Visas for India...need info

[sarasotascott]

We will be making 4 stops in India on the Constellation and I am reading a lot of confusing and contradictory information on obtaining the correct visas.

 

Anyone who has been through the process please provide information such as:

 

How long the process took.

Cost for the visa.

Did you have to mail your passport to have it stamped in advance of the trip.

Any vendors or companies you used to process the visa.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[villauk]

Much information can be found here:http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2356238&highlight=india+visa

 

The topic was mentioned very recently and even X themselves contributed to the above thread ;).

[Bo1953]

We will be making 4 stops in India on the Constellation and I am reading a lot of confusing and contradictory information on obtaining the correct visas.

 

Anyone who has been through the process please provide information such as:

 

How long the process took.

Cost for the visa.

Did you have to mail your passport to have it stamped in advance of the trip.

Any vendors or companies you used to process the visa.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

 

A Holy Grail as to what is required or not is found here at X's website.

 

bon voyage

[4774Papa]

The Indian Visa process is a royal pain. It is worse than the Russian or Chinese Visa process.

 

You do have to send in you passport for the visa to be entered. We don't live near a consulate, so we used a visa company and spent about the same as we did for Russia or China (about $200 pp).

 

There is an online process to filling out your visa application. Due to issues, I had to start all over again twice. Once it was because of minor differences in addresses like Street vs. St. The second time, as advised by the visa company was to put our residence in Inda as a hotel, even though we were never staying overnight on land. We were on the cruise ship and the Indians don't accept putting the cruise ship name in the form.

 

Then when you visit India the petty bureaucrats take over in port, especially your first port in India and the line to leave the ship can exceed two hours. The women reviewing passports, etc take their sweet time.

 

Putting that aside, India is a fascinating country and it is worth going through the visa process.

[NorbertsNiece]

Echoing what 4774Papa said.

 

Painful, confusing and ultimately the very worst part about the whole cruise.

 

In the UK I used the online process and also had to redo the form numerous times before it went through. Then they sent back a query. I can't remember what for, that's lost in the fog. Think weeks to receive back, so don't plan any trips abroad where a passport will be required.

 

PS..... have the photo done where they will honour the correct size needed for the visa.....it's a non standard size (of course)

Edited May 31, 2016 by NorbertsNiece

[cruising teacher]

On the Royal board a cruise critic member presently on the Ovation says that you do not need the India visa to embark the ship. But if you do not have one you will not be allowed to disembark at the Indian ports. At this point I am so frustrated that I would be ok with. Really hoping Celebrity would clarify this

[NorbertsNiece]

On the Royal board a cruise critic member presently on the Ovation says that you do not need the India visa to embark the ship. But if you do not have one you will not be allowed to disembark at the Indian ports. At this point I am so frustrated that I would be ok with. Really hoping Celebrity would clarify this

 

This is almost what occurred to pax on my Rhapsody cruise last year. They were allowed to board and only allowed to go ashore at our last (of 4) India port of call, Mumbai.

[Celebrity Cruises]

We will be making 4 stops in India on the Constellation and I am reading a lot of confusing and contradictory information on obtaining the correct visas.

 

Anyone who has been through the process please provide information such as:

 

How long the process took.

Cost for the visa.

Did you have to mail your passport to have it stamped in advance of the trip.

Any vendors or companies you used to process the visa.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

 

The information below is only applicable to U.S. and Canadian citizens. All other guests should review the visa requirements for each country on their sailing itinerary with their Embassy/Consulate or a Visa service of their choice.

 

All guests must have proper Indian visas at check in or will be denied boarding.

 

• Indian immigration authorities will not allow entry without a valid visa. Indian E-visa's are not applicable when entering India via a sea port.
  
• Indian authorities require one photo copy of the photo page of a guest's passport for each Indian port visited - the guest should bring these with them.
  
• All guests must complete the provided "yellow card" during the debarkation and embarkation process in India.
  

 

Guests can contact Visa Central http://visacentral.com/visas for visa assistance.

[4774Papa]

On the Royal board a cruise critic member presently on the Ovation says that you do not need the India visa to embark the ship. But if you do not have one you will not be allowed to disembark at the Indian ports. At this point I am so frustrated that I would be ok with. Really hoping Celebrity would clarify this

 

The process is a pain, but don't miss India.

[kobecat]

Indian authorities are not consistent. A few years ago on the Solstice, they gave passengers without a visa, one for about $50 on arrival in Cochin. We had paid about $120 each for ours so that was just plain annoying. We had gone through the drama doing the right thing, so all the passengers who got a$50 visa were bragging. Grrrr

[bludevil]

I followed the directions from the company Celebrity suggested and I got my India visa back in a week. Yes, the online form isn't simple, but if you write down your temporary ID when you first begin it, you can go back where you left off. There is a checklist of what you need to send it. Follow it and you probably won't have a problem.

[sarasotascott]

I followed the directions from the company Celebrity suggested and I got my India visa back in a week. Yes, the online form isn't simple, but if you write down your temporary ID when you first begin it, you can go back where you left off. There is a checklist of what you need to send it. Follow it and you probably won't have a problem.

 

Thanks for the advise.....how much did it cost?

 

Scott

[Jim_Iain]

The India Visa can be obtained pretty quickly for U.S. Citizens. It might be a protracted process with those of Pakistan descent.

 

I found a great guide that if followed exactly will help obtain one without much pain.

 

http://www.traveldocs.com/uploads/forms/IndianAppGuide.pdf

 

For an address in India I used a Hotel - I used Hilton even though was not going to stay there but I hear the Port Agent is fine also.

 

The most important thing I learned was -

 

1. Make sure your application is perfect. Any error will be returned and must be re-processed from the beginning.

 

2. Follow the guide exactly. It will tell you when they mean by many of the questions that seem odd to an American.

 

I obtained mine in 3 days and it is valid for 10 years.

 

Jim

[ozark74]

I followed the directions from the company Celebrity suggested and I got my India visa back in a week. Yes, the online form isn't simple, but if you write down your temporary ID when you first begin it, you can go back where you left off. There is a checklist of what you need to send it. Follow it and you probably won't have a problem.

 

Did you have to send your passport to Visa Central or did they just send you the visa? If you had to send it what was the time from the time you sent it until you got it back. I am starting to get ours next month.

[north29]

The Indian Visa process is a royal pain. It is worse than the Russian or Chinese Visa process.

 

You do have to send in you passport for the visa to be entered. We don't live near a consulate, so we used a visa company and spent about the same as we did for Russia or China (about $200 pp).

 

There is an online process to filling out your visa application. Due to issues, I had to start all over again twice. Once it was because of minor differences in addresses like Street vs. St. The second time, as advised by the visa company was to put our residence in Inda as a hotel, even though we were never staying overnight on land. We were on the cruise ship and the Indians don't accept putting the cruise ship name in the form.

 

Then when you visit India the petty bureaucrats take over in port, especially your first port in India and the line to leave the ship can exceed two hours. The women reviewing passports, etc take their sweet time.

 

Putting that aside, India is a fascinating country and it is worth going through the visa process.

 

Again, you almost have to do Ancestry.com to do it LOL. Lots of reason for the detained information they want because in some possible entitlements or political reasons since Indians have truly scattered about the world.

[bludevil]

Thanks for the advise.....how much did it cost?

 

Scott

 

I think it was about $260. When you go to http://www.visacentral.com/celebritycruises, our cruise won't be listed but if you go to visas at the top and put in your info, it will give you the proper visa kit.

[bludevil]

Did you have to send your passport to Visa Central or did they just send you the visa? If you had to send it what was the time from the time you sent it until you got it back. I am starting to get ours next month.

 

you have to send your passport in. I got mine back in about a week.

[ozark74]

you have to send your passport in. I got mine back in about a week.

 

Thanks. Was afraid it would be a lot longer.