Visa needed for Egypt??

[MESH]

In October we will be traveling on Equinox and going to Egypt. I understand that this will require a visa.

 

Is this something we should obtain beforehand? What are the options.

 

Thanks

[kitty9]

This is from the US State Department's website.

 

ENTRY / EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A passport and visa are required. Tourists can obtain a renewable thirty-day tourist visa on arrival at an Egyptian airport for a $15 fee, payable in U.S. dollars. Visitors arriving overland and/or those who previously experienced difficulty with their visa status in Egypt should obtain a visa prior to arrival. Travelers arriving from Israel at the Taba border crossing are advised to obtain a visa prior to their arrival, otherwise they are granted either a no-fee, fourteen-day visa valid for travel within Sinai only, or they may buy a thirty-day tourist visa for $15 upon submission of a travel agency support letter. The letters are obtainable from travel agents at the border; however, their fees for providing this service vary. Military personnel arriving on commercial flights are not exempt from passport and visa requirements. Diplomatic and Official passport holders are required to have a visa before arrival in Egypt. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington is currently requiring 7-10 working days to process official visa requests, an expedite letter from the Department of State notwithstanding, so it is incumbent upon all travelers to submit their visa requests and passports to the Egyptian Embassy well in advance of travel.

 

I think it would be best if you got your visa before leaving for your cruise.

[pris993]

We have cruised to Eqypt twice - the last time, last October on the Equinox. Both times, we did not need to get a visa in advance, as US citizens.

 

I contacted the Egyptian Embassy via email to confirm because my TA gave me forms to get a visa for both Turkey and Egypt.

 

Celebrity will not give you a straight answer - they simply say, it is the passengers responsiblity to get all necessary travel documents. I did not want to mail off my passport or pay the excessive fees here, if not necessary.

 

If you wish to confirm contact the Egyptian Embassy. Do believe their web site has a statement that passengers who are on a cruise ship that are in transit don't need a visa.

 

This is also true of Turkey or was when we went last October.

 

I also contacted the Turkish Embassy last year and confirmed that as well.

 

Generally recommended that this be checked a few months in advance to make sure there are not changes.

 

Hope this helps.

[MESH]

This has definitely been helpful. It is my assumption that the same is true for Israel as the Equinox will also be stopping there.

[kitty9]

US citizens do not need a visa for tourists to that country.

[Phxazzcruisers]

We went on Equinox to Turkey, Egypt and Israel and did not get any Visa's. They were all taken care of by Celebrity for all of the cruisers on the ship. I have never heard from anyone that they needed to get their own Visas. We received the travel papers at each port and I walked off the ship and went into Alexandria several time myself and only had to show them the papers from Celebrity

[kuldalai]

Paste this link into your Browser and save yourself a lot of heartburn .

 

http://www.projectvisa.com/

[80sramfan]

This is from the US State Department's website.

 

ENTRY / EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A passport and visa are required. Tourists can obtain a renewable thirty-day tourist visa on arrival at an Egyptian airport for a $15 fee, payable in U.S. dollars. Visitors arriving overland and/or those who previously experienced difficulty with their visa status in Egypt should obtain a visa prior to arrival. Travelers arriving from Israel at the Taba border crossing are advised to obtain a visa prior to their arrival, otherwise they are granted either a no-fee, fourteen-day visa valid for travel within Sinai only, or they may buy a thirty-day tourist visa for $15 upon submission of a travel agency support letter. The letters are obtainable from travel agents at the border; however, their fees for providing this service vary. Military personnel arriving on commercial flights are not exempt from passport and visa requirements. Diplomatic and Official passport holders are required to have a visa before arrival in Egypt. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington is currently requiring 7-10 working days to process official visa requests, an expedite letter from the Department of State notwithstanding, so it is incumbent upon all travelers to submit their visa requests and passports to the Egyptian Embassy well in advance of travel.

 

I think it would be best if you got your visa before leaving for your cruise.

 

This post is totally irrelevant to the question asked. The answer is no you don't need a Visa on your cruise visit as you will be covered with a blanket Visa for the ship. Now if you do non ship excursions the answer very well may be different as it is in Russia.

[Albert Ross]

This is from the US State Department's website.

 

ENTRY / EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A passport and visa are required. Tourists can obtain a renewable thirty-day tourist visa on arrival at an Egyptian airport for a $15 fee, payable in U.S. dollars. Visitors arriving overland and/or those who previously experienced difficulty with their visa status in Egypt should obtain a visa prior to arrival. Travelers arriving from Israel at the Taba border crossing are advised to obtain a visa prior to their arrival, otherwise they are granted either a no-fee, fourteen-day visa valid for travel within Sinai only, or they may buy a thirty-day tourist visa for $15 upon submission of a travel agency support letter. The letters are obtainable from travel agents at the border; however, their fees for providing this service vary. Military personnel arriving on commercial flights are not exempt from passport and visa requirements. Diplomatic and Official passport holders are required to have a visa before arrival in Egypt. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington is currently requiring 7-10 working days to process official visa requests, an expedite letter from the Department of State notwithstanding, so it is incumbent upon all travelers to submit their visa requests and passports to the Egyptian Embassy well in advance of travel.

 

I think it would be best if you got your visa before leaving for your cruise.

 

I really wish people would NOT post answers which are incorrect, misleading and could lead to people going to the effort of getting visas, outlaying money and wasting time and effort on something they do not need.

 

 

Direct from email from X:

Most guests are provided with a Quick Trip Visa onboard the vessel which is valid for 72 hours and allows entry to Egypt. This service is available to citizens of the UK, US, Canada, European Economic Community, Scandinavian countries, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Please note this service is not available to Israeli citizens.

 

Then there is a big list of who does need to get the visa beforehand:

 

 

NATIONALITIES REQUIRING PRE ISSUED VISA TO EGYPT

ALL AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ALL SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

ALL COUNTRIES AT WAR

TEMPORARY PASSPORTS / BRITISH VISITOR PASSPORTS ALLOWED ONLY WITH APPROVAL OF IMMIGRATION

ALBANIA

BARBAROS

BELIZ

CAPE VERDE

HONDURAS

MALAYSIA

NAMIBIA

NIPAL

NICARAGUA

SERBIA

SIERRALEONE

SERILANKA

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

YEMEN

MONTENEGRO

SCOPIA

KAZAKHISTAN ( ONLY IF LANDING )

 

 

NATIONALITIES REQUIRING PRE ISSUED VISA AND AND STATE SECURITY APPROVAL

AFGHANISTAN

ALGERIA

BANGLADESH

CHAD

PEPOLE'S RREPUBLIC OF CHINA

GHANA

INDIA

INDONISIA

IRAN

IRAQ

ISRAEL

LEBANON

LIBERIA

MALI

NIGERIA

PAKISTAN

PALESTINE

PHILIPPINES

RWANDA

BOSNIA

SIERRALEONE

SOMALIA

SERILANKA

SUDAN

THAILAND

TURKEY

TUNIS

MOLDOVIAN ( ONLY FEMALE PAX FROM 15 TO 35 YEARS OLD) .

 

 

I wonder what they have against girls from Moldovia?!

 

The visa covers you irrespective of whether you take the ships excursions or not.

[andawayigo]

I went to Turkey, Egypt and Israel in October/November 09 on Celebrity and the cruise ship took care of everything. For Israel, we had immigration agents come aboard a few days before docking. You were assigned a time to meet them. They basically looked at us and placed a stamped paper inside our passport and that was the end of that.( I don't remember if they asked us any questions) The ship keeps the passport and returns it later. Basically, the ship keeps your passport from day one and returns it to you with the necessary docs for the countries that require them. It's painless and effortless.