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Royal Caribbean's charge for Vietnam visa


PCWalton1
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Hi, Anyone know what Royal's currently charging for a visa on a one day stop in Vietnam. Searching shows it was $6 back in 2016. We will most likely need two as we will be visiting two Vietnam ports with a sea day in between.

thanks

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We sail Celebrity Millenium on Feb 18 and our cruise docs say $6 each for our visas. 3 ports in Vietnam.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Yes Celebrity are reasonable for their visa charges unlike a lot of the other cruise lines who have discovered they can gouge their passengers to add to their profits. Princess, for example have had a huge increase in the cost of their visa fees for Vietnam, Indonesia, something in the range of $50 odd USD per person I believe.

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RCI is $6.00pp and charged to your SeaPass account. It will be left in your cabin the first night before docking in a Vietnam port...very easy RCI takes care of everything. We were told to bring a passport picture but didn't need it...I imagine they just used the picture they took upon boarding.

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Just the one visa is good for all your Vietnamese ports. :)

But I doubt you'll find them at six bucks any longer ;)

The price does seem to yo-yo, but at a guess it'll be $20 to $50.

 

JB :)

 

They should be back at $6 or close to it. My understanding was for a short time Vietnam got rid of the special cruise ship Visas, and charged $45 for the standard individual Visa. There was enough complaints that they brought the $5 cruise visa back. Most cruise lines charge a small additional fee for the processing and paperwork, hence the typical $6-$10 quote.

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They should be back at $6 or close to it. My understanding was for a short time Vietnam got rid of the special cruise ship Visas, and charged $45 for the standard individual Visa. There was enough complaints that they brought the $5 cruise visa back. Most cruise lines charge a small additional fee for the processing and paperwork, hence the typical $6-$10 quote.

 

Hence the yo-yo.

Thanks for the update :)

 

JB :)

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We have just returned from a land trip to Vietnam. Be careful that the visa provisions are different for just about every nationality and every travel purpose, and that the rules are ever changing. Normally the Vietnamese embassy in your home country can answer your questions.

Some nationalities (UK, Italy, Germany, Belarus, Malaysia and a few others) do not need a visa at all (but only in some cases, and only if you meet the right criteria), whilst some other nationalities are struck with really heavy visa fees. My Dutch husband had to buy a 65 euro visa (=$ 77, after paying for registered mail it was $ 95 !), whereas I as a British citizen did not need a visa at all for a stay of less than 15 days.

Saying that the cruise lines gouge their passengers seems pretty unfair, since the rates and rules are every changing. On the 30th of June 2017 for example, it was still not known if the visa exemption for certain nationalities would still be in place from the 1st of July, 1 day later! The lady I spoke to at the Vietnamese embassy in Berlin admitted that it was hard for them too to keep up with the latest rules from Hanoi. I also know that every Vietnamese embassy charges a different fee than in a neighbouring country.

All I can advise: Check, Check and Double Check, and know that visa rules for Vietnam change regularly, so don't just rely on what other cruisers on this forum tell you!

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/11/2018 at 4:48 PM, UKBayern said:

We have just returned from a land trip to Vietnam. Be careful that the visa provisions are different for just about every nationality and every travel purpose, and that the rules are ever changing. Normally the Vietnamese embassy in your home country can answer your questions.

Some nationalities (UK, Italy, Germany, Belarus, Malaysia and a few others) do not need a visa at all (but only in some cases, and only if you meet the right criteria), whilst some other nationalities are struck with really heavy visa fees. My Dutch husband had to buy a 65 euro visa (=$ 77, after paying for registered mail it was $ 95 !), whereas I as a British citizen did not need a visa at all for a stay of less than 15 days.

Saying that the cruise lines gouge their passengers seems pretty unfair, since the rates and rules are every changing. On the 30th of June 2017 for example, it was still not known if the visa exemption for certain nationalities would still be in place from the 1st of July, 1 day later! The lady I spoke to at the Vietnamese embassy in Berlin admitted that it was hard for them too to keep up with the latest rules from Hanoi. I also know that every Vietnamese embassy charges a different fee than in a neighbouring country.

All I can advise: Check, Check and Double Check, and know that visa rules for Vietnam change regularly, so don't just rely on what other cruisers on this forum tell you!

Sorry to drag up an old thread but we're from UK and cruising Vietnam in September. You mention that you don't need a visa for less than 15 days, and that's what I gleaned from the Gov.uk travel advice pages, but you were on a land visit. What's the situation with a 4 stop Vietnam cruise? Does it count as a 'single entry' or is it multiple entries? 

 

I did ask RC themselves who passed me on to Visa Central, who they said dealt with all their Visa issues. I called them and they didn't know :classic_wacko: and said I should ask RC. I'm hoping that a cruise counts as a single entry in which case we won't need one.

 

Thanks for any info. 

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On 1/7/2018 at 12:46 AM, John Bull said:

Just the one visa is good for all your Vietnamese ports. 🙂

But I doubt you'll find them at six bucks any longer 😉

The price does seem to yo-yo, but at a guess it'll be $20 to $50.

 

JB 🙂

1

I notice you're from the UK as well John. Can you advise re above? 

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4 hours ago, deek72 said:

I notice you're from the UK as well John. Can you advise re above? 

 

Brits needed visas when we went (dispensed with for Brits a couple of years ago) but I'm 99% certain that if the Vietnamese ports are consecutive (they usually are) it counts as a single-entry.

 

JB :classic_smile:

Edited by John Bull
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On 1/11/2018 at 5:48 PM, UKBayern said:

We have just returned from a land trip to Vietnam. Be careful that the visa provisions are different for just about every nationality and every travel purpose, and that the rules are ever changing. Normally the Vietnamese embassy in your home country can answer your questions.

 

Hi Ex-Neighbour, have you left Bavaria for good to join the "sinking" ship i.e. Brexit in Reverse?

 

We did a cruise to Vietnam last year, really enjoyed it. It was funny, while in Danang a US aircraft carrier group was there on a visit, the first since the Vietnam War. There were no protests in the streets or other activities against US. Infact the Vietnamese were rubbing their hands at the prospect of doing some goos business.

 

While in the markets, it reminded me of back home just across the border in the Czech republic and the local marlets there.

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6 hours ago, deek72 said:

Sorry to drag up an old thread but we're from UK and cruising Vietnam in September. You mention that you don't need a visa for less than 15 days, and that's what I gleaned from the Gov.uk travel advice pages, but you were on a land visit. What's the situation with a 4 stop Vietnam cruise? Does it count as a 'single entry' or is it multiple entries? 

 

I did ask RC themselves who passed me on to Visa Central, who they said dealt with all their Visa issues. I called them and they didn't know :classic_wacko: and said I should ask RC. I'm hoping that a cruise counts as a single entry in which case we won't need one.

 

Thanks for any info. 

John Bull is correct. We did a cruise last year to Vietnam, 3 ports and did not need a visa, we got a Landing Card from the ship, didn't cost anything. The non visa agreement has been extended to 30th. June 2021, valid for 15 days, on a cruise of say 3 or 4 ports is counted as one entry. This applies to British, German, French, Italian and Spanish passport holders, passport must be valid for at least 6 months.

 

Keep checking with the Vietanese embassy in UK to see if Brexit will have any impact on the visa situation.

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3 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Brits needed visas when we went (dispensed with for Brits a couple of years ago) but I'm 99% certain that if the Vietnamese ports are consecutive (they usually are) it counts as a single-entry.

 

JB :classic_smile:

 

1 hour ago, G.M.T. said:

John Bull is correct. We did a cruise last year to Vietnam, 3 ports and did not need a visa, we got a Landing Card from the ship, didn't cost anything. The non visa agreement has been extended to 30th. June 2021, valid for 15 days, on a cruise of say 3 or 4 ports is counted as one entry. This applies to British, German, French, Italian and Spanish passport holders, passport must be valid for at least 6 months.

 

Keep checking with the Vietanese embassy in UK to see if Brexit will have any impact on the visa situation.

 

That's great. Thanks for the info 🙂

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Organising your visa through the cruise line for stops at ports of call will always be easier and cheaper than doing it before you sail.  The exception to this would be if you plan to do something out of the ordinary, like fly to Ankor Wat  from Saigon and then rejoin the ship in Halong Bay.  

 

The rules, exemptions, cost variations between the cruise lines continue to vary BUT THE CRUISE LINE ORGANISED VISA will always be the easiest, less stressful and in most cases the cheapest way to go.

 

i cannot put it any other way to assure cruisers to Vietnam

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Has anyone done this recently?

 

We are cruising to Vietnam in March, and the documents received from RC state USD45 per person for the visa.

 

I also read that the Vietnamese Government did raise the fee from $5 to $45, but then dropped it back down to $5.

 

I thought maybe the documents were just out of date, so I called RC, and got a "Whatever it says on your documents" response.

 

I also spoke to a colleague who did a cruise to Vietnam in August last year with RC, and he said his documents also said $45, but they never actually charged him.

 

BTW we are Australian.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Has anyone done this recently?

 

We are cruising to Vietnam in March, and the documents received from RC state USD45 per person for the visa.

 

I also read that the Vietnamese Government did raise the fee from $5 to $45, but then dropped it back down to $5.

 

I thought maybe the documents were just out of date, so I called RC, and got a "Whatever it says on your documents" response.

 

I also spoke to a colleague who did a cruise to Vietnam in August last year with RC, and he said his documents also said $45, but they never actually charged him.

 

BTW we are Australian.

 

 

The visa fee imposed  by Vietnam on these type of visas may be $5 but the various cruise lines will add their charge on top of that.  Celebrity for instance $6USD, Princess $56 USD, big variation?

 

Be prepared for $45 but it could be less.

 

Your collègue may have been travelling on a passport which is currently exempt for short entries to Vietnam.  AUstralia is not one of those countries

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