Egypt visas for private excursion?

[drblue]

Hello. We are visiting Alexandria on the MSC Magnifica in January 2011. Has anyone been there recently to know if we need to process our own visas with the Egyptian Embassy? We are NOT doing the ship's excursion, but rather an independent tour with another company. We are a family of 2 adults and 1 child.

[cruisemom42]

Egypt offers a Quick Trip visa stamp for cruise ship passengers whether or not you are taking a ship tour. You do not need to arrange a visa in advance. This holds true for at least US, British, Canadian, and Australian nationalities. Probably for others too but I have not seen any first-hand reports other than those mentioned.

 

Some ships charge a small amount for this service (they shouldn't it is offered free by Egypt). :rolleyes:

[drblue]

Egypt offers a Quick Trip visa stamp for cruise ship passengers whether or not you are taking a ship tour. You do not need to arrange a visa in advance. This holds true for at least US, British, Canadian, and Australian nationalities. Probably for others too but I have not seen any first-hand reports other than those mentioned.

 

Some ships charge a small amount for this service (they shouldn't it is offered free by Egypt). :rolleyes:

Thank you. Where do we process this QUICK TRIP visa? Here at home in the US? or once we arrive in Alexandria?

[cruisemom42]

Thank you. Where do we process this QUICK TRIP visa? Here at home in the US? or once we arrive in Alexandria?

 

What has happened on the two lines I've sailed with to Egypt is that passports will be collected at some point prior to your arrival in Egypt and an Egyptian official will be onboard to stamp them all with the visa. (Despite the name, it's really just a passport stamp).

 

Then you will be asked to collect your passport (or it will be delivered to your cabin) prior to your arrival in Alexandria. Egypt does require that you carry your passport with you while on shore.

[drblue]

What has happened on the two lines I've sailed with to Egypt is that passports will be collected at some point prior to your arrival in Egypt and an Egyptian official will be onboard to stamp them all with the visa. (Despite the name, it's really just a passport stamp).

 

Then you will be asked to collect your passport (or it will be delivered to your cabin) prior to your arrival in Alexandria. Egypt does require that you carry your passport with you while on shore.

Yes. When I travelled to Egypt previously, I had to do the exactly the same thing.

 

However, I just spoke to a supervisor at MSC Cruiselines (in the US), and she told me very clearly that they WILL NOT facilitate the Egyptian visas for cruisers unless they are booked on the ship's own excursions. If any cruisers decide to go wander about on their own or book a private excursion, they must get a visa from their respective consulate or they will not be allowed off the ship. On another forum for MSC cruises, someone also posted that other cruisers on Princess Cruiselines were not allowed to get off the ship because they did not have a visa arranged in advance, and they had not booked the ship's own excursion.

Perhaps the requirements and protocol have changed. I will post more when I speak to the Egyptian consulate in Los Angeles tomorrow.

[cruisemom42]

Yes. When I travelled to Egypt previously, I had to do the exactly the same thing.

 

However, I just spoke to a supervisor at MSC Cruiselines (in the US), and she told me very clearly that they WILL NOT facilitate the Egyptian visas for cruisers unless they are booked on the ship's own excursions. If any cruisers decide to go wander about on their own or book a private excursion, they must get a visa from their respective consulate or they will not be allowed off the ship. On another forum for MSC cruises, someone also posted that other cruisers on Princess Cruiselines were not allowed to get off the ship because they did not have a visa arranged in advance, and they had not booked the ship's own excursion.

Perhaps the requirements and protocol have changed. I will post more when I speak to the Egyptian consulate in Los Angeles tomorrow.

 

This is a common tactic employed by cruise lines to get you to purchase their tours. I assure you that the rules haven't changed. I have been to Egypt on cruises TWICE this year, in September and most recently about 15 days ago. Also I have sailed on Princess to Egypt, and it's simply NOT true about them not getting visas for all guests onboard.

 

Perhaps this post that I started to collect the experiences of cruisers on many different cruise lines will help convince you:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1008588&highlight=egypt+visa

 

Now, while I can't absolutely vouch for MSC, I'd find it very odd if they handled Egyptian visas different from HAL, Princess, NCL, Azamara, Celebrity, and many others......:rolleyes: Just color me skeptical.

[cruisemom42]

To reassure you further, I did a simple search on the MSC board here on Cruise Critic, which turned up the following responses:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1285837&highlight=egypt+visa

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1304806&highlight=egypt+visa

 

And several more along the same vein.

[Capricruiser]

For drblu. I've been on many cruises (including MSC) that stop at Egyptian ports. It's always the same. Your passport will be stamped by an Egyptian official on board and you're free to go ashore, whether you're on an excursion or on your own. I can't immagine what that US MSC supervisor was trying to do besides convince you to take their excursions...

[drblue]

Hello Capricruiser and Cruisemom42,

Thank you for your responses. THey are reassuring and reflect recent experiences. It does make sense that they simply stamp everyone's passport rather then trying to separate who is on MSC's excursions and who is not. I certainly appreciate your imput.

 

I will post my experiences when I come back. One of the benefits of these boards is to have recent and updated information.

[davejura]

We are arriving independantly at Sharm El Sheikh airport and making our own way to the ship (Costa Allegra). Does anyone know if we need to buy a visa at the airport or not, or will it be taken care of when on board? thanks.

[jocap]

We are arriving independantly at Sharm El Sheikh airport and making our own way to the ship (Costa Allegra). Does anyone know if we need to buy a visa at the airport or not, or will it be taken care of when on board? thanks.

I can only tell you what happened at Sharm when we arrived for our stay/cruise with Thomson....

After getting our luggage, we were filtered to a desk for visas. Cruise people didn't have to buy one.

Those of us going to a hotel were asked whether we were leaving the Sinai Peninsula. When told no, then we were ushered on without paying.

Now, we were all from a Thomson plane, and all with Thomson transport, but the main thing these immigration men seemed to want to know was cruise/ leaving the peninsula. A few from the hotels were hoping to fly to Cairo, so they had to pay....not sure how much, but around £15, I think.

The cruise ship made arrangements on board for pax doing visits.

Hope this helps a little!

Jo.

[Madason]

I just got back last week off the Brillance of the sea Egypt cruise and all passports were collect prior to boarding the cuise on the first day and returned with the qick visa the day before arriving in Egypt. i took a private tour and I did not have to pay for the Visa.

[Calgary cruisers]

Back from Cairo two weeks ago on Princess. Visa (passport stamped by onboard custom officer) was looked after by the ship even for independent travellers.

[drblue]

Thank you for all your recent posts regarding Egyptian stops.

It makes me feel better about going without a pre-arranged visa.

[Love2TravelEurope]

We just sailed on the MSC Magnifica and stopped in Alexandria--no problem with visa--they stamp your passport onboard before you get there, then return it to you before you reach Egypt. We did a private excursion and had no problem leaving the ship, and had a much better time than those who did the ship's excursions! Enjoy!

[littlewtej]

I will be taking a 12-Day Eastern Mediterranean cruise with NCL on the Jade. My travel agent said he contacted a NCL Supervisor and was told the only visa needed for the cruise is for Egypt and the cruise line has a blanket visa for everyone on the ship so long as they are using the ship's excursions. Passengers who want to be on their own while in Egypt will need to get a separate visa on their own. Does anyone know about NCL and how they handle this?

[Kerry's Girls]

I will be taking a 12-Day Eastern Mediterranean cruise with NCL on the Jade. My travel agent said he contacted a NCL Supervisor and was told the only visa needed for the cruise is for Egypt and the cruise line has a blanket visa for everyone on the ship so long as they are using the ship's excursions. Passengers who want to be on their own while in Egypt will need to get a separate visa on their own. Does anyone know about NCL and how they handle this?

 

I did the Jade cruise in Jan, 2010 and we were all told to turn in our passports and then had them returned with the Egyptian visa stamped inside. There was no difference between those with private or ship tours (I was on a private overnight tour). I don't remember seeing any posts here from passengers who have actually cruised and found that they had to obtain their own visa, though it seems many are told that ahead of time.

 

Best,

Mia