SophieM

Hope it will help! All files were sent PNG. And no ears showing on the passport photo they accepted of me! 🙂

I submitted our applications 12/21 and 12/22. I originally included a complete November statement and a 12/1-12/19 statement. They didn’t like that. Not really sure why now. So, I had my bank do 11/28 to 12/28. They rejected that, too. I contacted the help line by phone from the link on the VFS website. He said 11/15-12/15 and submit all answers in PNG format. Bless my bank, they have been super helpful. They created that statement and sent it to me in PNG format. I used my IPad for the application, so I saved it to “Files” and uploaded it from there. I am not familiar with Mac, but it may have something similar. I saved all of the items I needed to upload to Files, which has “convert image” that I used to make all my files PNG. I hope that clears it up a bit. If not, I’ll take another stab at it. Good luck!

Complicated may be an understatement, but it looks like a fabulous trip!

Just read back through my other posts and wanted to clarify that VFS did accept a bank statement with more than $2000. I ended up not having to send one with just $2000. Evidently the problem was it didn’t show the ending balance where they expected it to be, even though it was on the page. Hence my comment about sending one a 4th grader could understand.

Congrats!!! When is your cruise?

I’m cautiously optimistic there is hope. I just submitted my last week. Just yesterday, I had three quick turnaround requests and responses from VFS.

Wooooohoooooo! I have finally passed quality control and moved on to recommended by VFS. Here’s what I think finally worked for me: -all files were PNG -bank statement showed 11/15-12/15 with the ending balance stated after/with the last transaction. I had also submitted 11/28-12/28, and that was rejected. I spoke with someone on the Help Line who said 11/15-12/15. If you haven’t started the process, it may be different dates. I would check with the Help Line.

But, wait, there’s more, she said laughing hysterically and a bit unhinged. Now I just got another email back asking me to please re-upload Financial Proof with “please provide bank statement with ending balance $2000,” even though what I sent showed comfortably more than $2000. So, once again, my bank has come to the rescue, and I will send a 12/15 statement with a balance of #*&)-( $2000. it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.

And another update, I submitted 11/28-12/28 in PNG format. Guess what. I got another email request from VFS pretty quickly (scary, I know) saying kindly provide (oh, if they only knew my unkind thoughts) a bank statement til the 15th of December. What the what??

So, here is the latest. I just got off the phone with VFS Help Line. I’m pretty sure that’s an oxymoron, but if I understood him correctly, they want the last 30 days of activity in PNG format, not PDF. Bless my bank, they are doing that for me right now. I asked about the NCL affadavit, and he was clueless. And so it goes….

We’re on Oceania. I was able to get a copy of that letter and will send it.

So, today, I get another email from VFS asking me to reupload my financial statement with exactly the same information I sent before, although that statement was through 12/19. Do you suppose I need to get another month to date statement?

Well, this is a bit scary. I just got “the” email from VFS only asking me to resubmit my airline reservation showing my name, which I already knew I’d not included, so I was ready for that. Off it’s gone back to VFS lala land. I now show “pending document uploaded.” No request for passport showing ears, but I was ready for that, too. Still only cautiously optimistic. Waiting to hear on husband’s that I did a day later with the same files. By the way, I did it all on an IPad, so apparently no issues there. Initial submission was 12/22.

It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it? I just sent an email to our consulate in Chicago yesterday, and that was before I knew about the ear thing. They’re probably going to get another one next week.

so, are we the only two who missed the advice to have ears showing? Never even occurred to me, and they’re quite hidden on my passport. 🤪

So, I just heard from a friend, not on roll, that Visa Central rejected her visa photo because her ears weren’t showing. Has anyone else experienced this from any of the submission sites?

Just curious for those who have already applied and received requests for additional or corrected information—how soon after submission did those start happening? Thanks!

My three this year have all been on the Marina. We were not limited to 30. I had 80+ on the list for the last one. Only names and cabin #s, not confirmation numbers. Good luck! It’s a great way to kick off the cruise.

The Marina hasn’t been refurbished, yet, and I don’t believe redoing the Concierge and below cabin bathrooms is part of the current plan.

I have to agree about the need for menu updating. We certainly have our favorites that we might miss, but new items would be wonderful, especially because we are fortunate enough to do several cruises a year.

Just to throw in my 2 cents, we just got off the Marina and found her to be in very good shape. We were in a concierge cabin on 9. We have also been on the refurbished Riviera, and except for the bathroom redo, which is admittedly lovely, we are happily sailing on the Marina again next year both before and after the refurb. I realize and understand there’s a lot of frustration with Oceania right now, but we are hopeful that there are necessary and sound business decisions behind the changes. We just want Oceania to stay afloat. Pardon the pun.

All good advice! I’ve done three this past year and what Flatbush says has been true. I started earlier than a month before, as the Miami contact has to get approval from the ship for date, time, & location, if you’re doing a more organized get together. I also brought a handout with everyone’s names, cabin numbers, hometowns, email addresses, & Cruise Critic names, provided they wanted to share those. I might add that it’s a process in that people join the roll call at different times, so I usually did a reminder post a time or two. Also, on our last cruises, Happy Hours didn’t officially start until 6:00 p.m. on Embarkation Day, but as we were a “blessed” group, they extended it to us if we met before then.

We’d also be interested in hearing more about anyone’s anti-malarial experiences. On the fence about that, too, due to possible side effects. Sheesh.

I’m not sure. Damn autocorrect. Got me twice in this post.

I’m. It sure we would even need an exempt letter, as it is o ly recommended, not required. Better safe than sorry, though?