Friday, May 24, 2019: Visa Update

Last week I followed the instructions that Silverseas had sent to Maxine for the visas I would need for the world cruise. There were four that they said I would need to apply for. I successfully applied for both the Brazilian and Australian visas but ran into problems on the Sri Lanka and India. Both of the later required that the visas be applied for within 90 days of visit. This would be after I had started the cruise so Maxine sent a note to Silverseas asking for guidance.

In the mean time, I got a message from VFS informing me that as of June 1, 2019, visas will no longer be required for Brazil. That was great, except I had already charge the visa application fee to my credit card and they would not cancel or refund. Hence, I got the worthless Brazilian visa for only $44.24.

While my credit card was charged for the Australian ETA application ($13.80US) , I have not received anything yet and when going on-line to check the status, they say they have no record of my application...even though they did charge me for it.

Not to worry however since, in the mean time, Maxine got a response from Silverseas saying that they would apply for all required visas and I did was stupid for following their previous instructions.

Whew, for only $58.04 wasted, I don't have to worry about visas anymore. I told Maxine this level of incompetence on the part of Silverseas is not a reassuring beginning.

Thursday, May 16, 2019: Guest Update and Visas

The latest in the guests for the world cruise. The last update was back in March. Since then, son Stephen has requested joining me on the first segment from Ft. Lauderdale to Buenos Aires. Friend Maria, has requested joining me on the second segment from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, Chile. Here is the guest list as it stands today.

Before I took my April transatlantic crossing followed by the Portugal river cruise, Maxine had gotten a list of visa requirements from Silverseas.

Reading through it, there appears to be four countries that I will be responsible for obtaining a visa. These four countries are Brazil, Australia, Sri Lanka and India.

Today, I applied on-line for a Brazilian tourist visa  ($44.24USD) and an Australian Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA, $20AUD).

I tried to apply for both the Sri Lanka and India visas, but both countries required the applications to be within 90 days of arrival. We will dock in Columbo, Sri Lanka on April 13, 2020 and a few days later, in India. The 90 days prior to arrival will be in the second half of January, 2020, after the cruise begins.

I sent an email to Maxine asking her to find out if Silverseas has a recommendation on how to proceed.