Indonesia Visa

[JJean]

Will Celebrity help us get the Visa onboard if we are unable to do so before we leave.

[omeinv]

You will need internet access - I've always had Premium Wi-Fi - to complete the visa application.  As far as assistance from Celebrity, the staff would likely try to help, but you should expect they would not be able to do anything you cannot.  The Indonesia visa process was simple on its face, but presented some technical issues as far as uploading an acceptable passport photo.  I'm not sure why you would unable to do this before embarkation, but you should.  Then, when on board, you'll need to also do the Indonesian landing card, which can only be done within 3 days of arrival. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Edited March 1 by omeinv

[kaysha2004]

I wouldn't count on Celebrity's help for such an important task.  Better to do it before you leave home.  

[Jim_Iain]

When we boarded in Singapore, the Indonesia Visa was a requirement at checking in.   Some were trying to do it in the terminal and failed.     After hours they let them board but flagged their SeaPass.   They had to either complete it before Benoa or would not be permitted off the ship.

 

Once in Indonesia there was an immigration desk and you had to scan you QR code to leave the terminal.

[Northern Aurora]

last fall we were on the same set of cruises with @omeinv.  His statement 

1 hour ago, omeinv said:

 ...... The Indonesia visa process was simple on its face, but presented some technical issues as far as uploading an acceptable passport photo.   ......

 

is spot on.  Definitely obtain the visa before you board the ship.  

 

The B2B2B set of cruises we were on required several visas.  It was surprising how many folks didn't obtain them before boarding.  The captain and hotel director were becoming quite frustrated.  

[Baynanno1]

Even if not getting off the ship in Bali, you need the visa, as you are on a ship docked at an Indonesian port in Indonesian waters. Much better to have it done before boarding.

 

In spite of the fact the visa was a requirement before boarding, about half the passengers did not have their visa when boarding Sydney to Singapore last year.

 

It took about three days for them all to be processed, eventually with the help of Indonesian officials who were brought on board in Darwin. In long, slow moving queues, tempers of some passengers frayed when crew (whose job description does not include obtaining visas for passengers) took quite some time to get through all those who boarded without their visa.

[mahasamatman]

You are only asking for trouble if you depend on a cruise line to help you with legal matters like visas.

[abbydancer2003]

On 3/1/2024 at 1:48 PM, Baynanno1 said:

Even if not getting off the ship in Bali, you need the visa, as you are on a ship docked at an Indonesian port in Indonesian waters. Much better to have it done before boarding.

 

In spite of the fact the visa was a requirement before boarding, about half the passengers did not have their visa when boarding Sydney to Singapore last year.

 

It took about three days for them all to be processed, eventually with the help of Indonesian officials who were brought on board in Darwin. In long, slow moving queues, tempers of some passengers frayed when crew (whose job description does not include obtaining visas for passengers) took quite some time to get through all those who boarded without their visa.

And in our case, Indonesia is the first stop, so nowhere for Indonesian officials to board unless in Singapore, when presumably they wouldn't know they'd need to. 

[Northern Aurora]

1 hour ago, abbydancer2003 said:

And in our case, Indonesia is the first stop, so nowhere for Indonesian officials to board unless in Singapore, when presumably they wouldn't know they'd need to. 

 

Celebrity has had a long standing policy of offering to purchase flights for customs and immigration officials to board prior to a first port call at the next foreign port.  Celebrity pays for the flights, provides accommodations, food and so forth to do so.  But not every country accepts the offer.  On or Edge B2B2B last fall (Civitavecchia to Sydney) the Indian government authorities declined the offer (according to Cap. Matt the face to face Indian immigration took 7 hours for passengers at Mumbai).  In contrast the Australian Border Force had a least 5 of their staff onboard prior to our arrival at our first Australian port.  Indonesian officers will be forewarned.

 

We called at Benoa, Indonesia  on that B2B2B series.   Passengers who had not obtained their Indonesian travel documents prior to boarding had a serious problem.

[abbydancer2003]

2 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Celebrity has had a long standing policy of offering to purchase flights for customs and immigration officials to board prior to a first port call at the next foreign port.  Celebrity pays for the flights, provides accommodations, food and so forth to do so.  But not every country accepts the offer.  On or Edge B2B2B last fall (Civitavecchia to Sydney) the Indian government authorities declined the offer (according to Cap. Matt the face to face Indian immigration took 7 hours for passengers at Mumbai).  In contrast the Australian Border Force had a least 5 of their staff onboard prior to our arrival at our first Australian port.  Indonesian officers will be forewarned.

 

We called at Benoa, Indonesia  on that B2B2B series.   Passengers who had not obtained their Indonesian travel documents prior to boarding had a serious problem.

That's very nice of them, but since Benoa is the first stop, and Celebrity is not requiring us to provide proof of visa before boarding, would they know to bring Indonesian officials onboard in Singapore?  I guess that was my point. 

 

The example of them boarding to help was Sydney to Singapore, making Benoa the last stop, not the first.

[Northern Aurora]

2 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

That's very nice of them, but since Benoa is the first stop, and Celebrity is not requiring us to provide proof of visa before boarding, would they know to bring Indonesian officials onboard in Singapore?  I guess that was my point. 

 

The example of them boarding to help was Sydney to Singapore, making Benoa the last stop, not the first.

 

I must admit I am confused by your  post.  Celebrity definitely knows their own port schedule.  Celebrity knows the order of the ports of call.  Jim's post (#4) referred to the Singapore to Sydney leg on a leg of what was marketed as part of a "world cruise."  His post referred to the third leg of the B2B2B we were also on.  That B2B2B series required a number of visas, and I thought that it was very clear with based on the communication with Celebrity that the responsibility rested on the passengers to obtain the necessary visas.

[abbydancer2003]

3 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

I must admit I am confused by your  post.  Celebrity definitely knows their own port schedule.  Celebrity knows the order of the ports of call.  Jim's post (#4) referred to the Singapore to Sydney leg on a leg of what was marketed as part of a "world cruise."  His post referred to the third leg of the B2B2B we were also on.  That B2B2B series required a number of visas, and I thought that it was very clear with based on the communication with Celebrity that the responsibility rested on the passengers to obtain the necessary visas.

Sorry - didn't mean to confuse you.  I though you were saying that Celebrity would bring Indonesian officials on to help as mentioned in post #6, not Jim's post. All I was saying is that they knew well before the ship got to Darwin that they'd need to do that, but in our case, as yours (I think), Bali is the first stop, so they'd have to know by embarkation day that they'd need to do that.  

 

Jim's post did say that people wouldn't be allowed of the ship without the proper visa, the email we just got said they wouldn't be allowed on the ship without it.  It was very clear about that point.

 

[Northern Aurora]

@abbydancer2003:  Just a quick comment from someone who is a Zenith member of the loyalty program -- it seems to me that since the resumption of sailing after the height of the pandemic that not only are more countries requiring e-visas (they seem to be "head taxes") but also that Celebrity is not "covering" such costs by rolling the costs into the cruise cost.  When Celebrity pays to bring on border force/immigration officials they are brought on to process the immigration process.  They are not brought on to process visas.  

 

We boarded the Edge on October 30 and left on December 9, 2023.  That series of cruises was somewhat of a visa challenge and it was clear that the ship Captain, Hotel Director and other stripes were frustrated, and I will state angered with the lack of visa compliance by passengers (ie, folks who thought that they could just stop by Guest Relations and have a GR staff person do their paperwork).  We had all of our visas "in hand" with paper copies, copies on our i-Phones, copies on  our i-Pads and even copies on a thumb drive.  While that seems very redundant, we actually needed that redundancy in India.

[AlpineDiver]

For a 3 port trip within Indonesia, is a 1-entry visa OK or do you need a multiple entry visa?

[Joker54]

Indonesia has multiple visa options, some allow multiple visits, others only allow one visit. The Indonesia gov web site has a faq page that explains all of that. Bali requires their tourist tax be paid every time you enter Bali - so if you were to leave Bali and then return you would be on the hook to pay that again to enter Bali.

 

I understand why X wants us to have our visa's in hand prior to boarding in Singapore, especially in the post pandemic world. X would be in a real bind if someone didn't have a Visa and for some reason were denied a Visa at the port of entry - then you would be illegal even though you are on the ship as the ship is in Indonesian waters.

 

I can tell you if you were flying to Sydney the airlines would not allow you to board your flight if you didn't have your ETA approved by Australian immigration.

 

The Op was thinking that Indonesian rules would allow them to ignore X's rules. That would be a bad idea as X can require all kinds of things and if you are not in compliance then they can deny you boarding without a refund. You could probably fly to the port beyond Bali and board there but at your own expense.

 

I guess its the world we live in but I don't see the issue in not complying with the Visa requirement prior to boarding.  It's not that difficult, if you cant get the photo in a PDF and Jpeg format go to a location that makes passport photos or go to a FedEx, UPS or Office Deport store as they have the facilities to either take the photo and save the copies needed or to take a photo that you have and convert into the appropriate files.

 

The DW and I flew back to the US from Hong Kong one year via Shanghai, since we were just transit travelers and not staying in China more than 5 hours we did not need a visa, we did need a printed copy of our onward itinerary which we had. In China you have to clear immigration, get your luggage, check in for your future flight and clear immigration again, The first thing immigration said was "You don't have a Chinese Visa", next thing the DW and I are talking with a Chinese Soldier. The soldier was polite and when we showed our onward documents he told us the buzzword was "Transit Passenger". Quite a scary situation initially, and the same thing happened when we hit Immigration to depart China - without the soldier - the buzzword worked.

 

The lesson we learned from that is to always read the fine print on a given countries immigration regulations and be prepared - and if X says we need our Visa's to board, I guarantee you we will have them. We never ever want to be facing a soldier from another country quizzing us on why we are in their country without a visa.

 

YMMV

 

Cheers