China Visa for Westerdam 2018 Cruise

[BarbarianPaul]

We just signed up for the 28 night Japan, China and Taiwan Collection cruise sailing in October of 2018. So excited!

 

Was curious if any experienced Asia cruisers out there can shed light on the process necessary to obtain a visa for China. How long does it take? What are the steps and cost? Does Holland America help? Any suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

We booked the cruise directly with HA, but we could hand the booking over to a travel agent if they can be useful in the visa process. But frankly we'd rather not. What do you guys think?

 

 

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[HarR]

Can't comment on the procedure for US citizens. Just pay attention to the number entries into China you need. During our cruise someone had a single entry Visa and had to stay on board at or stop in Shanghai. Because she already had entered in Beijing.

 

 

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[Mary Ellen]

We used the China Visa Service Center both times we did cruises involving China. While we used their Chicago office, you'd have to use the LA office (http://www.mychinavisa.com/la). We were very happy with their service both times. The visa availability had changed between the two visas and we were able to get a 10-yr, multi-entry visa for the same price as the single entry. I don't know what is currently being offered, as we still have a number of years remaining on that second visa.

[freestyling]

We are using a visa service to get our China visa for our cruise in March that we found via Google and researched via Trip Advisor. Since we are adding a week of land travel to Hong Kong and Tokyo we are also getting the CDC suggested vaccines.

[USN59-79]

The cost of a China visa, good for multiple entries for ten years is $140. Since you live in the Los Angeles area, you can apply for it at the Chinese Consulate on Shatto St in downtown L.A. Generally it takes two trips, first to deliver the paperwork and then to pick it up about four days later. When you apply they should give you a slip of paper stating when it will be available for pickup. You will need to provide two photos; one of the better places to obtain them is at Costco. I would recommend downloading the form from the Consulate website and fill it in before you go. Alternatively, you can use a visa service to help you. You still need to fill in the forms, provide the pictures and pay them a fee on top of the cost of the visa. The fee will be somewhere between $50 and $80 each. The service will hand deliver and pickup your passport to/from the Consulate. A third way is what we did. We live near Seattle and contacted a Chinese travel agency in the International District of Seattle. They charged a fee of $30 on top of the $140 visa fee for our ten year visas. Took two weeks, but we were happy with the service.

[BarbarianPaul]

Thanks everyone!! This is a wealth of positive info and much appreciated.

 

 

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[Tampa Girl]

We are using a visa service to get our China visa for our cruise in March that we found via Google and researched via Trip Advisor. Since we are adding a week of land travel to Hong Kong and Tokyo we are also getting the CDC suggested vaccines.

 

What vaccines are suggested for Hong Kong and China? I don't any are suggested for Tokyo or, at least, are not required.

[freestyling]

What vaccines are suggested for Hong Kong and China? I don't any are suggested for Tokyo or, at least, are not required.

Really depends if you are staying in major area's or exploring more rural areas. CDC recommendations for what we are doing ( cruise plus 1 week in Hong Kong and 1.5 weeks in Japan) are Typhoid, Hep A and B, TDAP. Of course this is in additional to our annual Flu and Pneumonia vaccinations.

https://www.cdc.gov/

[Tampa Girl]

The cost of a China visa, good for multiple entries for ten years is $140. Since you live in the Los Angeles area, you can apply for it at the Chinese Consulate on Shatto St in downtown L.A. Generally it takes two trips, first to deliver the paperwork and then to pick it up about four days later. When you apply they should give you a slip of paper stating when it will be available for pickup. You will need to provide two photos; one of the better places to obtain them is at Costco. I would recommend downloading the form from the Consulate website and fill it in before you go. Alternatively, you can use a visa service to help you. You still need to fill in the forms, provide the pictures and pay them a fee on top of the cost of the visa. The fee will be somewhere between $50 and $80 each. The service will hand deliver and pickup your passport to/from the Consulate. A third way is what we did. We live near Seattle and contacted a Chinese travel agency in the International District of Seattle. They charged a fee of $30 on top of the $140 visa fee for our ten year visas. Took two weeks, but we were happy with the service.

 

Can you provide the name of the travel agency or visa service to which the documents can be forwarded? And then they will pick them up and mail them back to us?

[USN59-79]

Can you provide the name of the travel agency or visa service to which the documents can be forwarded? And then they will pick them up and mail them back to us?

There are literally hundreds of visa service agencies around the country. If you Google "China visa" there they are. Or, if you Google "China visa Tampa" you will find some in your area that you can drive to and deliver your passport. They will assist you in filling in the form, take your money, and mail your passport to their representative at the nearest Chinese consulate. Their rep will hand deliver the passport and paperwork to the consulate, go back and pick it up when ready, and mail it back to the visa service agency. You should then be able to pick it up there when they call you that it is ready. Two important points:

1. The various Chinese consulates only serve a certain area; therefore, since I live in Washington State, I need to obtain my visa from the consulate in California.

2. The consulates will not accept passports mailed to them. They must be hand delivered and picked up. That is the service provided by the visa service agency.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We used Visa Central, just watch there fees about 20 day's start to finish.

[Irie]

Visa central is HAL recommended. Close 75005 will give you some discount. Enter log-in and then code.

Average total for 2 people is about $500

[HELENPSL]

Just returned from our Asia trip in March. We used a company called www.passportandvisas.com. Their fee was $89 and the visa fee of $145. Since it was a 10 year visa I sent it to them in August 2016 and received it within 2 weeks. The effective date is the day it's issued to you. Even though we weren't going to be there until March 2017 it didn't matter because it was for 10 years. Another item I crossed off the list early in the process. I was told you cannot submit a hand written application for the visa. This company emailed the form so I could fill it in online, print the copy and send the list of documents back to them. A quick phone call to them to answer some minor questions and it was done. For me it was well worth the fee that they charged.

 

Helen

[RMLincoln]

We had very good service from TravelVisaPro.com. They have people on their phones to walk you through the process and I found their fees to be quite a bit less than most. m--