Saudi Arabia - visa?

[giusepp82]

Hi. I'm new to this forum

I booked a cruise leaving from Dubai next feb.4 with MSC Europa World: flight from FCO to DXB via Emirates then cruise. Ship has to stop in Dammam

I have 2 question

1) maybe obvious but ... how I have to check in for flight? MSC send me ticket, or I simply go to Emirates desk and do check-in?

2) I completed the application for Saudi visa, anyway I cannot pay it... no way! I tried several different cards, I'm totally blocked because I can't verify the payment.

 

Someone can help me for both questions?

Thanks

[markorop]

On 1/16/2023 at 10:23 AM, philippetheriault said:

Perhaps that could help a few here. We are abord MSC World Europa. Departed Dubai on Jan 14th. We applied for the Saudi Arabia Transit Visa for via https://visa.mofa.gov.sa/ as instructed 2 weeks prior and nothing happened. The cost for us as Canadians turned our to be $ 26.85 taken via 3 distinct credit card payments. I picked the basic insurance package. Our applications were visible on the website right away and remained "Under Process" and in fact are still showing "Under Process" as I'm writing this note despite the fact that we have received our visa by email earlier today during the stop at Sir Bani Yas Island. That is approximatively 48 hours before arriving in Dammam. Interesting fact, we also just got our passport back. We had to give them to the MSC crew during the check-in process. 

 

Useful information.

1) For those who can't find Dammam in the drill down list, there is something called Google that can help you for those kind of things. "Port of Dammam" in Google or Google Maps will return King Abdul Aziz Seaport, Dammam 32211, KSA.

2) In the form, at one point you need to enter your address in KSA and other information. I put my phone number (no + before the country code), and the address of King Abdul Aziz Seaport in the address fields. That worked.

3) For the picture, we have uploaded a low resolution picture, 200x200, in front of a white background. If you have a Mac, you can use the Preview app, open the picture and "Resize" and enter 200x200.

 

Good luck and Bon voyage.

Did you plan on doing the al ahsa excursion?

[philippetheriault]

8 hours ago, markorop said:

Did you plan on doing the al ahsa excursion?

No. Excusions were leaving at 7:30, way to early for us. It's impossible to explore the city on your own here since no taxi or Uber are allowed in the port. It's MSC-organized excursions or MSC Complementary bus to the corniche in the nearby town of Khobar (30-45 min ride). 

[little britain]

1 hour ago, philippetheriault said:

No. Excusions were leaving at 7:30, way to early for us. It's impossible to explore the city on your own here since no taxi or Uber are allowed in the port. It's MSC-organized excursions or MSC Complementary bus to the corniche in the nearby town of Khobar (30-45 min ride). 

From Khobar you can take a taxi into Damman? 

[little britain]

9 hours ago, markorop said:

Did you plan on doing the al ahsa excursion?

We are doing that next Wednesday - 7:30 ugh! 

[philippetheriault]

4 hours ago, little britain said:

From Khobar you can take a taxi into Damman? 

As mentioned above, "it's impossible to explore the city on your own here since no taxi or Uber are allowed in the port". IN or OUT. That said, from Khobar you can take a taxi or Uber to anywhere you want as long as you come back to the Corniche Bus Stop by 15:00 to hop on the last bus. 

[philippetheriault]

On 1/16/2023 at 7:23 PM, philippetheriault said:

Perhaps that could help a few here. We are abord MSC World Europa. Departed Dubai on Jan 14th. We applied for the Saudi Arabia Transit Visa for via https://visa.mofa.gov.sa/ as instructed 2 weeks prior and nothing happened. The cost for us as Canadians turned our to be $ 26.85 taken via 3 distinct credit card payments. I picked the basic insurance package. Our applications were visible on the website right away and remained "Under Process" and in fact are still showing "Under Process" as I'm writing this note despite the fact that we have received our visa by email earlier today during the stop at Sir Bani Yas Island. That is approximatively 48 hours before arriving in Dammam. Interesting fact, we also just got our passport back. We had to give them to the MSC crew during the check-in process. 

 

Useful information.

1) For those who can't find Dammam in the drill down list, there is something called Google that can help you for those kind of things. "Port of Dammam" in Google or Google Maps will return King Abdul Aziz Seaport, Dammam 32211, KSA.

2) In the form, at one point you need to enter your address in KSA and other information. I put my phone number (no + before the country code), and the address of King Abdul Aziz Seaport in the address fields. That worked.

3) For the picture, we have uploaded a low resolution picture, 200x200, in front of a white background. If you have a Mac, you can use the Preview app, open the picture and "Resize" and enter 200x200.

 

Good luck and Bon voyage.

Adding more details after the cruise

 

ADDITIONAL INFO ON THE TRANSIT VISA FOR SAUDI (KSA)
You need a hard copy of your visa (the PDF you'll receive by email approx 48 hrs before arriving in Dammam) but the customs officer did not look at ours and only scanned and stamped our passports. A smooth process IN and OUT since you have to cross Saudi customs on your way back as well. It might be different for other nationalities but, no pictures or fingerprints for Canadiens here.

One of the last steps when completing the online form to get the transit visa is listing all the countries you have visited in the previous five years. Since I have more than 100 stamps in my passport, entering the whole list was not an option for me. I have entered ten random visits, essentially what was on the first two pages of my passport. Zero problem getting in KSA with that shortcut.

 

KSA IS A DRY COUNTRY
The minute the ship is in Saudi territory, there is no alcohol served onboard. All aboard is 16:00, but since many will return from excursions far from Dammam, the ship leaves the port at 18:00 and alcohol service resumes around 20:00. 

 

GETTING TO THE PORT AND THE SHIP IN DUBAI

MSC says the ship is in Port Rashid. If you are taking an app like Uber to get to the ship, it's better to enter Dubai Cruise Terminal 3 which will resolve with "Hamdan Bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal 3"

 

 

[little britain]

[Cruisernat]

On 1/16/2023 at 9:24 AM, transientoftheseas said:

I have the same issue. I think US citizens may not need the supplemental insurance? I applied for my family and the non-us citizens directed me to the medical insurance pages but the US citizens directed me to the $10.50 payment page immediately and started processing. What a bargain!

Hi did you ever figure out how to buy the medical insurance for the US citizens?  Did you go on your cruise yet? Thanks

[spiaseczny1]

On 1/16/2023 at 10:24 AM, transientoftheseas said:

I have the same issue. I think US citizens may not need the supplemental insurance? I applied for my family and the non-us citizens directed me to the medical insurance pages but the US citizens directed me to the $10.50 payment page immediately and started processing. What a bargain!

Thank you, the same thing happened to me.  Hoping this isn't a problem.  I haven't found anywhere on the site where we could add the insurance

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

2 hours ago, Cruisernat said:

Hi did you ever figure out how to buy the medical insurance for the US citizens?  Did you go on your cruise yet? Thanks

I purchased the multiple entry eVisa from the visitsaudi.com website and medical insurance is automatically added during the process.

[Cruisernat]

18 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

I purchased the multiple entry eVisa from the visitsaudi.com website and medical insurance is automatically added during the process.

Thanks for your reply. A couple of people mentioned that the insurance did not add automatically, it just went straight to payment. That is what happened to me as well. I am trying to figure out how did the people that encountered that issue resolve it. One person mentioned it might be a nationality issue. 

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

3 hours ago, Cruisernat said:

Thanks for your reply. A couple of people mentioned that the insurance did not add automatically, it just went straight to payment. That is what happened to me as well. I am trying to figure out how did the people that encountered that issue resolve it. One person mentioned it might be a nationality issue. 

 

I'm not sure. There was one screen during the process that showed the insurance and what it would cost but there was no option to decline it. The total (with the insurance) came to SAR 534.98. If that's what you paid, you should have the insurance. If you paid a lot less than that, no insurance.

[fayelaura]

On 9/16/2022 at 11:11 AM, little britain said:

I just tried filling this in to see how much it is… $217??! That can’t be right?! 

WE also tried to do the transit visa and they took 50 USA dollars the the next page asked for a further 138 USA Dollars. Didnt continue, already 50 USA dollars out of pocket.

[fayelaura]

On 11/24/2022 at 10:48 AM, nuvolablue said:

Hi All, I will try and update this on other threads as well....I've just got off the phone to the Saudi Embassy in London to check the status of my Transit Visa application. This was the one applied for using the following link:

 

https://www.msccruises.com//en-gl/Assets/Transit-Visa-online-application.pdf

 

The embassy have advised me that the Transit Visa is no longer offered to UK travellers, so they have cancelled my application. Very annoying that this was not made clear on the application status, nor did anyone bother to call me from the Embassy.

 

So for UK travellers the only option is to apply for the more expensive Tourist Visa.

 

I know some are going for the option of getting MSC to sort this for them on board, but Jeddah is a key port for me to visit so I'm not going to leave it to chance. I hope that's a useful update for all in the UK at least.

Thankyou, this is very helpful for us, as we have been stressed trying to obtain this. No one saying anything including MSC

[Nikita4]

2 minutes ago, fayelaura said:

WE also tried to do the transit visa and they took 50 USA dollars the the next page asked for a further 138 USA Dollars. Didnt continue, already 50 USA dollars out of pocket.

For the transit by sea visa? 
The price from 138 Dollar plus 50 Dollar is the normal multi entry visa.

We paid 26 Euro per Person for the e visa included the insurance, not more.

[fayelaura]

2 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

For the transit by sea visa? 
The price from 138 Dollar plus 50 Dollar is the normal multi entry visa.

We paid 26 Euro per Person for the e visa included the insurance, not more.

Can you please give us the exact site for the application form?. We are using MOFA.GOV. SA as per MSC info page, but they only offer us a 90 days one, not the transit ,at sea one .  Any help would be appreciated.

[Nikita4]

1 hour ago, fayelaura said:

Can you please give us the exact site for the application form?. We are using MOFA.GOV. SA as per MSC info page, but they only offer us a 90 days one, not the transit ,at sea one .  Any help would be appreciated.

https://visa.mofa.gov.sa/

And heir are the information how to fill out the visa: https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/Assets/Transit-Visa-online-application.pdf 

With google you find all the informations :-).

[Cruisernat]

Hi, I am still trying to find someone that recently applied for the Saudi Arabia transit visa by sea and encountered the problem of not being able to buy the medical insurance. I know of at least 2 people mentioning this and I would love to hear how they overcame this issue. I have followed all the instructions and my visa application is presently showing "under process" but the option for purchasing the medical never came up on the screen after Step #16 "save". There was no step 17,18 or 19  (as per MSC instructions). My application went straight to step #20 "Pay". Please let me know if you can offer any help. Thanks

[little britain]

12 minutes ago, Cruisernat said:

Hi, I am still trying to find someone that recently applied for the Saudi Arabia transit visa by sea and encountered the problem of not being able to buy the medical insurance. I know of at least 2 people mentioning this and I would love to hear how they overcame this issue. I have followed all the instructions and my visa application is presently showing "under process" but the option for purchasing the medical never came up on the screen after Step #16 "save". There was no step 17,18 or 19  (as per MSC instructions). My application went straight to step #20 "Pay". Please let me know if you can offer any help. Thanks

If you are American, I have read in several places that the Americans do not have to buy the travel insurance so their application is much cheaper - $11 instead of $22

[Cruisernat]

On 2/20/2023 at 9:42 PM, little britain said:

If you are American, I have read in several places that the Americans do not have to buy the travel insurance so their application is much cheaper - $11 instead of $22

Thanks for your reply. There was no problem with the Saudi Visa. We received our approval email around noon on Sir Bani Yas & was able to have it printed that evening onboard. 

[Wayfairers]

I need to get a Saudi Arabia visa for a day trip from Jordan during a cruise next year.  I saw one person say they took the photo themselves and resized it on a mac.  Any other suggestions on how to get the photo?  I am American and cannot find a business that sells electronic passport photos.  

[little britain]

21 minutes ago, Wayfairers said:

I need to get a Saudi Arabia visa for a day trip from Jordan during a cruise next year.  I saw one person say they took the photo themselves and resized it on a mac.  Any other suggestions on how to get the photo?  I am American and cannot find a business that sells electronic passport photos.  

Yes we did our photos on iPhone 

[Wayfairers]

37 minutes ago, little britain said:

Yes we did our photos on iPhone 

How did you make sure they were the right size?