharest (Giurgiu) Romania to Budapest ("Gems of Southeast Europe").  Our first river cruise was on the Mekong in December (fantastic and highly recommended), and so realizing that things might be a little different on the Danube, we have a few questions for you more experienced river cruisers:

1) Tour Guides:  On the Mekong, we kept the same three Vietnamese guides for the first 5 days (land+river), swapping for three new Cambodian guides for the second half (again, land+river).  Will that be true on this cruise, or will we have new local guides each day for each different country?  We are doing a 4-day pre-cruise land tour with Ama in Romania, so this questions extends to this portion & these guides too.

2) Currencies:  Ama's tipping guidelines for this cruise are in euros, but only one of the five countries we will be visiting actually uses the euro as official currency.  I'm not about to get currencies for countries we will only visit for one day, but four days in Romania suggests it might be wise to acquire some leu (or lei?).  Any thoughts/comments?

3) It looks like our itinerary is a lot less "packed" then on the Mekong -- there are some days when we only have a morning excursion, or only an afternoon tour.  Are we sailing during these non-tour mornings & afternoons?  Or are we docked and can go explore / shop on our own?  On our first cruise we could only disembark on our own when docked overnight in Phnom Penh.

Thanks in advance for everyone's assistance!

46 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

That link doesn't provide access to the document, and instead provides a link to request access, presumably from you. You may receive an email from anyone requesting access.

 

In the mean time, here's the embassy application form:

 

https://embassyofegypt.se/onewebmedia/Visa Application Form (updated).pdf

Thanks.  And I updated the sharing access for my link, that should work now too.

Egyptian Visa Application Form

Okay, I have uploaded the file to my Google Drive, and here is the link.  Hopefully this works:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HsLlV2G7cFyy0g9D7d3GxtNYuyu5fPgJ/view?usp=drive_link

Note that this form is labelled as being for the consulate in Montreal.  Presumably the form for the embassy is the same -- geez I hope so -- with a different header.

Post #28 shows the instructions.

3 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Unfortunately, that link to the application form is not valid.

Sorry, I'm not sure how to post PDF's on CC.  I've deleted it from post #28 and will re-post when I figure that out.