On Line Visas for Istanbul/Turkey

[svlcarol]

Just a heads up. You can now get your Turkish Visitor's Visa on line for $20. Visa is required if you are staying in Istanbul prior to boarding ship.

Quick and simple & when you arrive you won't spend extra time at the desk for getting a visa. Also no service charge.

[wripro]

Great tip!

[johnnycruise]

A Turkish visa is also required if you hold certain passports (including USA) and your cruise ends in Istanbul. Seabourn will provide you with the visa but they add a steep handling/service fee to the cost of the visa.

[cruising kirby]

Just went through this process as my cruise ends in Istanbul. Very simple and likely to save time on arrival. My preliminary Seabourn documentation indicated they could do it for me, however it was significantly cheaper to do it myself.

[Roxburgh]

We bought our Turkish visa when Odyssey stopped at Kusadasi. There is an office at the cruise terminal where you can get them. Much cheaper than getting it through Seabourn.

[twirl711]

just an FYI - when we disembarked in Istanbul 2 summers ago Seabourn charged us $30 per person for our visas - all in all, not that bad if you can't get to it beforehand.

[johnnycruise]

just an FYI - when we disembarked in Istanbul 2 summers ago Seabourn charged us $30 per person for our visas - all in all, not that bad if you can't get to it beforehand.

 

I believe the charge from Seabourn last fall was either $40 or $50 per person. We also bought ours at Kusadasi. Very simple. Your choice of $20 or €15 - cash only.

[cruising kirby]

just an FYI - when we disembarked in Istanbul 2 summers ago Seabourn charged us $30 per person for our visas - all in all, not that bad if you can't get to it beforehand.

That is a good price! The Seabourn documentation for my September cruise advises they currently charge Australians USD85 per person

[ab21au]

$65 US for Australians online from Turkey gov website. Got ours a few weeks ago. Apparently They charge Aussies more because we (Aus Gov) started charging more for Turkish citizens visiting Aus. Fair enough I suppose.

[Keith1010]

A Turkish visa is also required if you hold certain passports (including USA) and your cruise ends in Istanbul. Seabourn will provide you with the visa but they add a steep handling/service fee to the cost of the visa.

 

Well, no. This electronic visa is all that is required. Same as the one you et at airport or on the ship but no hassles. More in a second.

 

If you are staying for a short time you can just use this new service.

 

It is similar to an ETA that one would get for Australia.

 

For those of you who "used" to do things there is no need to do any of that now. You don't need to stand in line at an airport if arriving by plane and you don't need to pay the extra to Seabourn if you are leaving the ship in Istanbul and you don't have to go to an office. Just forget about all of that and do it from home.

 

This is the link to the system.

 

Very easy.

 

https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/

 

Keith

[johnnycruise]

Well, no. This electronic visa is all that is required. Same as the one you et at airport or on the ship but no hassles. More in a second.

 

If you are staying for a short time you can just use this new service.

 

It is similar to an ETA that one would get for Australia.

 

For those of you who "used" to do things there is no need to do any of that now. You don't need to stand in line at an airport if arriving by plane and you don't need to pay the extra to Seabourn if you are leaving the ship in Istanbul and you don't have to go to an office. Just forget about all of that and do it from home.

 

This is the link to the system.

 

Very easy.

 

https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/

 

Keith

 

A Turkish visa is required. Whether you get it online, in Kusadasi or let Seabourn handle it is up to you, but it's still required.

[Keith1010]

A Turkish visa is required. Whether you get it online, in Kusadasi or let Seabourn handle it is up to you, but it's still required.

 

I fully understand how this works.

 

My point is that you can do it right at your computer terminal.

[ravenclaw]

We bought our Turkish visa when Odyssey stopped at Kusadasi. There is an office at the cruise terminal where you can get them. Much cheaper than getting it through Seabourn.

 

Was your Turkish visa required solely for Kusadasi (Ephesus) or was it needed for add'l travel thru Turkey post-cruise ?

[Mr Luxury]

Was your Turkish visa required solely for Kusadasi (Ephesus) or was it needed for add'l travel thru Turkey post-cruise ?

 

If you set foot on Turkish soil, you need a visa.

[johnnycruise]

Was your Turkish visa required solely for Kusadasi (Ephesus) or was it needed for add'l travel thru Turkey post-cruise ?

 

Had we not ended our trip in Istanbul we would not have needed a Turkish visa. Turkey does not require a visa for single-day shore calls.

[Keith1010]

You only need the visa for two reasons. Your cruise ends there or you have an overnight in port and rather than stay on the ship you stay at a hotel on land.

 

For those of you who need the visa use the electronic one. It is not a traditional visa which would be required for stay greater than its limit but it is the same type of visa that Seabourn would get for you and it is cheaper and it is far easier to do this at your computer than standing at line at the airport or somewhere else on land. I am glad they went to this. Like I said very similar to the Australia ETA.

 

Keith

[johnnycruise]

I fully understand how this works.

 

My point is that you can do it right at your computer terminal.

 

Agreed that the self-service option is preferable for many, but if you fail to do that before embarkation you have other options. It took all of 30 seconds for the man at Kusadasi quai to take my money and affix a visa stamp to my passport, and we didn't even speak the same language.

[ravenclaw]

If you set foot on Turkish soil, you need a visa.

 

Then it appears there's some conflicting information..understand that visa is required for many nationalities if for example, flying in or out of Turkey but if just making a cruise stop, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says:

 

http://www.mfa.gov.tr/frequently-asked-questions.en.mfa

 

"Question: I am taking a Mediterranean boat cruise with my family. Our ship will also visit Kuşadası. Do we need visas to enter Turkey?

Answer: Foreigners who are travelling to Turkey by cruises are allowed to enter Turkey without visa for a maximum period of 72 hours, with the permission given by the local security authorities."

 

 

It appears the "local security authorities" have the final say when it comes to cruise visits.

[Keith1010]

Right now you do not need a visa if you tarpans it through the county..

 

One thing to keep in mind is thatthe rules may change and that one is that at some point they may insist that if you stay for a short time or are leaving the ship that you must secure an electronic visa like Australia does. They Re not there yet but it may come at some point.

 

Keith

[Mr Luxury]

Ravenclaw

 

Thanks for this information

I have always purchased a visa just to be sure ,even if I am disembarking a ship

[Keith1010]

Right now you do not need a visa if you tarpans it through the county..

 

One thing to keep in mind is thatthe rules may change and that one is that at some point they may insist that if you stay for a short time or are leaving the ship that you must secure an electronic visa like Australia does. They Re not there yet but it may come at some point.

 

Keith

 

The drawback of using an iPad as was the case on this post from yesterday.

 

We have visited Turkey many times. In short:

 

If you transit through on a cruise ship and that includes an overnight on the ship or stop in places such as Istanbul and Kusadasi you do not need a visa.

While the earlier post says it is up to the local authorities this has never been an issue for us and I have never heard of any issue reported on Cruise Critic.

 

If your cruise starts in Turkey or ends in Turkey you need a visa, but again not a traditional visa with a lengthly application and the like. In the past the way to do this was at the airport or in port or having the cruise line do this. Now you can just do this on line and it will instantaneously be processed. While some might not have had big lines in port others have and it is just one less thing to worry about.

 

Eventually there is some talk that the on line visa will be the only way to obtain this but that is not the case right now.

 

For anyone who has not yet visited these ports they are amazing. We really enjoy them.

 

Keith

[jenidallas]

Quick update... as of April 10, 2014 you may no longer obtain a visa at the airport on arrival. You must obtain one in advance but this is an easy electronic process at http://www.evisa.gov.tr/ and still can be done for $20 US.

 

I am glad I decided to quickly skim the State Department website yesterday as it was still VOA when I last flew into Istanbul in 2012 and I would have just gone on my journey thinking all was okay!

[Keith1010]

I figured they would do this sooner or later. Your cruise line should let you know about this. Our son and daughter in law joined us on a cruise in late April that we were already on and the cruise line let them know. The cruise line would have gotten ours as we needed one since we were ending our cruise in Istanbul but we just got it on line from the ship and it was very easy.

 

Keith

[jenidallas]

We did not get any notification from Seabourn. Granted, they did not arrange our air travel either and we are round-trip out of Istanbul so presumably they figure we have figured out how to get there.

[Keith1010]

Glad that you figured it out. I think they probably should let all their guests know regardless of the air situation but in any event you were obviously on top of it and it is nice that you took the time to let others know.

 

Keith