Rare Scrapnana Posted May 6, 2013 #1 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I've asked this on the Cunard board but thought I might get more answers here. Recently I received about 10 emails from my TA that Cunard had sent her about visas. Good news is that most of them can be bought when we reach the port. Bad news - still have to get the China and India ones ourselves. Cunard recommends using Visa Central [formerly Zierer]. For those in the U.S., have you used this company? If not, did you use another company and would you recommend it? I've already decided that I do not want to make two trips to D.C. to get Chinese and Indian has to be gotten through Travisa (so a trip to D.C. would not help that). Thanks for your input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted May 6, 2013 #2 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I used them several years ago on another cruise line. They are a good service. You pay more when you use a service but when you have to get multiple visas it makes it easier. Now, I use Pinnacle Travel Document Systems since the cruise line that we sail on uses them as Cunard uses Visa Central. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birder1 Posted May 18, 2013 #3 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Scrapnana, are you going to the Andaman Islands (India)? If so, you will need to obtain an additional permit, not simply the Indian visa. This should be declared to Travisa when you apply for the visa. I sailed Swan Hellenic through the Andamans, which processed the permit for its pax. However, not all lines provide that service & require the pax to obtain their own. I also purchased a 10-yr Indian visa, since there are such peculiar waiting periods b'n travels & now, if I find I have to fly through India, the issue has been proactively solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted May 19, 2013 Author #4 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Scrapnana, are you going to the Andaman Islands (India)? If so, you will need to obtain an additional permit, not simply the Indian visa. This should be declared to Travisa when you apply for the visa. I sailed Swan Hellenic through the Andamans, which processed the permit for its pax. However, not all lines provide that service & require the pax to obtain their own. I also purchased a 10-yr Indian visa, since there are such peculiar waiting periods b'n travels & now, if I find I have to fly through India, the issue has been proactively solved. We are only going to Mumbai in India. I considered getting the 10 year one but my passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Gail & Marty sailing away Posted July 6, 2013 #5 Share Posted July 6, 2013 passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred. I think you are able to carry the old one and the new one .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted July 7, 2013 Author #6 Share Posted July 7, 2013 passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred.I think you are able to carry the old one and the new one .. Thanks for the information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 7, 2013 #7 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Thanks for the information! You can for some countries. Always best to verify this with the consulate because rules can change from time to time. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PaulMCO Posted July 8, 2013 #8 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I have used passportvisasexpress.com in the past and have been satisfied Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
take us away Posted October 1, 2015 #9 Share Posted October 1, 2015 (edited) passport expires in 2015 so I am sure it would be a hassle to have it transferred. I think you are able to carry the old one and the new one .. Absolutely, as have carried 2 passports due to visas in an expired passport for a few years and never had a problem entering Brazil, China and India. Also carried print-outs from the countries website (it is usually in FAQs) as additional verification it is okay. Edited October 1, 2015 by take us away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoncom Posted October 1, 2015 #10 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Oceania used and paid for my China Visa through CIBT. You have to send in your passport and it takes a few weeks. They put their sticker on front of PP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted October 2, 2015 Author #11 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D). Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times). It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back. I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMLady Posted November 21, 2015 #12 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D). Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times). It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back. I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price. We used VisaCentral when it was Zierer, for our Brazil visas. Was really pleased with them. Would love to have an excuse to need more visas. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fayecruises Posted November 22, 2015 #13 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I am going on the world cruise in Jan 2016 Queen Mary 2 and just used visa central for the three major visas we need - India and China and Brazil also got Argentina and Australia. I hope you are not going to Brazil because depending where you live, it is a major problem now. We live in Maryland not far from the Embassy but I know of others who are connected to the consulates in other parts of the country. Don't use the visa central concierge service --it is not necessary -- but always ask for a supervisor since it is a call center and this way you will always get the correct answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisakoivu Posted January 17, 2016 #14 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Does Visa Central work for Canadians or is there another service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted January 18, 2016 Author #15 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Does Visa Central work for Canadians or is there another service? Yes, they do. http://visacentral.ca/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJSULIBRARIAN Posted February 27, 2016 #16 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I would report back on my experience getting visas. I ended up using Visa Central and it worked well. Not inexpensive but worked out not that much more expensive (and much easier) than getting them by myself. I went ahead and got the ten year India visa but haven't had the chance to use it again (yet:D). Visa Central was very good about answering my questions when I called them (which I did 3-4 times). It took 15 days from the time I sent my passport and applications until I had them back. I received emails acknowledging receipt of my paperwork and when they had sent my passport back. I did check out a few of the other visa companies but did not see much of a difference in price. Was the 15 day time period for both China and India visas? If I were to do this, I am wondering how long I would be without my passport? Just in case I might plan other travels, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted February 29, 2016 Author #17 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Was the 15 day time period for both China and India visas? If I were to do this, I am wondering how long I would be without my passport? Just in case I might plan other travels, etc. Yes, it was. I have to admit that I was kind of stressed sending my passport, especially after the UPS man told me that they would not insure passports but the next day I logged into Visa Central and saw that mine had been received. I would definitely use a service again if needed (and I hope it will be;)). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted February 29, 2016 #18 Share Posted February 29, 2016 One thing about visas is that the amount of turn around, the rules and other related issues change often. I have obtained a China Visa several times and just about each year the rules change and sometimes turnaround is faster than other times. Same for other places requiring a visa. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplicity Posted May 30, 2016 #19 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I used CIBT/Visa Central in Los Angeles to obtain Chinese Visas for my family's tour of Asia this summer. I too was worried about shipping our passports (with a prepaid FedEx label, by the way) but I received an email the next day saying they were safely received. They were very efficient, and we had our passports back within 10 days without having to pay the rush surcharge. That being said, we might have just been lucky and gotten our applications in before the big rush of passengers who found out at the last minute they would need Visas. (Convoluted rules and frequent changes created a lot of confusion.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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