SANYA-VISA? YES or NO??????????

[glutenhab]

Has anyone visited Sanya, China as their only Chinese port (besides Hong Kong) WITHOUT a VISA?

[kitty9]

Has anyone visited Sanya, China as their only Chinese port (besides Hong Kong) WITHOUT a VISA?

 

A visa is required for a visit to China for every city except Hong Kong. If you don't have that visa, you will be denied boarding, even if you say you won't leave the ship. Once you're in the territorial waters of China, you're considered in the country. The reason I know this is because I was on a cruise where a retired couple didn't bother to check the visa requirements before leaving Montreal, and were not allowed to board the ship in Singapore.

 

But, there are special circumstances for Sanya, which you need to find out if your cruise covers. If you are part of an approved Chinese tour company, you might not need the visa. Like I said, this is something you need to find out from the cruise line. This is not the same thing as a blanket visa, like you find in Russia when you take the ship tours. This is a whole different situation. The only way to know is to call the cruise line.

[glutenhab]

A visa is required for a visit to China for every city except Hong Kong. If you don't have that visa, you will be denied boarding, even if you say you won't leave the ship. Once you're in the territorial waters of China, you're considered in the country. The reason I know this is because I was on a cruise where a retired couple didn't bother to check the visa requirements before leaving Montreal, and were not allowed to board the ship in Singapore.

 

But, there are special circumstances for Sanya, which you need to find out if your cruise covers. If you are part of an approved Chinese tour company, you might not need the visa. Like I said, this is something you need to find out from the cruise line. This is not the same thing as a blanket visa, like you find in Russia when you take the ship tours. This is a whole different situation. The only way to know is to call the cruise line.

 

HAL tells me I do, but many on the boards here say no.

They would cost around $350 for the 2 of us for this one port only so I would rather not buy them unnecessarily.

Seems nobody has a definitive answer so we will probably have to bite the bullet on these.

[kitty9]

All I can tell you is my experience. When visiting Hong Kong, we took a day visit to Hainan, which is the province where Sanya is located. We needed a visa, and there was no doubt about it. No visa, no entry, and we would have been put on the next flight back to HK.