Ask Away: Be careful when booking your cruise

Some take care of any visas their passengers require, while others only take care of visas required for passengers from the US. Photo / 123RF

I just wanted to let your readers know to be mindful about booking a cruise to more exotic places.

My husband and I have booked a cruise that goes around the Emirates, India and Sri Lanka, before discovering that some places like India require a multi-entry visa, which can be expensive and confusing to obtain. I believe China is even worse. You cannot just opt to miss a one port country as these visas are required to enter territorial waters and you may not even be allowed to board without them.

On a more personal level I have been unable to find out if New Zealanders require an individual visa to disembark in Qatar, Oman and Sri Lanka on an American boat which gets group visas for American passengers. Any help appreciated.

- Maxine Bond

I asked visa specialist Peter Tuohy of Travcour for some help on this one. He said different cruise companies tend to have different requirements of their passengers. Some take care of any visas their passengers require (sometimes called a blanket visa), while others only take care of visas required for passengers from the US — especially if that's where the bulk of their customers are from. Other cruise companies advise passengers they must arrange their own individual visas.

Here's what you need to know for the countries you'll be visiting:

United Arab Emirates: Visa required and obtainable on arrival free of charge.

India: Visa required. Can be obtained in the traditional manner (i.e. through the Indian High Commission) which Travcour can assist with or (new) if arriving at the sea ports of Mangalore, Cochin & Goa an e-visa can be obtained via
indianvisaonline.gov.in.

Sri Lanka: Unless instructed otherwise by the cruise company, an Electronic Travel Authority is required. Obtainable via eta.gov.lk.

Qatar: Visa required. Obtainable on arrival for QAR100 ($32).

Oman: No visa under three months.

Readers respond:

Robert Bringans wrote in with some tips for currency in Mexico. He says the peso can be very difficult to obtain in New Zealand, as it is considered an "exotic" currency — so best pick them up in Mexico. He also advises that cash passport cards can be loaded only with mainstream currencies, not pesos, so you're better to load your card with NZ dollars, so you can withdraw pesos and get one conversion rate.

And when withdrawing cash from ATMs, he recommends going to a main bank and using their machine — "don't use ATMs randomly in the street, they may indeed be phishing machines".

Email your questions to askaway@nzherald.co.nz

Eli cannot answer all questions and can't correspond with readers.