Egypt Visa -- Please give your experience!!

Nothing seems to cause more confusion than whether or not cruise passengers bound for Egypt need to obtain their own visa(s).

In my own experience -- and in the experience of many others whose posts I've read here -- the cruiselines, together with Egyptian authorities, generally take care of putting a "quick stay" visa in the passport of every passenger, at no charge, and whether or not the passenger is planning to take a ship-sponsored tour in Egypt.

However, many TAs and even the cruise line's own personnel reportedly advise passengers that they are responsible for obtaining their own visa in advance (at some cost). Understandably, this leads to confusion and worry.

In the interest of collecting as much information as possible that will be helpful to future Egyptian cruisers, I'm asking everyone to please provide their own experience and to answer the following questions:

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line?

2. What is your nationality?

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details.

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it?

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

Feel free to provide any other details of your visa experience that might be helpful to others.

Thanks!

Nothing seems to cause more confusion than whether or not cruise passengers bound for Egypt need to obtain their own visa(s).

 

In my own experience -- and in the experience of many others whose posts I've read here -- the cruiselines, together with Egyptian authorities, generally take care of putting a "quick stay" visa in the passport of every passenger, at no charge, and whether or not the passenger is planning to take a ship-sponsored tour in Egypt.

 

However, many TAs and even the cruise line's own personnel reportedly advise passengers that they are responsible for obtaining their own visa in advance (at some cost). Understandably, this leads to confusion and worry.

 

In the interest of collecting as much information as possible that will be helpful to future Egyptian cruisers, I'm asking everyone to please provide their own experience and to answer the following questions:

 

 

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? Nov 2006 on Princess

 

2. What is your nationality? US

 

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes

 

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No

 

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? Ship-sponsored tour

 

 

Feel free to provide any other details of your visa experience that might be helpful to others. There was a large group of CCers from our roll call that did a private overnight tour in Cairo and they received the same quick-stay visa at no charge.

 

Thanks!

See my answers above.

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? Feb 1 & 2 2009 NCL Jade

2. What is your nationality? USA

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes. All passengers' passports were collected by the ship several days in advance. An Egyptian representative came on board at some point, all our passports were stamped with the Quick Trip stamp and the passports were redistributed the day before we reached port in Alexandria.

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? Private overnight tour to Cairo

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line?

Royal Caribbean 7/2008

2. What is your nationality?

USA

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details.

Yes

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it?

No charge, but I imagine it was part of the cost of the cruise

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

Ship sponsored because of safty concerns and distance to the pyramids

Please note that my answer pertains to a cruise with a one day port stop in Egypt (i.e. not an overnight, or a cruise that originates or ends in Egypt.)

 

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? October 2008 - Azamara

 

2. What is your nationality? Canadian

 

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? Yes.

 

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No Charge

 

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? Private Tour

 

 

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? Star Princess November/December 2007

2. What is your nationality? USA

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Princess took care of everything with the 'quick stay visa'. Our passports were also collected upon boarding the ship and returned the night before our visit to Egypt. We didn't have to do anything ourselves, it was all handled for us.

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No extra charge for the service provided, as said, Princess took care of it all.

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? We took a private tour with Nile Blue Tours and a group of about 100 other CC'ers, and were totally safe and secure. It was wonderful from start to finish and about 1/3 the cost of a ships tour.

1/ Royal Caribbean May 09

2/ British

3/ Yes

4/ No

5/ Private tour

jj.....

Has anyone had the experience of ending a cruise in Egypt, disembarking and staying in Cairo for two days , and then departing the country from the Cairo airport?

Was an individual visa required?

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? May, 2009 Royal Princess

2. What is your nationality? US

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes, the process was as others have described

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? Private overnight tour

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? January, 2009

2. What is your nationality? USA

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes they did. We paid $20 to the Vantage representative at Cairo airport and about 10 minutes later we were on our wauy.

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? $20

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

Vantage Deluxe Travel.

Feel free to provide any other details of your visa experience that might be helpful to others.

If you leave Egypt as we did to go to Jordan, you need to purchase another entry Visa for $20 to return. Same thing in Jordan, but in Jordan the local tour manager paid for our Visas on entry.

Thanks!

this is for the airport passport stamp-visa that all visitors must get upon arrival. Its not the Cruise ship gratis one up to three days....

we cruised RCL Legend of the Seas JUne 2008. Due to conflicting advice, I obtained Visas at the NYC Egyptian Consulate (we are US citizens) prior to the crusie. Completely unnecessary! Passports were collected on board, even though I stated "I had a visa" RCCL took care of everything for all passengers, I wasted time and money. The ship takes care of everything, not to worry ( and I worried excessively and justewantyed to be absolutely sure I was covered) This is one time the cruiseline at least for US citizens is great

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? January, 2009

 

2. What is your nationality? USA

 

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes they did. We paid $20 to the Vantage representative at Cairo airport and about 10 minutes later we were on our wauy.

 

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? $20

 

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

Vantage Deluxe Travel.

 

Feel free to provide any other details of your visa experience that might be helpful to others.

 

If you leave Egypt as we did to go to Jordan, you need to purchase another entry Visa for $20 to return. Same thing in Jordan, but in Jordan the local tour manager paid for our Visas on entry.

Thanks!

The visa you are writing about -- the one you purchase at the airport for land trips to Egypt -- is different from the "quick stay" one obtained on cruise ships. (Believe me, I have both in my passport :D).

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Keep 'em coming. Hopefully I can point other confused cruisers to this thread in future!

provide their own experience and to answer the following questions:

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line?

Nov 2007 Princess

2. What is your nationality?

USA

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details.

YES

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it?

NO

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

PRIVATE TOUR

I have not yet cruised to Egypt, but have a similar thread on this page. I also wrote to Azamara and this is what they said:

Visa's are not included with any shore excursions on this cruise. A Visa

is required for

Egypt, and can be obtained onboard the vessel for approximately $15.00 -

$20.00 per person.

Turkey does not require a Visa for this cruise itinerary because the ship

is in transit

through Turkey (cruise is not beginning or ending in Turkey).

 

Below is the most up to date information we have on Passport & Visa

requirements.

 

(See attached file: Passport_And_Visa_Information_06-01-09.pdf)

 

I too would like to hear of people's actual experiences.

Passport_And_Visa_Information_06-01-09.pdf

I have not yet cruised to Egypt, but have a similar thread on this page. I also wrote to Azamara and this is what they said:

 

 

 

 

I too would like to hear of people's actual experiences.

Azamara answer is wrong. Egypt issues a courtesy visa on ships to almost eceryone(Canadian's included) which is good for three days and includes those with tours and those without. It always amazes me how clueless the landside people are.

The visa you are writing about -- the one you purchase at the airport for land trips to Egypt -- is different from the "quick stay" one obtained on cruise ships. (Believe me, I have both in my passport :D).

Learn something new every day...so there are two visas for Egypt? When we landed in Cairo we got one and then when we boarded the ship did we get another one, or did we not need another one because the ship never left Egypt? :)

The visa you are writing about -- the one you purchase at the airport for land trips to Egypt -- is different from the "quick stay" one obtained on cruise ships. (Believe me, I have both in my passport :D).

Learn something new every day...so there are two visas for Egypt? When we landed in Cairo we got one and then when we boarded the ship did we get another one, or did we not need another one because the ship never left Egypt? :)

Are you talking about an ocean cruise or a Nile cruise ship? If you are referring to a Nile cruise, then you wouldn't need another visa, particularly if (I'm assuming) it was part of your land trip.

I made a cruise ship stop in Port Said and Alexandria on a Med cruise. That is where you get the "quick stay" visa which, I believe, is only good for about 72 hours. It is a stamp, like most other passport stamps, and it says "Quick Trip" along the left side.

The land trip visa is a larger sticker that was affixed to one of my passport pages and says "Entry Visa". I purchased it in the Cairo airport upon entering the country for my Egypt tour/Nile cruise.

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line?

grand princess, November 2008

2. What is your nationality?

canadian. it is my understanding that canadian and americans didn't need to do anything, but other nationalities may have had to.

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details.

yes

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it?

no

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own?

ship's tour

it was a wonderful experience and i'd love to do it again. princess was fabulous through the whole procedure collecting our passports and returning them was simple.(and exciting to see those stamps in my passport!)

1. When did you cruise to Egypt and on what cruise line? Sept 08, Norwegian Jade

2. What is your nationality? Australian

3. Did the cruise line provide a "quick stay" visa? If not, please give details. Yes

4. If the ship provided your visa, was there any charge for it? No

5. Did you take a ship-sponsored tour, a private tour, or go on your own? Private tour.

It's worth checking your passport once it is returned to you just to make sure the visa stamp is in it. My daughter was delayed from disembarking as the officer could not find the stamp, but luckily my daughter found it in her passport.:) Great thread, by the way - good to be able to share experiences like this.

Learn something new every day...so there are two visas for Egypt? When we landed in Cairo we got one and then when we boarded the ship did we get another one, or did we not need another one because the ship never left Egypt? :)

Are you talking about an ocean cruise or a Nile cruise ship? If you are referring to a Nile cruise, then you wouldn't need another visa, particularly if (I'm assuming) it was part of your land trip.

I made a cruise ship stop in Port Said and Alexandria on a Med cruise. That is where you get the "quick stay" visa which, I believe, is only good for about 72 hours. It is a stamp, like most other passport stamps, and it says "Quick Trip" along the left side.

The land trip visa is a larger sticker that was affixed to one of my passport pages and says "Entry Visa". I purchased it in the Cairo airport upon entering the country for my Egypt tour/Nile cruise.

Thanks for the info Cynthia, I had no idea. I guess I misunderstood the original posting and shouldn't have responded to it at all!!!:o:D

Hi Cynthia,

RCI Legend of the Seas June 2009

British

RCI sorted Quick Stay Visas

NO Charge

Ship's Tour

Berwyn

we cruised RCL Legend of the Seas JUne 2008. Due to conflicting advice, I obtained Visas at the NYC Egyptian Consulate (we are US citizens) prior to the crusie. Completely unnecessary! Passports were collected on board, even though I stated "I had a visa" RCCL took care of everything for all passengers, I wasted time and money. The ship takes care of everything, not to worry ( and I worried excessively and justewantyed to be absolutely sure I was covered) This is one time the cruiseline at least for US citizens is great

When I went to Egypt in 2000 I went into NY to the Egyptian Consulate also.

I was an experience I will never forget. I remember that steel door that was

bolted shut and you had to be buzzed in. It was like stepping into Egypt

right in the middle of Manhattan. But they had my visa ready that day. But

I needed a visa, I was going on a land tour with a Nile cruise built into the

tour. So that was something I had to take care of before hand. I was told

that one can obtain a visa at the Cairo airport, but I didn't was to risk

any issues.

What a great thread! I will be doing Med Cruise in October and had planned to get visas for Egypt before I left at a cost of $40 Australian!

Aussiecruiser - yours was the only aussie post and from the Jade too - so thanks ... I can now be confident that I will be covered under the quick visa at no charge.

Aussiecruiser I would love to pick your brain about your trip and wonder if you would be willing to communicate by email - my address is annic at live dot com dot au. If you prefer not to ... no worries! I have been reading all your reviews - great work!