Are Vaccinations and Visas Needed?

[stevenr597]

My wife and I are scheduled to cruise on the MS Azamara Quest, Southeast Asia in early February. The cruise includes stops in Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.

 

Are we required to obtain any Visas prior to the trip (or will Azamara obtain them for us while on ship). In addition, are there specific vaccinations which are either required or recommended.

 

We just received our cruise information from Azamara and they are somewhat unclear in regards to the above.

 

Any help and/or comments would be much appreciated.

[uktog]

On our trip in 2009 Azamara obtained the visas once we were on board and charged our on board account, it was hassle free. I have not seen anything posted to say this has changed

Vaccinations is a matter of personal preference where they are not mandatory (recommendations by some doctors can be driven by fee income!) we had none and had no problems at all

[travelinjudy]

My wife and I are scheduled to cruise on the MS Azamara Quest, Southeast Asia in early February. The cruise includes stops in Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.

 

Are we required to obtain any Visas prior to the trip (or will Azamara obtain them for us while on ship). In addition, are there specific vaccinations which are either required or recommended.

 

We just received our cruise information from Azamara and they are somewhat unclear in regards to the above.

 

Any help and/or comments would be much appreciated.

 

Hi,

We did that cruise last February--one of the best I've ever taken- and got Hepatitis A & B shots--it was highly recommended by our doctors. Since they are now recommending Hep. B for all older adults in the U.S, anyway, we went ahead with both of A & B. It's good for life, I think, and well worth the precaution. Those shots are also recommended for many other areas to which we travel.

Enjoy your cruise--it will be fantastic. Wish I was going back!!

[comcox]

My wife and I are scheduled to cruise on the MS Azamara Quest, Southeast Asia in early February. The cruise includes stops in Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.

 

Are we required to obtain any Visas prior to the trip (or will Azamara obtain them for us while on ship). In addition, are there specific vaccinations which are either required or recommended.

 

We just received our cruise information from Azamara and they are somewhat unclear in regards to the above.

 

Any help and/or comments would be much appreciated.

 

 

For vaccination and any medication advice, I would suggest the CDC website: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list.htm#v.

Just check each country for current health warnings and any required shots.

 

For visa information, again listed by country, use this U.S. State Dept website: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_4965.html.

 

We did Azamara's SE Asia cruise a couple of year's ago and the only country on your list above that required a visa then was Vietnam, but Azamara obtained a blanket visa for all passengers and charged our ship board account. There was a caveat at that time, and it may still be in effect, in that the blanket visa only covered passengers who stayed with the ship through all Vietnamese ports and were just off ship in port. If, like my husband, you wanted to get off and fly somewhere (he went bird watching) and then rejoin the ship at another port, you have to get your own individual visa in advance through normal channels. This also applied to those passengers who took Azamara's overnight shore tour to Siem Reap flying there from Bangkok and then on to HCMC to rejoin the ship. In other words, the ship's visa will not work if you are going through an airport in Vietnam.