Visa needed for Sydney/Cairnes?

[CamelliaCity]

We are going into Sydney 7-10 days early. We plan to fly from Sydney to Cairnes for a couple of days to tour GBR.

We'll then fly back to Sydney and tour Blue Mountains and have several days for Sydney.

 

We'll be joining our 29day cruise with Princess afterwards.

 

Do we need a visa?

 

Thanks for any/all information.

 

 

 

Brenda

[cindiedee]

ALL American citizens (and other countries too) need a visa for Australia - your TA can get you one (multiple entry - 90 days) - you can also go to the Australian Immigration website and apply for one for $20 A - They are electronic but make sure you can get something you can print out - my sister and her husband a little problem in LA last month trying to board the plane to Sydney - when we went, out TA printed them out for us and we took several copies with us on the trip.

 

Hope this helps! Cindiedee

[CamelliaCity]

Thank you so much for your reply.

For some reason needing visas simply slipped right past me.

 

Now that I know, I'll get it done.

 

We went to Rome and hopped all around and didn't need anything.

I guess I got a little careless when it came to planning Australia.

 

 

'Brenda'

[turtlemichael]

Here is the official web site for visas, otherwise known as ETA's or Electronic Travel Authorities. Although it's nice and could be helpful to have a print out, the official record is electronic and can be accessed by Australian Immigration and Airline officials to confirm you have the ETA.

 

http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/

[CamelliaCity]

Turtle, thank you.

 

I notice that you are from Cairnes.

 

We plan to fly into Cairnes from Sydney.

We have to get to Port Douglas from Cairnes.

 

Is it possible to fly into Port Douglas. I can only find Cairnes on Quantas.

 

How would we get from Cairnes to Port Douglas? We really do not want to rent a car.

 

We want to hop over to Port Douglas and do a day tour of the reef, spend two nights and fly back to Sydney. Right now we are on square one of our planning phase:D

 

Thanks for any information.

 

'Brenda'

[turtlemichael]

I'll only tell you if you spell them correctly - Cairns and Qantas ;)

 

There is no airport at Port Douglas, at least not one taking commercial scheduled flights. T he road trip from Cairns Airport takes just under an hour. While some people would hire cars, many people going to Port Douglas would use a private bus company, Sun Palm, which runs a regular service to Port Douglas hotels. Their website is: http://www.sunpalmtransport.com/ Round trip is AU$55.00 or about US$42.00. The other alternative is that, if you are staying at a larger hotel they may have their own transport to meet you usually at a similar fee.

 

A good source of information and a starting point, is the local Tourism Authority's website:

http://www.tropicalaustralia.com.au/

 

Have fun in the planning and happy to help with your questions.

[CamelliaCity]

I'll only tell you if you spell them correctly - Cairns and Qantas ;)

 

There is no airport at Port Douglas, at least not one taking commercial scheduled flights. T he road trip from Cairns Airport takes just under an hour. While some people would hire cars, many people going to Port Douglas would use a private bus company, Sun Palm, which runs a regular service to Port Douglas hotels. Their website is: http://www.sunpalmtransport.com/ Round trip is AU$55.00 or about US$42.00. The other alternative is that, if you are staying at a larger hotel they may have their own transport to meet you usually at a similar fee.

 

A good source of information and a starting point, is the local Tourism Authority's website:

http://www.tropicalaustralia.com.au/

 

Have fun in the planning and happy to help with your questions.

 

 

You are sooooooooo right:o and I hate it when people can't spell:eek:

 

Sorry, and I promise to be good if you will continue to be here to share with me;)

 

Thanks for the websites.

 

I'm thinking we'll try to stay at Rendezvous Stafford. They have a property in Sydney and Port Douglas. Checked them out on the internet and they look fine to me. I think they do have a shuttle from Cairns to Port Douglas. I'll have to check that out next week.

 

 

'Brenda'

[Aussie Gal]

Camellia City,

 

I believe that if you are flying with Qantas to Australia, they take care of the visas. I think the charge for the visa is inclusive of the airfare.

 

I would look into that before paying out the $20.

 

Jennie

[turtlemichael]

Jennie,

I may be wrong but I'd be surprised at that. It's possible some travel agents may pick up the cost for their clients. Certainly Australian airport tax (departure tax) is within the charged ticket price but I didn't know that visa charges were. Maybe some one can enlighten us? The below is from Qantas's website. T he online link is to the site I mentioned in an earlier post.

 

Non-Australian Citizens

 

All non-Australian citizens travelling to Australia require a visa. You can apply for a visa online through the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). The ETA is a visa that is stored electronically, rather than a stamp or label in your passport. It will show up as part of your passport record when Customs officials check your passport details.

If you have already booked your ticket and are departing from an ETA eligible country, you can apply for your ETA online. Be sure to have your passport details ready when applying.

Generally, you can be issued a short term Tourist or Business ETA if:

• you hold an ETA eligible passport;
  
• you will not work in Australia if you hold a Tourist ETA;
  
• you will not stay in Australia for more than three months;
  
• you are in good health and have no criminal convictions.

If you are unable to apply online you can obtain a visa by visiting an Australian office of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, or by visiting an Australian Government office overseas where a standard visa will be issued.

 

 

Michael

[Globaliser]

I may be wrong but I'd be surprised at that. It's possible some travel agents may pick up the cost for their clients. Certainly Australian airport tax (departure tax) is within the charged ticket price but I didn't know that visa charges were. Maybe some one can enlighten us?

No, some airlines really do arrange ETAs for no extra charge. But not all, and even those that do don't publicise it very much. I can't remember off the top of my head which ones do, now.

[turtlemichael]

Globaliser, as Qantas seem to be encouraging customers to apply for a visa (ETA) via the official channel with the requisite payment, it doesn't appear as if they are providing them for their passengers with the charge included in the airfare? Anyone definitively know?

[Aussie Gal]

Turtlemichael,

 

If you scroll back a few pages on this Board there was a whole discussion about Australian visas last year and that is when I read that Qantas do supply them.

 

Here is the link to the postings

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=271155&highlight=visas

 

and if you scroll down to posting number 12, here is what is written:

 

Catz821: When our travel agent sent the cruise booking information, there was a section called Govt fees/taxes. After the amount there was a note: includes Australian visa. Since we made our own air arrangements through Qantas and they applied for the visa on our behalf, we had our travel agent remove the Princess charge, which was US$20 per person.__________________

 

Jennie

[turtlemichael]

Sorry to spread confusion and thanks for picking it up Jennie! Having done a bit more investigation I think that the situation is:

 

1. Nearly everyone needs a visa (or ETA) for visiting Australia as a tourist.

2. There is no charge for the ETA. However, if you apply for it directly from the Australian government website they will charge you a "service" fee of $A20.00 for doing so.

3. Other people who can apply on your behalf include travel agents and airlines. They may or may not charge you a service fee for doing so. It's therefore worth checking with your airline into Australia, your cruise line or your travel agent if they will get your ETA and at what, if any, charge.

 

Hope that's better. :)

 

Michael