Shanghai Port Disembarkation

[rsato]

I see our cruise is scheduled to end in Shanghai with the Sapphire Princess arriving at 4AM. According to Princess Guidelines, they recommend a flight no earlier than 5 hours after docking. From past experiences at Shanghai, would anyone estimate what is a reasonable time to leave the ship (using early walk off disembarkation?) and what would be the earliest flight time that they would be comfortable with assuming you were using private transportation such as a reserved car service.

 

Thanks!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Disembarkation in Shanghai is notoriously horrendous. I kept hearing that when we were on board the Sapphire Princess, from the HGM and the Customer Services Director, but I didn’t fully appreciate it until we went through it (complicated by a late arrival due to fog). We were told it is not unusual for the full ship to not be disembarked before 2pm. I  think that you can’t rely on getting off before 11am at the earliest.  China immigration is time consuming on a good day. With the time to the airport and international flight check in, I wouldn’t book anything before 4pm.