Visa service - China, Cambodia, Vietnam

[Ka Honu]

Can anyone recommend a good visa service able to handle cruise ship passengers (US passports) for China, Cambodia, and Vietnam?

 

We live in Hawaii, so that may require a west coast location (usually San Francisco or Los Angeles).

 

Because of extended shore excursions we are not eligible for Cambodia and Vietnam "visa on arrival" or "e-visa" programs.

 

Preferences for selection are reasonable cost, dependability, and turn-around time.

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[gnome12]

For Vietnam you might look at visa by email from the Embassy. The advantage is that you don't have to send in your passport, they send you back a paper visa to put in the passport. (I'm pretty sure that this is now available to Americans; it wasn't last year.) You might want to check out the latest info in the River Cruising forum, since those doing the Mekong need Vietnamese and Cambodian visas.

[sippican]

The cruiseline referred us to this company:

 the website is VisaHQ.com

[kjenaz]

We received our Visa's today from Mile High Visa.  You can google them.  Did it all by Fed Ex in less than 10 days (Non-Expedited service - No extra fee).  We could not be any happier.

[loeb]

I used Ambassador Passport for work for a China (PRC) visa, they are located in Santa Monica, see the site.  I would send them an email and get a quote, they were very good and efficient.

 

https://www.ambassadorpassportandvisa.com/

[iancal]

Not certain what your plans are vis a vis ship vs land.

 

We entered Cambodia by air.  We simply got our visa at the airport as did others.  It took   all of 15 minutes.  We entered Vietnam by land.  We used a travel agent in Siem Reap, Cambodia to arrange our 30 day single entry visas.  The TA sent our passports and visa applications to the nearest  Vietnamese consulate.  We had them returned, with the visas, in 48 hours.  Apparently this is a common way for many travellers to get these visas.

[karioncruising]

On 11/2/2018 at 12:58 PM, Ka Honu said:

Can anyone recommend a good visa service able to handle cruise ship passengers (US passports) for China, Cambodia, and Vietnam?

 

We live in Hawaii, so that may require a west coast location (usually San Francisco or Los Angeles).

 

Because of extended shore excursions we are not eligible for Cambodia and Vietnam "visa on arrival" or "e-visa" programs.

 

Preferences for selection are reasonable cost, dependability, and turn-around time.

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

When you say extended shore excursions, do you mean overnight and overland?

 

[Pirateskigirl]

We used GENVISA for our Chinese Visas  Note: It takes 30 days to get a Chinese Visa for U.S. citizens.

www.genvisa.com  It's a little pricey but worth it for them to deal with the hoops you have to go through for a Chinese Visa.

[Ka Honu]

On 11/25/2018 at 2:29 PM, karioncruising said:

When you say extended shore excursions, do you mean overnight and overland?

 

Sorry for the delay in responding but we've been out of town and off line for the last few weeks.

 

In answer to your question, yes. We're arriving in Sihanoukville by cruise ship, then air-land tour to Angkor Wat and rejoining the ship in Ho Chi Minh City.

[diane.in.ny]

Both Cambodia and Vietnam visas can be done online.

 

The e-visas are supposed to be available in about 3 days.

 

I am currently waiting for them for me and my husband. My Vietnam visa came in 2 days (got an email it was processed). Tomorrow is 3 days and I'm expecting (hoping?  lol) the remaining 3 will be available.

[2SailingNomads]

How did you apply for the Vietnam and Cambodian visas?  Did you use the Vietnam consulate web site?

Thanks.

[diane.in.ny]

On 12/28/2018 at 6:50 PM, 2SailingNomads said:

How did you apply for the Vietnam and Cambodian visas?  Did you use the Vietnam consulate web site?

Thanks.

 

Notifications about Vietnam and Cambodian visas both arrived within 5 business days. I got an email then had to go to the evisa sites to print them out. You will need a current passport sized picture. We went to AAA, I scanned the pictures (You get 2 side by side) and then cropped to have just one facial image. Will also need to scan photo page of your passport. I have the links for the application sites bookmarked on my computer which is not available to me now ( on my tablet now .. grandson visiting and sleeping in my computer room).  Please comment on this to bring it back to the top of my notifications ( to remind me) and I'll Reply with the links

[alid]

Hello Ka Hona,  I am very impressed that you have managed to work in a trip to Angkor Wat into your cruise.

We are doing a similar / same cruise with NCL in March stopping at Sihanoukville and HCMc , and I am very disappointed that we will be too far from Angkor Wat to visit. Can I ask how you have arranged your trip to make this possible.  Is your cruise ship operator organising this or have you done this yourselves.

we are experienced travellers, but have not done a cruise like this before (although we did a fabulous cruise around the Hawaiian islands 2 years ago- what a truly amazing place).

thank you for any help / advice you can give.

 

[diane.in.ny]

Here are the links for the e-visa for Cambodia and Vietnam

 

https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu

 

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

[2SailingNomads]

Thanks!

[Ka Honu]

On 1/2/2019 at 9:08 AM, alid said:

...Can I ask how you have arranged your trip to make this possible.  Is your cruise ship operator organising this or have you done this yourselves.

The ship has a tour at about $2900 pp but we booked an almost identical trip (through a travel agent) with Abercrombie & Kent for about $1,000 less per person.

[Ka Honu]

On 1/2/2019 at 10:34 AM, diane.in.ny said:

Here are the links for the e-visa for Cambodia and Vietnam

https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

 

For the Cambodia e-visa, which port of entry did you select? We're on a cruise arriving for a one-day port stop in Sihanoukville; the e-visa application lists the airport but not the cruise port.

[diane.in.ny]

11 minutes ago, Ka Honu said:

 

For the Cambodia e-visa, which port of entry did you select? We're on a cruise arriving for a one-day port stop in Sihanoukville; the e-visa application lists the airport but not the cruise port.

 

Good question. We are flying into Siem Reap. For coming in by ship, I think you have to get a regular visa.

[smtcan]

On 1/2/2019 at 2:08 PM, alid said:

..... Can I ask how you have arranged your trip to make this possible.  Is your cruise ship operator organising this or have you done this yourselves.

we are experienced travellers, but have not done a cruise like this before (although we did a fabulous cruise around the Hawaiian islands 2 years ago- what a truly amazing place).

thank you for any help / advice you can give.

 

We have booked our own air and hotel from Hong kong to Siem Reap for the end of our Celebrity cruise.  The cost was just over $1000 for both of us for a four night visit.  The cost would have been about the same if we had gone from Singapore before the cruise, but the dates didn't work for us.  Cruise line tours were more than three times as much for only two nights.  We will have to pay for a guide, but the hotel has quoted $50 a day + the temple fees and other guides recommended on TripA.. site are priced similarly.  We leave next month, so hope all will work to plan.  We have travelled in Asia before although Japan is the only country we have spent much time independently.

[alid]

Thank you both for sharing such detailed information - it has really helped us.

[redratcruiser]

On 1/7/2019 at 11:30 AM, Ka Honu said:

 

For the Cambodia e-visa, which port of entry did you select? We're on a cruise arriving for a one-day port stop in Sihanoukville; the e-visa application lists the airport but not the cruise port.

I am also on that same cruise and so far from what i gathered is that:

 

Cambodia Visa - Let NCL handle it unless you happen to be near the consulate.

Vietnam Visa - Still Clueless as the E-visa website lists some of the seaports that accepts E-Visa and not others.

[tango223]

On 11/30/2018 at 2:28 PM, Ka Honu said:

Sorry for the delay in responding but we've been out of town and off line for the last few weeks.

 

In answer to your question, yes. We're arriving in Sihanoukville by cruise ship, then air-land tour to Angkor Wat and rejoining the ship in Ho Chi Minh City.

Looks like you are on the Silverseas overland to Angkor Wat. The document for the land portion states that you’ll need 2 passport size pictures & 2 blank pages with passport validity 6 months after date of departure from Vietnam. The Vietnam visa is issued at airport of Ho Chi Minh city.  Cambodian visa upon arrival at Sihanoukville port. That fee will be charged to your ship account.  Look at your booking in the activity tab & hit the land button on the Sihanoukville port the second day. The info you are looking for is there.

 

 

[Ka Honu]

13 hours ago, tango223 said:

Looks like you are on the Silverseas overland to Angkor Wat.

 

We have a privately booked Abercrombie & Kent tour and handled the visas from home. Vietnam was inexpensive & easy (e-visa for US$25) but Cambodia required (for us) a commercial visa service since we're not arriving at an e-visa port and not departing with the ship.

[tango223]

You were smart to do something privately. Wished we had thought of that!  See you on the ship & at the meet & mingle.

[Ka Honu]

6 hours ago, tango223 said:

See you on the ship...

 

We're on Seabourn but their offer was similar to Silverseas and about $1,000pp more than having a TA set it up directly with Abercrombie & Kent.