hibiscusreduction

UGH! What do I have to do to get good answers ??

This is what I wrote to the French embassy in Miami:

"Hello,

I am trying to find out if a citizen of Belize, Central America, would need a visa to travel on a cruise that stops for 1 day in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten. According to the Netherland Embassy website, The Netherlands Antilles does not require a visa for Belizeans staying less than 30 days, or for cruise ship passengers leaving the same day. However, the French West Indies does require a visa for Belizeans for a short stay, but does not say anything about cruise passengers. I am unsure of which country's entry requirements we must comply with in this case, or if we must comply with both, as many of the tours take passengers over to the French side. I know that the consulate in Miami is not responsible for the country of Belize, but I am unable to find any contact information for our consulate, as that website appears to be out of order. The cruise embarks from Miami. I would appreciate any information that you can give me, or any referral to the correct consul. Thank you very much for your time."

and then today they wrote back:

"Good day,

you'll need a visa for the french part if you're not an holder of the us green card.

regards,

visa section"

DUUHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Thanks a lot for telling me what I already told you....

Thanks Gtaylor, I saw that too! but then the French Embassy started to scare me....LOL I hope it's right!!

Thanks Karysa, I really hope so too....It's really hard to get info for non-US, or non-UK, especially for a tiny 'not so popular' country like Belize that needs visas for almost everywhere :(

According to my reasoning, the Dutch embassy's answer should be the right one, but I'm really paranoid about being denied boarding, I have nightmares about it. Plus it's my (new) husband that is the Belizean (I am a US citizen), and this is our honeymoon so it would really be HORRIBLE for that to happen (or miss the ship, lol)

I hope the St. Martin Tourist board has an answer for me.....I just really want something that's definite and in writing.

Well the thing is, the cruise company basically said, find out for yourself, it's not our problem. I'm not concerned about being let off the ship in St. Maarten, I'm concerned about not being let ON the ship in Miami where the cruise begins.

And it's not that I 'don't want to be directed to the official offices', it's that I have already done that, and now am more confused as to WHICH official immigration office is the one that has the jurisdiction in this case of 2 countries ruling 1 island split in half with no real border.....AAHH!!!

*First of all, please don't say "contact the embassy" because that does not answer any question, & does not help. I have already contacted the Netherlands embassy, the French embassy, Royal Caribbean, & the St. Martin tourism board.

There is very little info for non-US citizens out there.....

This is for a person who is a citizen of Belize.

Netherlands embassy says: no visa required for Belizeans on Dutch side for less than 30 day stay, & no visa required for cruise ship passengers staying for less than 24 hours.

French embassy says:visa required for French side for short stay, but doesn't say anything about cruiseship passengers.

Royal Caribbean says: find out for yourself:mad: (although they have to know because they are the ones that decide if you can get on the ship if your paperwork is correct)

St. Martin tourism board: out of office till June 1:confused:

I just want to know if the ship is docking in Philipsburg, which is on the Netherland side, then do I need to go by what the Netherlands embassy says? But, if there is no "real" border between the two sides, how can they require a visa for only 1 side? It's very confusing.....and I can't seem to get a straight answer.

These stories are so hilarious!!!

I have 2 funny things that happened back to back on a Carnival cruise we took around 1999. I was 16, my sister was 15, and we had our younger cousin, who was about 8 at the time, she was in a little chunky, clumsy stage. This was around the time when the movie "Micky Blue Eyes" with Hugh Grant had just come out, and our favorite part was when they were coaching Hugh Grant how to talk like an Italian mobster. They were trying to get him to say "Get outta heeere", but he said it like "Ged oooooudda Heeeeyyaaa". And we would say this phrase to each other in the man mobster-like voice, whenever we were in each other's way.

So we needed to go to the bathroom and we were far from the cabin. There was one by the atrium area with all the elevators. So my mom said she would wait for us there. The three of us go off to the bathroom, but the main bathroom door was really hard to push open. I was at the front of the line pushing open the door, then my 8 year old cousin behind me, then my sister. Well I was taking too long to get in the door of the bathroom, and I hear my sister jokingly telling my little cousin "GED OOOOOUUUDDAA HEERRRE" in the 'man voice' cuz she was blocking her way. But at the same time, a lady was trying to get out of the bathroom and she thought someone was yelling at her to "get outta here", and she said very apologetically, "I'm sorry! I'm trying to get out..." and scrambled out as fast as she could. We were in the bathroom laughing so hard at that.

Then when we were done, we were going back to my mom to tell her the joke. Well my mom was standing leaning up on the railing inside that looks down into the atrium waiting for us. My cousin was ahead walking to her and she was almost at the railing, when she goes sliding down on some mysterious water, and hits the glass part of the railing at the bottom. My mom then screams at the top of her lungs "JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!" soooo loud, while leaning over the railing looking down. She thought my cousin had gone flying down into the atrium cuz she didn't know there was the glass part at the bottom, she thought it was just an open hole. My cousin was rolling on the floor laughing so hard she couldn't even get up. And we were all laughing so hard from the 2 incidents we couldn't even talk.