Visas for Middle East cruise

[Intrepid Adventurer]

I am a US citizen cruising on Windstar's inaugural cruise to the Midddle East in October and am having GREAT difficulty in obtaining any visa information for Oman, Jordan and Egypt from Windstar. The embassies have info for travelers arriving by air, but not by cruise. Anyone else on this cruise having problems?

[Clarea]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I would try looking in the Windstar roll call forum for your ship and sailing date. These would be your fellow cruisers:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=613

 

Good luck!

[Keith1010]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with this.

 

You will need to get someone from Windstar to help you.

 

Our experience is that the the ships get the visas for those on board for the places you mentioned. However, you need to get that confirmed from the cruise line. Do you have a TA? Each cruise line often has a department at their headquarters who coordinates all of this with the ships.

 

Keith

[John Bull]

Jordan and Egypt for sure our visas were arranged by ship's purser on-board and I know its the same with many other cruise lines.

Windstar's head office really should know or be able to find out whether it's the same arrangements for them.

 

JB :)

[cruisemom42]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. In addition to your roll call (mentioned above), there is also a forum for questions about the Middle East, under the Ports of Call section.

 

I've been to Egypt on three different cruise lines -- 2 large mass-market lines and 1 smaller specialty line based in the UK. In all three cases, visas were obtained on our behalf by the cruise line. Egyptian officials come aboard, scrutinize the passports (which you'll be asked to turn in) and provide a visa. Sometimes the cost of the visa is borne by the passenger (I seem to recall $25 from 2009) and sometimes the ship will just cover the cost -- this was the case on the specialty line.

 

Can't help with the others.

[Keith1010]

I've been to all three locations several times and our cruise line obtained the visas for everyone.

 

However, that doesn't matter because the key is will Windstar obtain them. That is the key.

 

I say this because there are some instances where one cruise line obtains visas and another one does not for a specific country.

 

Again, if you have a TA they need to run this down for you with the cruise line.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

I am a US citizen cruising on Windstar's inaugural cruise to the Midddle East in October and am having GREAT difficulty in obtaining any visa information for Oman, Jordan and Egypt from Windstar. The embassies have info for travelers arriving by air, but not by cruise. Anyone else on this cruise having problems?

It might also be a good idea to check with a travel agent.

[cruisemom42]

It might also be a good idea to check with a travel agent.

 

I will amend this to say check with an experienced cruise travel agent.

 

Travel agents that do not routinely deal with cruises to these areas often provide incorrect information to passengers. Particularly places like Egypt and Turkey where there are special requirements in place for cruise passengers.

 

Case in point, on two of my cruises to Egypt at least one person on our roll call was told by their TA that they needed to obtain an Egyptian visa in advance or they would not be allowed on the ship -- and shelled out a lot more $$$ in advance to get them. Totally unnecessary.

[Keith1010]

My take is very simple.

 

A good TA should be able to cut through the red tape at a cruise line and get the answers on the visas.

 

That has been our experience.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

I will amend this to say check with an experienced cruise travel agent.

 

Travel agents that do not routinely deal with cruises to these areas often provide incorrect information to passengers. Particularly places like Egypt and Turkey where there are special requirements in place for cruise passengers.

 

Case in point, on two of my cruises to Egypt at least one person on our roll call was told by their TA that they needed to obtain an Egyptian visa in advance or they would not be allowed on the ship -- and shelled out a lot more $$$ in advance to get them. Totally unnecessary.

Agree 100%.