visa for Kenia, Tanzania, ... (2 Threads Merged)

[zula]

Hello,

 

I'm looking at the 35 day cruise from Hong Kong to Cape town, 26 th october 2015. On the website of my TA it is mentioned that you can buy the visa for the african ports on board the ship. Has anyone taken this (or a similar) cruise and tell me how much these visa cost when bought on the ship?

Regards,

Sonja

[Mura]

I was inclined not to answer since my information is awfully old, but since no one has posted anything for a couple of hours, I thought I'd put in my two cents.

 

First the provisos: we did a land tour to Kenya and Tanzania in August 1987, so clearly not current information! Secondly, as I said, not a cruise. We got our visas here in NYC at the two consulates. It was a simple process.

 

I wasn't aware that you could get visas for these countries on board but obviously procedures can have changed in the years since we were there. The question is, how much are they charging? Typically when Oceania provides the visas it's rather more expensive than getting your own in advance.

 

(An exception to that was when Oceania requested us to move to another cruise and part of the offer was that they would provide the necessary visas gratis. But it doesn't sound like this would be the case here.)

 

In your position I would try to get more information about what it will cost to get the visas on board ship, and then also check out what it costs to do on your own -- or through some other service.

 

Mura

[no fuss travel]

Yes, you can purchase your visa through Oceania. I did that cruise this past January and did all of my visas through Oceania on advice of passengers that had been on the previous cruise. If Oceania cannot dock at the port of call, then they refund you the cost of the visa. There has been missed ports before because of strife in the the various countries. If you do your own visas then you are out of pocket if the ship does not dock. It was a bit more expensive to have Oceania do the visas but, this way I did not have to send my passport all over the place to gt visas, so I did not have to deal with that aggravation.

[Mura]

Good to know! I hadn't thought about the issue of missed ports since our visit was on a land tour.

 

Thanks,

 

Mura

[zula]

Hello,

 

I will be on the cruise from Hong Kong to Cape town. For some ports you need a visa (Kenia, Tanzania, ...) My question : if you don't want to visit a port where you need a visa, do you still need to get the visa if you stay onboard?

 

Regards,

Sonja

[SellaVee]

Certainly in Asia you will need a visa and I expect it's the same in Africa. You are in that country whether you are on the boat or off the boat.

[StanandJim]

Certainly in Asia you will need a visa and I expect it's the same in Africa. You are in that country whether you are on the boat or off the boat.

 

On the cruises which we've been on, they wouldn't let us set foot on the ship without our Visa status first being ironed out for the entire voyage.

[no fuss travel]

If you are going to African ports, it is a good idea to use Oceania's visa package. If you don't go to the port, then they will refund you the price. It is cheaper to get them on your own which is a plus, but the minus is that if the ship does not arrive at the port, then you are out of money. We looked into the cost of the visas and by the time we paid for registered mail and so on for all the various countries, it was if I remember correctly around $5 more to use Oceania. Remember your passport will be out of your hands for each embassy that it is required to go to for your visa as well.

[Travelcat2]

Most visa services will take care of all of your required visas so you only have to send in your passport once. Agree that you absolutely must have a visa in advance of your cruise. Really think that you should have a conversation with your TA in order to make the best decision.

[JVilleGal]

The OP is from Belgium and may not be a U.S. Citizen. Zula you need to check out your requirements very carefully! Most people on this board may know the rules for US or Canadian citizens but do not trust the info on Cruise Critic.

[rallydave]

First of all the OP is from Belgium so as another poster stated, doubt most people on this board know what is required for people from Belgium and if the OP is not a Belgium citizen, then where she is a citizen is pertinent.

 

Second, for many ports such as Kenya and Tanzania the ship is able to get a blanket Visa for the entire ship which covers everyone who does not have a Visa in their Passport and that cost is generally much cheaper than going thru the process yourself. This type of blanket Visa is the kind that would get the money refunded and not a Visa gotten by a Visa service ahead of time. The reason is that the ship does not get the blanket Visa until they arrive in Port thus if they don't arrive in Port no Visa would be purchased and the charge refunded.

 

There would be no way to get back the money for a Visa using a Visa Service since the services were provided and the Visa actually issued by the country.

 

Can't be sure but, believe the major countries requiring a Visa in advance are Brazil, China, and India with many other countries providing the blanket visas to the ship upon arrival and much easier for the OP and either cheaper or just a bit more.

 

Suggest the OP have her TA contact Oceania and find out what the policy will be for this specific cruise as that would be the final word.

[Paulchili]

Yes, you can purchase your visa through Oceania. I did that cruise this past January and did all of my visas through Oceania on advice of passengers that had been on the previous cruise. If Oceania cannot dock at the port of call, then they refund you the cost of the visa. There has been missed ports before because of strife in the the various countries. If you do your own visas then you are out of pocket if the ship does not dock. It was a bit more expensive to have Oceania do the visas but, this way I did not have to send my passport all over the place to gt visas, so I did not have to deal with that aggravation.

 

 

Did you (could you) use your OBC to purchase your visas onboard?

We will be cruising in W. Africa and I would like to use our OBC for the visas rather than pay for them ahead of time to Oceania.

[no fuss travel]

We had to pay for them at the time of our last payment. Phone Oceania and ask. Maybe they will let you use your onboard credits.

[no fuss travel]

Viet Nam and Cambodia now require individual visas. We got ours through Oceania but had to arrive with photos and the application form completed before they gave us the key to our cabin.

[Travelcat2]

Since the OP wants to know if you still need a visa if you stay on the ship, the answer is yes (no matter what country you are from - if a visa is required). Still suggest checking with your TA or Oceania.

[SellaVee]

Did you (could you) use your OBC to purchase your visas onboard?

We will be cruising in W. Africa and I would like to use our OBC for the visas rather than pay for them ahead of time to Oceania.

 

I checked out the visa requirements myself for every country we were visiting. We're UK citizens and I didn't want to rely on information from Miami :).

 

We chose to organise our own Visas for China by visiting the Consulate to deliver and collect our passports. We were told we had to have those before joining the ship.

 

For Cambodia and Vietnam Oceania emailed us forms in advance and stressed that we would need to have photographs to go with them, which we did. I had them filled in before we left the UK, but Oceania did not request them until several days into the trip, by leaving a note in the cabin. The cost of the visas, $89 and $69 pp respectively, was charged to our on board account where we did have OBC.

 

My best guess is it depends on the country, and, of course you'll be on a different continent. If you need a visa in advance you'll probably pay O's visa provider. If your trip details say you can get a visa on board then you can use OBC. YMMV.

[Paulchili]

Thank you for the info.

I will check with O. Hope we can get the visas onboard and use some of our excessive OBC :)

[HotRoot]

Our documentation says - Other Items - Visa Kenya - All Nationalities $49.00 - Visa Tanzania - US $199.00 - Visa Mozambique - All Nationalities $169.00 Payable with final payment.

[PaulMCO]

Read your O invoice. It will list those you have to get. Key ones are always -- China, India and Brazil. These must always be done in advance thru embassies and O will not let you on the ship without them.

[StanandJim]

Read your O invoice. It will list those you have to get. Key ones are always -- China, India and Brazil. These must always be done in advance thru embassies and O will not let you on the ship without them.

 

+1

They have that same list at Check in on Embarkation day.

[zula]

Hi,

First of all thank you for all your responses!!

I got in writing from my TA that we are able to get all the visa on board. I only find it a pity that I will have to pay 169 USD for a visa for Mozambique when I'm not interested in visiting the country. In the past we bought already visa for Vietnam on board the Insigna which was much cheaper and easier than getting one ourself. Visa for Africa are not so difficult to get in Belgium as all countries have an embassy in Brussels (EU headquarters)and Belgium is so small, but they sometimes just enjoy making it difficult for you. For India, a cruise of ours ended in Mumbai and we had to fly home from there, it was OK for us to have a transitvisa for 72 hours which is half price. I had the email of the embassy of India with me saying that this was OK, because the staff on board first thaught it was a problem.

 

Regards,

Sonja

 

P.S. We Belgians don't need a visa for Brazil, on our Amazon cruise we were one of the few that didn't need one.

[Kuddel Daddeldu]

Since the OP wants to know if you still need a visa if you stay on the ship, the answer is yes (no matter what country you are from - if a visa is required). Still suggest checking with your TA or Oceania.

 

Generally, for most countries you will need a visa even if you stay on board.

However, Kenya is a special case, as the Kenyan immigration service states:

 

THE FOLLOWING PERSONS DO NOT REQUIRE VISAS TO ENTER KENYA.

[..]

ii. All passengers arriving and leaving by the same ship, and who do not leave the ship. [..]

 

Source: http://www.immigration.go.ke/Information.html

 

So this is official Kenyan government policy that you may go on the cruise without a Kenyan visa, as long as you do not leave the ship.

You should still confirm with Oceania in advance if they'll accept this, if you really do not want to go ashore to save the visa fee ($50 for all nationalities needing a visa).