HAL Denial of Boarding due to Lack of Visa

I am shortly leaving on a HAL cruise from Auckland to Japan, stopping at,
among other places, Rabaul in Papua
New Guinea (PNG).

I received a letter from HAL advising me that an individual tourist visa for
PNG (an 8-hour oport call) must be obtained prior to sailing. HAL further
states that "Guests arriving at the pier without proper documentation will
not be allowed to
embark the ship and will not be eligible for refund."

The PNG Embassy in Washington DC has been overwhelmed with tourist visa
requests, and I can only think that HAL may
have something to do with this backlog (Statendam with 1200 passengers will
call there twice in March). It is not a large
embassy, and does not ordinarily process a lot of tourist visa requests.

My passport has been at the Embassy for over two weeks, and the Embassy
cannot tell me when my visa will be
processed. As I depart home on Wednesday, and am tied up on Tuesday, I will
have to pick up my passport on
Monday, tomorrow, with or without the visa.

So, the question is, how serious is HAL about not letting a passenger embark
without the visa for PNG? I have been
on other ships where they had provisions on board to take care of last
minute visa requirements, but cannot get a straight
answer from HAL. With 1200 passengers on board, I cannot imagine that there
will be less than several dozen who have
not obtained the visa, and in some cases, not even known about the
requirement, as some of the pre-cruise literature
said that no visa for PNG was needed.

"Harry Jones" <hjones DeleteThis @prodigy.net> wrote in
news:NPlwj.33266$T8.11275@trnddc03:


>
> So, the question is, how serious is HAL about not letting
a passenger
> embark without the visa for PNG? I have been
> on other ships where they had provisions on board to take
care of last
> minute visa requirements, but cannot get a straight
> answer from HAL. With 1200 passengers on board, I cannot
imagine that
> there will be less than several dozen who have
> not obtained the visa, and in some cases, not even known
about the
> requirement, as some of the pre-cruise literature
> said that no visa for PNG was needed.
>
>
>
>

There is only one source forthe anser.HAL either call
yourself aor have your TA call and determine if this is one
of those calls that will allow the guests without visas to
stay on board, or one that will not allow the ship to
process without visas for all guests.

--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com
yourvacation DeleteThis @comcast.net
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