China and Vietnam cruise 2018

[Rwhunited]

Good evening all!

 

We are just about to book our cruise next year (March 4th) on the millennium. Now as I am a British citizen I don't need a visa for Hong Kong, Vietnam nor Taiwan... but my girlfriend holds an Irish passport (even though it states she was born in the U.K.) so according to the Vietnam visa site she will require a visa. After scouring a few forums I've seen some people say you don't need a visa if you're not staying in Vietnam overnight (i.e. Sleeping on the ship not on the land) and just get a landing card that you need to keep hold of and some say you do need a visa but the cruise line will just send a request to Vietnam for the entire ship, has anyone travelled recently via celebrity and know what the procedure is??

 

Secondly, which vaccines do people usually have when travelling to Hong Kong/Vietnam/Taiwan.... just upon reading the NHS website it recommends about 8 vaccines... I think it's just a general recommendation whether you're travelling in a risky area of the country for weeks or a few costal resorts for the day! I don't want to have to pay around £600 for vaccines when I don't REALLY need them!!

 

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

[Jayneykul]

I don't know the answer, Ryan but I had a similar question for a cruise on millennium calling at Shanghai. I found the answer on the ports of call board rather than here. Hope this helps

[Bwanette007]

We were on the Millennium this past March on the Hong Kong to Shanghai trip (second leg of our journey, did Singapor to Hong Kong first). The ship took care of all of the formalities for us. I would check with Celebrity directly. There were times when they collected our passports and then returned them the next day with all the documentation required at that particular port.

 

We didn't get any inoculations, but our doctor prescribed something for travelers diarrhea which we didn't need.

[NantahalaCruiser]

Good evening all!

 

We are just about to book our cruise next year (March 4th) on the millennium. Now as I am a British citizen I don't need a visa for Hong Kong, Vietnam nor Taiwan... but my girlfriend holds an Irish passport (even though it states she was born in the U.K.) so according to the Vietnam visa site she will require a visa. After scouring a few forums I've seen some people say you don't need a visa if you're not staying in Vietnam overnight (i.e. Sleeping on the ship not on the land) and just get a landing card that you need to keep hold of and some say you do need a visa but the cruise line will just send a request to Vietnam for the entire ship, has anyone travelled recently via celebrity and know what the procedure is??

 

When we were on a similar Asian cruise on the Millennium last November, we stayed overnight on a Junk Cruise in Ha Long Bay. The ship arranged for our visa (note: we had US passports and had brought along extra passport pictures for the visa). Initially they indicated that it would cost 140 USD per person, but when it showed up on our bill it was only about 30 or 40 USD pp. Since your cruise has an overnight in Ha Long, I would heartily recommend that you consider an overnight on a Junk - wonderful experience with a lot of activities included: tour of a cave, kayaking, swimming off the boat, tour of a floating fishing village and cultured pearl farm - check with your rollcall thread to see if anyone is organizing such a shore excursion.

 

Secondly, which vaccines do people usually have when travelling to Hong Kong/Vietnam/Taiwan.... just upon reading the NHS website it recommends about 8 vaccines... I think it's just a general recommendation whether you're travelling in a risky area of the country for weeks or a few costal resorts for the day! I don't want to have to pay around £600 for vaccines when I don't REALLY need them!!

 

No special vacinations are necessary.

 

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

Enjoy your cruise

[GaryfmCol]

We've had 50 cruises.

Our cruise from Hong Kong, to Singapore, via Viet-Nam, ranks with us,

as our #1 favorite cruise....Loved Viet-nam, and, the food,and, the people

EVERYWHERE in country welcomed us.....Even once in a restaurant

in H.C.M.C., (Saigon) they made us a loaf of bread with spelled out in poppy seed,

"Welcome Americans".....

If we could do any of our cruises over again, it would be that Celebrity cruise.

And, F.Y.I., our visa were taken care of on board ship.

When we got off ship, the Viet-namese customs agent stamped our passports.

[hubofhockey]

Enjoy your cruise

 

What were the hours of your port time in Ha Long Bay? We would love to do the overnight junk cruise, but we leave Ha Long Bay on day two at 1 pm. What company did you use that made this work for you if your hours were similar (I see Celebrity's somewhat mirror Azamara's for this port).

 

Thanks.

[NantahalaCruiser]

What were the hours of your port time in Ha Long Bay? We would love to do the overnight junk cruise, but we leave Ha Long Bay on day two at 1 pm. What company did you use that made this work for you if your hours were similar (I see Celebrity's somewhat mirror Azamara's for this port).

 

Thanks.

We probably had the same schedule as you. We were there for 1.5 days arriving around 8am and departure around 1pm following day.

 

A fellow rollcall member organized a charter of one of Indochina Junk's three Dragon Pearl ships. The ship had a capacity for 20 passengers but we limited the group at 8 couples. Cost including a short van transfer from the tender dock to another dock that the junks use was about 200 USD per person for the 24 hour overnight cruise. Junk cruise included 4 wonderful meals - L, D, B & L - and several activities - cave tour, kayaking, swimming, rowboat tour through a floating fishing village to a cultured pearl farm. And the scenary was outstanding!

 

Indochina Junk was happy to work with us to make sure we got back with plenty of time to get back to the Millennium. They moved the lunch and return to dock up by about an hour and we made it back to the tender dock around 11:30. Note - that was one of the reasons we did a charter rather than just joining one of their regular scheduled tours that probably would not have gotten us back to the tender dock until more like 12:30 - too late for our comfort.

 

They also have smaller ships for smaller group charters, but at a higher price.

 

By the way, the food and service were excellent and the drink prices were reasonable. Enjoy.

[hubofhockey]

Thanks. Putting together a roll call trip on a smaller Azamara ship will be much tougher.

 

 

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[NantahalaCruiser]

Thanks. Putting together a roll call trip on a smaller Azamara ship will be much tougher.

 

 

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Best of luck! Saw fall 2017 advertised rates for a single-cabin junk with Indochina Junks at about 350 USD per person for the 2 day 1 night. They also have chartered junks with 2 or 3 cabins with presumably lower rates.

[Mystic Eye]

We didn't have any vaccinations for a month on the millennium last November ,and no problems with food illness we rarely eat of the ship as some of the offerings off the ship were too out there !! And no visa required ,the ship organises things you need an extra photo copy of your passport though ,

 

 

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[busby]

We are sailing hong kong to Singapore this month, we were advised by travel centre to have typhoid ,tetanus, polio & diphtheria vaccinations ,also had our annual flu jab too, all done on NHS at our local GP surgery . On daily countdown now so looking forward to this cruise Olwen