India Ports of Call - important

[jonsmum]

Back last week from Abu Dhabi cruise, taking in 3 India ports. We were issued with separate yellow landing cards for each India port of call, on check in. These had to be signed and returned to Guest Relations.

 

These cards mean the difference between being allowed ashore or not, so they are extremely important. At each port, Immigration gathers the cards together, checks, stamps and signs each card and it is then returned to you ready to go ashore. We knew that the cards were important but what wasn't generally known was the stamping and signing bit.

 

When your card is returned to you CHECK that it has been STAMPED and SIGNED on the back, by IMMIGRATION. If there is no stamp and/or signature, take it to Guest Relations/Shore Excursions IMMEDIATELY.

 

Due to a breakdown in the system somewhere along the line, a number of passengers had their shore leave severely curtailed in Mumbai, as no-one (including X staff) had realised what exactly was required on the back of the cards. Hopefully this won’t occur again, but best to check for yourself and deal with it immediately rather than risk missing a trip.

You have been warned!!

[TommyD3]

Did you hear about anyone w/o the India visa and what happened?

There has been much discussion here about the visa being required even if you don't want to get off the ship.

We are on the repositioning cruise in April 2017 and do not plan to get the visa.

 

Thanks.

[DYKWIA]

India's ridiculous bureaucracy never changes. Only country I have had to take my passport to get into a museum (as well fill a form or two when I got there). Only country I recall having to hand the short stub from my boarding card to some flunky when you got off the plane

[charlieblu]

Did you hear about anyone w/o the India visa and what happened?

There has been much discussion here about the visa being required even if you don't want to get off the ship.

We are on the repositioning cruise in April 2017 and do not plan to get the visa.

 

Thanks.

 

We were on the 28 November Cruise. There were quite a few on board without Indian visas, at least 3 coach loads. We met 2 couples without visas that went with a ship’s tour at Mangalore. They were not allowed to get off the coach, so they cancelled the rest of their excursions. When waiting in the theatre for our other tours, (Goa and Mumbai), they called for the passengers without Visas separately. I am not sure, but I think you will have problems to get of the ship without a visa if you want to arrange a private tour.

[jonsmum]

Didn't hear of anyone without a visa although I'm sure there must have been. Given the vagaries of Indian immigration, I certainly wouldn't want to risk visiting without a visa. Having said that, residents of some countries don't need them.

[ECCruise]

Although there were a couple of glitches securing our visas (like the length of the visa term--which doesn't matter since we likely will not be back), the process is pretty seamless. Took less than 2 weeks door to door (including a long T-giving weekend).

No way we were going on our trip this spring without going ashore on our 4 stops in India, or worse, not being permitted to board the ship.

[TeaBag]

Thank you jonsmum, you have done us all a great service. We are on this cruise in April 2018 and haven't yet started to look at tours etc. We will remember this.

[Officer Dibble]

Mrs Dibble and I were among the 20 or so passengers who were caught up in the yellow landing card fiasco in Mumbai. Had we known in advance about the importance of checking for the Immigration stamp and signature, we would have done so the moment the landing cards were pushed under our door. Unfortunately we didn't! We were unable to leave the ship until our cards were correctly stamped and signed. I won't bore you with a blow by blow account of the ensuing fiasco; suffice it to say it took 2 hours before we were cleared to leave the ship. Needless to say our coach tour of Mumbai had long since departed! In fairness to Celebrity they did, after prompting, arrange a reduced duration tour for those affected but it wasn't very good and missed out a lot of the things we would have seen on our intended tour. We even had to buy our own lunch!! We were not happy campers!

[Haworth]

For Your Information

 

This was sent out by Celebrity prior to our cruise

 

Please click here to acknowledge receipt of this message

 

This is an important message regarding your upcoming cruise.

 

Dear Valued Guest,

We look forward to welcoming you onboard the Celebrity Constellation on November 28, 2016. Before this once in a lifetime vacation begins take a moment to be advised of this important information.

We remind all guests to please contact the Embassy (Consular Services) of each country on your sailing or the visa service of your choice for specific visa requirements, information, forms and fees for your nationality. It is the sole responsibility of the guest to identify and obtain all required travel documents for the entire cruise vacation and have them available when necessary. Please note that guests who do not provide the proper documentation at check-in may be denied boarding.

In an effort to enhance your check-in and boarding experience in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, please note the following important information:

 

• · Bring a photo copy of your multiple entry visa for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or your multiple entry e-visa for the UAE and keep it with you throughout the voyage, if required.
  
• · Bring four (4) photo copies of your passport and keep them with you throughout your voyage.
  
• · Bring three (3) photo copies of your visa for India and keep them with you. Please note that an eVisa for India is not acceptable.
  
• · Your passport will be collected in the terminal and held in a safe location at Guest Relations onboard throughout the voyage. This allows us to complete the immigration formalities for you at each Port of Call.
  

We look forward to welcoming you onboard Celebrity Constellation and wish you a pleasant and enjoyable cruise.

Sincerely,

Celebrity Cruises

 

Hope this helps

[caribill]

· Bring a photo copy of your multiple entry visa for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or your multiple entry e-visa for the UAE and keep it with you throughout the voyage, if required.

 

We have USA passports and were told that visas for the UAE are not required as they will be issued when the ship reaches the UAE.

 

Are the requirements different for those with UK passports?

[Haworth]

We have USA passports and were told that visas for the UAE are not required as they will be issued when the ship reaches the UAE.

 

Are the requirements different for those with UK passports?

 

UAE are visa on arrival, simple stamp in the passport, the photocopies seemed to be to help Celebrity at the pre boarding documentation check as they kept a couple of copies with all the other papers, sounds more complicated than it was.

 

I also suspect it will get better each time they do it

[florisdekort]

On a recent Azamara cruise, all passengers without a visa for India had to remain on board in all Indian ports; they were not allowed to go on shore. If you chose to skip India, that may sound OK, but imagine having to leave the ship early for a family emergency or something... not possible either.

 

 

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[uktog]

Did you hear about anyone w/o the India visa and what happened?

There has been much discussion here about the visa being required even if you don't want to get off the ship.

We are on the repositioning cruise in April 2017 and do not plan to get the visa.

 

Thanks.

 

Get a visa. What's the big deal? Why risk untold hassle if you needed to be ashore - let's say emergency dental work as an example for the sake of something that costs on average 1-2% of your cruise cost.

[excitedofharpenden]

On a recent Azamara cruise, all passengers without a visa for India had to remain on board in all Indian ports; they were not allowed to go on shore. If you chose to skip India, that may sound OK, but imagine having to leave the ship early for a family emergency or something... not possible either.

 

Get a visa. What's the big deal? Why risk untold hassle if you needed to be ashore - let's say emergency dental work as an example for the sake of something that costs on average 1-2% of your cruise cost.

 

Having done India cruises a few times this is absolutely my view and a multi entry visa at that just in case. I had to get off the ship in Kerala for medical reasons. I had a visa. It would have been a lot of aggravation if I didn't.

[uktog]

Also those who have no visa can hold the whole ship up on disembarking even when they are not going ashore because the authorities usually can delay being satisfied with the arrangements for the non disembarking guests for as long as they like.

Think of your fellow guests as well please!