Turkish Visas for Australian Travellers

[SuJaDon]

We have just returned home from our River Cruise which left Amsterdam on 2nd August and cruised the four rivers down to Rousse in Bulgaria before we joined buses which took us onto Turkey. Four weeks before our departure we were advised by APT in Australia that they strongly advised that we obtain our Turkish Visa before departing Australia. Due to prior postings on this board, all of which assured us to wait until we reached the border in Turkey, we didn't bother to rush around and buy our visas before departing Australia. Thanks everyone for the information.

The Australians who did purchase their visas prior to leaving Australia paid $75.00 Australian and had to fill in a form that asked heaps of personal questions even as to what was their mother's maiden name etc. Not even 10% of the tour group obtained their visas prior to leaving Aust. as most had checked with their own Travel Agents and were told not to bother.

The rest of us on the tour handed over 15 euro (about $26.00) and had no hasssles whatsoever with our visas. The ones that had visas had to sit on the bus the same as the ones that didn't so there was no advantage whatsoever. These people were not very happy with APT as they had paid out $50.00 extra per visa and it had caused some quite a bit of stress.

So if you are an Aussie and need a Turkish Visa after finishing your river cruise WAIT until the border because there will be no hassles at all.

The cruise was absolutely wonderful and if anyone would like any information please feel free to ask me.

Sue:)

[GlobeMan]

There's usually no point in paying a service to get your visa. In every case where I wanted one prior to traveling (Turkey, China, Egypt), I found the application form online and sent it, along with fees and passport to the local embassy. I had the Visa within a few days.

 

There's really no need to pay someone else to do the same thing for you. It just adds cost and delay.

[mleth]

Would be interested in any tips for us prior to leaving. We are doing the same tour. Some one previously stated the trip from the river to Instanbul wasnt much chop and the buses where dirty.

 

Thanks

[SuJaDon]

Hi mleth,

The river cruise and Turkey extension was absolutely wonderful. APT's handling of all matters and the organizing of all the daily excursions and freedom of choice excursions was exceptional with the buses turning up at least 45 minutes prior to departure from the ship. Most of the local guides were very informative and their English was understandable.

They had 3 buses for the 84 passengers that were going through to Turkey (20 did the cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest only and 2 flew home sick from Rousse). The buses were fine (no toilets on board but then we did an Insight Tour prior to this one which did have a toilet but we were told in no uncertain terms to only use this toilet if absolutely necessary - hence no one was game to use it anyway) and as each bus only had 28 people we were able to spread out and most had a seat to themselves. The buses always stopped every couple of hours for a break. The buses travelled in convoy and stopped at the same places.

 

If I was to have a complaint at all it would be that we were on a "sick ship" - apparently on the cruise before us most of the passengers were sick and then we all hopped on less than 12 hours later and most of the group were sick - something like over 30 people had to have the docotor come on board at different ports. Some of the people were cabin bound for most of the 3 weeks and 2 people did fly home to Brisbane both very ill and they missed their Turkey part of their holiday. Another couple were having a stopover in Singapore which they cancelled and flew straight through to Aust. We were both lucky enough not to get sick but after leaving the ship we both got slight colds and sore throats which was a mild attack of whatever was going around on the ship. This was not APT's fault and I really don't know what could have been done to avoid it - but some people have spent a great deal of money and really haven't seen outside their cabin for a couple of weeks. There was disinfectant to wash your hands just outside the Dining Room and also in the Lobby so we made sure we did this everytime we passed and we were very careful when using the utensils at the buffet (some people would cough into their hands then pick up the utensils :mad: ). Reading through what I have written it sounds a bit "doom and gloom" and it was for a lot of people, but just be careful and you should be fine.

 

The half day that we spent at Gallipoli was absolutley tremendous. We visited all the sites that you hear about and at Lone Pine we all stood in front of the Memorial and sang the National Athem plus someone said the verse that is recited at the Rememberance Day Services. Very moving I can tell you. The Turkish guides explained it all to us in a very unbiased way.

 

OK I have rambled on enough - I am sure you will enjoy your cruise as much as we did - it is great to unpack your cases and sit up on top and watch the world go by.

 

Sue

[mleth]

Thanks for that. Sounds like we will have a great time and hope no illness pops up. We did obtain our Turkish Visas and as you said a lot of paper work was involved and we had to post our Passports by registered mail to Melbourne.(plus include a return paid envelope) I spoke to a lady from the Turkish consulate and she told me she keeps telling the travel agents that the Visas can be obtained at the border.

[Emma Chisit]

I’d like to second Sue and say thanks to everyone on this forum for the advice not to get Turkish visas before leaving Australia (and Hi Sue – welcome back). We were given even less notice by APT about getting the visas, it was less than two weeks for us, as we left Australia a while before the cruise started. So we faced the possibility of having to send off our passports far too close to departure for comfort, as we live a long way from our nearest consulate. When we contacted the Turkish consulate in Sydney they said there was no need to get visas in advance, in fact someone there even told our TA you could only get them at the border. So, with that advice, and supported by the opinions here, we did not get them ahead of time, and all was well. And we saved money as well. We spent about half an hour at the border crossing, about the right amount of time for a large group of people I think. Just time to change some money and visit the loos..

I’d also like to say how great the trip was and hope to do a review later on. We did a short river cruise on the Yangtze a couple of years ago and liked it, which is why we signed on for this one. It really is a wonderful way to travel. So long as you don’t get sick! I see that Sue mentioned the illness on board, and I have posted separately on this.