Libya situation?

[Jancruz]

If you have read the publicity, it is not only Oceania that has changed ports..there are many cruise lines listed in the above story..

Jan

*****

[Tuscanyx]

I guess you just got back from your cruise? Could you give a quick update on the Lybia situation. We're going in a couple of weeks and I would hate to be left on the ship unable to enter the country. Thanks.

[Windrunner I]

MSC Cruises is having the same problem, they were scrambling to try and get individual visas for all U.S. passengers on a few recent sailings. It seems Libya is still granting entry to those on individual visas but not any group visas.

[drwong]

Scrambling is the right word for it - no Americans can obtain visas from the Libyan "embassy" here in Washington DC, with all applications having to go through the Libyan Peoples Bureau in Ottawa, Canada. And the State Dept's website warns that visas can take weeks, if not months, to arrive.

 

I believe MSC is charging its passengers $156.00 for the service - I don't believe there would have been a surcharge for one of Oceania's group visas - they didn't require an additional payment in anticipation of our Libyan port calls and they didn't require additional payment for the group visa they obtained for us in Egypt when Alexandria had to substitute for Benghazi and Tripoli.

[Portolan]

I believe MSC is charging its passengers $156.00 for the service - I don't believe there would have been a surcharge for one of Oceania's group visas - they didn't require an additional payment in anticipation of our Libyan port calls and they didn't require additional payment for the group visa they obtained for us in Egypt when Alexandria had to substitute for Benghazi and Tripoli.

 

group visa to Libya. Certainly, the cost for the visa was buried in the overall cost of the cruise. Providing the visa for Egypt as "compensation" (as described earlier) was no more than providing what you'd paid for already. The only time that you'd expect to see a visa as a separate charge is, as in the case with MSC, they are doing something different than originally planned (and figured into the cruise fare). The only time it would be compensation is if you got something more than you paid for. Egypt visa == Libya visa in this case.

[drwong]

group visa to Libya. Certainly, the cost for the visa was buried in the overall cost of the cruise. Providing the visa for Egypt as "compensation" (as described earlier) was no more than providing what you'd paid for already. The only time that you'd expect to see a visa as a separate charge is, as in the case with MSC, they are doing something different than originally planned (and figured into the cruise fare). The only time it would be compensation is if you got something more than you paid for. Egypt visa == Libya visa in this case.

 

Oceania does adds a surcharge for visas - passengers needing visas on the Nautica's Athens-to-Singapore inaugural cruise are being charged $349 for visas, and passengers on her Hong Kong-to-Athens return can purchase them for $549 per person (due to a different itinerary). I recall Oceania initially charged $99 for Turkish visas, but reduced the price to $49, reflecting the Turkish's government's drop in price.

 

I don't know whether Oceania had already "paid" for the Libyan visas - either to Sam Mifsud (their agent) or to the Libyan government (which is entirely possible) - but if they did, the additional cost of the Egyptian visas wasn't passed on to us.

[Benita]

Now we have to decide whether to cancel the May 21, 2006 cruise. I'm willing to accept the port substitutions, as we have not been to any of them, but don't like all the last minute switches. I don't blame Oceania for having to make the changes, but from the sounds of the replies on this site, it sounds like they were not upfront about the situation with the passengers and did not make an effort to defuse the situation.

On a related subject, we purchased air deviations and agreed to a surcharge to hand pick our own flights from their "free airfare" promotion. Anybody know what penalties would be incurred from our deposit if we cancelled?

[Fetchpeople]

As per my agent, the fee to cancel at this early date is the deviation fee only. That fee is either $50 or $75 PP, depending on when you booked the air.

[emmalbrent]

What about the deposit? And the travel insurance?

[Jancruz]

The best thing is to read the brochure for the new cancellation policies..

Jan

*****

[7continentKaren]

We would have paid an additional $156 for a visa in a minute. MSC obviously went the extra mile for its American passengers whereas this bunch just ditched the itinerary, giving us no choice. I used to be a mayor of a town of 30K. When problems occur, people are OK about it IF you keep them aware of exactly and honestly what is happening and detailing how hard you are working for a solution. None of that happened here. They even had the nerve to have brochures for their April Libya cruise on board when we arrived. Talk about insult to injury.

 

After asking our friend to come have a chat with him over his mid-cruise commentary, the general manager listened for a half hour and handed him a card to write to the Customer Service Manager in FL. What was that about? Certainly did not make him feel better.